A Tree of Life Workshop

39 Edwards Street,Framingham MA 01701

21 August, 2022

Description

Are you stressed out by life and the state of the world? A climate or social justice activist? Dealing with trauma or loss in your personal life? Join Rabbi Katy Allen for an afternoon of multimedia interaction and meditation on a journey through trauma and healing with her new book, A Tree of Life: A Story in Word, Image and Text, with photographs by Mary North Allen. Give yourself the opportunity to transition to a greater level of faith and acceptance in the face of personal loss and despair with the world. This small, compact book is a meditation on our universal journey through trauma toward healing. A series of about 60 double-page spreads unfolds a story from innocence to despair to understanding through a combination of poetic moments, quotes from sacred texts, and black-and-white photographs of trees. The book provides a tender yet powerful experience as a tool for coping, for learning, and for growing during the challenging times we face in our lives. For the reader, the journey is personal as well as universal as you engage visually, through ancient and modern words, and multidimensionally through the integration of all three media. It is accessible to an interfaith audience. This workshop will span four hours, giving participants time to experience the full trajectory of the healing process and will be followed by a potluck vegetarian lunch. Participants are encouraged to spend time with the book ahead of the workshop in order to enhance their experience that day. This event is sponsored by Open Spirit: A Place of Hope, Health, and Harmony, Jewish Climate Action Network-MA, and Ma'yan Tikvah. A reflections from a Tree of Life Workshop participant: "It was a powerful, healing experience. I experienced deeper insights…Each photo and text generated pages of journal writing for me. I experienced a sense of comfort in seeing the written words. Along with the timelessness and grounding of the trees, it further informed me that G!d is truly present here." - P.S. Rabbi Katy Z. Allen is the co-founder of the Jewish Climate Action Network-MA and the founder and rabbi of Ma'yan Tikvah - A Wellspring of Hope, a congregation that holds services outdoors and has a growing outdoor children's learning program, Y'ladim BaTeva (Children in Nature). She received her MA in Jewish Studies from Hebrew College in 1999, her rabbinic ordination in 2005 from the Academy for Jewish Religion in Yonkers, NY, and her chaplaincy board certification from Neshama: Association for Jewish Chaplains in 2010. Prior to her ordination, Allen worked as a high school science teacher, a writer and editor of science educational materials, and a Jewish educator. She worked as a staff chaplain at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston for 10 years and then served part-time as a hospice chaplain while facilitating spirituality and Earth programs at Open Spirit in Framingham, MA. Rabbi Katy lives in Wayland, MA, with her spouse, Gabi Mezger, who leads the singing at Ma'yan Tikvah. She loves to walk in the woods, ride her bicycle, and tend her garden.