Registration for Passover Village 2019 is now OPEN!

Registration for Passover Village 2019 is now OPEN!

This page has information for registration but not everything else. Please also visit: http://passovervillage.blogspot.com for other Passover Village info.

LOCATION
This year we will be returning to iconic and enigmatic Joshua Tree National Park. We will gather in community, embraced by a magnificent amphitheater of boulders rising 100 feet above our two group camp sites. Exact location and directions will be provided with registration confirmation. Please don't plan to "just drop by."

DATES
9 AM Friday April 26, 2019 through Noon Sunday April 28, 2019

Come Early: Allow 2 to 3 hours minimum travel time by car from Los Angeles; arrival before dark will simplify campsite setup. Camp is available to us as early as 3:00 pm Wednesday, April 24th. Otherwise, plan to arrive by 8:00 am Friday at the latest to set-up your personal camp and join the opening circle at 9:00 am.

REGISTRATION INFORMATION:

Send the following by email (required):
1. Requested contribution is $90/adult or child 13-and-over; children 12-and-under free!
2. The name, phone number, and email address of each adult being registered.
3. The name and ages of any children aged 17-and-under, and the name of the adult registrant who will be responsible for each child.
4. The number and description of vehicles.
5. The day, date and time you plan to arrive.
6. Contribution to Scholarship Fund (optional)

* We ask that payment be made via PayPal https://www.paypal.com/us/home
There is no charge for a PayPal account. You can use your bank account for free or a credit card for only a $.33 fee (less than a stamp!) and send your contribution to the PayPal account passovervillage@gmail.com.

If you must, send a check payable to:
Larry Richard (m: 310-560-6004)
2118 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 594
Santa Monica, CA 90403

* Payment must be received by April 1, 2019 to confirm your space.

* Includes all camping fees and delicious, catered Seder meal.  TBD

* Genuine financial hardship should not keep you from attending. Please let us know how you can contribute.

* Volunteers Needed: (1) help loading gear in Culver City on TBD, (2) transporting to and from camp, (3) unloading gear on Sunday afternoon, April 28th

PASSOVER VILLAGE AGREEMENTS:
We agree to respect and care for ourselves, each other, the community and the land. To safeguard the freedom and sanctity of time and space in the Passover Village, the Leadership Council has endeavored to balance the needs of individuals with those of the community. To that end, the following updates are effective with Passover Village 2013.

By registering for this retreat, attendees also agree to the following:

Photography and Recordings:
-- When we are gathered In Community with a common focus, or "In Session," put away cameras and recording devices.
-- When we are not gathered as a focused community, having lunch, talking with others, etc., photos and recording are allowed within bounds of respect, privacy and permission: Be discrete, non-intrusive, and respectful of all participants when taking any photographs or recording; some may prefer not to be photographed or recorded at all.
-- Do not publish photos or recordings in public media
-- If unsure about a photo or recording, do not take or publish it.

Personal Displays and Self Promotion: In the spirit of a retreat, so that we might leave behind the things of the day to day world, please do not bring personal displays or promotional items into community areas.

CARPOOLING: This is strongly encouraged and a great way to start the Village before you arrive. Parking onsite is very limited. Let us know if you need or can offer a ride.


SHARING THE BURDEN, LIGHTENING THE LOAD
If you find you will be traveling alone, please consider offering to partner with another Passover Villager to share driving, camp set-up and meals. If you are strong, please share. If you are not so strong, please ask for help.

ACCESSIBILITY: The campground is accessible via road. The outhouses meet ADA requirements for accessibility, but most of the campsite is sandy or loose soil, making wheelchair mobility difficult. But as during our exodus from Egypt, when the infirm and disabled were carried, we will accommodate special needs.

PARKING
Parking is limited in the group site parking lot.

Overflow parking is available a short drive away and shuttle rides back to camp can be arranged as needed.

RV parking is restricted by size (25’ max) as well as total number of all vehicles.

CAMPSITE DETAILS
* We do not have running water however community water supply and personal water containers can be filled for free at the ranger station about one mile away

* Multiple picnic tables and a community barbecue pit

* Two pit toilets in weather-protected brick building

* There are sites for individual tents scattered throughout the group site.

* This is a family-friendly site, however it is in the National Park and precautions are advised against the elements. Beware of snakes, cacti, falls, and around prickly shrubs.

* This site is a 2-3 hour drive from the Los Angeles area. Motels or B&B accommodations can be found in nearby Twentynine Palms if you cannot camp.

* Exact location and directions will be provided after registration. Please don't plan to "just drop by."

* Visit https://www.nps.gov/jotr/index.htm for complete National Park Service details


MEALS
Friday Night Dinner: An outreach to Villagers who might like to coordinate a potluck Shabbat meal and/or service will be forthcoming.

Saturday Night Dinner: TBD

Other Meals and Snacks: Bring food and kitchen/cooking items for your own enjoyment. (Meal-time sharing is encouraged.)

LEADERSHIP:
Throughout the year, a Leadership Council -- with help and input from other community members -- keeps alive the spirit of Passover Village and plans and organizes our gatherings. Members of the Leadership Council have taken on facilitation of various aspects of Passover Village (with some others' tasks to be decided):

Marc Weigensberg
Tobi Fishel
Dan Brumer
Laurie Burton
Michael Chusid
Sandra Goodman
Larry Richard
Avram Wagman
Chaim Pittle

VOLUNTEERING: It takes a village to make a village. Will you help organize or lead…?:

Baking matzah
Making haroset
Assembling the Seder plate
Bringing music, song, and ruach (spirit)
Preparing a teaching, creative activity, or ritual
Planning a meditation walk
Mentoring our "young warriors" or engaging with Village Kids
Bringing the fruit of the vine
Repairing tent
or whatever your calling.

