Let Nia Give the Gift of Joy to Your Body, Mind and Spirit
Set to eclectic music, Nia is a systemic, exhilarating movement practice that incorporates dance arts, martial arts, and healing arts. Move with form, freedom, and celebration.
Lainie Magidsohn is a certified Nia instructor who has had the pleasure of teaching hundreds of people of all ages, genders, body types, and fitness levels.
Learn to Blow Shofar—cancelled
Basic sound production, playing techniques and required halachah will be covered. We will have a limited supply of shofars, so please bring your own if possible.
Annette Gruno is an experienced music teacher, musician, ba'alat tekiah, shaliach tzibbur, and teacher of Hebrew, Judaism, Talmud, and Tanach.
Living Life with Purpose
Mischa Levine, a former lawyer, is now a high school teacher in Toronto and a member of the First Narayever Congregation. He leads transformational workshops and is experienced at helping people realize the value of living both their secular and Jewish lives with purpose and joy.
Torah Trop Workshop—Learning to Chant the Sacred Text
Workshop participants will learn about the functions of the trop marks and then have the opportunity to practise their newly-learned chanting skills on a passage of Torah text. Feel free to bring recording devices for use during the workshop.
Esther Meisels is a member of the Narayever Congregation where she leads services, leyns Torah, Haftarah and the Megillot, and gives davening workshops. Esther also teaches Torah reading at the Beth Tzedek Congregation in Toronto.
"The Cinderella of the Sweatshops": Reconsidering Anzia Yezierska
Anzia Yezierska was a Lower East Side sweatshop worker before achieving fame as a novelist in the 1910s and '20s and even heading to Hollywood briefly to adapt her work for the screen. This workshop will explore Yezierska's complicated vision of America's promised land for Jews and other immigrants, emphasizing the contemporary resonances of her ideas about gender politics and social reform.
Sharoni Sibony is currently serving as the Interim Managing Director of Kolel and volunteers as a Festival Chair of Limmud Toronto. For several years, she pursued a PhD in Jewish American Literature in Indiana.
Sing Unto God a New Song (and Some Old Ones Too)
In this workshop, old and new songs will be taught and then sung for the entire group in a short, joyful Sunday morning performance.
Judy Henn is the Vice-President of worship at Temple Beth Am in Williamsville, NY where Susan Wehle served as cantor for 7 years.
Gail Lewis is a retired clergy-person and a friend of Susan Wehle.
History and Essence of Klezmer and Jewish Music in Europe and America
Alan Livingston and Jordan Abraham will discuss the origins of Klezmer Music. Using accordion and guitar, they will illustrate the vast repertoire of Klezmer, and show how it developed from Cantorial liturgy right up to the concert music of today.
Jordan Abraham is a musician, music producer, arranger, and engineer and has been responsible for over 100 albums in multiple styles. He is the music director for Touch of Klez.
Alan Livingston plays guitar for Touch of Klez, and has presented a variety of workshops at previous Canamica retreats.
Community Membership and Disability: Affiliation, Charity, and Social Justice Perspectives
What is the place of disabled people in a community? Are they entitled to full membership? In this workshop we will examine these questions and consider different approaches that communities, including our own, use in making these decisions.
Jim Sinclair is a rehabilitation counselor, consultant, and disability educator. Jim has been coordinator of Autism Network International since 1992.
The Alef Bet and how the images of the letters connect with the agricultural life style of the Hebrews and how this influences the meaning of many Hebrew roots
Joel Yan regularly leads services at Adath Shalom Congregation in Ottawa. He loves to sing, to teach Jewish prayer, and to learn.
The Role of Satan in Jewish and Early Christian Literature
David Brooks is a natural resource economist whose main interests lie in the linkages between environmental protection, on the one hand, and the use of minerals, energy and water, on the other. His favourite non-professional activities involve canoeing, trail skiing, and Jewish studies.
Tai Chi—Moving Meditation
Olga Palmateer brings her love of dance and movement and her respect for the body to teaching Tai Chi, Relaxation Techniques, Pain Management and Posture Correction. She has taught extensively in rehabilitation hospitals for the Toronto Board of Education and also privately.
Lying, Deceiving, Framing, Murder, and Attempted Murder: Would You Buy a Used Camel from These Patriarchs?
Mair Hyman is a teacher, translator, writer, and traveler. He moved back to Canada after spending 31 years in Israel, France, Viet Nam, and many places in between. He and his wife and children live in Toronto…for now.
Talking to Children about God: Age Appropriate Metaphors and Ideas for Parents Who May or May Not Believe
Aurora Mendelsohn has written articles on Jewish ritual and parenting for Lilith magazine and the Forward newspaper and was a contributing author to The Jewish Pregnancy Book. She is on the board of the Downtown Jewish Day School in Toronto and a member of Congregation Darchei Noam.
Saturday Night Israeli Folk Dancing
After Havdalah, let's dance together. We will do old dances and new, easy and more challenging. There will be something for everyone. No auditions required: just come prepared to have fun! Children and teens welcome.
Yael Greenberg has taught Israeli dance at a Hebrew day school and makes it easy. She loves the Hebrew words and music and the way they connect you to the history of our ancient/new land.
Kehillah Community Workshop: Kabbalah—The Essence of Judaism
Kabbalah is a word often heard but less often understood. This workshop will focus on the basic meaning of Kabbalah, tracing its roots in Torah and post-biblical literature up to the present day. An effort will be made to explain why it is now in vogue and why individuals from within and outside of Judaism find it attractive. In addition, the concept of synchronicity will be mentioned as part of Kabbalah and an exercise involving this concept will be presented. Bring your heart, your soul, and your intuition to this meeting and together let us climb Jacob's ladder.
Jerry Steinberg is a rabbi, psychotherapist, and author. He has worked for many years in the field of dreams, past-life regression, and psychogenic illness. He is the author of Melting—Poems of a Frozen Man and Voices and Visions—The Roots of Kabbalah (published in the Fall 2007 volume of The Journal of the Central Conference of American Rabbis), and has recently completed a manuscript, The Unlikely Nature of God—A Kabbalistic Perspective. He is former Consultant to the Federal Government of Canada in Yoga, Meditation and Altered States of Consciousness. Jerry is at present working on his memoirs and is the rabbi of Temple B'nai Shalom V'Tikvah in Ajax, Ontario.