Congregation Ruach haMaqom

'Spirit of the Place' 

Ruach haMaqom provides opportunity for diverse faith traditions to come together in loving community and become a beacon for the healing of our world.

Ruach haMaqom is the first Jewish Renewal congregation in Vermont. Jewish Renewal is a post-denominational form of Judaism that emerged in America in the 1960’s. Renewal combines the joy of traditional Hasidism, the open-mindedness and creativity of the Havurah movement, the socially progressive values of egalitarianism, and the inter-faith dialogue that is the model for contemporary spirituality.

While channeling an ancient past, Congregation Ruach haMaqom forges the future of an engaged Judaism.  In this time of transition, we are counting on an engaged community to help make the future of Ruach a reality! Read on to see how that’s happening. If you feel drawn to pitch in, please be in touch.

 

Ruach HaMaqom Transition Teams

The Shammes Team tends to all the physical aspects of making services happen, including getting in and out of the UU Church, setting up and cleaning up the ritual space and potluck, and general physical site coordination.

The Torah/Tefillah Team assists with the 'meaning' aspect of RhM's weekly emails and collaborative services—at times composing words of Torah to share for both, and also enabling other community members to share their Torah. Additionally, they coordinate prayer leadership for our collaborative services.

The Olam Team will provide leadership for the ongoing visioning process for the community. As primary contact-points with Rabbis David and Lee, this group will help plan the community's events in the short-term and guide its evolution in the longer-term. 

Interested in getting more involved? Send us a note!

R. Lee Moore, Interim Rabbi

Hello Burlington Jews and fellow travelers! Looking forward to being with you to share sacred communal encounters of celebration, regulation and grieving. I began holding space for Renewal-style prayer in 2001 at Elat Chayyim. My passion for organizational transformation ignited in the early 90’s when I facilitated several community visioning projects in my home region of the Cuyahoga Valley. In recent years my rabbinate has been radically nomadic, bringing me to Vermont to serve as interim rabbi in Brattleboro and to Living Tree Alliance, where I’ve led Rosh HaShana the past 5 years. More on me at knowinglee.org.

R. David Curiel, Interim Rabbi

Hey, ya’ll! I have led deep ritual and soulful song for over a dozen years, including at Nava Tehila in Jerusalem; Romemu in Manhattan; and Asiyah, the community I co-founded and led in Somerville, MA. I am a teacher of mysticism, musician and spiritual guide, currently serving on the faculties of Aleph Ordination Programs’ Hashpa’ah Training and Yerusha’s Wisdom School. I am also a certified Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner. And I’m a part-time resident at Living Tree Alliance in Moretown, VT. Come visit my yurt sometime! Born in Venezuela, I am a native speaker of Spanish and English (though Spanglish is my first tongue!). Find more at https://www.rabbidavidcuriel.com

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R. Jan Salzman, Founder and Rabbi Emerita

Rabbi Jan Salzman was ordained in 2010 by ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal. In 2016, she created Ruach haMaqom, the first Jewish Renewal congregation in Vermont. Previously, she served as the Assistant Rabbi and Cantor for 6 years at Ohavi Zedek Synagogue in Burlington, Vermont. She was blessed to have been a student of Reb Zalman. Rabbi Jan is past-President of OHALAH, an international professional Association of Renewal Rabbis, Cantors and Rabbinic Pastors. She has served on the board of Living Tree Alliance located in Moretown Vt. She has lived in Vermont for over 35 years, is married to her "rebbitzmon", Loredo Sola, and has two grown children and 2 grandchildren.

You can follow Rabbi Jan’s writings on her substack account.

Now Hiring!

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Now Hiring! 〰️

Ruach HaMaqom is hiring
a P/T Operations Support Assistant!

Role Description
RhM seeks an organized and personable individual to assist in conducting its community operations.

Candidates will have:

  • Ease with executive functioning tasks, like responding to emails, using excel spreadsheets, tracking expenses

  • Positive and clear communication skills - candidate is highly responsive and comfortable communicating with different types of people on a variety of topics

  • Familiarity with the online systems used by RhM (Mailchimp, Squarespace, etc.) and/or ease in learning basic online platforms

  • Flexibility and willingness to learn

  • Fiscal responsibility and transparency

The ideal candidate is familiar with Ruach HaMaqom and has a passion for its success as it evolves into a new format.

Tasks and Responsibilities:

  • Website maintenance: post events, photos, update content, manage squarespace

  • Internal communications: generate and monitor Facebook posts and MailChimp campaigns, establish and monitor mechanism for community members to share and respond to pastoral needs

  • Community Liaison with UU Church: book space for services, in collaboration with Shammes team

  • Other ways of supporting the community through handling administrative tasks

Very Part Time: Averaging 6 hours/month
Compensation: $150/month

If you have most of these qualifications and feel you would be a good fit for this position, please apply by sending a resume and cover letter to Contact@RuachHaMaqom.org. The community is mostly volunteer-led and may not be able to respond to every inquiry.