Please join me for a healing 49-day spiritual journey toward Rosh HaShanah.
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What a year it’s been, and what a time we continue to be in!
In this eight session group, we’ll share our stories and hopes, and engage together in the art of teshuvah (turning or returning). And we’ll explore the process of Omer HaTeshuvah (the Omer of returning), marking the 49 days leading up to Rosh HaShanah.
We’ll use chant and poetry to enhance the journey, try out new and ancient practices, draw on rich kabbalistic imagery, and mine the wisdom of our individual and collective neshamas (souls).
Most of all, we’ll turn our attention mindfully toward our most loving and beloved selves, toward each other, and toward a more just and loving world.
Tuesdays. 7/28/2020 – 9/15/2020
The first week will include an introduction to Omer HaTeshuvah, a 49-day practice you can use to enrich the teshuvah process during these weeks.
Register for the full eight sessions, including the introduction, here.
Interested, but not ready to sign up for the full eight weeks?
Register for the introductory session only.
All sessions will take place at the following time.
5:00-6:15pm EDT
4:00-5:15pm CDT
3:00-4:15pm MDT
2:00- 3:15pm PDT
11:00am-12:15pm HST
Is there a fee?
There is no fee for this class. However, a voluntary donation of $36 – $72 will be requested prior to the class to support the work of Rapha and its teachers.
Registration
Omer HaTeshuvah registration site
After you register, and before the class begins, you’ll receive a link to access the sessions.
What’s Omer HaTeshuvah?
For many years I’ve engaged in a practice of “counting” the 49 days between Tisha B’av, a time when we grieve destruction, and Rosh HaShanah, when we honor the re-birth and renewal of the self, and the world, through the process of teshuvah (turning, or returning.) I refer to this practice as Omer HaTeshuvah, the Omer of returning. I’m eager to share the journey this year through this eight week group.
Omer HaTeshuvah is a mirror of the spring practice of counting the Omer, the days from Passover, the season of liberation, to Shavuot, the festival of receiving wisdom from Torah. Just as the Omer was originally a spring harvest observance, Omer HaTeshuvah is a time to nurture and harvest the lessons of a different season, one of tending to our relationships with others, with ourselves, with the Divine.
I first learned of this idea from Reb Zalman Schachter Shalomi (z’l) in the summer of 2006, and it has resonated with me ever since. Over the years, I’ve shared the practice through teaching, and through poetic meditations that can serve as a guidepost on the journey.
Want to learn more, but aren’t sure about doing the eight week group?
Join us on Tuesday, July 28, for an introduction to Omer HaTeshuvah!
We’ll draw on the rich kabbalistic imagery of the sefirot (divine aspects evoked in the counting of the Omer); the words of the prophet Isaiah, which are traditionally read during these seven weeks; and the wisdom of our individual and collective neshamas.
We’ll engage in body, mind, and spirit, using chant and poetry to enhance our time together. And we’ll turn mindfully toward our most loving and beloved selves, as well as a more just and loving world.
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