Led by Marcia Seigal, Shabbat Mishpacha is an innovative Saturday morning program with age-appropriate activities for children. Geared for preschoolers through first graders and their families, everyone will enjoy celebrating Shabbat together with music, art, challah, and more!

Sponsored by Congregation Har HaShem, Shabbat Mishpacha is open to the community. There is no cost to attend, and siblings of any age are welcome.

Har HaShem is located at 3950 Baseline Road in Boulder, half mile west of Foothills Parkway just past Meadowbrook Drive. Head to the far end of the parking lot where there is a building with a playground on the far right; that’s the South Building.

For information or to RSVP, contact shabbatmish@congregationharhashem.org or (303)499-7077 ext. 14.

The Friday night Shabbaton begins at 6:30 pm and will include a delicious three course Shabbat dinner. A children’s program will run simultaneously to the meal and presentation.

On Shabbat morning – February 4^th - Rabbi Miller will lead an instructional Shabbat morning services with kabalistic insights and meditations. Services will be followed by a luncheon.

Dinner begins at 6:30 pm lecturer at 7:45 pm. To make a reservation please follow this link or call 303.429.5177. Click here for more info.  Chabad of NW Metro Denver is located in Westminster on 4505 W 112 Ave.

Question: Why is it important for me to know the mystical insights to prayer? I enjoy the social synagogue atmosphere, the rabbi gives a good sermon and the cholent and kiddush is worth the wait. What more could there be to services?
Rabbi Miller: Because we don’t know how to pray, we try to make the Synagogue experience enjoyable with other activities: food, music or a speech. But most of the services are actually about praying so it’s important that we get some direction how to do that. Good, mystically inspired prayer will help you to be more centered, less fragmented and will put you more in touch with your inner self. To pray with devotion may be difficult, but to pray without it is ludicrous.

Question:  The Shabbat program at Chabad will reflect your latest book that you published, a Friday night synagogue prayer book.  What motivated you to begin focusing on prayer after having publishing two very successful works on the Five Books of Moses (the Lifestyle and Gutnick edition among many other books?
Rabbi Miller: People have the false impression that Rabbis and religious people know how to pray, and others do not. In my experience, that’s not true. Almost everybody nowadays is confused when it comes to prayer. The synagogues overemphasize tradition and external behavior and lose touch of the introspective and the metaphysical. Most prayer commentaries do not help much because they read like a history book: When was this prayer introduced? By whom? etc. So I wanted to redress this problem by writing a prayer commentary which is entirely focused on emotional and spiritual insight.

Question: How does your non-religious up-bringing reflect your understanding and appreciation for prayer?
Rabbi Miller: In my childhood I was deeply alienated by the Synagogue experience. I was definitely interested–look, I became a Rabbi in the end—but there was nothing there for me. I relate deeply to why Jews find the Synagogue experience difficult and now I have the knowledge and experience to help alleviate the problem.

Question: Many people don’t care for the synagogue but like to pray privately at home, will your Friday evening presentation offer tools for solo prayer?
Rabbi Miller: Yes, absolutely. Prayer is an art that can only be mastered through repeated practice. Not many people are able to come to the synagogue on a daily basis and it’s important that praying privately is seen as something desirable.

Bonus Question: When I hear suggestions about meditation during prayer I think of some type of voodoo experience. Can you describe briefly what type of prayer meditation you will be suggesting and why you think they are useful?
Rabbi Miller: The Bible describes prayer as a “ladder,” because it’s an experience that you ascend one rung at a time. The Jewish prayer book (siddur) was written to guide you up this ladder, step by step. At each junction, I will offer some guidance as to the type of emotional work you should be doing at this point. I’m also going to convey some the way Kabbalists imagined what is happening spiritually at that point. These ideas are refreshing and mind-expanding. Indirectly, they help to lift us out of the daily rut that we often find ourselves in and help us to foster a broader, more integrated and holistic approach to life.

Rabbi Chaim Miller

Rabbi Chaim Miller is a leading international authority for interpretation of Jewish Bible and mysticism, specifically the Torah-related works of the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Schneerson (1902-1994). His scholarly achievement, at the tender age of 37, is substantiated by the vast dissemination of his works, as well as the acclaim they have won him among his colleagues and in the educational and religious communities in which the works circulate.

