JICC Program Book 2016

Jewish Intentional Communities Conference December 1-4, 2016 | Isabella Freedman

JEWISH INSPIRATION. SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES.

Moishe

House

Table of Contents About Hazon About Hazon.............................................................................................................................................................3 Isabella Freedman – Important Info & Site Rules.........................................................................................4 Upcoming Retreats and Programs....................................................................................................................6 Schedule Shabbat with Hazon...............................................................................................................................................8 Thursday Schedule.............................................................................................................................................. 10 Friday Schedule.................................................................................................................................................... 11 Saturday Schedule............................................................................................................................................... 13 Sunday Schedule.................................................................................................................................................. 16 Presenter Bios.............................................................................................................................................................. 18 Thank You...................................................................................................................................................................... 30

DID YOU KNOW? Hazon has developed a diverse library of curricula, source books, and other resources that can be used in the classroom, at home, or as experiential programs. Our tools are geared towards various age groups and have been used in synagogues, day schools, JCCs, and camps around the world. hazon.org/education

JEWISH INSPIRATION. SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES.

This event was made possible through the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation’s Grassroots Initiative program.

About Hazon THE WORD “HAZON” MEANS “VISION.” Our tagline is “Jewish inspiration. Sustainable communities.”

That encapsulates all that we strive to do: We work to renew Jewish life by creating a healthier and more sustainable world for all.

OUR THEME QUOTE IS: “The Torah is a commentary on the world and the world is a commentary on the Torah.”

This reflects our belief that turning Jewish life outwards to address some of the greatest challenges of our time is good not only for the world, but also for the renewal of Jewish life itself.

OVERVIEW: Hazon was founded in 2000. Today’s Hazon includes not only our own legacy programs, but also those of Isabella Freedman and Teva, with whom we merged in 2013.

WE EFFECT CHANGE IN THREE WAYS: • Transformative Experiences: Immersive multi-day programs that directly touch people’s lives in powerful ways • Thought-Leadership: Changing the world through the power of ideas—including writing, teaching, curriculum-development, and advocacy • Capacity-Building: Not just working with people as individuals, but explicitly supporting and networking with great projects and partners in North America and Israel If you’re interested in talking to us about how we might work together in the future— and especially about how we can partner with your synagogue or community center — please be in touch with Eli Massel, our Director of Outreach: elisheva.massel@hazon.org.

#JICC #intentionalcommunity • Jewish Intentional Communities Conference 3

Isabella Freedman Important Information & Site Rules EMERGENCY CALLS: In the event of a medical emergency, please call 9-11 from your cell phone, OR: 9-9-1-1 from any land line phone, located in the buildings throughout campus. Please familiarize yourself with the location of the nearest phone to your room. You must dial 9 before making any call on our land line phones. After making a 9-1-1 call, please contact a retreat manager at the IF Emergency #: Dial 860-671-8751 from a cell phone, OR: 9-860-671-8751 when using the campus land line phones. Emergencies only, please.

FIRE SAFETY: Please only light candles at group candle lighting in the main building. Camp fires are only allowed at the fire pit by the lake during scheduled programming and must be put out at the end of the activity. Please see a retreat manager for any questions.

FIRST AID: First aid materials are located at Guest Services, in the Lounge, yurts, Arts and Crafts building and Pool House. A defibrillator is located in the Lounge.

SMOKING: Smoking is prohibited in all buildings, and throughout campus. You may smoke only at the fire pit by the lake. Please dispose of cigarette butts in the designated cigarette bin.

KOSHER: Our Dining Hall and Tent are strictly Kosher. Please do not bring any outside food or personal dishware/water bottles/travel mugs into the Dining Hall/ Tent. Please use to-go ware outside the Dining Hall/Tent. Exception: Coffee mugs are allowed throughout the main building only. Please place used mugs in the bus bin in the coffee bar. Any personal food requested to be brought into the Dining Hall/Tent must be approved by our Kosher supervisor.

PARKING: Driving and parking is not allowed on grassy areas. Please only park in designated parking areas. Staff will guide you to these areas upon check-in.

CHILDREN: Please make sure that your children are supervised at all times, or are participating in children’s programming associated with your retreat.

BUSING TABLES: Please clear your table after finishing your meal. Bins for compost and dishware are located at the corner of the Dining Hall/Tent.

COMPOST & RECYCLING: Around campus you will see containers for compost (green), recycling (blue) and trash (black). Items that are compost: All food including bones, paper napkins, paper towels, to-go ware (hot/cold cups, lids, utensils, containers) tea bags, paper wrappers, corks, and wooden coffee stirrers.

We use our compost to fertilize our Adamah Farm!

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GUEST FRIDGE: You may store personal food/beverages in the fridge located in the Sunroom. (these items do not have to be Kosher) Please label your name on all items.

HOT WATER/COFFEE: Due to our Kosher policies, on Shabbat we offer coffee and hot water until it runs out. Once Shabbat ends, our staff make fresh batches. We appreciate your understanding, and we strive to provide enough coffee and hot water through the holiday.

POTABLE TAP WATER: ALL tap water on campus comes directly from a local well source and is pot-able and delicious!

GAMES, BOOKS AND MORE: We offer a variety of sport equipment, books, games and toys for your pleasure. Please see a retreat manager to borrow any of these items. Please do not use any bikes located on campus as these belong to Isabella Freedman staff.

THERMOSTATS: The thermostats in your buildings/rooms are programmed to keep you comfortable. You may adjust the temperature by increasing or decreasing the thermostat one or two degrees.

LAKE AND SWIMMING / BOATING: The pool is closed for the season. Use of the lake is at your own risk – life vests are located in the shed by the dock. Please return the vests and oars to the shed and the boats to the rack after use.

HIKING: Please stay on Isabella Freedman trails when hiking. We advise telling a friend when you go out on a trail and when you return, carrying a cell phone and water bottle, and only hiking during daylight hours. Trail maps are located at Guest Services. During hunting season, we recommend wearing bright colors when hiking on trails.

