Kindness, positive energy...spiritual wisdom

Rabbi Sara,

Thank you so much for everything that you did to make our wedding ceremony so incredibly special! Your warmth, good humor, kindness and positive energy made our time under the chuppah unforgettable!

You have such a dynamic spirit, a gorgeous singing voice and a spiritual wisdom that shines so brightly! We are very lucky to have you in our lives!

Love,

Reflection of Light

Dearest Sara,

As Jews around the world acknowledge this week as
the Festival of Light, I am made warm and shown the way by the light you reflect.

Best Service

Sara,

I feel truly honored to be playing music with people I so highly respect musically and spiritually. I feel very blessed, and look forward to going deeper.

I must tell you about my Dad. He came for Erev Rosh, and he said it was the best Chochmat service he's ever come to. My dad is a notoriously tough customer, particularly in things spiritual, but the fact that he came, stayed the whole night, and then couldn't stop complimenting the "three women that led the service," is a testament to you and others. I, too, thought you did a wonderful job.



May we continue to integrate whatever wisdom is coming in.

thanks again...

Yari

We couldn't be happier

Hello Rabbi,

Yes, we are walking in heaven. Our families loved the ceremony; we couldn't be happier. You were amazing, thank you for everything. We feel very blessed.

All our love,
Brett & Stacy

Rabbi Shendelman welcomes a new you

Rabbi Sara Shendelman invites you to enter High Holy Day services as if you’re arriving at your own wedding—the community as a whole and each person individually are your bride and beloved at this soulful and uplifting journey into the new year.

Let the joy and solemnity of being embraced by your beloved sift down through you, until gratitude and prayer well up in response.

Witness your soul bloom as your voice unties in song with others.

As your defenses and tensions melt away, enter the new year a spirit unprotected, cleansed—opened.

Celebrate the fall High Holy Days
with Rabbi Shendelman and the Chochmat HaLev extended community
Opening to the Beloved

Each year, we gather on the high holy days to pray for blessing in the coming year and to meditate on the deeds of our past. From Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur, we examine ourselves, scrutinize our role in relationships, question our participation in the community, as well as the global impact of our lives.

This year, what if we choose to grow a little differently?
By opening.

What if we utilize the effort of internal inventory, to simply open to receiving the blessing that’s already all around us?
Life is here—in all its glory and challenge—waiting for us to experience it.

How much can you let in?
I Will Open To You My Beloved
Will You Open To Me

Blessing Ceremony honoring Rabbi Shendelman!

You are cordially invited to attend
the official "Blessing" ceremony
of Rabbi Sara Shendelman
on Saturday
the ninth of September,
two thousand and seven
at
Chochmat HaLev
2215 Prince St.
Berkeley CA 94705

Please join the extended community to share the blessings as Rabbi Gershon Winkler conducts a special ceremony to honor Rabbi Shendelman's anniversary of receiving smicha, recognizing her years of providing spiritual guidance, lighting the hearts, minds and souls of couples, students, new parents, newborns, and all attendees at religious and spiritual ceremonies where she has officiated.

The blessing will occur during Rabbi Winkler's talk "It's 5768--Do You Know Where You Are?" An evening of mind boggling wisdom from the Kabbalah that no one else is teaching, delving into the deeper meanings behind this intensive series of festivals: Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Sh'mini Atzeret. Why so many in a single moon? What is it about autumn that makes the harvest festivals so cumbersome? Is there a lighter side to all of this? Come and find out with the rabbi from the far side. This evening is also a preview of Rabbi Gershon's upcoming 4-workshop series Life Cycling: Jewish Shamanic Wisdom of the Seasonal Celebrations, premiering this October.

Enjoy the celebration refreshments in honor of Rabbi Shendelman's deserved blessing.