Born and raised in London, England, Miller studied at the prestigious Haberdashers’ Aske’s School for Boys. He began to explore the depth of his religion while at England’s Leeds University through extensive reading and personal introspection. Fascinated by Jewish mystical teachings in particular, he took a year off to learn at a Lubavitcher yeshiva. Five years later he was an ordained rabbi practicing in Leeds, running both a synagogue and a yeshiva, and writing in his spare time what would soon become the “Gutnick Chumash.”

In 2004 Rabbi Miller relocated to the United States with the intention of devoting himself almost entirely to the writing and editing of great Jewish liturgy for Kol Menachem. Since this time he has completed the groundbreaking “Kol Menachem Chumash (Gutnick Edition),” the “Slager Edition Haggadah” — the bestselling work in its genre — and two volumes of a landmark series exploring Rambam’s Thirteen Principles of Faith.

Rabbi Miller’s texts are currently used at some of the nation’s top institutions, including New York University and Yeshiva University. In addition, over 1,000 rabbis in the United States use Rabbi Miller’s texts to teach their students and prepare their sermons.

Rabbi Miller’s publications have received the attention of community leaders and various persons of note. In 2008, President George W. Bush sent the “Slager Edition Haggadah” to the troops in Iraq as a representation of the Jewish faith for the United States military. The Haggadah was a recent recipient of the prestigious Benjamin Franklin Award just this past year, and Miller’s “Gutnick Chumash” is on display at the Jewish Children’s Museum in Brooklyn, New York. The popular “Dummies” series published “The Torah for Dummies” in 2008, with author Arthur Kurzweil singling out Rabbi Miller’s “Gutnick Chumash” and proclaiming, “If I could have only one translation on a desert island, it would be this one.”

See also
Torah in Ten 

Kol Menachem 

The Huffington Post  

Rabbi Miller is one of the leading authorities for the interpretation of the Torah-related works of the Lubavitcher Rebbe most notably the Gutnick Chumash (a new commentary and translation of the Five Books of Moses)

The theme of the Shabbaton is the Kabbalah of Prayer – Closing the G-d gap. The presentation is aimed to people who feel alienated from the synagogue or who are looking to spice up their prayer experience.

Reflecting on his own non-religious upbringing Rabbi Miller will teach us how to overcome the challenges one can face during prayer by unpacking some of the mystical and kabalistic aspects of prayer service which are also relevant in our daily challenges of life.

The Friday night Shabbaton begins at 6:30 pm and will include a delicious three course Shabbat dinner. A children’s program will run simultaneously to the meal and presentation.

On Shabbat morning – February 4^th - Rabbi Miller will lead an instructional Shabbat morning services with kabalistic insights and meditations. Services will be followed by a luncheon.

For more information or to RSVP please visit COJewish.com or call 303.429.5177.

Rabbi Chaim Miller

Rabbi Chaim Miller is a leading international authority for interpretation of Jewish Bible and mysticism, specifically the Torah-related works of the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Schneerson (1902-1994). His scholarly achievement, at the tender age of 37, is substantiated by the vast dissemination of his works, as well as the acclaim they have won him among his colleagues and in the educational and religious communities in which the works circulate.

Born and raised in London, England, Miller studied at the prestigious Haberdashers’ Aske’s School for Boys. He began to explore the depth of his religion while at England’s Leeds University through extensive reading and personal introspection. Fascinated by Jewish mystical teachings in particular, he took a year off to learn at a Lubavitcher yeshiva. Five years later he was an ordained rabbi practicing in Leeds, running both a synagogue and a yeshiva, and writing in his spare time what would soon become theGutnick Chumash.

In 2004 Rabbi Miller relocated to the United States with the intention of devoting himself almost entirely to the writing and editing of great Jewish liturgy for Kol Menachem. Since this time he has completed the groundbreaking Kol Menachem Chumash (Gutnick Edition), the Slager Edition Haggadah — the bestselling work in its genre — and two volumes of a landmark series exploring Rambam’s Thirteen Principles of Faith.

Rabbi Miller’s texts are currently used at some of the nation’s top institutions, including New York University and Yeshiva University. In addition, over 1,000 rabbis in the United States use Rabbi Miller’s texts to teach their students and prepare their sermons.

Rabbi Miller’s publications have received the attention of community leaders and various persons of note. In 2008, President George W. Bush sent the Slager Edition Haggadah to the troops in Iraq as a representation of the Jewish faith for the United States military. The Haggadah was a recent recipient of the prestigious Benjamin Franklin Award just this past year, and Miller’sGutnick Chumash is on display at the Jewish Children’s Museum in Brooklyn, New York. The popular “Dummies” series published The Torah for Dummies in 2008, with author Arthur Kurzweil singling out Rabbi Miller’s Gutnick Chumash and proclaiming, “If I could have only one translation on a desert island, it would be this one.”