TICKS AND LYME DISEASE: We recommend doing a tick check after spending time outdoors. We have tick removal information available at Guest Services.

CHECK OUT PROCEDURE: On check-out day, you MUST move out of your room by 10:00 AM. Kindly strip your bed and place all sheets and towels into the pillowcases. (Please leave mattress pads, blankets and comforters on the beds)

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Upcoming Retreats and Programs HAZON FOOD CONFERENCE

December 28, 2016 – January 1, 2017 Isabella Freedman Join the thinkers and doers of the Jewish Food Movement for four days of inspiration and fun. Expert cooking demonstrations and DIY projects, fun kid and family activities, a brilliant Chanukah, rocking New Year’s party and delicious, consciously-prepared food.

RABBIS' RETREAT

February 21-23, 2017 Isabella Freedman Rest, renew, and learn as we create a healthier and more sustainable paradigm for rabbinic leadership.

ROMEMU KABBALAH LEARNING INSTITUTE

February 24-26, 2017 Isabella Freedman

Learn the rhyme and reason of Kabbalah, Judaism’s ancient map of the essential nature of reality, with Rabbi David Ingber of NYC’s renowned Jewish Renewal community.

LGBTQ & ALLY TEEN SHABBATON

March 3-5, 2017 Isabella Freedman

Join Keshet and Hazon for a weekend of fun, community and learning for and by Jewish LGBTQ and ally teens! Meet new friends, learn about LGBTQ organizing and identities, and celebrate Shabbat with a warm, vibrant community of LGBTQ and ally teens and adults.

SAN DIEGO RIDE

April 2, 2017 Coastal Roots Farm, Encinitas, CA The first Hazon Ride in San Diego will launch from Coastal Roots Farm in Encinitas. This day-long, fully-supported ride will take riders through the coastal beaches and inland paved trails, culminating in a group lunch and celebration at the farm, including an interactive marketplace of local, sustainable vendors.

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PASSOVER AT ISABELLA FREEDMAN

April 10-19, 2017 Isabella Freedman

Spend the holiday with family and community, enjoy gourmet kosher for Passover food, inspiring seders, and the beauty of the Berkshires.

SHAVUOT RETREAT

May 30 – June 2, 2017 Isabella Freedman Join us for a musical celebration of revelation that includes allnight learning, sunrise shacharit, Adamah Foods, a midnight hike to the top of the mountain, a pilgrimage parade with costumes and goats, outdoor fun for kids, and more.

CAMP ISABELLA FREEDMAN

July 10-23, 2017 Isabella Freedman

Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center has been offering annual summer camp experiences for senior adults since 1956. We are honored to continue this tradition by providing you with a warm and welcoming atmosphere for one of the best summer vacations you’ll ever have.

LET MY PEOPLE SING!

August 3-6, 2017 Isabella Freedman

Join us for a weekend of song sharing and learning. Together, we will sing and share a wide array of Jewish song traditions, inclusive of the full range of Jewish ancestry and religious practices.

HAZON RIDE & RETREAT

September 1-4, 2017 Isabella Freedman

Join the People of the Bike for our annual fully-supported ride and retreat. This exciting, diverse community Shabbat and cycling experience is open for people of all cycling levels and ages.

Visit hazon.org/calendar for a complete list of upcoming events! #JICC #intentionalcommunity • Jewish Intentional Communities Conference 7

Shabbat with Hazon Hazon strives to create an inclusive community throughout all of our events. As such, Shabbat can be a complicated time, since our participants come from all backgrounds and have a variety of personal customs. For some, this may be their first time experiencing Shabbat; others may follow the letter of law regarding Shabbat each week. In crafting our Shabbat schedule, we have tried to create programming that will be of interest to all, and have three minyanim (prayer services) to choose from. Feel free to participate in programs which you are accustomed to, or use this weekend to try something new – a new service, a new custom, or a new perspective.

A DAY OF REST Shabbat is called a day of rest. The fourth of the Ten Commandments states, “For six days you shall labor and do all your work.

But the seventh day is a Sabbath… you shall not do any work.” Aside from doing physical work, people traditionally abstain from many different things including using the telephone, turning on and off lights, cooking, using the computer, listening to or playing music, swimming, and writing.

CANDLE LIGHTING All Jewish holidays begin at sunset, thus Shabbat begins at sundown on Friday night. We mark the transition from the work week to Shabbat with the lighting of candles. This is a way to welcome in Shabbat, reflect on the past week and prepare for a day of rest before the week begins again.

FRIDAY NIGHT SERVICES Friday night services traditionally open with Kabbalat Shabbat (lit. welcoming the Sabbath). This is a collection of Psalms, often recited in song and joy, especially the culminating poem Lekha Dodi, which ends with the welcoming of the Sabbath Bride.

We have three evening prayer service options to choose from.

FRIDAY NIGHT DINNER We will start dinner by singing Shalom Aleichem, a poem welcoming angels into our midst. Friday night dinner officially begins with the Kiddush, the blessing over wine and the sanctification of the Day. The next stage is Hamotzi, a blessing over bread, but before that many people will ritually wash their hands. It is customary not to talk between hand washing and the blessing over bread. After Hamotzi the meal begins. Shabbat meals are often filled with song, and we hope you will join us in singing or follow along in the songbooks on the tables. We will end with Birkat HaMazon, Grace after Meals.

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MORNING SERVICES In Saturday morning services we read a portion from the Torah, which rotates each week. At this point in the annual cycle we are reading Parsha Toldot, which tells the story of Jacob and Esav. There are three options for Morning Services: Orthodox, Traditional Egalitarian, and Renewal.

SHABBAT DAY During Saturday lunch we make another blessing over wine and bread and conclude with Grace after Meals. We will start lunch with the blessing over bread, done individually or by table. Because cooking is considered work, typical Shabbat lunch meals include cold food, and cholent (a stew that is left on the stove to simmer during Shabbat).

HAVDALLAH Havdallah, (lit. separation), marks the end of Shabbat and the start of the new week. Havdallah is done as soon as three stars are visible in the sky. The rituals of Havdallah include blessings over drinking wine, smelling spices, seeing a flame of a candle, and a blessing on separation.

