Rabbi Elihu Gevirtz serves as the Rabbi and co-founder of Zimrat Yah. After much learning with master teachers, he was ordained by the Academy for Jewish Religion - California in 2012. He is a student of the Kabbalah, and the teachings of the Chassidic masters including the Baal Shem Tov, Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, Rav Kalonymus Kalmish Shapira, Sfat Emet, and Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, ztz"l. His Rabbinic thesis consisted of an exploration of Rebbe Nachman's teachings on the festival of Sukkot.
He is both student and teacher, story teller and deep listener. He seeks to bring God's sacredness and spirit into his spoken and written words so that it is spiritual, intellectual and psychologically rigorous, and relevant for every person. The kavannah of his davening, leyning, and shofar blasting is to engage in an intensely personal journey toward God. He believes that each of us have a soul, and that our journey in this life asks us to be in service to the Divine, to each other, and to God's creation.
Rabbi Gevirtz has lived in Santa Barbara since 1981 and has worked as a botanist and wildlife biologist in Santa Barbara since 1989. His accomplishments include the successful efforts to buy and preserve land at Point Sal and part of the Burton Mesa, establishing them as public nature preserves, and habitat restoration in the Goleta Slough and other places. His prayer-poems have been published in "Jewish Men Pray: Words of Yearning, Praise, Petition,Gratitude and Wonder from Traditional and Contemporary Sources" (Jewish Lights). Other writings have been published in the Jewish Journal, the Santa Barbara Independent and other journals. Read some of his work here:
Am I My Brother's Keeper? A Jewish Response to Tragedy in Isla Vista:
http://www.independent.com/news/2014/jun/05/am-i-my-brothers-guardian/
Spritual Psychology of Purim:
http://www.jewishjournal.com/purim/article/purim_beyond_the_playfulness_a_time_for_examination
He is both student and teacher, story teller and deep listener. He seeks to bring God's sacredness and spirit into his spoken and written words so that it is spiritual, intellectual and psychologically rigorous, and relevant for every person. The kavannah of his davening, leyning, and shofar blasting is to engage in an intensely personal journey toward God. He believes that each of us have a soul, and that our journey in this life asks us to be in service to the Divine, to each other, and to God's creation.
Rabbi Gevirtz has lived in Santa Barbara since 1981 and has worked as a botanist and wildlife biologist in Santa Barbara since 1989. His accomplishments include the successful efforts to buy and preserve land at Point Sal and part of the Burton Mesa, establishing them as public nature preserves, and habitat restoration in the Goleta Slough and other places. His prayer-poems have been published in "Jewish Men Pray: Words of Yearning, Praise, Petition,Gratitude and Wonder from Traditional and Contemporary Sources" (Jewish Lights). Other writings have been published in the Jewish Journal, the Santa Barbara Independent and other journals. Read some of his work here:
Am I My Brother's Keeper? A Jewish Response to Tragedy in Isla Vista:
http://www.independent.com/news/2014/jun/05/am-i-my-brothers-guardian/
Spritual Psychology of Purim:
http://www.jewishjournal.com/purim/article/purim_beyond_the_playfulness_a_time_for_examination
Alison Zuber serves as co-founder, spiritual director and Mashpiah Ruchanit of Zimrat Yah, where her greatest wish is to carry Judaism into the realm of Joy through song, chant, prayer, and embodiment.
She has served as a spiritual director since 2006, receiving her training from Stillpoint, the Center for Christian Spirituality and Elat Chayyam's Advanced Training in Jewish Group Spiritual Direction. Since that time she has had the honor of accompanying others as they explore the great mystery we call God, bearing witness to their spiritual transformations, journeying with them through sorrow and joy, and co-creating ceremony to mark their transitions.
She is the author of Pilgrims on the Path, Counting the Omer through the 49 Gates
Her exploration of the therapeutic and spiritual aspects of touch and movement began in 1977 in response to a need in her community and a deep calling to explore innate capacities for wholeness and healing.
Since 1982, Alison has maintained a somatic private practice in Santa Barbara, California where the primary focus of her work is facilitating developmental, cognitive and movement integration for infants, children and adults. She is a Senior Practitioner and Advanced Instructor of Ortho-Bionomy®, an instructor and practitioner of Body-Mind Centering ™, and an Infant Development Movement Educator. Her somatic work as well as her practice of spiritual direction is deeply influenced by the philosophy and practice of traditional osteopathy. Her early training includes western allopathic health care, holistic and natural health, therapeutic bodywork, Gestalt, Hellinger, and family systems work, conflict resolution and theatre arts. She has taught classes throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Western Europe.
Her current inquiry centers around specific moments of transformation and how we prepare ourselves and then bear witness to the movement of grace in the manifestation of wholeness.
She has served as a spiritual director since 2006, receiving her training from Stillpoint, the Center for Christian Spirituality and Elat Chayyam's Advanced Training in Jewish Group Spiritual Direction. Since that time she has had the honor of accompanying others as they explore the great mystery we call God, bearing witness to their spiritual transformations, journeying with them through sorrow and joy, and co-creating ceremony to mark their transitions.
She is the author of Pilgrims on the Path, Counting the Omer through the 49 Gates
Her exploration of the therapeutic and spiritual aspects of touch and movement began in 1977 in response to a need in her community and a deep calling to explore innate capacities for wholeness and healing.
Since 1982, Alison has maintained a somatic private practice in Santa Barbara, California where the primary focus of her work is facilitating developmental, cognitive and movement integration for infants, children and adults. She is a Senior Practitioner and Advanced Instructor of Ortho-Bionomy®, an instructor and practitioner of Body-Mind Centering ™, and an Infant Development Movement Educator. Her somatic work as well as her practice of spiritual direction is deeply influenced by the philosophy and practice of traditional osteopathy. Her early training includes western allopathic health care, holistic and natural health, therapeutic bodywork, Gestalt, Hellinger, and family systems work, conflict resolution and theatre arts. She has taught classes throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Western Europe.
Her current inquiry centers around specific moments of transformation and how we prepare ourselves and then bear witness to the movement of grace in the manifestation of wholeness.