Inspired by “Sleep No More” – the immersive theatre production loosely based on Macbeth by Punchdrunk Theatre, Open Temple’s Slaves No More began with a walk through Egypt.  With pyramid and parting of the Red Sea decorations by our very own Leonard Atlas (Shmei Drei-er in Residence), the experience deepened with each entrance to a room.  

The experience continued through the pyramids into a bare room where we were instructed to “take a hold of a rope.” From there, a tale was woven, in between the introduction of the Passover Haggadah. Our seder wove a tale that told us “let go of another’s rope” and as we chose to continue our Freedom Journey, we entered the theatre where Judy Chicago’s “The Dinner Party” was re-envisioned as a seder for our personal modern day heroes. With Zach Puchtel and Julia Prince as Moses and Pharaoh’s daughter, the seder began as an interactive invitation to “bring it to life” together. The seder continued, led by “Rabbi Bowie and Rabbi Prince” two “matzoh and puppet theatre” inspired puppets.

Rina Cohen and the arc of our seder asked us consider personal agency in liberation. With the question “Why did God send the Angel of Death and not enact the 10^th plague Goddself?”, we considered that, perhaps, the Israelites possessed the ability to leave Egypt themselves all along. Maybe, just maybe, the act of painting the doorposts of our homes with blood from the pascal lamb, was a reminder of the creativity that we possess to manifest our own path to liberation? We were all then invited to paint the doorposts of our exit with images of our own heroic dreams. And as we passed through the doorway, we imagined our footsteps as the beginning of our own path towards a newly embodied freedom. 

Meanwhile, downstairs in the Speakeasy….

Yes, parallel to our seder was a hidden room with an experience into the psyche. Sariyah Idan and her musicians hid out in a room at the end of a Golden Passage for participants to discover on their own for deepened participation in our Freedom Seder.  Reflection journals and paints were scattered amongst the cushions and bar tables for creation as Sariyah led the group through a musical psychological journey into the mind and soul of Seder.  Her songs touched upon the love we must cultivate to attain freedom and the freedom that finding one’s inner truth opens. 

With all of the artistic expansiveness, there was one part of seder that did not go well. Our seder was to end with “table making” – a technique employed in community building where everyone creates the alter of the dining table together. When we journeyed from the theatre back into the dance studio to complete our seder, people were so hungry that they immediately took food. Admittedly, perhaps it wasn’t the best idea to have the food placed at the entrance of the room! Our best intention was to have everyone understand that a primary building block of Freedom is Community; and, in creating our seder tables, we were building Open Temple together. Although we have yet to achieve this aspect of our seder, we surely did succeed in the next steps in building Open Temple. With 160 souls participating in our Freedom Seder experiment, we can consider that Open Temple is a source for Freedom of Expression through Jewish Ritual in Venice!

David Suissa featured a very special Bar Mitzvah officiated by Rabbi Lori at the LA Museum of the Holocaust in the Journal this week. He writes:

I rarely pay attention to walls when I’m in a synagogue. I’m usually more focused on the people, the prayers and the rabbi’s sermon.

On a recent Shabbat, though, I couldn’t stop looking at the walls. I was at a bar mitzvah service for my friend Steve Kessler’s son, Benny, with about 80 other guests. The service, led by Rabbi Lori Shapiro of the Open Temple in Venice Beach, featured some beautiful rituals I had never seen before, because I usually pray in more traditional synagogues.

And yet, as meaningful and poetic as the service was, what really blew me away was what I saw on the walls: 1.2 million little holes, each one representing a Jewish child who perished in the Holocaust.

You can read the rest of David’s article here.

A week ago was our first Dawn Purim Bash, and it was splendid. Purim is a holiday of unmasking, revelry and uplift, and we hope everyone who came experienced all that and more. According to the Jewish Journal, we combined “the holy with the holistic.”

We are so grateful for all of the people that helped bring the event together. Argine and Andre of Daybreaker were true professionals, and if you haven’t experienced Daybreaker yet, the next west side event is April 7th. Tickets are available here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/daybreaker-la-into-the-blues-4716-tickets-23194783221?aff=es2

Zack Lodmer, of Om Shalom Yoga, greeted us with breath and invited us to open our hearts. 

Jeffrey Chernik, aka CHRNIK, transcended DJing, and turned a holiday into a holy-day. 

And our sponsors! Thanks to Bulletproof for giving us coffee plus, to Hint Water and Icelandic Water for hydration plus, to Kind Bars, and to Izzy’s for making the most delicious hamentashen ever. And NuRoots—we love dancing with you! And to our awesome cadre of volunteers—we couldn’t have done it without your help!