Havdallah is intended to require a person to use all five senses: tasting wine, smelling spices, seeing fire and feeling its heat, and hearing blessings.

SERVICE LEADERS Davening will be led by Rabbi Avram Mlotek from Base Hillel (Orthodox), Rabbi Jessica Kate Meyer from Romemu (Renewal), and Avi Garelick, an alumnus of Hadar (Traditional Egalitarian).

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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1 2:00-6:00 PM Check-In Check in, get a schedule, and find out your housing assignment.

6:00-7:00 PM Dinner and Welcome

Great Hall

Dining Room

7:00- 8:00 PM Building a Conference Community Synagogue James Grant-Rosenhead (Habonim Dror), Adam Segulah Sher (Hazon), Meredith Levick (Hazon), and Rachel Aronson (Hazon) As a whole group, we will meet one another, establish group norms, and get oriented to this weekend and to Isabella Freedman.

8:00-9:30 PM Principles, Practices & Perspectives in Jewish Intentional Communities Great Hall Liz Fisher (Repair the World), Kate Re (Teva), Yasaf Warshai (Habonim Dror), and Mira Menyuk (Pearlstone) Moderated by Shamu Sadeh (Adamah) Learn from leaders in the world of short-term intentional communities about building sustainable communities committed to social justice.

9:30 PM A Community Story Slam Join storytellers and intentional community members for a Moth-style story slam about life in community. A sign-up sheet is available at guest services.

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Great Hall

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2 7:00-8:00 AM Avodat Lev Red Yurt Avodat Lev brings us together for meditation, chanting, and creative sharing. We begin the day in silent meditation, then find our collective voice, chanting short phrases from Shacharit (the traditional morning liturgy) to open our hearts to heal ourselves, each other, our communities, and our world.

Yoga Wake your body by stretching and breathing. This class is open to all levels.

8:00-9:00 AM Breakfast

Beige Yurt

Dining Room

9:30-10:45 AM Post-Election America: What Does This Mean for Jewish Intentional Communities?

Synagogue Nigel Savage This morning session will be an opportunity to have a hopeful, honest, and open conversation about how the presidential election in the United States may affect you personally and you collectively. This is a landmark moment in our national history, and it's essential for us to have a space to explore this prior to digging deeper into the short-term to mid-term Jewish intentional community models.

10:45-11:00 AM Break 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM Exploring Together: Models of Short-Term Jewish Intentional Community Today, we’ll learn from each of the short-term intentional community models. These experiential sessions will explore the successes, challenges, and learnings from Adamah, Repair the World, Pearlstone Center, Teva, Moishe House, Habonim Dror, and Avodah.

Adamah Zev Chana and Janna Siller

Library

Habonim Dror Yasaf Warshai Repair the World Sarah Garfinkel and Rebecca Katz 12:30-1:30 PM Lunch

Synagogue

Great Hall

Dining Room

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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2 1:30-2:45 PM Teva Chelsea Elena, Elan Margulies, and Kate Re Avodah Eliana Golding and Sasha Raskin-Yin Moishe House Eden Banarie, Ben Greenfield, Talia Kahan, and Kesher Zabell-Spears

Synagogue Library Great Hall

2:45 PM Break to Prepare for Shabbat 4:00 PM Candle Lighting Great Hall Welcome Shabbat with singing and candle lighting. Shabbat officially begins at 4:05 PM. 4:30-6:00 PM Kabbalat Shabbat services (Friday evening prayer) Orthodox Synagogue Led by Rabbi Avram Mlotek Sing and pray in an uplifting, traditional, Hebrew evening service. There will be separate seating for men and women.

Traditional Egalitarian Library Led by Avi Garelick In a synergy of traditional and progressive practice, people of all gender identities and expressions enjoy full participation in a complete service and Torah reading, and a good dose of great melodies.

Renewal Red Yurt Led by Rabbi Jessica Kate Meyer Experience a "four worlds" model of prayer, engaging body, heart, mind, and spirit. The service focuses deeply on core phrases and themes from the traditional service, rather than using the entire liturgy. Amplification and musical instruments including guitar & drums may be utilized to support a joyous, creative prayer experience.

6:00-7:30 PM Dinner

Dining Room

7:30-8:45 PM Building Mission-Driven Communities Great Hall David Cygielman (Moishe House) and Cheryl Cook (Avodah), moderated by Nigel Savage Many Jewish young adults experience short-term intentional community. What makes those communities successful? What are the challenges? David Cygielman and Cheryl Cook will share thoughts on building mission-driven communities for thousands of people.

8:45 PM Shabbat Tisch: Creating Jewish Practice in Intentional Community Join us Shabbat evening for singing, Torah, and spiritual community building.

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Synagogue

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3 7:00-8:00 AM Yoga Wake your body by stretching and breathing. This class is open to all levels.

8:00-9:00 AM Breakfast

Beige Yurt

Dining Room

9:00-10:00 AM Torah Study with Nigel Savage

Library

10:00 AM - 12:30 PM Shacharit (Shabbat morning service) Orthodox Synagogue Led by Rabbi Avram Mlotek Sing and pray in an uplifting, traditional, Hebrew morning service. There will be separate seating for men and women.

Traditional Egalitarian Library Led by Avi Garelick In a synergy of traditional and progressive practice, people of all gender identities and expressions enjoy full participation in a complete service and Torah reading, and a good dose of great melodies.

Renewal Red Yurt Led by Rabbi Jessica Kate Meyer Experience a "four worlds" model of prayer, engaging body, heart, mind, and spirit. The service focuses deeply on core phrases and themes from the traditional service, rather than using the entire liturgy.

A Renewal Torah service provides spiritual intentions for each of the aliyot that are read, inviting anyone who wishes to express that intention to come up for that aliyah. Amplification and musical instruments including guitar & drums may be utilized to support a joyous, creative prayer experience.

