My fellow retreatant Adam Stein has posted photos from the Panim rabbinic student retreat on his website: Panim davening, Panim talent show (although, alas, no photos of Rhonda and me singing our filk about Jewish Renewal to the tune of "The Boxer"!), Panim havdalah, and Panim sessions. (The photo at the top of this post is one of Adam's; he graciously sent me a few of these for my own flickr stream.) Of course, the photos offer only an incomplete picture of the experience, but they're beautiful, so if you're interested, check them out.

Speaking of that retreat, there's been some really fascinating conversation about different modes of prayer, gender, and liberal and Orthodox Judaism in the comments thread of my Prayer at Panim post. The conversation is still going, so if you'd like to join in, please do. (Within the usual bounds of respect, please. Remember that I consider the comments space here to be like a friendly gathering in my living room, and choose your words and tone accordingly. Thank you kindly.)

As we approach Shabbat this week, some part of me is wondering: what are my fellow retreatants doing now? How is each of them preparing for the coming of the Sabbath bride? Every time I go on retreat at Elat Chayyim / Isabella Freedman, I come away more connected with more people across the broad spectrum of our community, which is pretty neat. Well, anyway: an early Shabbat shalom to all!

Technorati tags: religion, Judaism, Panim.