Earth Based Torah

Torah M’Aretz

The Earth Based Torah wing of the Living Lab, Torah M’Aretz (Torah from the Earth) is thriving and going strong! This year is seeing the beginnings of several exciting new offerings, and it is true that the desire of people in the greater Jewish community for resources, learning, and direct experiences that reflect the aboriginal, Earth-Based Hebrew Wisdom paths surpasses our ability to provide for them. But we try.

Because of the presence of our mentoring organization, The Walking Stick Foundation,  the excellent work in this field that they do, and the emergence of new organizations such as Wilderness Torah in the Bay Area, the Living Lab has decided to focus our work in Earth Based Torah to cultivating upcoming teachers, networking and providing peer support to the Earth Based Torah Chevre, and dedicated efforts in the research and development of our Aboriginal Hebrew ways of Being.

Earth-Based Haggim– Festivals and Holidays

In keeping with our mandate to research and develop Aboriginal Hebrew ways of Being, the Living Lab is preparing to offer several Events throughout the Jewish Seasonal Cycle. The first of these coming up is a Winter Solstice celebration in our new home-base in Oregon Country.

Next, we prepare to build Earth Ovens, in our home community in Ashland, Oregon,  and also with communities in the Bay Area, with which we will bake Aboriginal Matzoh for Passover. The most beautiful, tasty, earthy matzos you ever laid eyes on. And about as close to the original “refuge bread” of our ancestors that we can get.

Both Earth Oven projects, Oregon and California will also feature on-site teachings and hands-on experience for folks in those communities. The Earth Oven/Aboriginal Matzoh offerings of the Living Lab are therefore at the core designed to provide people with a real live, Living Breathing experience in the Indigenous Hebrew tradition.

For Passover, we offer the Fourth Aboriginal Seder, this year in Ashland, Oregon. This is powerful good stuff. An organically evolving aboriginal seder reaching back into our ancestral roots.  Then we head down to California to support Wilderness Torah in their annual Pesach in the Desert wilderness based Passover experience.

And, new to the Living Lab, this year we add a Shavuot celebration, Aboriginal Hebrew style, in the mountainous wilderness of Oregon Country–stay tuned for more details as they emerge throughout the year.

Additionally, the Living Lab works to provide resources, mentoring and support to organizations and communities in their efforts to create Earth Centered Jewish Holiday and Ritual practice.

Two-Year Earth Based Torah Certification Course

with Rabbi Sarah Etz Alon–

A dedicated course of study for those Seeking a firm grounding in the basics of Earth Based Torah and the Indigenous Hebrew Wisdom Tradition.  This ground-breaking course is intended to give participants a roadmap understanding of the key elements of Earth Based Torah, to cultivate a movement of teachers who can mainstream this knowledge in their home communities, and to craft a core community of Earth Based Torah Chevre.  By Weekly Conference Call, Individual Mentoring, and Two, Week-Long Wilderness Based Intensives.

The 2010 Fall Session begins Wednesday, October 6th.

For more information, click here.

Wilderness Yeshiva

In the conceptual phase, the wilderness yeshiva will provide experiential, hands on training in the Jewish/Hebrew Earth Based Wisdom Paths.  Possibilities for the wilderness yeshiva include opportunities for weekend and week long retreats; special trainings and seminars for organizations and communities; area of specialty chevre group development, including the Jewish shamanic, vision quest, and rites of passage chevre groups; and short and long term internship opportunities.