Sanctuary for the Apocalypse: Presence, courage, flexibility, and playfulness
by Gabriel Meyer
Dear Ones,
Allow me to write a few words to introduce myself and invite you to my upcoming online course with The Shalom Center: Sanctuary for the Apocalypse.
I’ve been immersed since birth in deep love for the Hebrew Spirit, specifically for the prophetic lineage within our people. For those who are called to care actively for the orphan, the widow, and the stranger. Those who speak truth to power, and love to truth and believe in sacred justice, creative spirituality through the sacred arts, and standing up to religious, political, and financial abuse by kings and priests.
My grandfather, Theodore Friedman z ’ l, and my uncle, Hillel Friedman, on my mother’s side, were rabbis, and my father, Rabbi Marshall T. Meyer, his memory is a blessing, was a rabbi too. I’m more of a prophetic rabbit, but that’s an entirely different matter.
My father’s two main mentors, Rabbi A.J. Heschel and Martin Buber, represented the best of this prophetic tradition. Heschel was heir to great Hassidic rabbis and disciples of the Baal Shem Tov, and a brilliant and revolutionary Hassidic theologian himself, a philosopher and a poet. He embodied his lineage, walking hand in hand with Martin Luther King Jr and opposing the war in Vietnam. Buber, the compiler of fantastic Hassidic stories, the philosopher, author of I & Thou, incarnated the ethical values of our people regarding Israel, following in the steps of Ahad Ha’am, among others.
As a radical creative and musician, I carry my message through my music (four albums). As a community builder and co - founder of the Sulha Peace Project (2001 - 2008), I learnt about compassion and deep listening, courage and flexibility in the face of challenges.
As a pioneer of Jewish renewal in Israel (based there from 1993 - 2021), I blended the prophetic Hebrew ethics, the beauty of our ancient tradition, the natural alliances of the Fertile Crescent's culture, and the pride of Middle Eastern music, with the creativity embedded in the sacred arts and the depth of reflection coming from the diaspora and Israeli embodied academia.
As an Argentinian from the global south and flexitarian minstrel, I cherish the protection of joy and the highest medicine of humor, specifically in these cataclysmic times.
Priestly blessing at a church in NYC
This course will cultivate the virtues of presence, courage, flexibility, and playfulness. It will give us tools for our daily spiritual hygiene and practice. We will delve into biblical archetypes, such as Abraham's journey, Moses' Burning Bush, and Hannah's prayer, as gateways to our own spiritual development. It will invite us to re-commit to our life's purpose one week at a time.
Some conceptual context rooted in Kabbalah, prophetic wisdom, and sacred nectars from other paths shall contour the design. Be ready to create your own altar, sing, move, follow guided meditations, laugh, learn, and journal in the comfort of your own home.
Ultimately, I'm offering this embodied course to spread lessons learned through my love of life and my ancestors, to become a better ancestor for those to come, and to co-create sacred community in these trying times of polycrises and isolation.
I hope you'll join me for this series!
Gabriel Meyer
Sanctuary for the Apocalypse
With Gabriel Meyer
Tuesdays
August 4th-September 1st
12:00-1:00pm ET / 9:00-10:00am PT
A five-week sacred playshop co-creating sanctuary and spontaneous sacred community. Rooted in the prophetic ethical building blocks of justice, peace, love, and truth from the Hebrew tradition and other sacred nectars, this weekly drop-in space will utilize voice, movement, and guided meditations to serve as a sort of spirit medicine kit for these turbulent times.
Also upcoming from The Shalom Center
Post Humanism & Aleph Intelligence
with Graie Hagans
Wednesdays
July 22nd-August 5th
7:00-8:30pm ET /
4:00-5:30pm PT
A unique, participatory ritual in observance of Tisha b’Av, we will gather in synchronous community with people across the world to hear Eichah/Lamentations, write our own lamentations that we will dissolve in water, and pour out our woes, so that the water of our laments might catalyze seeds of personal and collective redemption. For this program, we’re experimenting with a digital/tactile “hybrid” ritual. If you register by July 13th, we will mail you a dissolvable strip of paper to use concurrently with others for this ceremony. If you register after July 13th, or you're based outside of the US, you may supply your own dissolvable paper, or any paper will do.
Pour Out Your Woes
with Rabbi Ilana Sumka
Thursday, July 23rd
1:00-2:00pm ET /
10:00-11:00am PT
A unique, participatory ritual in observance of Tisha b’Av, we will gather in synchronous community with people across the world to hear Eichah/Lamentations, write our own lamentations that we will dissolve in water, and pour out our woes, so that the water of our laments might catalyze seeds of personal and collective redemption. For this program, we’re experimenting with a digital/tactile “hybrid” ritual. If you register by July 13th, we will mail you a dissolvable strip of paper to use concurrently with others for this ceremony. If you register after July 13th, or you're based outside of the US, you may supply your own dissolvable paper, or any paper will do.