Pardes Hannah is a Jewish Renewal synagogue in Ann Arbor, Michigan, affiliated with ALEPH: The Alliance for Jewish Renewal
Pardes Hannah provides an intimate setting for entering deeply into prayer through chanting, kabbalistic meditation, movement, traditional davening, and openhearted engagement with Torah. The reawakened practice of spiritual friendship offers support and encouragement to each person’s journey. Pardes Hannah balances a commitment to the inner life with a commitment to its community by offering Shabbat services and a variety of spiritual and educational study sessions and celebrations throughout the cycle of the Jewish year.
Our ongoing activities, to which all are invited, include Shabbat morning services, Kabbalat Shabbat services, study sessions, meditation offerings, Rosh Chodesh celebrations, and holiday celebrations. See our calendar for more specific information.
Services are led by Rabbi Elliot GInsburg, founder and spiritual leader of Pardes Hannah, and other skilled leaders in our community including Rabbi Aura Ahuvia, Lucinda Kurtz, Linda Dominik, and Megan Sims. Attending one of more of our services, study sessions, or gatherings offers the opportunity to experience the flavor of our Jewish Renewal community.
Rabbi Elliot Ginsburg is associate professor of Jewish Thought and Mysticism at the University of Michigan, and rabbi of the Pardes Hannah synagogue in Ann Arbor. He received his PhD in Religious Studies with a Concentration in Judaica from the University of Pennsylvania in 1984, and taught for nine years at Oberlin College, before coming to Michigan. He has received the NEH Fellowship and has recently received a grant from the Kellogg Foundation on Outreach Scholarship, making scholarly teachings accessible to adult learners. Ginsburg has written two books on the kabbalistic celebration of the Shabbat and is currently working on two books: a scholarly study of Jewish mystical prayer and meditation; and a multi-tiered study of Judaism as spiritual practice. He has published in an array of scholarly journals and has taught in synagogues, universities, and spiritual retreat settings in the United States, Israel, Australia and New Zealand. Elliot lives in Ann Arbor with his wife and two mostly wonderful cats.
Lucinda Kurtz, M.A., a Brennan Healing Science Practitioner, is a former professor of Women’s Studies and has been teaching Kabbalah classes in Ann Arbor and nationally. She graduated from Rabbi Nadya’s Gross’s Wisdom School with a commitment to continue the feminine transmission of Kabbalah in her monthly Rosh Chodesh Circles, Kabbalah classes, Omer journeys, and bi-annual retreats. She believes Kabbalah and spiritual practice can be paths to self-awareness and transformation and integrates this understanding into her active energy healing practice. She has been certified a “Vatika,” “Sage-ing Mentor” through The Sage-ing Legacy Program. She teaches the spiritual eldering work initiated by the founder of Jewish Renewal, Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi in Ann Arbor, at national Jewish Renewal gatherings, and in online classes.