Daroma דָרוֹמָה
Spring 5784
Training Season

Turning South

The Judaen sages said that at the old Temple, the table of offerings stood in the north, and the Menorah candelabra stood in the south. If one seeks earthly wealth, one must turn north. Those who seek wisdom, “harotze sh’yakhkim, yadrim,” must turn south, Daroma. (The Last Gate, Bava Batra 25b:8) This turning south is tied to our people’s suffering - it is said that since the destruction of the temple, the mysterious southern wind has not blown.

To resume this southern wind, to tune the mind, attune to the ancestral calendar, to open the heart, to grieve and to praise this season, I invite you to Daroma Spring 5784, a rich schedule of opportunities to practice and be in fellowship together. Daroma will be the overarching theme, tracing the season from Passover, through the Omer season and ending with Shavuot, enhanced with rich silence, song, ancestral healing and non-dual learning.

Daroma, a response to October 7th, centered in practice

For many and especially Jewish people around the world, the past fall and winter have been especially hard since the war in Israel and Palestine began. It has and still devastates our sense of agency, empathy, community, and sanity, gave rise to old fears and very real dangers. For many, entering this spring’s holidays season is laden with mixed emotions. Rabbi Rami is a trauma-informed certified mindfulness teacher and Daroma is specifically designed for grief-lettings, relaxation and enjoyment in Jewish devotional practices, as well as rigorous resilience-training.

We will weave non-dual awareness practices with devotional ancestral ones, learning to discern, accept and utilize both aspects of our consciousness, dissolving the distinction between them, and finding outlet to grief and trauma.

Who is Daroma for?

Daroma is for anyone who wants to organize their life in around their spiritual practice. It especially useful to homebound, work-for-home, or those on the go who can to add a component of structure, fellowship, and focus.

The training will especially appeal to those practicing meditation, psychedelics, grief-workers, Dharma-seeking Jubus and HinJus wanting to infuse their practice with their Jewish ancestral ways. If you are of a different ancestry, or practice a different spiritual path, you are welcome. Do know that Daroma is a Jewish-centered program and will center on Jewish themes, vocabulary, teachings and culture.

Daroma is part of The Jewish Monastic Project

Rami’s ongoing attempt to shape the essential gifts of the rigorous Zen training he received in his ten years of training including four years he lived at Zen Mountain Monastery and the Zen Center of New York City, woven with Jewish ancestral wisdom, modern home-dwellers life, and with the special needs of the Jewish body, psyche and spirit. Localized at Rami’s cloister in Peekskill, NY, Daroma is offered in the monastic spirit of single-pointed dedication, rigorous practice, commitment, and fellowship of the heart. (Read more on the Jewish Monastic Project.)

Events included in Daroma

Depending on numbers of registrations, the program will unfold in two ways, Core Events and Pop Up Events:

Core Events: Seder, Yom Hashoah (Holocaust memorial day), Yom Hazikaron (Memorial Day), Lag Ba’omer, Shavuot, and three weekly practice and learning sessions. These are the baseline offering which are open now for individual registrations.

Pop up events: silent meditation, Omer teachings, davening (Jewish liturgy), Kabbalat Shabbat, Havdallah, half-day Shabbat retreats, council listening and sharing practice, art practice and more. These events will be scheduled and announced per week. The program is a pilot and these events will take on different forms and possibly times in spirit of Not Knowing, experimentation, and to encourage personal practice.

Once you sign up, you may choose to be added toWhatsApp lists to receive event alerts, to connect with others and receive further material relevant to the events.

Individual one-on-one sessions for pastoral guidance or personalized study are available by request.

See Calendar below.

Commitment

Daroma is open to all, regardless of how often you join. Turning into the wisdom of awareness, takes effort, commitment and repetition, imprinting the practices deeper and making them embodied. Anyone can sign up anytime throughout the season. Participants are encouraged to attend as much of the program for the most immersive experience. Coming together as a group adds to intimacy, which will be important when space is created for sharing and holding one-another. Regardless of frequency, know that you are joining a fellowship joined by a commitment to sanity and compassion.

Why training?

To establish practice as alternative to habitual response, so it becomes available during times one is away from formal community practice. Reliance on community is helpful but ultimately, Daroma promotes self-driven practice and personal direct relationship with one’s mind, and the world.

Cost

Signing up to Daroma Spring 5784 program is free, to allow everyone to join regardless of financial resources.

• Payment for the Core Events, please practice generosity by choosing how to pay:

(1) towards each individual event, suggested contributions is $25(2hr events) and $45(4hr events) per event 

(or) 

(2) $250 for the whole program of Core Events.

• Payment for Pop-Up Events are free and contributions to them are welcome.

(4) Further, unsolicited contributions are welcome, will help offset lower contributions from those of less resources amd allow everyone to join, as well as underwrite the administration of the program.

Individual one-on-one sessions for pastoral guidance or personalized study are available upon request for an added fees.

No one will be turned away for lack of funds.

Peace-building Impact

A percentage of proceeds from this season will be donated to a peace-building project in Israel-Palestine.

Pre-Program Information Session

[COMPLETED] On 4/17/2024 at 6pm will be an open information session. You can register to it here. If you have unique needs or questions, you may also contact Rami here.

Main Schedule

As stated above, the schedule below is for the main special events. Sign up to be notified about daily/weekly practice sessions and more.