Nov 24, 2011 Kabbalat Shabbat tomorrow at the Montague Grange!

Fri Nov 25 6:00 PM

Shabbat after Thanksgiving join the Prayground minyan!
for dancing, singing, meditation, Torah and shabbat dinner at the Montague Grange

Montague Center green, 36 Main Street—
from S: straight on Main St. where Rt. 47 turns to meet Rt. 63.
from N: come down Turners Falls Rd. For more detailed directions:
montaguegrange.org

Prayground is Hasidic and egalitarian! Join us in celebration with the “Sabbath queen”!



Prayground events include davenning, movement and meditation, drumming, and lots of nigunim/singing. Our community includes people that are affiliated and unaffiliated, especially from the dance and art communities.

Our service will be followed by a vegetarian potluck dinner. Led by Rabbi David Seidenberg (neohasid.org) Please write to rebduvid86@gmail.com or call 510-219-5834 to get updates or for more information, or go to neohasid.org/pioneerhasid.

Prayground Minyan meets in different locations around Pioneer Valley, usually on the last Friday of the month. Our base is the Northampton Friends Meeting. This month we’ll meet at the Montague Grange, located at 36 Main Street, on the northwest corner of the town common in Montague Center.

Prayground Shabbat Services funded in part by a grant from the Harold Grinspoon Foundation

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

October 6, 2011

Shalom Aleikhem!


Saturday afternoon on the day of Yom Kippur, I'm going to lead a Torah and prayer workshop which will also include some meditation, nigunim (singing) and gentle movement, from 3:15-4:50 PM.

The focus will be on a text from Rebbe Nachman about forgetting (and it's relationship to Rosh Hashanah, which is called Yom Hazikaron, the day of Remembrance). The theme will be forgetting our sins v. blotting them out, using Jonah (who wants to forget, but doesn't want God to), Song of Songs (to be explained!) and Rebbe Nachman. We'll be exploring in part the difference between forgetting sins and "blotting them out".

I also spent some time at the downtown "Occupy Wall Street" solidarity "protest" (I would call it more of a gathering). It makes me think that we really need to spend some time pondering this year about what the haftarah from Isaiah means when it commands us to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, etc. So we will also spend some time with that.

We'll be at Congregation Bnai Israel, 253 Prospect St. in Northampton. I hope you can join me for some of this exploration. We should have a handful of kids already coming so feel free to bring more.

CBI minchah follows at 5 PM.

I'm going to wait on giving details for the Sukkah party until next week.

May you all have an easy fast, a meaningful year, and a joyful entry into Sukkot! Remember that our deepest purpose is to prepare ourselves to pray for the well-being of the whole world during Sukkot. We are purifying ourselves so that we can function as "a nation of priests" on behalf of all humanity and all creation.

Lastly, I'll just share a brief teaching that I also mentioned at our services last wekk at the Friends Meeting. When we sing Avinu Malkeinu, we say "ein banu maasim", which means "there are no deeds in us". It doesn't mean, "we have no good deeds", but that we have *no* deeds, that we are truly empty at this moment, free to step into whatever future we choose. I hope we all get to feel that freedom.


Gmar chatimah tovah!
David Seidenberg 510-219-5834

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sept 25, 2011

Rosh Hashanah 2nd Day with the Prayground Minyan!
Sep 29-30 Thursday 6:30 PM | Friday 9:30 AM Torah
Friday 10:15 AM Torah Service | 10:45-11:30 SHOFAR Service
followed by Dance meditation, Musaf with Shofar, and potluck lunch

following lunch we will hold a Tashlich/Authentic Movement Workshop on the path by Paradise Pond

Children's program: day care, join with Shofar Service, then storytelling and kid's special shofar service

The details of all these events are still being worked out!
Please write to rebduvid86@gmail.com to be on the list for updates.

The Prayground minyan will be meeting for second day Rosh Hashanah!

Our time will include davenning, a very special shofar service, dance, movement and meditation, Earth-prayers, and lots of nigunim/singing. We will meet for the evening (Thursday) and the daytime (Friday), and there will be vegetarian potluck meals after both times. There will also be a late afternoon walk on Friday with dancing meditation in the woods that will include Tashlich ("casting away sins").

If you would like to bring kids please let us know ASAP. We will arrange a children's program if there are enough people, including a special shofar service. Our community includes people that belong to synagogues, and people that are unaffiliated, especially people in the dance and art communities.

We will update this information here with more details and times as they become available. Please write to be on our list!

Location: Friends Meeting House, 43 Center Street, Suite 202 in downtown Northampton

Phone: 510-219-5834
Email: rebduvid86@gmail.com