12:30-2:00 PM Lunch

Dining Room

2:00-3:30 PM JOFEE activities Meet outside Arts & Crafts Take a tour of the Adamah farm or hike up to the overlook for a view across the beautiful Berkshires.

3:30 PM Break 3:45-5:15 PM Hakhel: Inspiration from Israel & Lessons Learned from Hazon's Community Incubator Great Hall Gabe Axler (Pnima), Rabbi Debbie Bravo (MAKOM NY), Morriah Kaplan (Habonim Dror), and Aharon Ariel Lavi (MAKOM [The National Council of Mission-Driven Communities] / consultant to Hazon), Moderated by Meredith Levick (Hazon) What can we learn from kibbutzim, moshavim, and other Israeli intentional communities? In this session, representatives from Israeli communities and from Hakhel, Hazon’s intentional communities incubator, will share lessons learned. #JICC #intentionalcommunity • Jewish Intentional Communities Conference 13

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3 5:15-6:00 PM Havdallah Simcha Halpert-Hanson

Great Hall

6:00-7:30 PM Community Bridging Great Hall Planning for this conference long preceded the presidential election, but we find ourselves clearly at an inflection point in recent U.S. history. Considering our experience here of community and celebrating Shabbat together, we are moving into this facilitated exercise as an opportunity to reflect on our post-election world and how to create solutions and glean lessons. As a whole retreat group, we will engage in a facilitated exercise in mapping the many models of Jewish intentional community as an ecosystem – examining how various styles of community each contribute to the larger, interconnected world of intentional community at a time when community is essential.

7:30-8:30 PM Dinner

Dining Room

8:30-9:20 PM Panel: From an Experience in Life to a Life Experience Great Hall Melanie Kessler and Craig Oshkello (Living Tree Alliance), William and Malya Levin (ACRe), Roger Studley (Berkley Moshav and Urban Moshav), and Casey Yurow (Pearlstone) Moderated by Rabbi Jessica Kate Meyer (Romemu) After life in a short-term community, what comes next? During this session, we will hear from three different long-term intentional communities about the benefits and struggles of community life. We will leave with the real possibility of joining these communities and building our own.

9:30 PM Alliance Colony Reboot: Homesteading in a New Era Great Hall William and Malya Levin In 1892, a group of Russian Jews emigrated to south New Jersey and founded the Alliance Colony, the first Jewish agricultural society in North America. Today, William Levin, descendant of the original settlers, and his wife Malya, have purchased the homestead and 50 acres of the historic farmland and are launching ACRe, Alliance Colony Reboot. Learn about this rich history and how you can apply to pioneer a new era.

Living Tree Alliance: Multigenerational Eco Community in Vermont Red Yurt Melanie Kessler and Craig Oshkello Living Tree Alliance is a multigenerational, ecological community inspired by the Jewish tenet of Tikkun Olam. We help to establish conditions in our residential community, schools, congregations and families that foster spiritual awareness, inspire wise use of our land, and teach nonviolent relationship in the service of peace, sustainability, and respect. Our threefold initiative includes: a rural cohousing community, a working organic farm and homestead, and an enrichment program that provides experiential education in land stewardship, homesteading, and environmental responsibility. Join us in an exercise to determine shared values and agreements. This replicable process offers communities a chance to understand how a group can agree on a common value, but not agree on the lengths to which each person would go to express this value. Where do you draw the line?

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SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3 9:30 PM Urban Moshav: Creating Jewish Cohousing in Berkeley and Beyond Library Roger Studley Cohousing is a form of intentional neighborhood, with extensive common facilities, where residents know their neighbors well and engage deeply in community life. In Jewish cohousing, neighbors engage through Jewish ritual, study, and culture, creating a milieu in which daily life is infused with Jewish life and where Jewish literacy, tradition, and values can flourish. Urban Moshav is a non-profit partner that turns this vision into reality, helping with the many logistical challenges of creating Jewish cohousing. Come hear what we’re doing in Berkeley and how we can help create Jewish cohousing where you live.

Pearlstone's Moshav: Visioning the Intersection of Temporary and Long-term Community Synagogue Casey Yurow, Michal Wetzler, and Mira Menyuk The Pearlstone Center is Baltimore’s kosher farm-to-table retreat center and a national leader of the Jewish Outdoor Food, Farming, and Environmental Education movement (JOFEE). Pearlstone just completed a new master plan for its beautiful 164-acre campus, which will include a multigenerational Moshav community. In this session, we'll share the current vision for the Moshav, as well as explore some of the possible synergies between the Moshav and the broader community at Pearlstone.

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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 4 7:00-8:00 AM Avodat Lev Red Yurt Avodat Lev brings us together for meditation, chanting, and creative sharing. We begin the day in silent meditation, then find our collective voice, chanting short phrases from Shacharit (the traditional morning liturgy) to open our hearts to heal ourselves, each other, our communities, and our world.

Yoga Wake your body by stretching and breathing. This class is open to all levels.

8:00-9:00 AM Breakfast

Beige Yurt

Dining Room

9:00-10:00 AM Tabling Fair Great Hall Presenters and partner organizations from the weekend will share more about their programs.

Learn how you can get involved.

10:00-11:30 AM Open Space Synagogue During this lay-led time block, participants create and manage their own agenda. We will decide which questions about intentional community are most important to us, then congregate into small groups to lead and explore discussions around topics of our own choosing.

11:30 AM - 12:00 PM Bringing it Home Great Hall The conference is over, but our commitment to community remains. Reflect on the community we have built in this conference, and what we are taking back with us as we return home today.

12:00 PM Lunch

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Dining Room

JOIN HAZON FOR THE 3RD JEWISH INTENTIONAL COMMUNITIES TOUR IN ISRAEL Coming soon in 2017!

“My relationship to Israel is transformed – hands down transformed. The Jewish value of diversity, and the variety of experiences that exist inside the Jewish world and in this country, is remarkable to me. I really have a far deeper appreciation, respect, and want to be a bridge for communication to people who don’t know what really happens, on the ground, in Israeli society, day in and day out, with the pressures that people live with here."

