ALEPH presents an Embodying Spirit Retreat:
Dancing with the Baal Shem Tov
led by Rabbi Diane Elliot
with Rabbi Rivkah Coburn and Zacha Belok
May 19 – 23, 2025
Middletown, CA
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About the Retreat
LOCATION
We’ll gather together at a beautiful and rustic retreat center in Middletown, CA. The exact location will be shared following registration for security reasons. Capacity is limited, so be sure to register early!
If you have any special accessibility needs, please let us know via email before registering and we will do our best to accommodate you.
MEALS
We’ll receive three nourishing meals a day, prepared fresh daily by our incredible caterer, Renee Chastain.
Please be sure to inform us of any dietary restrictions during your registration.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE
We’ll plan to arrive between 3 and 5 pm on Monday, May 19, and our first meal together will begin with dinner. We’ll conclude our beautiful week on with departure at 11 am (following breakfast, check out, and a closing program) on Friday, May 23.
MORE QUESTIONS
Have more questions? Not a problem! Feel free to reach out to Events and Retreats Manager, Stephanie, at stephanie@aleph.org with any other questions.
Rabbi Diane Elliot (she/her) is a ritual leader, spiritual director, writer, and pioneer of Jewish embodiment, based in the Bay Area. Ordained at the Academy for Jewish Religion, California, she has been active for more than 25 years in Jewish Renewal. Before her ordination she enjoyed a 25-year career as a modern dancer, choreographer, and teacher of the somatic movement modality Body-Mind Centering®. She created and directs ALEPH’s Embodying Spirit programs, serves as founding faculty of the Taproot Community, and has authored four books of sacred poetry, most recently Traces, Poems, Prayers, Torah (Hakodesh Press, 2024) You can learn more about her work at www.whollypresent.org.
Rabbi Rivkah Coburn (she/her) is freshly ordained as a rabbi through the ALEPH Ordination Program. Rivkah sees becoming a rabbi as an integration of her life’s work, which includes mentoring young people and young people at heart for Brit Mitzvah, serving as a spiritual director and as a ritual and religious leader in her local Portland, OR communities as well as nationally. Having the blessing of studying with Rabbi Diane Elliot for over ten years, Rivkah received certification as a Jewish Embodiment Facilitator through the ESEB (Embodying Spirit, En-Spiriting Body) Program. Rivkah brings her life long backgrounds as a dancer and contemplative practitioner with the embodied Jewish prayer and practices that she teaches as a way to offer other seekers a path towards healing, wholeness, and greater service in the world.
Zacha Belok (he/him) is a life-long dancer, educator, and somatic practitioner. Based in the Bay Area, Zacha sees clients worldwide as an Integrative Somatic Coach, and mentors youth with Wilderness Torah. His work draws inspiration from nature, somatic psychology, and expressive arts therapy and focuses on what makes it safe to turn toward one’s inner life. He practices in the lineage of The Tamalpa Institute and The Discipline of Authentic Movement. Zacha guides non-profit leaders nationwide through the Leadership Exchange and Coaching Project, a program of the Northeast Regional Child Advocacy Center and the US Department of Justice. You can learn more about his work at zachabelokcoaching.com.
