October 24 - 26, 2008

with Rabbi Jeff Roth

at Beth Israel Synagogue
 of Asheville, NC

We are very pleased to invite you to Awakening the Heart, an exploration of meditative and contemplative practices that can enrich your Jewish life.

Our guide and scholar for the weekend will be Rabbi Jeff Roth, founder of Elat Chayyim Center for Jewish Spirituality. Rabbi Roth has recently launched the Awakened Heart Project for Contemplative Judaism. At Congregation Beth Israel, Rabbi Roth will lead us in meditation and chant. The practices he will introduce include concentration techniques that will be applied to prayer and ritual. He will also teach awareness techniques that can bring clarity and insight to daily life.

In addition to providing ample opportunities for us to experience the power of Jewish meditation and chanting, he will also give a talk on Jewish meditation, what it is, where it comes from in our tradition, and how it can become a regular, enriching part of our Jewish lives. Rabbi Roth will lead portions of Kabbalat Shabbat and Shabbat morning services and offer other opportunities to learn about and experience Jewish meditation. Please see the schedule for all of the details.

This weekend is open to everyone, members of CBI and non-members, beginning and experienced meditators. Registration is not required for most of the weekend. However, those wishing to enjoy a communal third meal on Shabbat, seudah shlishit, must register and pay in advance.

Rabbi Jeff Roth is the founder and Director of The Awakened Heart Project for Contemplative Judaism. He was the co-founder of Elat Chayyim where he served as Executive Director and Spiritual Director for 13 years. Currently on the faculty of the Elat Chayyim Advanced Meditation Program, he is an experienced meditation teacher and the facilitator of over 70 Jewish meditation retreats .

Tentative Schedule

Friday
6:00 P.M. Meditation Instructions and silent practice
7:00 P.M. Kabbalat Shabbat: contemplative style using chants and silence
Maariv: led by Rabbi Rob Cabelli

Shabbat
8:45 A.M. Meditation Instructions and silent practice
9:30 A.M. Shabbat morning service with chants and silence including the regular Torah service, which will be augmented with some special aliyot.

4:00 P.M. Afternoon session introducing a contemplative blessing practice designed to open the heart of compassion. Participants will learn a set of phrases, repeated over and over in the mind as we cultivate loving-kindness for ourselves and all beings as well.

6:00 P.M. Seudah shlishit- we’ll learn practices for eating meditation and share the third meal of Shabbat in silence, punctuated by niggunim, wordless melodies and some teaching.

7:30 P.M. Havdalah and dessert

8:00 P.M. Evening program to be primarily a didactic presentation on Jewish meditation, its purpose and practices, allowing for a question and answer period and some short periods of silence. We’ll include havdallah as well. (Shabbat ends at 7:21 according to Lubavitch in Asheville)

Sunday
9:30 A.M. - Experiential workshop in meditation with a focus on breath awareness as a vehicle. - 12:00 Noon for seeing the Divine nature of all Being and working with the tool of mindfulness to dispel obscurations to this kind of world view.