Hazon's tour of Jewish intentional communities in Israel intends to provide participants with an opportunity to: • Develop a broad understanding of what an intentional community is and how it is both historically and currently a foundational model of living in Jewish life • Visit a diverse cross-section of intentional communities • Gain concrete community building skills • Reflect on the nuances of Israeli society and how to apply those learnings to your community at home • Connect with other engaged community builders who are building a network at large and strengthening this dialogue around how to practice and live Jewishly in contemporary terms

JEWISH INSPIRATION. SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES.

For more info about pricing and logistics, please contact meredith.levick@hazon.org.

Presenter Bios Rachel Aronson is an educator, dialogue facilitator, and nature lover living in Brooklyn. She is the Sustainability & Community Engagement Fellow at Hazon. She comes to Hazon and JOFEE from Resetting the Table, where she worked to open conversation about Israel across difference on college campuses. She has worked on a community farm, lived in an environmental co-op, and planted gardens on her fire escape to bridge her passions for building community and being around fresh-grown vegetables. Rachel is a former Emerson National Hunger Fellow and has a Bachelor of Arts in cultural anthropology and environmental studies from the University of Vermont.

Gab Axler is originally from Chicago. He moved to Be’er Sheva 6 years ago to help found a pluralistic intentional community called Beerot.

Beerot has 40 family members, meets every Shabbat and holiday, and is involved in the local school and other projects. Professionally, Gabe runs a social enterprise called P’nima in the field of educational tourism, connecting groups from Israel and abroad to the work being done by intentional communities across Israel.

Eden Banarie is Moishe House’s Senior Regional Director: West, overseeing the houses in the Northwestern, Southwestern, and Southern regions. Eden is an alumna of Moishe House LA – West Hollywood, and a member of the first cohort of the Moishe House Ignite Fellowship. Eden previously worked as the Youth Engagement Coordinator at Jewish World Watch, working with student activists to end genocide and mass atrocities. She received her BA in Business and MBA in Nonprofit Management from American Jewish University in Los Angeles. Eden can often be found attending Jewish community events throughout southern California, searching for the perfect breakfast burrito, or checking out cool new spots in the wonderful city of Los Angeles.

Rabbi Deborah Bravo is the spiritual leader and founder of Makom NY: A New Kind of Jewish Community, seeking to reach the unaffiliated and unengaged Jew in suburban Long Island. Prior to creating Makom NY, Rabbi Bravo served synagogues in Syosset, NY, Edison, NJ, Short Hills, NJ and in Washington DC. Ordained from HUC-JIR in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1998, Rabbi Bravo also holds a Master in Education from Xavier University. She is in the current Rabbis Without Borders Cohort, and a member of the Hakhel 2nd Incubator Cohort. She and her husband David now reside in Woodbury, NY with their two children, Samuel, 13, and Sophie, 10.

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Cheryl Cook joined Avodah as the Executive Director at the beginning of 2015 and has over twenty five years of leadership experience as a manager, fundraiser, and program planner in the Jewish community.

She’s worked across the innovative sector of the Jewish community – at Hazon, Makor, New Israel Fund, JESNA, Hillel, and the 92nd Street Y – and is proud to lead Avodah’s work shaping Jewish leaders to be social changemakers. Cheryl is passionate about creating a vibrant Jewish community that opens doors, engages people from across all backgrounds and plays a significant role in making the world a more just and caring place for everyone.

Aside from her professional work, Cheryl serves on the board of PS/MS 282 PTO. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and their two sons within an incredible village of family and friends.

Zev Chana is the Adamah Apprentice and Barnyard Manager at Isabella Freedman. Zev is from Albany, NY. Zev arrived as an Adamahnik in the fall of 2014, and fell in love with the work, the community and the seasons at Adamah. Zev loves dirt, the woods, the goats, renewed Jewish ritual and text study, and harvesting their meals.

David Cygielman is the founder and CEO of Moishe House. He has been a non-profit innovator since high school when he started Feed the Need, a nationally recognized homeless feeding organization.

While attending the University of California at Santa Barbara, David served as the Hillel Student President and later the Executive Director of the Forest Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to helping college and high school students develop leadership qualities while following their passions. Through his work in the Jewish community, David has garnered many honors including the Avi Chai Fellowship, the JCSA Young Leadership Award, and the Bernard Reisman Award for Professional Excellence. In 2013, David was the recipient of UCSB Hillel’s inaugural Alumni Achievement Award. David graduated with honors from UCSB with a BA in Business Economics. When he’s out of the office, David enjoys playing basketball, spending time with friends, and traveling to destinations with no dress code.

David currently lives in Charlotte, North Carolina with his wife Myka and their dog Binx.

Chelsea Elena is a Teva Educator. During the year, she is an urban farmer and prolific knitter in the great city of Philadelphia. As of now, she is excited to get back into the forest and make nature her home.

She enjoys dystopian fiction, historical fiction and fantasy. Nothing excites her like the idea of a road trip. She recently got a bike for the first time since her childhood and has greatly enjoyed all the padded short options and urban explorations it has opened up for her.

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Presenter Bios Elizabeth (Liz) Fisher is the Chief Operating Officer at Repair the World, where she is responsible for overseeing all of the organization’s development, communications, finance, operations, and human resources. Prior to Repair the World, Liz was Managing Director at NEXT: A Division of Birthright Israel Foundation, where she led the organization in strategy, operations, and talent management. Liz began her career in grassroots community development in rural Missouri.

She moved into working in the Jewish community with roles at the Jewish Federation of St. Louis, UJA-Federation of New York, and The Jewish Education Project. Liz’s passion is the role of people in organizational life. She loves working with partners, lay leaders, and professional staff. Liz has a Master of Social Work degree from Washington University in St. Louis with a focus in community development and management and is a Schusterman Fellow. She is a fan of Brooklyn (where she lives with her husband and two children), an amateur runner and bread baker, and an avid reader of periodicals.

Avi Garelick is the director of the Ivry Prozdor Hebrew High School at JTS, and the founder of a communal school in Washington Heights.

