Shabbat of the Child | April 2023 (5783)

Shabbat of the Child is a transformative program filled with deep learning, sharing, community singing, and exploring how we can advocate for, protect, celebrate and empower children within the Jewish community and beyond.

Join Romemu and our partner organization The Haruv Institute for a melding of minds, hearts, and souls. You’ll discover how you can make a difference in children’s lives in sacred communities everywhere. Shabbat of the Child is made possible through the generous funding of Gil Mandelzis and Capitolis.

Shabbat of the Child programming includes:

• Shabbat of the Child Kickoff Shabbat: April 14-15
• Parenting workshop with Dr. Laura Markham: Sunday, April 16
• Grandparent workshop with author Dasee Berkowitz: Sunday, April 23
• Shabbat of the Child focused Beit Midrash with Guest Speakers: Wednesdays, April 19 & 26 & May 3
• Shabbat of the Child Culminating Shabbat with Scholar-in-Residence, Rabbi Tirzah Firestone, PhD.: April 28-29
• Workshop with Rabbi Tirzah Firestone, PhD: Sunday, April 30th

Read on for detailed schedule and registration links.

As with all Romemu programs, no one will be turned away for financial reasons. If you require financial assistance, please contact support@romemu.org before registering for programs.

Kabbalat Shabbat

April 14 @ 6:30 PM PM ET | Onsite & Online
No registration required. Join onsite at the West End Presbyterian Church (165 W 105th Street) or get link to join us online here.

Shabbat Dinner

Join us for dinner after services to hear from Romemu’s Shabbat of the Child partner organization, the Haruv Institute and a member of Romemu’s Child Safety Committee.

Dinner will be at the Romemu Center (176 W 105th Street). Learn about partner organizations here.

Cost for dinner: $20 per person ($15 for Romemu members)
Register here.

Can’t make the dinner onsite? Join us on Zoom for the presentations at 9 PM ET. Click here to join the Zoom.

Shabbat of the Child Open Book

April 15 @ 8:45 AM ET  | Onsite & Online
No registration required.  Join onsite at the Romemu Center (176 W 105th Street) or get link to join us online here.

Shabbat of the Child Morning Services

April 15 @ 9 – 12:30 PM ET | Onsite & Online
No registration required.  Join onsite at the Romemu Center (176 W 105th Street) or get link to join us online here.

Lunch & Learn | Making faith communities safe for children- beyond our Shul

April 15 @ 12:30 PM ET | Onsite at the Romemu Center

Cost for lunch: $20 per person ($15 for Romemu members)
Register here.

NY is one of the few states which do not require clergy to report sexual/ physical abuse of children that happened in their community. Join us to hear from parents of survivors who had to fight within their community of faith to stop and expose what was happening to their and other children in their community, what it’s like to navigate this under current policies, why these devout survivors chose to take it all the way to the legislator, to save other children and parents from going through such an experience and how we can help.

Speakers: 

Campaign Leader of CFCtoo, an organization of parents of survivors 

Pat Latzman, Member of Romem’s Social Action Committee & Attorney for Children

NEW DATE & TIME

Monday, May 15 from 5:30 – 8 PM

Dinner: 5:30 – 6 PM

Workshop: 6 – 8 PM

Child care will be provided during this event.
Onsite at the Romemu Center

As parents, we have a sacred responsibility to meet our child’s emotional and spiritual needs. And yet, we’re only human, juggling our parenting responsibilities with little social support. Dr. Laura Markham will speak on what children need, and how we as their parents can support them to thrive, realize their potential, develop their unique gifts, and grow up to participate in the ongoing work of tikkun olam. Her talk will include a Q and A and discussion.

Cost: $20 ($18 for Romemu members) – Includes dinner, childcare, and workshop

Everyone who attends this workshop will receive a copy of Dr. Markham’s book Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids.

Wednesdays April 26 & May 3 & 10 @ 7 – 8:30 PM ET
Onsite at the Romemu Center & Online

This special series of Romemu’s Beit Midrash will focus on themes related to Shabbat of the Child.

Beit Midrash will be led by Rabbis David Ingber, Dianne Cohler-Esses and Tirzah Firestone.

The session on May 3 will be led by Rabbi Firestone and will be entitled: “A teaching from Zohar: Our Ancestors Teach About the Transformation of Shame”.

