From Dov Lank - Head of the ritual committee
Burquest Jewish Community Centre, 2860 Dewdney Trunk Road, Coquitlam BC
Burquest has invited a series of local Jewish leaders to visit with us and discuss their approach to Jewish practice. Sessions will take place 1:00-3:00 every other Sunday, starting October 16 and running through Dec 11.
Refreshments and socializing will follow each session.
Sunday Oct 16: An Integrative Spirituality
Rabbi Laura Duhan-Kaplan, Jewish Renewal
Rabbi Emerita of Or Shalom (Renewal); Volunteer at Beth Israel (Conservative)
Director of Inter-Religious Studies and Professor of Jewish Studies, Vancouver School of
Theology
www.lauraduhankaplan.com
An Integrative Spirituality: Over the years, I have studied many spiritual traditions. Each one
has helped me see Jewish thought and practice in a new way. Today, I teach and practice
Judaism with a universal spirituality that reflects both Kabbalah and BC spiritual culture. In our
session, I will speak about my background, my current work, and what an integrative spirituality
grounded in Jewish practice might look like. Then, we will discuss a short Jewish text about
spirituality, and share a spiritual exercise both Jewish and integrative.
Sunday Oct 30: TBA
Rabbi Philip Gibbs, Conservative Judaism
Rabbi, Har El, The North Shore Centre for Jewish Life
www.harel.org/bio
Sunday Nov 13: From Synagogue to Home
Rabbi Tom Samuels, Unaffiliated
Okanagan Jewish Community Centre, Beth Shalom Synagogue
www.rabbitomsamuels.com
From Synagogue to Home: I am an ordained rabbi through the Jewish Spiritual Learning
Institute. I grew-up in a Conserva-dox, lay-led Chavurah in Toronto, and went to a Religious-
Zionist yeshiva for high school. Afterwards, I moved to Israel and served as a tank gunner in the
IDF’s Hesder Yeshiva program. I do not identify with ANY singular Jewish denomination,
institution, theology, pedagogy, and the like. At the core of my Jewish identity, what continues
to inform who I am as a Jew and as a rabbi, is the Talmudic concept of Chidush, from the
Hebrew root chadash, meaning “new.”
My session will explore the idea of relocating the North American model for “doing Jewish religion” from
the synagogue building to the home. In response to the destruction of the Second Temple, a new
Judaism emerged called Rabbinic Judaism. The ancient rabbis established a new locus of Jewish identity
and connection to the home, and specifically, to the Shulchan, the Shabbat table. Using the model of
the Hassidic Tish (or Botteh, or what Chabad-Lubavitch call the Farbrengen), we will experience the
seamless tapestry of Torah learning, Tefillah (prayer), singing, and eating that could be replicated by
Jewish communities, with or without a local synagogue, throughout North America.
Sunday Nov 27: These Are The Things - 10 Commandments for Living a Purposeful Life.
Rabbi Dan Moskovitz, Reform Judaism,
Senior Rabbi, Temple Shalom
www.rabbidanmoskovitz.com
I am a Reform Rabbi ordained at Hebrew Union College -Jewish Institute of Religion in
Cincinnati Ohio. I subscribe to the general position that tradition has a vote but not a veto on my choices of Jewish religious practice. Reform Judaism in general emphasizes the moral ethical commandments as being obligatory while the spiritual ritual Commandments are more subjective to the individual worshiper with the autonomy to make meaningful informed choices in their personal practice. My current rabbinate as Senior Rabbi of Temple Sholom is shaped by an emphasis on finding meaning through Jewish custom and practice, social justice work, inclusion, outreach to the unaffiliated and developing a relational community.
I will present a passage from the mishna called Elu Dvarim which details 10 commandments
that if followed during your life receive reward now and for eternity. Each of these
commandments is relational and has the potential to be profoundly meaningful. I will present
and we will discuss how the application of these particular Commandments to your life
regardless of your faith tradition or whether or not you even have one is one answer to the
eternal question what is the meaning of life
Sunday Dec 11: TBA
Rabbi Dovid Rosenfeld, Chabad Lubavitch
www.Chabad Lubavitch of British Columbia
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