He has been leading davening for his entire adult life, in communities in Berkeley, Chicago, and New York, and is a proud alumnus of the Yeshivat Hadar education fellowship. He is excited to learn more about people’s efforts to establish communal norms for conflict management.

Sarah Garfinkel is a Repair the World NYC Fellow. Sarah worked as a writing tutor at the UC Davis Student Academic Success Center. She graduated from UC Davis with a major in Spanish and minors in Human development, English, and Education. She has worked as a camp counselor in Germany and Hawaii. Her experiences working with second language learners, children with disabilities, and underrepresented and first generation college students have motivated her to serve as a fellow. She also volunteers as a Special Olympics swim coach.

Eliana Roberts Golding is a tenant organizer and community advocate based in Washington DC, where she was an Avodah Corps Member in 2013-2014. She spends her time organizing tenant associations and working to fight gentrification and displacement. She primarily identifies as a community organizer, friend, and relentless justice-seeker with a healthy sense of humor. Eliana lives in a co-op in Northwest DC, where she and her housemates build community around activism, potlucks, goofiness, and dancing. When not fighting the good fight, Eliana can be found singing, doing ceramics, or riding her bike in Rock Creek Park.

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James Grant-Rosenhead is a founding member of Kibbutz Mishol, the biggest urban kibbutz in Israel. James was born in Leeds, England, and became active as a Jewish Labor Zionist youth leader with Habonim Dror (HDUK) in 1990 after his first visit to Israel. Concerned for the future of the Jewish world and Israel, and inspired by the first urban kibbutzim, James made aliyah to Jerusalem in 1999 with Kvutzat Yovel, the first Anglo olim to build a thriving urban kibbutz. From 1999-2010 James led a worldwide transformation and renewal of Habonim Dror programs, education and ideology from their traditional kibbutz bases to social activist urban kvutzot. The result is a new adult movement of urban cooperative kvutzot including olim from around the world. Since 2010, James joined the leadership of ‘Tikkun’, building new native sabra activist kibbutzim in the socio-economic and geographic peripheries, and became a founder of ‘M.A.K.O.M.’ – the National Council of Mission Driven Communities in Israel.

James currently lives in NYC whilst serving as the Habonim Dror North America central shaliach, as a mentor for Hazon’s Hakhel and for Hillel’s Ezra Fellowship. James is married with three children.

Ben Greenfield is a current resident in Moishe House Upper West Side and final year student at YCT. He’s excited to help create warm, expressive, soul-and-boundary-pushing Jewish community on the UWS – and to find the occasional squash partner!

Talia Kahan is an avid intentional community junkie. Two months ago, she opened a Moishe House in Venice Beach. She’s lived at Herb Pharm in Oregon, Pachamama in Costa Rica, Gaia Sangha in Mar Vista, and Auroville in India. She is a Yoga teacher and Ayurvedic / Herbal Medicine practitioner. She owns a Tea Company called Allixer. Talia loves dancing, backpacking, philosophy, art, meditation, traveling, cooking, and rock climbing! She studied Integrative Health Studies at Pitzer College, and grew up in Jewish west Los Angeles.

Morriah Kaplan is a member of GariNYC, a two-year-old Jewish intentional community in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. She is a program manager at the NYC Department of Small Business Services, where she manages a business education program for women and minority business owners, as well as entrepreneurs in the creative industry. An alumna of Habonim Dror, the progressive Labor Zionist youth movement, she also volunteers as a trainer with the anti-occupation Jewish activist group, IfNotNow. Previously, Morriah graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in 2014, and completed the Coro Fellowship in Public Affairs in 2015. She enjoys spending time with her found family in Crown Heights, and thinking about how to build better communities and social movements.

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Presenter Bios Rebecca Katz recently joined Repair the World as their new Education and Training Manager. After six years away, Rebecca is excited to be back home in Brooklyn. Prior to Repair, Rebecca spent two years as the Director of Social Justice Initiatives at Texas Hillel in Austin, Texas, engaging UT students in different modes of social justice through a Jewish lens. However, before the heat of Austin, she learned to organize in the bitterly cold city of Chicago. Rebecca lead the Or Tzedekprogram at the Jewish Council in Urban Affairs, teaching Jewish teens to create systemic change in partnership with directly impacted communities.

Aharon Ariel Lavi is the founder of Garin Shuva, a mission-driven community bordering Gaza, and co-founder of the Nettiot Network which re-engages ba’alei teshuva into Israeli society. Additionally he is co-founder of MAKOM (The National Council of Mission-Driven Communities) and is a consultant to Hazon’s Jewish Intentional Communities Initiative. In 2013-14 Aharon was a Tikvah Fund fellow in New York. He lives with his wife Liat and their four children in Shuva.

Meredith Levick is the Associate Director of Education at Hazon. She values Jewish communal work as an opportunity to weave together her interests in building transformational learning experiences for a variety of populations and strengthening the collective Jewish community via innovation, adaptability, and thoughtful communication.

Meredith received her Master’s degree in Jewish education with a focus on experiential education from The Jewish Theological Seminary.

Additionally, she completed a Master’s concentration in Israel education via the iCenter.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature and Spanish from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Meredith lives in New York City with her husband, Danny, a fellow Jewish communal professional.

William Levin is the founder of ACRe (Alliance Colony Reboot). He was born and raised on the farm in Vineland, NJ, where his family have lived since founding Alliance Colony in 1892. Levin, a.k.a. the “Jewish Robot,” is the creator of Shabot 6000 and other educational content for Jewish organizations, and was a writer for the 2010 Shalom Sesame series. Known for his edgy and innovative work and his ability to create synergies in the Jewish community, Levin is now returning to his roots by creating ACRe. Malya Levin, wife and partner to William, is a lawyer admitted to the New York and New Jersey Bars. Malya is the Staff Attorney at the Weinberg Center for Elder Abuse Prevention at the Hebrew Home at Riverdale, the nation’s first emergency elder abuse shelter. In that capacity, she works to address the legal needs of older adults experiencing acute abuse, and writes and speaks extensively on the legal aspects of elder abuse prevention and intervention. This year, she has been working with William to birth and grow two new family additions, ACRe and one year old Sammy Lulav.

