Shefa Gold (born 1954 or 1955)[1] is an American rabbi, scholar, and Director of the Center for Devotional, Energy and Ecstatic Practice (C-DEEP) in Jemez Springs, New Mexico. Gold is a teacher of chant, Jewish mysticism, Jewish prayer and spirituality who Rabbi Mike Comins described in 2010 as "a pioneer in the ecstatic practice of Jewish chant."[2] Her chants have been used in synagogues, minyanim, and street protests; perhaps her most well known being "Ozi V'zimrat Yah".[3][4] Combining traditional Jewish liturgical music with Hebrew chant, Gold has worked to cultivate a distinctly Jewish gratitude practice.[5] Her "Flavors of Gratefulness" mobile app has 109 different chants for Modeh Ani, the brief prayer traditionally recited by religious Jews upon awakening.[6] In 2024 she released "Flavors of Praise" with 61 different chants.
Prior to her rabbinical training, Gold worked as a musician. She said in a 2013 interview, "What I was really trying to do with my music was create sacred space. I felt how powerful music is in opening hearts."[7][8] During her training at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, she took time off to study Zen meditation practices (including chant). During a 1993 retreat led by Thích Nhât Hanh at the Omega Institute, Gold co-led a Rosh Hashanah service as many of the participants were Jewish.[9] By the time Gold was ordained as a rabbi in 1996, she had integrated Hebrew chant into her spiritual practice and, ultimately, her rabbinate (ministry).[8] She is a leader within ALEPH: the Alliance for Jewish Renewal, and received ordination from Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi in addition to her Reconstructionist one.[5][10] Through a program named Kol Zimra, Gold has trained rabbis, cantors, and lay leaders in Hebrew chant practices.[7][11] According to one Jewish Telegraphic Agency article, nearly all interest in Jewish chanting today can be traced back to Gold.[3] She was included in Letty Cottin Pogrebin's 2007 list, The Other Fifty Rabbis in America,[12] a 2015 list of "America's most inspiring rabbis" by The Forward,[1] and has been quoted in articles that discuss the intersection of New Age spirituality and Judaism.[3][13][14]
Gold has produced ten albums, and her liturgies have been published in several[which?] prayerbooks.[15]
She is the author of several books on deepening spiritual awareness through sacred chant and meditation.
Gold's work was featured in the book Stalking Elijah: Adventures with Today's Jewish Mystical Masters by Rodger Kamenetz.[16]
In 2017, Gold was one of the rabbis who signed a statement by Jewish Veg encouraging Jews to take up a vegan lifestyle.[17][18]
Gold has described Hebrew chant as effective for healing and transforming people of different religions, not just adherents of Judaism.[7]
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ShefaGold (born 1954 or 1955) is an American rabbi, scholar, and Director of the Center for Devotional, Energy and Ecstatic Practice (C-DEEP) in Jemez...
(Lawrence Kushner and Rami Shapiro), and Reconstructionist movement rabbi (ShefaGold). In his book Meditation and Kabbalah, Rav Aryeh Kaplan suggests that...
Religion: A Companion, Oxford: Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-826463-1 ShefaGold (1989), The Dark Rays of the Moon: Yom Kippur Katan as Preparation for...
include Arthur Waskow, Michael Lerner, Tirzah Firestone, Phyllis Berman, ShefaGold, David Ingber, and Marcia Prager. Jewish Renewal brings kabbalistic and...
Claussen, Rami M. Shapiro, David Rosen, Raysh Weiss, Elyse Goldstein, ShefaGold, and Yonassan Gershom. Other rabbis who have promoted vegetarianism have...
100 Jewish leaders, including Rabbis Rachel Barenblat, Saul Berman, and ShefaGold, to sign a petition of denouncement against spiritual guru Marc Gafni...
Non-Orthodox/Neo-Hasidic/Jewish Renewal: Arthur Green Lawrence Kushner ShefaGold Universalist-style Jewish teachers: Philip Berg Z'ev ben Shimon Halevi...
Claussen, Rami M. Shapiro, David Rosen, Raysh Weiss, Elyse Goldstein, ShefaGold, and Yonassan Gershom. As of 2023, nearly 200 rabbis had signed the statement...
Services for the Various Seasons of the Church Year. In May 2011, Shefa received the National Gold Medal at the 2011 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, held in...
Claussen, Rami M. Shapiro, David Rosen, Raysh Weiss, Elyse Goldstein, ShefaGold, and Yonassan Gershom. Other notable rabbis who were vegetarian or spoke...
Bern Klein; Gillian Davis; Andrew Bamber; Shefa Siegel. "GMP – Manual for Training Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Miners". Global Mercury Project. United...
us and invites us into an intimate conversation with Truth." -- Rabbi ShefaGold and has received generally positive reviews: "[The poems in 70 Faces]...
Rabbis Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Jonathan Omer-Man, Arthur Green and ShefaGold. The book ends with the account of a seder held in Dharamsala India, which...
prayer is probably her next best known composition. Julie Silver and Rabbi ShefaGold have both followed in Debbie Friedman's footsteps as prolific female composers...
Games, he won a gold medal in the 200 m breaststroke. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Gershon Shefa Olympic Results"...
(Vanuatu)". Flags of the World. 18 December 2013. Retrieved 2 August 2014. "Shefa Province (Vanuatu)". Flags of the World. 8 July 2006. Retrieved 2 August...
Science, Technology and Space, Yizhar Shai, and Members of the Knesset Ram Shefa, Einav Kabla, and Hila Vazan either retired from politics or defected to...
Paralympics, Shalabi won a gold medal in swimming at the 100m backstroke S1 event. Shalabi, who was born to a Muslim family in Shefa-Amr, Israel, was the first...
Hamshacha, "drawing down" or "absorbing", and specifically, Hamshachat ha-Shefa, "absorption of effluence". During spiritual ascension, one could siphon...
News: "Jews should stop 'whining' about York U, benefactor says" by Sheri Shefa May 11, 2016 "The life of Seymour Schulich: Biographical notes". canadian-universities...
details Koichi Yamanami Japan 2:35.0 GR Kenji Ishikawa Japan 2:35.4 Gershon Shefa Israel 2:39.7 100 m butterfly details Isao Nakajima Japan 1:00.1 GR Avraham...
Contemporary Libyan artists, including Suhaib Tantoush, Mohammed Basheer, Shefa Salem, and Abdullah Hadia. Due to their nation's ongoing development, Suhaib...
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