Selah, She Does It All

SONG FOR MARCIA
to the tune of Davey Crocket

Born in a hospital in maybe Queens
The heart of Brooklyn was her family's dreams
She lived in a building with kith and kin
Where ever she went she was welcomed in

                 Marcia Rebbe Marcia -- Selah, she does it all

When she went to shul there was a mehitzah
But the women were terrific so it didn't faze her
She learned to pray by ear and by heart
While she was creating lots of visual art

           Marcia Rebbe Marcia -- Selah, she does it all

She listened to Bob Marley when she got up each school day
It helped her structure learning in a seminary way
For years Marcia sat on Zalman's window seat
As people gathered there, the Shabbos Bride to greet

Marcia teaches Master class; she leads DLTT
When she explains the parsha our hearts all rise up high
The beatitudes, she's shown us, from Jewish text derived
We're glad our age old wisdom has lasted and survived

As Dean of Ordination she helps new Rabbis grow
She davvens, writes, and teaches; she creates a holy glow
The last to leave on Shabbos, she straightens up and cleans
We're blessed she is our Rabbi, and the lifter of our dreams

  Marcia Rebbe Marcia -- Selah, she does it all

She's the Rabbi Who Always Returns

Written for Marcia's surprise birthday party 2011
To the tune:  the MTA song (Let me tell you a story of a man named Charlie...)

Let me tell you the story of our dear Reb Marcia
On this clear and starry night
She came to Havdalah and Melaveh Malkah
And was treated to a great surprise (her birthday)

She spends her Shabbosim praying at P'nai Or
Then eating a hearty meal
She travels the world bringing joy and naches
Helping Jews, at last, to heal

Chorus
  Does she ever return
  Yes, she always returns
  To the home that is her soul
             Halleluyah
  She will ride forever on the wings of Shechinah
  She's the Reb who always returns

She leads the flock of Renewal Rabbis
When they gather at Ohalah
They davven together singing  Mi Kamochah
And are one when they chant the Sh'ma

Chorus

She's a mother, an aunt, a sister, a daughter
A wife and dear grandma
We can count on her to be a  guiding spirit
Filled with ahavah

  Does she ever return
  Yes, she always returns
  To the home that is her soul
             Halleluyah
  She will ride forever on the wings of Shechinah
  She's the Reb who always returns

A Fresh New Look

Reb Marcia introduced me to a new,fresh, open, and spiritual path to the Divine. After my first service with Marcia, I felt like I had been given permission from the Holy One to pray the way I wanted without restrictions of text and/or melody. She has opened my soul and I am honored that she and I have connected in this life.

Blessings, 

Chaplain Bonnie Leopold

Eighteen Lines of Gratitude

for Rabbi Marcia

To turn something old
Into something new
This is your gift

Each phrase uttered
With utmost sincerity
As if for the first time

One of my greatest joys
Witnessing your guidance
In text with thirteen year olds

Each word fresh
Each child ancient
Each question valid

Wishing you joy
Freshness
Validity

On this
Celebration of life
Yours and ours

-Anna Beresin

Offering Heartfelt Gratitude & Blessing

Radiant Reb Marcia

Sensational Smile

ComPassion & Caring

Dedicated Devotion

Awesome Authenticity

Mastery & Ministry

Powerful Presencing

Happiness & Humor

Sweet Service

Wise Words

BEing a Blessing

Guidance & G ! Dance

Unfolding the Nature of Joy

Dearest Reb Marcia,

You have been my teacher in so many key moments, showing me the power of spiritual imagination as you guided a large chevre on an imaginary desert journey during the 1999 Kallah, unfolding the nature of joy through your imaginative and brilliant facilitation at the 2002 Ruach HaAretz, revealing the secrets of how to deeply connect with and transform a group of davenners at the AJR retreat.  

But most of all, I will never forget your masterful guidance through Burt's and my wedding. Your presence created an instant community in which our wedding guests felt invited and charged with the protection and nurturing of our future marriage. The powerful forgiveness practice you facilitated at the tisch cleared the way for our union, allowing us to deeply connect with each person present before we stood beneath the huppah.  And under the huppah, your joy and humor suffused the room, transporting everyone into a timeless, liminal space where the binyan of our future life together began to take form.  (Good thing we had a stool there for Burt, because his legs weren't timeless!) Not only did you make sure we were well married before stepping out from under the huppah, you also took the best pictures of us at the reception!  How can we ever thank you?  May all that you have given return manyfold to sustain and nurture you.  