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Elan Margulies, Director of Teva at Hazon, aims to inspire joy and reverence for the natural world by introducing students to earth-based Jewish traditions and the wonders right outside their door. He has taught ecology at Eden Village Camp, the Student Conservation Association and the Cornell University Naturalist Outreach Program, led hikes in Israel, volunteered in the Kalahari Desert, worked for the US National Park Service, and directed a Jewish educational farm outside Chicago—where he learned that the best way to catch a goat is to run away from it. Before returning to Teva he pursued graduate studies in forest ecology at University of Michigan and The Hebrew University. In his free time, he enjoys finding wild edibles, brewing ginger beer and working with wood and metal.

Mira Menyuk studied at the New England school of Photography in Boston before getting bitten by the farming bug. She was an Urban Adamah fellow in the spring of 2013 before returning to her home state of Maryland to work at the Pearlstone Center, where she is entering her fourth year of involvement. Her work at the Pearlstone center has included full-year farming, volunteer coordination, kitchen work and currently running programs for kids and adults on the farm and in the fields and forest. Her passions include being outdoors in all weather, hiking, singing, and reading.

Rabbi Jessica Kate Meyer is part of the rabbinic team at Romemu.

She was ordained June 2014 by Hebrew College Rabbinical School.

She strives to build community through prayerful music, and music through prayerful community. During her rabbinic training she developed family programming for Temple Beth Zion in Brookline, MA, interned for a Masorti community in Tel Aviv, and directed leadership programs for the non-profit organization Encounter, in Jerusalem. Jessica has performed as a vocalist with Hankus Netsky, Frank London, and Yuval Ron, and studied and performed sacred Jewish music with rabbis and paytanim while living in Jerusalem. After graduating from Wellesley College with a degree in Middle Eastern Studies, Jessica pursued graduate theater training in London, and appeared in many film, theater, and television projects in Europe and the United States: most notably, as a principal role in Roman Polanski’s The Pianist.

Rabbi Avram Mlotek is a co-founder of Base, a home-based model for Jewish outreach that focuses on hospitality, learning and service.

The Forward recently listed him as one of America’s “Most Inspiring Rabbis” and in 2012, he was recognized by The Jewish Week as one of the “leading innovators in Jewish life today” as part of their “36 Under 36” Section. Mlotek served as a rabbi in training at The Carlebach Shul, The Hebrew Institute of Riverdale, The Educational Alliance and Hunter College Hillel. His writings have appeared in The Forward, Tablet, Haaretz, The Jerusalem Post, The Jewish Week, and The Huffington Post. A native Yiddish speaker, Avram is the grandson of noted Yiddish song collectors and Holocaust refugees. He is married to Yael Kornfeld and proud Tati to Revaya and Hillel Yosl. #JICC #intentionalcommunity • Jewish Intentional Communities Conference 23

Presenter Bios Craig Oshkello, MLA, founding member and current resident of Living Tree Alliance has spent nearly two decades advocating alternative models of land ownership as a means for revitalizing our shared connections to the living landscape. Craig has presented at the JICC each of the past three years and joined first Hakhel trip to Israel in the spring of 2015. He lived with his family in a farm centered community for 13 years before moving to the house he is building at LTA this fall.

Sasha Raskin-Yin has been the New York Program Director at Avodah since 2015. She supports the development of Jewish leaders through Avodah’s combination of Jewish and social justice learning, communal living, and direct service work at anti-poverty non-profits. Helping young people connect their Judaism to social justice work has long been Sasha’s dream, which she arrived at by way of organizing, community-building, and study. She has organized with Jews for Racial and Economic Justice and for LGBTQ causes, worked in college access at Goddard Riverside Community Center, and studied white Jewish immigration, assimilation, and settler colonialism in the US at the New School for Social Research. Sasha’s self-care practices include walking around NYC, drinking tea, and defending the often-maligned regions of New Jersey and Queens.

Kate Re, Associate Director of Teva, works with the team as they bring transformative Jewish nature experiences to early childhood through adult participants. She holds a BFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and has a professional background in Jewish environmental teaching and management. She is a passionate advocate for all things natural, sustainable, and community oriented.

Nigel Savage, originally from Manchester, England, founded Hazon in 2000, with a Cross-USA Jewish Environmental Bike Ride. Since then, Hazon has grown the range and impact of its work in each successive year; today it has more than 60 staff, based in New York City, at Hazon’s Isabella Freedman campus, and in other locations across the country.

Hazon plays a unique role in renewing American Jewish life and creating a healthier and more sustainable world for all.

Nigel has spoken, taught, or written for a wide and significant range of audiences. (A selection of his essays are at hazon.org/nigel). He has twice been named a member of the Forward 50, the annual list of the 50 most influential Jewish people in the United States, and is a recipient of the Bernard Reisman Award. In 2015 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Jewish Theological Seminary.

Before founding Hazon, Nigel was a professional fund manager in London, where he worked for NM Rothschild and was co-head of UK Equities at Govett. He has an MA in History from Georgetown, and has learned at Pardes, Yakar, and the Hebrew University.

He was a founder of Limmud NY, and serves on the board of Romemu.

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Shamu Fenyvesi Sadeh is the co-founder and director of Adamah.

He teaches Judaism and ecology, turns the compost piles, maintains the orchards, and supervises and mentors staff and Adamah Fellows.

His wife Jaimie and kids Yonah, Ibby and Lev keep the bees, help harvest and pickle, and DJ staff dance parties.

Adam Sher serves as the Managing Director of Retreats for Hazon, headquartered at Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center in Falls Village, CT. With a fantastic team, Adam produces over 70 events each year including holidays, training programs, spiritual retreats, family celebrations, and organizational retreats. Adam earned his Master’s degree in Transformative Education from Antioch University Seattle, and his Bachelor’s degree in Noospheric Ecology from Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA. He lives in Falls Village with his son Eli, and wife Megan – whom he met at Isabella Freedman in 2007 when she staffed the Adamah Farm & Fellowship.

