When the Ground Disappears:
Facing Uncertainty, Pain & Grief
A Virtual Course & Mini-Retreat for Tisha B’Av
In partnership with Pardes North America
Course Sessions with Shira Abramowitz: Tuesdays, July 23rd, July 30th & August 6th
At 4pm-5:15pm PST/ 7pm-8:15pm EST
Mini-Retreat with Dr. Mira Neshama Niculescu: Tuesday, August 13, Tisha B’Av
At 7am - 11am PST / 10am - 2pm EST / 3pm - 7pm UK / 5pm - 9pm Israel // On Zoom*
*Sessions will be recorded for those who cannot make the live sessions
You have the option to sign up for our complete Tisha B'Av series and to receive recordings of all previous sessions, or to attend the mini-retreat only.
Please email naomi@orhalev.org for more details & registration.
What opportunities for personal and communal healing lie within the period of Tisha B'Av?
There are moments in life where it feels as if the ground beneath us disappears, when our world is suddenly shattered. Moments where we can identify a “before” and an “after,” and we know we will never be the same. Often these are moments of tremendous loss and pain. The call we received at 2am from a loved one in the hospital, an unexpected conversation with HR resulting in the end of a career chapter, the news report we watched live as the towers were falling, or, more recently, as October 7th unfolded. Personal or communal, these moments define us and seem to change everything.
How can contemplative Jewish ritual hold us in moments of profound change, loss, and grief? In times when everything is changing, and we ourselves are transforming to meet our new reality?
The weeks approaching Tisha B’Av offer us a blueprint from Jewish tradition for individual and communal mourning, for addressing the personal and collective pain we may be feeling.
Join us for this 3-week virtual course and mini-retreat to engage with this deep tradition of mourning, and of meeting times of tragedy both personal and collective.
Learn practices to cultivate compassion and create spaciousness amidst feelings of fear, grief, anger, and sadness.
See what opportunities arise when we can be with our pain, and practice together in a supportive, loving community.
This course is an invitation to:
Gain a deeper familiarity with the time period of the Three Weeks and Tisha B'Av
Have an anchor for spiritual practice during the weeks prior to and on the day of Tisha B'Av itself
Connect to the power of mourning within a spacious and loving container
Sessions will be 75 minutes each. Recordings will also be sent out weekly to allow for self-paced learning and participation. Sessions will typically include a teaching, sitting practice, some reflective writing, and a chance for reflection in hevruta (partnered) breakout groups.
Session 1 with Shira Abramowitz / Tuesday, July 23rd - Beginning to welcome our brokenness
In this first session, we’ll reflect on this time period, the three weeks before Tisha B’av which are known as “Bein Ha-Metzarim” or between the narrows. We’ll begin our process of constructing a container for Tisha B’av, and learn practices that can serve as a loving foundation for us to begin to meet our grief, sadness, fear, and other emotions. We’ll begin to embrace this practice of weaving together the individual and the collective, as we move through a period of collective mourning.
Session 2 with Shira Abramowitz / Tuesday, July 30th - Memory, grief, and healing
This session will continue to strengthen our practice of compassionately greeting what is here, particularly our sadness and grief. We’ll dive a bit further into the nature of grief and incorporate teachings from Rabbi Jonathan Sacks about our collective Jewish memory. With an orientation of loving curiosity, we’ll open our practice to meet all parts of ourselves.
Session 3 with Shira Abramowitz / Tuesday August 7th - Widening our perspective
In this session, the final one before our retreat, we’ll explore how tragedy changes our lens and offers us profound, new ways to relate to our lives. We’ll examine where we can find truth in this moment, and what might be unfolding or transforming within us right now. Together we’ll explore questions that can guide us more deeply into Tisha B’av.
Mini-Retreat with Dr. Mira Neshama Niculescu / Tuesday August 13th - 7am - 11am PST / 10am - 2pm EST / 3pm - 7pm UK / 5pm - 9pm Israel
Over the course of our four-hour virtual retreat, we’ll engage in the Tisha B’Av practice of collective mourning and reflecting. Through a combination of teachings, sitting meditation, walking/movement, and writing, we’ll deepen our practice of meeting our individual and collective sorrow with care and compassion. The end of the retreat will offer a brief opportunity for sharing before we close.
Mini-Retreat Schedule
Meet Your Teachers
Shira Abramowitz
Shira Abramowitz is a meditation teacher, social impact leader, and community-builder. She completed the Institute for Jewish Spirituality JMMTT teacher training program, and teaches meditation for various programs online and in-person. She is the founder of Summit Impact, a 501(c)(3) focused on activating the power of community for social good. and a co-founder of Up & Up Creative, an agency focused on program design, events, and social impact campaigns. Shira holds a bachelors in commerce from McGill University and a masters degree in Mind, Brain, and Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she focused on social cognitive neuroscience and adult group learning.
Dr. Mira Neshama Niculescu
Mira is a Paris-born scholar and teacher of Torah and Meditation. She earned a Ph.D. in Sociology of Religion at Ecole de Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris (EHESS) and received Orthodox Smicha ordination from Rabbi Daniel Sperber for Beit Midrash Har’El in Jerusalem. A certified Jewish Educator (Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies), a certified Jewish Mindfulness Teacher with the Institute for Jewish Spirituality (IJS), a certified Vinyasa Yoga teacher (Sira Yoga RYT 200), and a certified Mindfulness Meditation Instructor (Mindfulness Training Institute).
Choose your rate
At Or HaLev, we believe in the spirit of generosity as an essential part of practice. We also acknowledge that financial abilities differ for everyone and we strive to make this class accessible to those who wish to participate, regardless of ability to pay.
Please consider paying at the highest rate that you are able to. Your generosity will help in supporting Or HaLev's activities and in growing our community.
Supporter
Enables a scholarship for those who cannot afford the course.
Standard
Covers the actual cost
of the course.
Scholarship
A subsidized rate
of the course.
If the scholarship rate is financially unfeasible for you, please write to naomi@orhalev.org and we will do our best to make the course accessible to you.