See also
Torah in Ten 

Kol Menachem 

The Huffington Post  

The dates for winter/spring 2012 are:
January 28th
February 11th & 25th
March 10th & 24th
April 14th & 28th
May 12th & 26th

Bonai Shalom is located at 1527 Cherryvale Road, just south of Arapahoe. If you have any questions, please email shelanu@bonaishalom.org.

The Family Shabbat Program is open to the community and there is no cost to attend. Families, friends, visiting relatives, and siblings of all ages are welcome!

Our next Family Shabbat program will be held on Saturday, February 4 and will be geared towards children in grades K-2 and their families.

Bonai Shalom is located at 1527 Cherryvale Road, just south of Arapahoe.

If you have any questions, please email froma@bonaishalom.org

Shabbat Mishpacha will travel to the WOW! Children’s Museum in Lafayette on Saturday, January 21st from 10:00 am – noon. Admission is $5.50 per family at the door, or free with a WOW! Children’s Museum membership. This event is also free for qualified families registered for MazelTot at www.MazelTot.org.

Sponsored by Congregation Har HaShem, Shabbat Mishpacha is an innovative Saturday morning program followed by age-appropriate activities for children. Geared for preschoolers through first graders and their families, everyone will enjoy celebrating Shabbat together with music, art, challah, and more! All Shabbat Mishpacha programming is open to the community and siblings of any age are welcome.

The WOW! Children’s Museum is located at 110 North Harrison Avenue in Lafayette, one block east of Public Road and one block south of Baseline Road. Please RSVP with the number of children attending from your family by Wednesday, January 18th to (303) 499-7077, ext. 14 or shabbatmish@congregationharhashem.org.

Please join us at Congregation Bonai Shalom this Shabbat, January 14, at 11:00 a.m. for a tot Shabbat experience, a fabulous way to celebrate Shabbat together with your young children. We sing, dance, tell stories and enjoy Shabbat together in this innovative parent-lead program. Geared towards children under the age of 5 and their parents.

Shabbat Shelanu is open to the community and there is no cost to attend. Families, friends, visiting relatives, and siblings of all ages are welcome!

The dates for winter/spring 2012 are:
January 14th & 28th
February 11th & 25th
March 10th & 24th
April 14th & 28th
May 12th & 26th

Bonai Shalom is located at 1527 Cherryvale Road, just south of Arapahoe. If you have any questions, please email shelanu@bonaishalom.org

If you’re like most Jews, you’ve heard that only human beings are created in God’s image, and that human needs trump the needs of any other species or creature. But the reality is much more complicated — and much more interesting. Find out how many different ways the rabbis, philosophers and Kabbalists thought that humans reflected God’s image, and about how their ideas changed and developed over the centuries. You’ll discover how the Midrash and the Kabbalah claimed that other created beings were also in God’s image.

Join us for great learning and great discussion — and for great intellectual stimulation. But more than that, expect to find out something new about how we encounter God in Nature, in ourselves, in other animals, and in how we treat every living being. The material we study will be drawn from Seidenberg’s new book. The answers will affirm ideas and spiritual experiences you may not have known were Jewish, and they will surprise you and expand your picture of Judaism, of humanity, of the Earth, and of God.

Rabbi David Seidenberg, the creator of NeoHasid.org, teaches text and music, Jewish thought and spirituality, in their own right and in relation to ecology and the environment. David has smikhah (ordination) from the Jewish Theological Seminary and from Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, and he wrote a doctorate on Kabbalah and ecotheology at JTS. He has taught at over 100 synagogues and communities across North America (and a few in Israel). David is published widely on ecology and Judaism. David’s teaching empowers learners to become creators of Judaism through deep study and communion with texts and tradition. He brings not only expertise in science (ecology and cosmology) and texts (midrash, Talmud, philosophy, Kabbalah and Chasidus), but also engagement with spirit (meditation, davening and nigunim), embodiment and ritual.

Friday night services (6:00 pm) and Saturday morning services (9:30 am followed by a Kiddush lunch) are free and open to the public. Friday night dinner does require an RSVP and payment: Cost for the Friday evening dinner is $15 per adult, $12 per child (ages 5-12), bring your own wine. To reserve your place, contact us at office@bonaishalom.org or call 303-442-6605 by Tuesday, January 3rd.