And to Rabbi Sarah Bassin and the Temple Emanuel Yo Pros—thank you for such delicious and re-vivifying juices. We especially hearted the red. 

Milo painted our faces to help unmask our souls, Ruby Rain dealt cards and revealed truths, and Mina (the aerialist) inspired us to stretch a bit more each day.

And Wes Smith and the horn players—what a call to action! And what would Purim be without laughter? Thanks for Kim Selbert for making it happen on the beach. 

And lastly, a special thanks to Rachel Kann for her Purim ode, and to Emmanuel, aka The Man Franco for his songs of love, longing and life. 

With Love and Light,

Open Temple

PS: In the spirit of Tzedakah, Open Temple has made a donation to Safe Place for Youth.

The Unplugged happening, an annual collaboration with Reboot (and the awesome Lisa Grissom), and Digital Detox (who are also responsible for Camp Grounded — summer camp for adults) is one of our favorite events of the year. This year (on March 5th) we added a family havdalah happening (thanks Rabbi Ilana!), and for the 21+ crowd a new spoken word workshop with Open Temple’s own Zack Puchtel (aka Galt the Artist). Because the event is, you know, unplugged, there’s no video, but we did sneak a few lovely photos (credit goes to Margaret Molloy).

Can’t wait to do it all again next year!

 

Open Temple is thrilled to share that we received two grants this fall. Custom and Craft will help Open Temple maximize our social media and web presence among millennials and young adults. The yearlong program, which begins this month, will include consultation, training and content-creation for our online platforms. The goal of the program is to give Open Temple the knowledge and tools to create a more dynamic and engaging social media presence. Our second grant was from Jewish Federation NuRoots Infinite Lights in support of our “Hanukah on the Canal Parade/Hanukah Primitivo.”  

We are also thrilled for our upcoming collaboration with Netiya on December 13th.   

Tatiana joins Open Temple as Outreach Coordinator helping us meet one another and strategically grow.

Tatiana first encountered Open Temple at a Friday night service with Rabbi Lori Shapiro, where she was engaged by the musical atmosphere, intellectual curiosity of the community and Rabbi Shapiro’s progressive approach to Judaism while staying true to tradition. Passionate about this new and growing community, Tatiana joined the team to apply her skills and spread the word.

Tatiana holds a BA in political science from the University of Western Ontario and a JD/MBA with a focus on finance from Osgoode Hall Law School and Schulich School of Business, top ranked institutions both in North America and worldwide. Her career has led her to work with top legal and investment banking institutions, with experience in a M&A, fixed income financing and real estate transactions, servicing clients in the media, technology, retail and real estate industries in Toronto and New York.

Tatiana’s creative passions led her to move to LA, to join Machine Shop, a business arm and branding agency for Grammy-Award winning band Linkin Park. As Director of Strategy, Tatiana with tasked with creating new lanes of revenue for the band by exploring new content monetization strategies, developing branding partnerships, as well as merchandise and fashion projects. As part of this mandate, Tatiana spearheaded the creation of an international VC platform, Machine Shop Ventures, an early stage fund focused on the tech and media space in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Tokyo and Tel Aviv.

Most recently, Tatiana has followed her entrepreneurial spirit to focus on independent projects in real estate and entertainment, as well as working with start-ups to develop strategies for long-term growth.

Outside of her professional career, Tatiana is passionate about travel, music, creative writing and Jewish cooking.

From Rabbi Lori:

Growing up in the Five Towns of Long Island, Shabbat passed by the house I grew up in every Friday night, waiting for me to join her, as a parade of men in dark suits and children in colorful dresses accompanied her to Young Israel of Woodmere.  In 1985, the year that would have been my Bat Mitzvah, I was still eight years shy from the time I would join any Shabbat procession.

Read the whole story here:

http://www.rebarproject.org/radical-reinventionb/2015/6/1/un-bat-mitzvah-by-rabbi-lori-shapiro

During our High Holiday services this year, we distributed a folder containing information about Open Temple, our Happenings, Creative Torah Academy, and Budget. We made a decision to be completely transparent as a community about our income and our spending, and included information for both FY 2015 and 2016.

At the Yom Kippur service, our incoming Board President, Blake Fogel, offered to match all donations between the Yom Kippur service and Sunday September 27th (the day of the Abbot Kinney festival). We have been overwhelmed by the response, and feel so supported in our decision to turn to the community to fund our programs over the next year.

If you were not at services, and want to see the folder, we’re happy to send you one. If you’d just like to see the contents, please feel free to download them below.

High Holiday Handouts

http://www.jewishjournal.com/religion/article/eight_events_three_days_one_love_its_tu_bav

Thanks to reporter Tess Cutler for coming out and sharing in the love.