Phyllis Berman

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Phyllis Ocean Berman (born 1942) is the founder of the Riverside Language Program in New York City for adult immigrants and refugees. Opening in 1979, she traveled from her home in West Mount Airy, Philadelphia via Amtrak to the school in New York City so that newly arrived immigrants could receive an intensive English-language education. She was its director until her retirement in 2016. She is a teacher and prayer leader in the Jewish Renewal movement as well as a political activist who writes about and has been arrested for non-violently protesting for immigrant rights. [1] [2] [3] [4]

Berman has been actively involved in the Jewish Renewal movement, serving as Director of the Summer Program of the Elat Chayyim Center for Healing and Renewal, co-leading retreats for the Awakened Heart Project [5] and at the Hazon/Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center, [6] and teaching at ALEPH kallot. [7] She was ordained by ALEPH in 2003 [8] and has been recognized for her spiritual activism. [9]

She has co-authored books with her husband Rabbi Arthur Waskow including Tales of Tikkun: New Jewish Stories to Heal the Wounded World, [10] A Time for Every Purpose Under Heaven: The Jewish Life-Spiral As a Spiritual Journey, [11] Freedom Journeys: Tales of Exodus & Wilderness across Millennia, [12] and The Looooong Narrow Pharaoh & the Midwives Who Gave Birth to Freedom. [13] Her articles have been published in magazines and online. [14] [15] [16]

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References

  1. ↑ Berman, Phyllis (May–June 1997). "Dying to Work". Tikkun Magazine.
  2. ↑ Waskow, Arthur; Berman, Phyllis (2018-06-22). "Families Torn Apart: The Lightening Flash That Reveals Our Hidden Cruelties". Sojourners. Retrieved January 7, 2020.
  3. ↑ JTA (2019-09-07). "Rabbi couple arrested for blocking entrance to ICE office in Philadelphia". Times of Israel. Retrieved January 7, 2020.
  4. ↑ Waskow, Arthur; Berman, Phyllis (2019-09-09). "We are too old not to get arrested for children at the border". Religion News Service. Retrieved January 7, 2020.
  5. ↑ "Awakened Heart Project: A Yom Kippur Retreat". Archived from the original on December 30, 2019. Retrieved January 7, 2020.
  6. ↑ "Hazon Meditation Retreat: A week of silence, awareness, and insight". hazon.org. Hazon. Archived from the original on December 31, 2019.
  7. ↑ "How the Tent of Abraham, Hagar, and Sarah was Born". Kol Aleph. 2015-05-19. Retrieved January 7, 2020.
  8. ↑ "ALEPH Rabbis". aleph.org. ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal. Archived from the original on December 29, 2019.
  9. ↑ Letty Cottin Pogrebin (April 16, 2007). "The Other Top Fifty Rabbis in America". Lilith. Retrieved January 7, 2020.
  10. ↑ Phyllis Ocean Berman; Arthur Ocean Waskow (1996). Tales of Tikkun: New Jewish Stories to Heal the Wounded World. Jason Aronson. ISBN   978-1-56821-991-2.
  11. ↑ Arthur Ocean Waskow; Phyllis Ocean Berman (2003). A Time for Every Purpose Under Heaven: The Jewish Life-Spiral As a Spiritual Journey. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. ISBN   9780374528973.
  12. ↑ Arthur Ocean Waskow; Phyllis Ocean Berman (2011). Freedom Journeys: The Tale of Exodus and Wilderness Across Millennia. Jewish Lights Publishing. ISBN   978-1-58023-445-0.
  13. ↑ Arthur Ocean Waskow; Phyllis Ocean Berman (2016). The Looooong Narrow Pharaoh & the Midwives Who Gave Birth to Freedom. Albion-Andalus Books. ISBN   978-0-692-75721-5.
  14. ↑ Berman, Phyllis (May 2007). "When the Sacred Candle Casts a Laser Beam of Light". Philadelphia Jewish Voice. Retrieved January 7, 2020.
  15. ↑ Berman, Phyllis (2018-10-04). "Standing with Christine Blasey Ford and all Sexual Assault Victims". Tikkun. Retrieved January 7, 2020.
  16. ↑ "Articles by Phyllis O. Berman". My Jewish Learning. Retrieved January 6, 2020.
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