Janna Siller leads the Adamah crew in growing organic vegetables for CSA distribution, value-added production, Isabella Freedman food service, and donations, while maintaining the fields as resonant learning space for fellows and visitors. She teaches classes on practical farming and gardening skills as well as classes that explore the big picture systems, policies and issues that shape what we eat and how it is grown. Janna lives in Falls Village with her family- Arthur, Tzuf, and the cats.

Roger Studley is founder of Urban Moshav, a nonprofit development partner for Jewish cohousing, and convener of the Berkeley Moshav effort to create Jewish cohousing in Berkeley, CA. He and these projects were selected for the inaugural cohort of the Hahkel incubator of Jewish Intentional communities, on whose steering committee he now serves. He has been an organizer of previous JIC Conferences as well as multiple independent minyanim (including San Francisco’s pluralist Mission Minyan) and co-chaired a Hazon Food Conference. Roger is married to Rabbi Chai Levy of Congregation Kol Shofar and looks forward to moving into Berkeley Moshav with his family in the next few years.

Yasaf Warshai was born in Ann Arbor Michigan, and started attending Habonim Dror Camp Tavor in 2002. It was there that he fell in love with the idea of Jewish Intentional Community over the next fifteen summers of being a counselor, camper, and director. Yasaf graduated from Michigan State University in 2016 with a degree in Arts & Humanities and Religious Studies. Now as the Mazkir Klali (National Director) of Habonim Dror North America, he works in the central office in Brooklyn to bring those same values of Jewish Intentionality and Social Justice to the next generation of Jewish leaders.

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Presenter Bios Michal Wetzler is from Kibbutz Kfar hachoresh in Israel. In the IDF she was a combat engineer instructor. She has a B.ed in informal education, majoring in the history and nature of Israel. She owns a small tour guide business and has vast experience leading a wide range of groups, indoor and outdoor. She also ran a community forest project in her Kibbutz back home, to connect between the members of the community, and between the community to the forest and nature around. Now she is a “Shlicha” (emissary of the Jewish agency) in Pearlstone center. In her spare time she loves to hike, travel, dance and scuba-dive.

Casey Baruch Yurow currently serves as Program Director at the Pearlstone Center in Reisterstown, MD. Casey has held leadership roles in the field of Jewish outdoor, food, and environmental education for over ten years with the Teva Learning Center, Urban Adamah, Wilderness Torah, and Eden Village Camp. Casey believes deeply in the power of nature connection and hands-on learning to revitalize healthy human culture and community. He earned a B.Sc in Environmental Science from the University of Maryland and spent two years studying in yeshiva in Israel. When not at work, Casey can be found building mandolins, hiking, gardening, cooking, and inviting friends over for spirited, song-filled Shabbat meals. Casey lives with his wife Rivka outside of Baltimore and he looks forward to co-creating a new Moshav on the Pearlstone Center campus, speedily in our days.

Kesher (Rayenbo) Zabell- Spears is an alum of Moishe House Cleveland, co’s* first experience of intentional community living, which gave Kesher the desire to delve deeper into sharing day-to-day life with like-minded individuals. Since living in MHCle, Rayenbo has been living in ICs, including seven communities of the Federation of Egalitarian Communities (FEC). Kesher has worked extensively with the FEC and through this work with the FEC as the Rainbow Intern, co excitedly participated in 2014’s JICC. Co is a frequent MH retreat participant and a consistent Moishe House Without Walls host. As a currently wandering communard, Rayenbo sees this conference as an opportunity to network and discover potentially future homes. *Co: Gender neutral pronoun. Co/co/cos. derived from words such as: community member, communard, co-creator, comrade and communitarian.

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Notes

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Notes

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Thank you!

Special thanks to: • Everyone who presented or taught a session or otherwise shared their expertise with the community.

• Pearlstone Center, Repair the World, Moishe House, Avodah, Habonim Dror, Avodah, and Teva for their creativity and commitment in partnering on this conference.

• To our inspiring spiritual leaders: Rabbi Jessica Kate Meyer, Rabbi Avram Mlotek, and Avi Garelick.

• Aharon Ariel Lavi and James Grant-Rosenhead, for their visionary leadership in building the Hakhel community.

• The Isabella Freedman operations, food service, and programming staff for their dedicated, hard work to make this weekend smooth, meaningful, comfortable, and delicious.

• Jaclyn Schwanemann and Nachshon Ben-Tzion for their patience and support in getting everyone registered for the conference.

• The Hazon staff for their unwavering commitment to creating healthier and more sustainable Jewish communities.

• All of you, for participating in this conference and in the growing movement for Jewish Intentional Community.

Thanks to the Advisory Committee: Rachel Aronson, Hazon Danielle Gach, Repair the World Rachel Glicksman, Repair the World James Grant-Rosenhead, Habonim Dror North America/ Hazon consultant Aharon Ariel Lavi, MAKOM/ Hazon consultant Meredith Levick, Hazon Sasha Raskin-Yin, Repair the World Adam Segulah Sher, Hazon Nina Wanerman, Yahel Yasaf Warshai, Habonim Dror Casey Yurow, Pearlstone Sara Zebovitz, Habonim Dror

Thanks to the Eco-Mapping Committee: Rachel Aronson, Hazon Rebecca Bloomfield, Adamah/ Hazon Meredith Levick, Hazon Craig Oshkello, Living Tree Alliance Adam Sher, Hazon Roger Studley, Berkeley Moshav & Urban Moshav Casey Yurow, Pearlstone

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Get social!

This is a unique opportunity to share the work we’re collectively doing, and continue connecting after the conference.

We encourage you to post pictures, videos, and content while you're here, to help generate energy for our movement.

Be sure to use these two hashtags so people can search for / link to your posts, both from within the conference and throughout wider intentional community networks:

#JICC #intentionalcommunity @hazonvision @hazon @hazon @isabellafreedman If you are not on social media but would still like to share your pictures, email photos to jon.leiner@hazon.org.