On Friday morning I'm going to wake up shortly before 4am (ouch) and drive to the airport for a long-awaited trip to Colorado. I go there every January for the ALEPH smicha (ordination) ceremony and for the conference given by OHALAH, the association of Jewish Renewal clergy. This will be my first summertime trip there.

When I planned this trip, my intention was to participate in a celebration of Reb Zalman's 90th birthday. Now it will be  a celebration of his extraordinary life and legacy, and an opportunity to reconnect with my beloved Jewish Renewal community as we begin to prepare ourselves for the next era of Jewish Renewal and for whatever comes next.

(For more on Reb Zalman, zichrono livracha / may his memory be a blessing, I direct you to Remembering my rebbe, a post I shared here earlier this summer.)

The weekend is going to be action-packed. On Friday we'll have the opportunity to hear from Rabbi Art Green and to daven with Shir Yaakov, which is always a joy. On Shabbat morning services will be led by a variety of Jewish Renewal folks, including many of my teachers and friends. I'm honored to be participating in Shabbat morning services as well.

On Sunday there will be an event at the Boulder Theater, featuring Father Matthew Fox, Acharya, Judith Lief, Rabbi Art Green, and Chazzan Richard Kaplan, among others. We'll also have an opportunity to experience zhikr with Murshid Allaudin Ottinger and to hear an address from Reb Zalman which was given before His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and which has never before been aired.

I know it's going to be an extraordinary weekend, full of community and connection, togetherness, laughter and tears, memories and hopes.

You can read all about the weekend, and register for its various components (the Shabbaton, and/or just the Saturday night event, and/or just the Sunday event) at Kol ALEPH: Remembering Reb Zalman Update.

If you can't attend, the event will also be live-streamed, and you can register for that on the Kol ALEPH website, too.

To all who will be joining us in Boulder this weekend: I am looking so forward to being with you and to celebrating Shabbat in the embrace of this extraordinary community. And to all who won't be joining us: I hope you'll consider signing up for the livestream so that you can glimpse a little bit of the memory, celebration, tears, and wonder.