Your Shul By The SeaTemple Beth-El
of City Island
Your Shul By The Sea
Rabbi Shohama Wiener, D.Min.
Reb David Evan Markus
Paul Klein, President
http://www.yourshulbythesea.org

Contact

Paul Klein - President 
Temple Beth-El of City Island 
shohama2012@gmail.com 
917-841-9317 

When

Friday May 4, 2012 at 7:30 PM EDT
-to-
Sunday May 6, 2012 at 1:00 PM EDT

Add to my calendar 

"Gems of Holiness" Weekend Schedule
Prayer, Learning, Song & Celebration

 

Friday  - May 4th
at Temple Beth-El of City Island
7:30 pm - Kabbalat Shabbat Service

To Follow - Celebratory Oneg

Saturday - May 5th
at Temple Beth-El of City Island
9:00 am - Torah Study
10:00 am -  Shabbat Shacharit Service
12:00 pm -  Luncheon

Saturday - May 5th
at The Pelham/Split Rock Golf Course
7:00 pm - 78th Anniversary Gala Dinner-Dance
Honoring Rabbi Shohama Wiener,
Violet Smith & Aimee Breen
Reception, Cocktail Hour, Dinner and Open Bar
Live Entertainment by the Lickety Split Band

Sunday - May 6th
at Temple Beth- El of City Island
9:30 am - Chant Circle
10:15 am - Learning with Senior Clergy  of Reclaiming Judaism - Rabbis Shohama Wiener and Goldie Milgram
12:00 pm - Brunch

Cost for All Events including Dinner/Dance= $180.00
Dinner/Dance Only = $75.00 


IF UNABLE TO ATTEND, PLEASE SUPPORT RABBI SHOHAMA'S WORK
CLICK HERE TO DONATE!

.

Where

Temple Beth-El of City Island 
480 City Island Avenue
(PO Box 188)
Bronx, NY 10464 

 
Driving Directions 

Where

The Pelham/Split Rock Golf Course
Dinner & Dance
870 Shore Road
Bronx, NY 10464

map 
Driving Directions 

Rabbi Shohama at Temple Beth -El

 

"GEMS OF HOLINESS" 
SHABBATON WEEKEND 
HONORING
RABBI SHOHAMA HARRIS WIENER, D.MIN.

Please join Rabbi Shohama Harris Wiener's community of family and friends at a Shabbaton Weekend of music, dance, prayer and learning. On Shabbat Kedoshim (The Sabbath of Holiness), we will celebrate Shohama's 70th birthday, 10 years of service at Temple Beth-El of City Island, visionary leadership in spiritual direction (Hashpa'ah), service as Rosh Hashpa'ah  of ALEPH's Ordination Programs and Reclaiming Judaism, and 15 years as Dean and President of the Academy for Jewish Religion -- history's first female head of a Jewish seminary.

 

ABOUT OUR HONOREE:  Rabbi Shohama Profile

When Rabbi Shohama Wiener began her service at Temple Beth-El of City Island in 2002, she brought with her the fruits of two decades of leadership in the Jewish world.  As an author and editor, academician, composer of contemporary Jewish liturgical and spiritual music, and pioneer in the field of Jewish spirituality, Rabbi Shohama blends all of these skills in joy-filled and visionary service to the cause of Jewish renewal.
From 1986 to 2001, Rabbi Shohama led the nondenominational Academy for Jewish Religion, first as Dean and then President.  As the first woman to lead a rabbinic seminary in all of Jewish history, Rabbi Shohama helped AJR flourish and inaugurated a new era in trans-denominational rabbinical education. In 2004, just two years after starting in the City Island pulpit, Rabbi Shohama was named Rosh Hashpa'ah / Head of Spiritual Development for the ALEPH Ordination Programs, a trans-denominational "seminary without walls" that trains Rabbis, Cantors and Rabbinic Pastors to serve communities whose focus is Jewish spirituality.  Within ALEPH, Rabbi Shohama founded HASHPA'AH, a pioneering training and ordination program for Jewish spiritual directors (counselors). Today Rabbi Shohama serves on ALEPH's Academic Vaad (council) and consults for other seminaries wishing to bring spiritual direction resources to their students and ordination programs. At the same time, Rabbi Shohama also became Senior Clergy and Rosh Hashpa’ah for Reclaiming Judaism, an innovative non-profit organization dedicated to research and development of new programs, rituals and resources for meaningful Jewish living.
Rabbi Shohama is a graduate of Wellesley College and the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. She earned her rabbinic ordination from The Academy for Jewish Religion, her smicha as a Mashpi'ah Ruchanit  (Spiritual Director) from Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, founder of Jewish Renewal, and her D.Min. degree from New York Theological Seminary.
At the core of Rabbi Shohama's life is her large and extended family, cousins by the dozens. She is married to Dr. Alan Dattner, a pioneer in holistic dermatology, musician and spiritual teacher.  In their blended family, they delight in four wonderful adult children and their partners, and six precious grandchildren.

When asked for a quote, Rabbi Shohama replied, "At the end of the day, the question is whether I made people feel valued and nurtured, and whether I brought more holiness and  happiness into the world. I hope so."

WORDS FROM OUR HONOREE: 
Dear Family and Friends,
How can I express my joy at the way you are coming forth to help me transition into this new and awesome decade of my life? How blessed I feel! Seventy is a grand time to look back, and to look forward. Looking back, I treasure all the relationships in my life and only regret that I didn’t have more time for each one of you.  God has surely blessed me with opportunities for service beyond imagining.
I see that dreams I seeded thirty years ago have become mainstream, a Judaism that includes meditative practices and personal rituals, a Judaism that tends to the heart and soul of each person seeking to express his or her unique qualities.  I’ve been privileged to help form a new brand of education for clergy--inclusive seminaries that train rabbis who can sing, and cantors who can teach.  Seminaries that train clergy in the realms of heart and soul as well as text and ritual. For the last fifteen years I have focused on developing the field of Jewish spiritual counseling, also called Spiritual Direction. Now it is becoming widely known and sought after, by people yearning for a closer experience of the Divine in their life.
What dreams lie ahead? For my beloved congregation, Temple Beth-El of City Island, I see us becoming more of a portal and a magnet for a vibrant and loving Judaism.  You have been, and will continue to be, a home for rabbinic students bringing their newfound learning and ideas to the Jewish public. You have been and will be a home for Jews of all backgrounds and beliefs, and their partners and supporters. Through the power of social media, your presence has, and will inspire people around the globe, like Kerry Petherbridge of Australia, who read our story and sent a gift for our restoration.
Donations will jumpstart our congregation’s Renewal Fund, which includes plans for education and programming for all ages, as well as upgrades for our building which is in its second century of use. I know there is more that lies beyond what my eye can see, but already on my wish list for projects that Reclaiming Judaism will support and make manifest are the following: the completion of two books-- a revised and expanded compilation of teachings on spiritual direction, and an expansion of a book on ethical and spiritual wills. These will fill a gap in Jewish teachings, and their sales will fund rabbinic scholarships for training as spiritual directors. Then there is S.H.O.H.A.M.- Spiritual Healing of Heart and Mind, barely begun as a meditation and music instructional DVD, that calls for an upgrade. With God’s help, and with yours, my next decade will bear the fruits of saging, and help form this world into a malchut Shaddai, freely translated as a place where God’s presence is felt in all hearts and souls, made visible through their acts of kindness and generosity.
May you all be blessed by your acts of kindness and generosity, and may this “Gems of Holiness” Weekend enrich your lives with jewels of wisdom, inspiration, and connection.
With love, Rabbi Shohama