Meet our 2025 Key Presenters
Keynote Speaker: Melila Hellner-Eshed
Melila Hellner-Eshed is a senior research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. She has taught for the past 25 years Jewish mysticism and Zohar at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and serves on the faculty of the Institute of Jewish Spirituality. She has been teaching and working with Jewish communities around the world. Her publications include A River Flows from Eden: The Language of Mystical Experience in the Zohar (Stanford University Press, 2009) ; "Seekers of the Face - The Secrets of the Idra Rabba in the Zohar (Stanford 2022). Her new book co-written with Omri Shasha, On the Path of the Tree of Life – An Introduction to the Zohar (Brandeis forthcoming). Melila is active in the 'Sulha' - a reconciliation project that brings together Israelis and Palestinians.
'When I Sit in Darkness, God is my Light' Workshop: In this workshop we will explore Jewish sources spanning from biblical verses and images through Jewish medieval mystical text all the way to contemporary poems addressing the chaos creating and birthing dynamics of crisis 'mashber' - both in personal and collective dimensions.
Melila Hellner-Eshed is a senior research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. She has taught for the past 25 years Jewish mysticism and Zohar at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and serves on the faculty of the Institute of Jewish Spirituality. She has been teaching and working with Jewish communities around the world. Her publications include A River Flows from Eden: The Language of Mystical Experience in the Zohar (Stanford University Press, 2009) ; "Seekers of the Face - The Secrets of the Idra Rabba in the Zohar (Stanford 2022). Her new book co-written with Omri Shasha, On the Path of the Tree of Life – An Introduction to the Zohar (Brandeis forthcoming). Melila is active in the 'Sulha' - a reconciliation project that brings together Israelis and Palestinians.
'When I Sit in Darkness, God is my Light' Workshop: In this workshop we will explore Jewish sources spanning from biblical verses and images through Jewish medieval mystical text all the way to contemporary poems addressing the chaos creating and birthing dynamics of crisis 'mashber' - both in personal and collective dimensions.
Musician-in-Residence: Lior Tsarfaty
Lior Tsarfaty, a native Israeli, is the musical director of Chochmat HaLev, a Jewish Renewal Congregation in Berkeley. He is an internationally touring musician and recording artist, uniquely weaving music and various healing modalities to create transformative experiences for his audience and clients. He does music "peace work" with Muslims and Jews and offers mindfulness and chanting workshops in the Bay Area, Israel, and China. Lior is the founder of Village Song, a school and a movement that brings the power of music to Alzheimer's communities.
Conference Workshop:
Since ancient times, music has been used to connect us to our internal world and to help us explore different parts of ourselves. We would like to invite you to a unique opportunity to celebrate the connection between sounds, voice, silence, music, and our inner experience. In Jewish rituals, music, chants, and prayers have always been a meaningful and important part of the tradition. We will explore how Jewish music and Hebrew chants connect us to our heart, our soul, and to a sense of community. No musical ability is necessary. You can be tone deaf! Music has the capacity to touch us very deeply, evoke our feelings, move our bodies, and inspire our spirits. We are born with an innate sense of love, personal mission, natural self-expression, authenticity, and grace that often becomes compromised through the inevitable hurts and disappointments that wound us, and around which we tend to contract away from our essence. This workshop is designed to help you reconnect with what is deepest in you, the music of your soul, the richness of your own song that is longing to be sung. You will be supported in embodying your own uniqueness in a safe, gentle, and music-filled environment where you can rediscover yourself in connection with others.
Lior Tsarfaty, a native Israeli, is the musical director of Chochmat HaLev, a Jewish Renewal Congregation in Berkeley. He is an internationally touring musician and recording artist, uniquely weaving music and various healing modalities to create transformative experiences for his audience and clients. He does music "peace work" with Muslims and Jews and offers mindfulness and chanting workshops in the Bay Area, Israel, and China. Lior is the founder of Village Song, a school and a movement that brings the power of music to Alzheimer's communities.
Conference Workshop:
Since ancient times, music has been used to connect us to our internal world and to help us explore different parts of ourselves. We would like to invite you to a unique opportunity to celebrate the connection between sounds, voice, silence, music, and our inner experience. In Jewish rituals, music, chants, and prayers have always been a meaningful and important part of the tradition. We will explore how Jewish music and Hebrew chants connect us to our heart, our soul, and to a sense of community. No musical ability is necessary. You can be tone deaf! Music has the capacity to touch us very deeply, evoke our feelings, move our bodies, and inspire our spirits. We are born with an innate sense of love, personal mission, natural self-expression, authenticity, and grace that often becomes compromised through the inevitable hurts and disappointments that wound us, and around which we tend to contract away from our essence. This workshop is designed to help you reconnect with what is deepest in you, the music of your soul, the richness of your own song that is longing to be sung. You will be supported in embodying your own uniqueness in a safe, gentle, and music-filled environment where you can rediscover yourself in connection with others.
- Allow the music of our Jewish tradition to begin the process of healing the wounds that separated you from yourself and yourself from others.
- Connect with others from a place of authenticity and celebration through music.
- Participate in music that will evoke your compassion for self and others.
- Use music as a tool for transformation.