Mazal tov on 18 magnificent years!

Rabbi Diane Elliot, RSMT

Wholly Present

6108 Plymouth Ave.

Richmond, CA 94805-1206

Helping to Make the Message Clear

I am sitting here working on my Rosh Hashanah sermon, trying to decide how much to keep in or leave out, when the image of Reb Marcia making the 'cutting' signal with her 2 fingers comes to me and I delete whole sentences until the message is clearer. Thank you for helping me hone my skills as a prayer leader, not just in sermon writing but much more in all areas. DLTI3 was one of the best experiences in my life. I miss the camaraderie, and the interaction with Cantor Jack and Reb Shawn.

 

Your teachings live on all these years later every time I run a service but also every time I davenn. May you go from strength to strength and may Hashem give you many years of health to carry on your important work.

  Max Chorowski, MD

Reconnecting My Spiritual Life as a Jewish Woman

The first time I attended a Pnai Or service led by Reb Marcia, I cried tears of joy and relief. I had never known I could feel connected to a Jewish spiritual practice before that moment. It was obvious that Reb Marcia took great delight in the ritual she was leading and participating in, and that she was leading us from a place of deep awareness of each person in the room. Her openness as a leader allowed me to open in a way I never had before in a Jewish space.

Four years later, Reb Marcia married Ken and I, in a ceremony that was fully Jewish and fully us. We asked Reb Marcia to marry us because of her commitment to making Jewish practice meaningful, open, and accessible to all.  Her words and guidance during that process allowed me to feel part of a larger tradition, and part of the whole world, as I renewed myself in commitment to my partner.

Knowing Reb Marcia has been an integral part of reconnecting my spiritual life with my identity as a Jewish woman, and for this I will be forever grateful.

- Zoe Cohen.

Babies r Us or What's your name little girl? OY

Awakened

You awakened me to Yotzer.  I'll always love you for that.  -- Love, Paco

My friend, my Rabbi, my teacher

September, 2011 

In Honor of Your Pnai Or Chai Celebration

Dear R. Marcia,

I met you, R. Marcia so long ago; I don’t remember ever not knowing you.  I could write about so many times meeting with you, having lunch with you at the Diner, having you to our home for dinners, your officiating at our grandson’s Bar Mitzvah, your putting me in touch with R. Shohama and on and on.  Somehow, I’m called back in memory when you were preparing Mindi and Paul for their wedding, September 1, 2011 was their 20^th wedding anniversary.  What I am remembering so clearly, in my mind’s eye,  is being at Pnai Or, sitting on pillows on the floor, as we did in those days and you giving Mindi and Paul a blessing before their Aufruf to the Torah.  That was the day that you launched on their journey in Jewish Renewal.  I am forever grateful to have you as my friend, my Rabbi and teacher.

Sandi---Reb Sarah --Cohen

A Wanderer No More

A Wanderer No More

Dedicated to Rabbi Marcia

 While celebrating a Winters Solstice Eve

An experience occurred I could not preconceive

For there came a moment captured in time

When a woman arose chanting so sublime

Across the floor she glided, Tai Chi hands entrancing

Unfurling scroll with ancient text and dancing

A silence descended so profound

Holding the crowd mesmerized and spellbound

My heart burst opened, tears flowed

“Who are you, I exclaimed, I must know!”

She’s Rabbi Marcia, from P’nai Or

I will follow my heart and go to explore

I attended and ascended to a place of Shalom

Her joyous devotion, angelic voice and music brought me home.

Drumming to the chanting I’m no longer alone

A wanderer has ceased to roam!

Written by Peggy Eagle

To honor the experience of Stuart Joel

A Taste of Honey

When I shook hands with you that day in 1991 as a way to say that I wanted to live in your third floor bedroom, I didn’t know that I would be gaining a friend, teacher, Rabbi, fun person to be around, sharer of good times, sharer of sad times, family naches and family tsoris.