The Passover Village will offer a chance to immerse and spend time in these ancient forms as we recreate aspects of the Exodus, celebrate community and share in the traditional "non-traditional, expanded, experimental, enhanced and engaging Passover Village Seder!"

We invite you to revisit the excellent study notes posted throughout the year to begin your Passover Village experience right away! You will find them elsewhere in the blog pages.

MORE INFO AND TO VOLUNTEER

PassoverVillage@gmail.com
Michael (818) 219-4937
Larry (310) 560-6004
Dan 310-396-0706

NOTICE: Outdoors activities and camping are inherently dangerous. By participating you agree to accept all risks to yourself and property, and to hold harmless the organizers of and participants in Passover Village.


Revised 2019-02-24 by Michael C.

Passover Village 2019: Invitation and Kavanah

L’shem yichud kud’sha b’rich hu u’sh’chinah . . .

V’ahavtah l’rey’a’cha k’mo’cha

For the sake of unification of the Divine Masculine and the Divine Feminine,
We commit ourselves to the obligation to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Shalom Chevrey, Dear Friends!

Please join us for our upcoming 25^th year in the wilderness together!

Dates: Thursday, April 25 – Sunday April 28

Location: Joshua Tree National Park

This year’s village again promises:

·      Connection with Nature, amid the amphitheater of boulders in our “home court” in Joshua Tree.  In an age of global climate catastrophes and the threat of extinction, being with the Earth, the Great Mother, seems one of the only logical steps to take;

·      Connection with Community – gathering of old and new friends, relatives, elders, youngers, recognizing the essence of each other, envisioning new ways to live together as brothers and sisters; and

·      Connection with Sacred Ritual – continuing to awaken our indigenous mind through  earth-based ceremonies, enlivening old rituals, creating authentic experiences of the sacred.

Kavanah for 2019 (spiritual intention)

As in years past, we will carry an additional kavanah into the Village, born from our year-long study of the Book of Joshua.  The author(s) clearly sought guidance for the question, “How shall we not be slaves again?” Just as clearly, they answered, “By colonizing everything we encounter.” The answer they perceived led to this: 

Joshua 6:15-21:

“It happened on the seventh day . . . They destroyed everything that was in the city – man and woman, youth and elder, ox and sheep and ass – by the edge of the sword.”

In this age of climate disruption and planetary destruction, rising corruption, genocide and ethnic cleansing, white supremacy, demagoguery, authoritarian governments, and general dis-ease of the culture, we honor the ancient question – How shall we not be slaves? – by adding further questions: Does the ancient perception still offer guidance? If not, what then are we called upon to do?

Why is this PV different from all other PVs? 

We carry essential and existential questions into this year’s PV.  We have no answers.  We can barely frame the questions. 

We plan to sit in deep council together and spend much time leaning on the rocks and listening to what the land has to teach us regarding:

·      How do we rid ourselves of our “colonial mind” – the thought processes and belief systems that result from millennia of colonization and oppression - where competition, greed, extraction of resources, and social inequality are the status quo drivers of human behavior?  Put another way, how have we been (and continue to be) colonizers and oppressors of the Earth and the “Other” (both human and non-human)?

·      What would it be like to collaborate rather than dominate? To cooperate rather than compete? To listen rather than just hear? To know that the way things are is not the way things have to be? To organize human society so that society serves all beings and the earth and not vice-versa?

·      Can developing indigenous mind, earth connection, listening to nature, and putting humans in right relation with earth and other beings lead us into the promised land through the shadow of Joshua?

We will again trust the mythology and ritual of our ancestral Pesach story to provide a jumping off point to and through difficult territory and universal questions.  We do this in order to find relevance for our Village’s existence, to help us understand the times we live in and the imperatives demanded of us, and to perhaps discover ways  for us to move together for the sake of all beings and the planet.     

The prophet Micah teaches: “What does the Holy require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

And to riff off our ancient sage Hillel, if we do not do something to face the destructive forces of conquest and colonization that have plagued humankind for millennia, who will? And if we do not do it now, then when?

B’shalom v’ahavah

Your Passover Village Leadership Council    

PS: Though certainly not necessary, the following brief readings and podcast are suggested if you want to deepen your immersion into the kavanah questions before coming to PV (in no particular order):

1.     “Extinction Illness: Grave Affliction and Possibility,” essay published in Tikkun, by Deena Metzger,   https://www.tikkun.org/newsite/extinction-illness-grave-affliction-and-possibility

2.     "Decolonizing Restorative Justice" by Denise C. Breton,  pp. 176-190; in “Unsettling Ourselves: Reflections and Resources for Deconstructing Colonial Mentality, a sourcebook compiled by the Unsettling Minnesota collective”, https://unsettlingminnesota.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/um_sourcebook_jan10_revision.pdf

3.     “White Fragility“,  Podcast featuring Robin DiAngelo, at: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-learners-corner-podcast/the-learners-corner/e/57420409

a.     And for those who want to take a deeper dive, take a look at her book “White Fragility: why it’s so hard for white people to talk about racism” https://b-ok.cc/book/3553806/99f7ce

4.     Book of Joshua

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