Suggested donation: $18 per session

M’Dor L’Dor: How grandparent stories build resilience in children
11 AM – 12:30 PM | Online

Grandparents have a hidden treasure that they unearth every time they share a story: the active transmission of values. When children and grandchildren know their family’s stories, the groundwork for resilience is set. Join us as we identify the stories from our own lives we want to share most and creative ways of transmitting them.

Suggested Donation: $10

If you would like to purchase Ms. Berkowitz’s book Becoming a Soulful Parent: A path to the wisdom within click here. 

Each of us holds tremendous powers to change the trajectory of our lives and the life of the world. When we face our own trauma history and that of our family, we begin a soul journey that releases enormous generative energy with which we can heal ourselves and others. At this introductory weekend (Shabbaton), we will begin the work of untying the intergenerational knots in our personal and ancestral histories. Our purpose (kavana, intention)  is to free and energize ourselves to be our most wise, compassionate, and impactful selves in a world that desperately needs us.

While this work is based in Jewish source teachings, it is open to people of all ethnic and faith backgrounds. Please attend both Saturday and Sunday, as Rabbi Firestone will be teaching the premises of ancestral healing on Saturday and setting the context for a deeper experiential dive on Sunday. Since Saturday’s teaching will lay the ground work for Sunday’s discussion, you must register for both Saturday and Sunday in order to attend the Sunday program.

You may use this form to register for either Friday night dinner or Saturday Lunch & Learn or both. If you register for the Saturday Lunch & Learn you will also have the option to register for the Sunday workshop.

Register here.

Kabbalat Shabbat Services: 6:30 PM | Onsite at The West End Presbyterian Church & Online
Rabbi Zach Fredman will be joining our davening team this Friday.
No registration required. To join on Zoom, get link here.

Shabbat Dinner with Rabbi Firestone following services at the Romemu Center
Can’t make the dinner onsite? Join on Zoom for Rabbi Firestone’s teaching at 9PM. No registration required. Click here to get Zoom link.

Drawing from Jewish wisdom, remarkable stories and case studies, and the field of depth psychology, Rabbi Firestone will demonstrate how personal life-riddles often originate in our ancestral legacies, and how we can transform their seemingly impenetrable mysteries into usable meaning.

Cost for Shabbat dinner: $40 ($30 for Romemu members)

Register here

Join us Saturday morning for Open Book at 8:45 and Shabbat Morning Services at onsite the Romemu Center or online (get Zoom links here). No registration is required.

Following services, join us for Lunch & Learn with Rabbi Firestone.

Can’t come to the onsite lunch? Join Rabbi Firestone’s teaching on Zoom at 1:30 PM. No registration required. Click here to get Zoom link.

Since this teaching will lay the groundwork for the workshop Rabbi Firestone is running on Sunday, April 30, you must register for the Lunch & Learn in order to attend the workshop on Sunday.

Embodied Wisdom: The Foundations of Ancestral Healing

Torah’s wisdom about the soul’s innate powers to move through our injuries into healing and resilience sets the stage for our exploration at the intersection of science and mysticism. We will lay the foundations of ancestral healing with five premises and open the portals to the Olam haAvot, the ancestral plane.

Cost for Lunch & Learn: $30 ($20 for Romemu members)

Register here.

9 AM – 1:30 PM at the Romemu Center (176 W 105th Street)

We will start the morning with breakfast at 9 AM and the workshop will begin at 10 AM.

Since Rabbi Firestone’s teaching on Shabbat will lay the groundwork for this workshop, you must register for the Shabbat Lunch & Learn on April 29 in order to join for this workshop.

About the Workshop

The Jewish tradition has long understood that psychic wounds reverberate for generations. When family members have suffered wounds from war, discrimination, deportation, mental illness, addiction, early death, or other traumas, it can cause painful patterns that get frozen in time and lodged in the resonant field of the family, passing to members of the next generations. But we can transform these past scars into greater courage, compassion, and usable wisdom through the profound work of ancestral healing. Guided meditation, healing ritual, and self-care are the elements of our Sunday intensive.

Everyone who attends this workshop will receive a copy of Rabbi Firestone’s book Wounds into Wisdom.

Cost for workshop: $75 ($50 for Romemu members)

Register here