Exquisite, personal, meaningful and moving ceremony

Hello Rabbi Sara,

I have not been in touch with you in almost two years since you preformed our wonderful and eternally memorable wedding ceremony. Leo and I were married on Jan. 15, 2006 at the Julia Morgan Ballroom in San Francisco (just to give you a context of who I am) and you created for us such an exquisite, personal, meaningful and moving ceremony despite your having a flu and feeling totally sick before hand (which we never would have guessed until you told us days later, and no, neither of us got sick then.)

Anyway, we are at a new milestone in our lives as I am pregnant with a baby boy. He is due in mid-March.

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.

You are the real deal!

"I am a wedding photographer seeking an officant for friends. In all my years of attending and photographing wedding ceremonies, I have witnessed a wide range and quantity of officiants. Sara, I honestly want you to know that you were my favorite of all those I have ever met. Your weddings are spiritual and bring in strong divine energy. The experience of what you contribute to the couple stands out in my memory as unique and unmatched. You are the real deal."

Preparing for the wedding

Dear Sara,

Here's your copy of the vows. We're each going to forward our individual
ones soon...

You are one of the most inspirational people we've met and can't thank you enough for your time, energy, and spirit you have shown through our few little pow-wows. We both love you and can't wait to see you again.

Thanks for being you

Sweet Seventh Anniversary

[My husband] and I are coming up on our 7th anniversary. I have thought of you so often over the years and each day celebrate the wonder of our wedding and our marriage. You helped us create something amazing.

You were a wonderful guide for us as we stepped forward to prepare ourselves with what and how we wanted our wedding, and with the surprises that came to us on that day and each day after. I mostly wanted to thank you, Sara, for such a precious ceremony for this couple who has deep faith in our marriage, our friendship and each other. Many blessings to you as you have given us!

The Happiest Day of My Life

Dear Rabbi Sara,

Erin and I were both really thrilled with the ceremony you created with us. I'm happy to hear that you got some amazing feedback from guests. I can easily say that the wedding was the happiest day of my life. We recorded the wedding and we enjoyed replaying it on our honeymoon. It was such a special day. Thank you for the essential part you played.

I had heard a rumor that you stayed late into the evening, but I wasn't sure, until now, that it was true. How about that! I'm glad you had a good time. God knows, we did! That sure was a good band, wasn't it?

The whirlwind that has been our life continues, though I think we are approaching the ground again. After the wedding we spent a week in Kauai, then, last Sunday, flew directly to our new home in Seattle. Erin has already started her Family Medicine residency and I am busy unpacking boxes and beginning to think about a job search. This certainly is an exciting time for us.

Thank you for the sweet message. All the best to you.

Thankful for the blessings of your wisdom, generosity and photographic talents

Dearest Sara,

Ed and I are delighting in married life! We think and speak of you often and send you blessings filled with loving, positive energy. Thank you so much more than words could ever express for creating the most beautiful ceremony, providing insights and words of wisdom, sharing the momento copy of our license, and taking wonderful photos.

How can it be that one beautifully sweet soul has so much talent in so many areas?? I know you are a superb photographer. I am so delighted that you were able to capture the special shot of me with my grandaughter, Abby.

It is a blessing to have you in our lives, and we bless you with prayers of happiness and fulfillment. You are loved and treasured, my wonderful friend,

Susan and Ed

Magnificent honeymoon followed Spectacular wedding ceremony

Hi Rabbi -

We just returned from our magnificent honeymoon on the north shore of Oahu last night and are adjusting to reality - it's been a while since we've been in it!!

Our wedding and ceremony were more spectacular than we could have ever dreamed and we are endlessly grateful to you for generously sharing your gifts and bringing such spirit and beauty to us.

Miraculous Bat Mitzvah Milestone

Dearest Sara,

What a gift you are to me in so many ways. You created a space for me to grow and heal and yet you pass the appreciation back to me. The pictures from the service capture your love, beauty and generosity of spirit towards my daughter, Torah and the community. Your teachings, talents and intentions created an experience that has never before been experienced during a Jewish service for all of the attendees.

You made it possible for me to enjoy myself, relax and actually be present with the joy and receive the love for my daughter's accomplishment, the community and my family. You blew me away with your gracious participation, endurance and knowledge of what works and what was important. You guaranteed a miracle for me to complete this milestone with my last child. Although all 3 binei mitzvot I did without my partner, this one I did not feel sad or loss with the happiness - I was not empty spiritualy or alone emotionally. I was satiated in a way I never felt before.

Thank you, thank you.

B'SHALOM VE'AHAVAH from myself, my children and my life,
C

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

My Dear Rabbi Sara

Hello My Dear Rabbi Sara,

Can that be an official title for a rabbi? I find it hard to express my feelings regarding the wedding and find myself reflecting on it often. The ceremony was magical, and I don't expect the glow to fade anytime soon. We send you fond best wishes for the Holidays, and will keep in touch.

Lloyd

Deepest Gratitude

Dear Sara,

I just wanted to drop you a line and tell you how glad I am to have found you....your caring nature and enthusiasm for your calling have warmed my heart and given me faith in an otherwise difficult time....please accept my deepest gratitude and I'm really looking forward to having you officiate our ceremony...it will be one of the most important events of my life so far and I'm glad that you will have a big role in it.

Best wishes for the holiday season,
Bob

Continuing appreciation 10 years later

I just wanted to tell you as we approach our 10 year ceremony anniversary [12 years together anniversary], that you created a very special aura and environment for me that day. I really enjoyed your presence and the things you did during the ceremony.

You co-performed the wedding ceremony for [my wife] and me in November of 1996. You did it at UCC Church on La Honda in San Francisco. There was a chupa and a Jewish star on a silk banner hanging at the juncture of where the cross intersected itself. And, we celebrated afterwards in the basement recreation area of the church.

Thanks, again, for making our wedding ceremony such a special one.

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.