Radiant Baby Naming

Hi Rabbi:

I just wanted to thank you once again for such a stellar officiation
(is that a word?) over Emmett's baby naming. I must tell you that you and
the entire event far exceeded our expectations, and it was truly a
moving and entirely memorable ceremony that we will not soon forget.
I loved how you brought everyone into the fold, and your voice and
radiant energy truly brought life to this gesture that we wanted to
share with family and friends. There's not a thing we would have done
differently! Thanks again, and a very happy new year to you,

Karen

Lovely, moving and profound ceremony

Dear Sara,

I want to send you thanks for your involvement in our ceremony and wedding experience in general. It is hard to know where to begin in expressing our appreciation for you and your work.

Before the wedding, our meetings, phone conversations and emails were all comfortable and exciting. After every one of these interactions, I left feeling so excited about our wedding ceremony and so sure that it would transpire as I imagined. Thank you for all your interest, involvement, input, and inspiration during the preparation times.

On our wedding day, your energy and presence were so calming and warming for me. I loved how you checked in with us before the ceremony and talked to us about starting our relationship anew with a clean slate based on love, about making wishes while walking down the aisle, about being sure to absorb the ceremony experience for at least one moment, and about our soon to be empowered priviledge of sharing blessings for one year. That experience was so grounding and calming that I was able to maintain a sense of presence that I carried into the ceremony.

I can barely put into words my thoughts of our ceremony. [My spouse] and I agree that we each felt completely focused, present and mindful during our wedding ceremony. The enchantedness of the chuppa and the loving energy surrounding us were so empowering and invigorating. Moreover, your beautiful voice, calming nature, huministic acceptance, sense of humor, and loving blessings provided for us the opportunity to acutely experience each moment and detail. Our ceremony was simultaneously traditional, representing the union of Jewish couples throughout history, as well as completely autonomous and individualized, representing our love, the love of all our guests, and whatever arose in the moment.

I loved every element of the ceremony from the bells to the blessings, to the opportunity to say aloud our personal vows, to reciting traditional Hebrew vows, to having our loved ones shout out their blessings, to drinking of the blessings from our kiddish cup, to acknowledging cell phones, to experiencing your smile. Everything was so amazing and remains surprisingly clear in my mind. I feel fortunate to be able to remember and relive this experience.

From the moment the ceremony ended, family and friends began to approach us to comment on how lovely, moving, and profound the ceremony was for them. Everyone loved your presence, guidance, and energy. My grandmother says that this was the most wonderful ceremony she has ever been to. One of my best friends/bridesmaids says that she felt somewhat weak and faint while standing beside the chuppa and that your voice chanting the blessings provided for her breath, stability and strength.

I had friends of other religions and ethnicities talk about their sense of inspiration and their desire to incorporate Jewish traditions into their own upcoming weddings. Furthermore, our Jewish friends and relatives are amazed at how such traditional Jewish customs were so beautifully cultivated and incorporated into a modern framework; few of them have experienced such an abundance of tradition in such a care-free setting.

All in all, each individual at our wedding was thoroughly moved, impressed, inspired, and captivated. For everyone there, it was a profound, loving, and amazing experience. For me, our ceremony was every thing I had hoped and more.

Throughout the whole time we were planning our wedding, I reserved special energy, thought, and imagination for our ceremony. I believe greatly in the power of ceremony, tradition, blessing and intentional expression of sentiment and I maintained a special place in my heart for my wedding ceremony. That place is now so completely filled with the most spectacular memories, not only of the ceremony itself, but also of how incredible it felt to experience it. Dwelling under that chuppa, even for only 45 minutes, I felt like I was absorbing energy to last me, and my relationship, a lifetime. [My spouse] and I both continue to bask in that golden light and will carry the glow with us throughout our marriage.

Again, thank you. Thank you for creating for us such a phenomenal ceremony and experience, thank you for all your love and groundedness, thank you for sharing with us traditions and spirituality, thank you for your humor and sense of the present, and thank you for sharing yourself with us.

We are honored to know you and send you and your family many blessings of happiness, health, laughter, love, strength and beyond. We look forward to seeing you on future occasions. Please keep my email on your list so we are aware of future Jewish celebrations and services.