High Holiday Services
Our High Holidays Leaders
Rebbe Arik Labowitz
Arik Labowitz is a gifted teacher, musician and spiritual leader. He practices and teaches Judaism as a path to connect with the body, mind and soul,
and to awaken wonder and compassion in the heart. In his services, Arik weaves together a rich tapestry of music, teachings, stories and meditations that
draw from the Jewish tradition as well as wisdom of other mystical traditions. Arik comes from a lineage of rabbis and is a life-long student of
Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach (of blessed memory) as well as the great luminaries of the Chassidic and Jewish mystical tradition.
Arik lives in Berkeley with his wife Aliza and son Judah, where he teaches, facilitates Jewish lifecycle ceremonies, records and produces music, and
spends as much time in nature as possible. |
Maxxine Smith
Maxxine Smith studied with the renowned flutist and composer Katherine Hoover and has mastered a myriad of musical genres from classical to blues.
Maxxine has played throughout the United States, toured with a major record label, performed in a rock opera, and also appeared on television.
She's recorded baroque and modern classical music, Irish folk song, and with other artists on recordings of new age, folk, and original Jewish spiritual music.
Maxxine shares her buoyant positive energy, her humor, and her passion and love of
music with everyone who hears her play.
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Deborah Shelton
Deborah Shelton has been singing sacred music for the last six years. After half a lifetime of dreaming about it, and deeply inspired by her experience
singing with Eitz Or during last year's High Holiday services, Deborah is studying Jewish Sacred Music at Hebrew College in preparation to be a cantorial soloist.
She now lives in New York City, where she teaches voice, coaches a women's chorus and is exploring her return to singing jazz. She is so grateful to Arik and the
Eitz Or community for the opportunity to sing, to learn, to serve and to worship with the Eitz or community during the High Holidays again this year.
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Jim Shulruff
Maggid Jim Shulruff’s attraction to kindness, sweetness, and joy drew him to the presence of great teachers, fellow travelers, and other passionate learners. His own goal is to bring more sweetness into the world by practicing and teaching Torah, Avodah, and acts of Hesed. Maggid Jim brings a wealth of Jewish learning to our bima. Sparked by his experiences with the Carlebach community of California, Jim studied for 3 years in Israel, before returning to the states with the skills to continue following his passion for learning and teaching Torah and Chassidut. Additional studies include graduating from Chochmat HaLev’s Jewish Leadership Training Program of 1994-5, their Maggid Training Program of 2007, and Aleph's Eco-Kosher Mashgiah program of 2007. Maggid Jim has served the community of Temple Beit Hatfiloh, in Olympia, WA, by leading Shabbat services and High Holiday meditations, teaching courses on Jewish Spirituality, and leading a weekly meditation group. Jim currently works full time in the health food cooperative industry as a Produce Department Manager and in the Jewish community as a Bnei Mitzvah tutor. He lives in Lacey, Washinton, with his wife Toby, son Asher, and their two dogs, Kol and Leeba. |