Movement and mirth at Mizmor L’David

The synagogue is holding a women’s event to raise funds and elevate the spirit.

By RUTH BELOFF
Diane Bloomfield does Torah Yoga, ‘a method to learn Torah that includes the wisdom of the body’ (photo credit: Courtesy)
Diane Bloomfield does Torah Yoga, ‘a method to learn Torah that includes the wisdom of the body’
(photo credit: Courtesy)
 With the High Holy Days behind us and the sense of renewal well entrenched, an opportunity for further regeneration is slated on this month’s calendar, designated for the women of Jerusalem.
On October 14, on the occasion of Rosh Hodesh Heshvan, the Mizmor L’David synagogue in Arnona is holding a fund-raising event called Rejuvenating the Feminine Spirit. Within the setting of a biblical tent inside the synagogue, the women-only evening will feature a variety of activities designed to stimulate the body, raise the spirits and inspire the soul.
Glasses will be raised as well, as the NIS 75 admission fee includes a glass of wine from the Amos boutique winery in Tekoa and a light buffet.
The proceeds from the event are earmarked for the synagogue’s charitable fund, Keren Doris, which provides food and medication for indigent elderly in the surrounding neighborhoods. Mizmor L’David is a modern Orthodox community established 10 years ago through the vision of Neil and Francis Kumer, with the help of rabbis Mordechai Goldberg and Chaim Kornberg.
“The shul is very open and accepting.
We have an eclectic mix of congregants.
Mizmor L’David made its mark in Jerusalem with its Kabbalat Shabbat services,” says synagogue committee member Sarah Noach.
“We wanted to make it a simhat Heshvan [celebration of the new month] and to convey the idea of healing to the community,” explains Noach, who is one of the event coordinators and a Keren Doris committee member.
To that end, movement, mirth and medical evaluations are on the roster Wednesday evening.
For example, Diane Bloomfield will lead the ladies in a session of guided Torah Yoga, a method she developed some 30 years ago.
“It is a way to learn Torah that includes the wisdom of the body,” says Bloomfield, an experienced Torah teacher and certified Ayenga yoga instructor originally from St. Paul, Minnesota.
The method incorporates the concepts of the Torah into one’s own physical being, she explains. It is especially relevant for rosh hodesh [the first of the month], as it offers an opportunity to see things in a new light, with renewed awareness, she says.
“When you change your body, you change your consciousness,” Bloomfield asserts. “If we don’t participate in the renewal, we remain stuck in old ways.”
Another opportunity to move the body in new and energizing ways will be provided by Regina Levin by means of Biodanza.
“It is a method of stress relief and personal development,” Levin explains.
Through structured movements coordinated with upbeat music, the group exercise “helps people tap into their innate sense of joy, vitality, self-esteem and self-confidence. The aim is to connect people to one another,” says Levin, who gives Biodanza classes on Tuesday evenings at Beit Yehudit on Emek Refaim Street in the German Colony.
“Anyone can do it. You don’t have to know how to dance,” she adds. Even people in a wheelchair can take part in this exhilarating experience. “They can move their hands to the music,” she explains.
More mood enhancement will be provided by stand-up comedian Joan Weiner, a young wife and mother who made aliya last year from Teaneck, New Jersey. Weiner, who has 10 years’ experience of performing stand-up in New York, will present material that touches on topics such as being an Anglo-Jewish working mother, a new immigrant and a ba’alat teshuva (one who has returned to observance). She will also get the audience into the act by inviting them to take part in some improvisation.
“We all need to get out of the house and have a good time. We need a good, clean laugh,” she maintains. “It is important, now more than ever, to be creative and to bring more beauty and art to Jerusalem.”
While laughter is reputedly the best medicine, Helen Moschytz-Deutsch, a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine and shiatsu, will be on hand to offer participants individual health evaluations.
A member of the Mizmor L’David committee, she is the initiator of Keren Doris, which is named in memory of her mother.
All told, the evening promises to be a good time for a good cause. As there will be a lot of moving around, it is recommended that those who want to take part in the physical activities wear comfortable clothing – and bring a yoga mat if they have one.
The event takes place on Wednesday, October 14, at 7:30 p.m. at Mizmor L’David Synagogue in the Mifal Hapayis building in Arnona, at the corner of Efrata and Giladi streets. For more information, contact Sarah Noach at 052-602-4453 or sarahnoach111@ gmail.com.