I have watched in blessed awe your transformation from  being ‘one of the leaders’ to a leader of leaders. Your power lies not only in your accomplishments, but in your vision of a Jewish life filled with meaning that is a birthright for all who care to claim it. I have seen you bring to the fold those who had no background, and those who had the most traditional and substantial Jewish education. I have seen you mesmerize a room with your exquisite storytelling. And I have seen you sitting on your front porch with the cats being a Jew on Shabbas-resting, schmoozing, refreshing your own humanity.

One precious time with you began, as many do, at your kitchen table preparing for the High Holidays. We sat with the Mahzor, the litury for the High Holydays, and page by page, you gave me the insights into the whole arc of the davennin’. As you spoke, each song, each prayer, each word, each letter became like the sweet taste of honey on apples to me.  I felt in that moment like I had 'stolen' a secret from the Rebbe, yet knew that anyone who sits with you comes away with the same feeling.

I

The High Holiday Kitchen Minyan

So, what a delight to be with you in Elul 5771, several years later sharing those same mystical teachings with a group learning about the music of the High Holidays. We veired ever so gently into teachings about the Kaddish, and I witnessed, with your skillfull guidance, someone find a loving relationship with the soul of a parent that he had long ago given up hope on.

In the same way, you  gave me great consolation at a  time of enormous grief and spiritual dilemma as I struggled to create a meaningful shiva after my mother’s death.  Your advice helped me to create some moments of calm in a tumultuous time.


For the past 18 years, my creativity has been elevated, prodded and nurtured by your imagination and imaginings. The Mezuzah hanging, Havdalah and L'ev B'omer party in my own home was one of these times when the spark of the divine was clearly in the air.

So happy you have been there to guide the way.

Todah rabah and mazel tov

Tobie Hoffman

"The moment of change is the only poem,"

"The moment of change is the only poem," wrote Adrienne Rich.

My perception is that you are a shy person, Marcia. So the moment when you stepped up to take on what came to be known as the ALEPH Ordination Programs, was such a poem. You have shaped a training where the experience of God is primary; where students and faculty learn how holiness happens within, between and Beyond. You manifest this daily here in P'nai Or and beyond.
You are a blessing.
May the path ahead abundantly provide all you need, in all Four Worlds,

Goldie  Milgram (away on this special day, alas, due to prior commitments)

Gentleness, Graciousness & Genuine Caring

I have had Rabbi Marcia as a rabbi for approximately fifteen of her eighteen years with us -- first at P'nai Or Princeton, then at P'nai Or Philadelphia. In all sincerity I cannot laud her too highly. What stands out the most for me is that Rabbi Marcia is the very soul of gentleness, graciousness, and genuine caring. She chooses her words carefully in order to communicate complete acceptance of others and so as not to cause anyone discomfort. On those occasions when I have brought a problem or concern to her, she has always listened, with all her attention and all her concern and a complete caring. On those occasions when I have called her with a concern, not once has she said that she does not have the time. She listens with a completeness which I have rarely if ever encountered and which is an example to us all. Unfortunately we live in a society in which these qualities are in short supply and not as highly valued as some others. Sometimes they are failing even among clergy, who of all people should be expected to have them. I have always tried to remain aware of how fortunate I am in this area. There are many other of Rabbi Marcia's outstanding qualities about which I could kvell: the profoundly spiritual atmosphere she creates when she leads services, her talents in teaching spiritual practices to others, her all-encompassing commitment to a traditional Judaism which is integrated with some very up-to-date concerns. But the above is what for me stands out first and foremost. I would like to give one more example of the loving spirit of this very special lady. One Friday morning I was admitted to the hospital and was very disappointed that I would be missing that evening's Kabbalat Shabbat service. I called Rabbi Marcia and said, "It would be great if you would have have the chance to visit me sometime today, but if not, I'll understand." Marcia and Jack came by that afternoon, and they did more than just visit; they did an entire mini-service, at my hospital bed, complete with Jack's guitar accompaniment. How many rabbis and hazzans, or clergy of any kind, would have such a powerful caring for their congregants? One of the spiritual practices which has always been important for me is that of counting my blessings. Rabbi Marcia is a significant one of them. David Stone