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Our first trip to a cemetery was a resounding success! Lisa Finkelstein, Communications Director of Sinai Memorial Chapel, our local Jewish Mortuary, gave us a tour filled with history, insight, poignancy! We saw the newly developed green section, as well as dedicated sections from different synagogues, and a “Russian neighborhood.” We saw the meditative spot with a pebbled stream for those who have lost children, and tombstones for the missing in war, with small simple markings. 
 
It was an uplifting day encouraging us to pre-plan, so as not to leave that burden to our descendants when they are in the midst of their grief.  

Join us for our next ‘field trip’ to a Green Jewish cemetery, Gan Yarok, in Mill Valley on Sunday August 10. We’ll meet at Fernwood Cemetery, 301 Tennessee Valley Road, Mill Valley at 11:00 AM, and tour the green Jewish section: Gan Yarok. 

Here are some responses from our last trip:

During our “field trip”, I felt like we were traveling in deeper waters than humans do as we usually go about our lives. I am grateful for traveling in these deeper waters during a time when I wasn’t grieving and actually underwater. Right now, I feel like it has helped make those deeper waters understandable to me, so I can access them as I walk through the world. — Leslie Roffman

Who wants to spend a Sunday in a cemetery—let alone two? Granted, I’m a bit of a deathcare nerd. But I still learned so much on our visit to Eternal Home Cemetery: about the history of Jewish burial as a microcosm of Jewish belonging in the Bay Area; about how the ongoing care of these sacred spaces is a shared effort between cemetery caretakers, families, and the wider Jewish community; about the concept of caring for the dead as chesed shel emet—a good deed that cannot be repaid; and about the sheer diversity of Jewish burial practices, many of which were completely new to me. I left with a sense of awe, connection, and a desire to keep learning about one of the most meaningful final acts of community care we can offer. After touring Eternal Home with R’ Meirah and our intimate group, I went straight home and signed up for the next visit to Fernwood’s Gan Yarok in Mill Valley on August 10th. I hope you’ll join us! — Melanie Pace

The School of Jewish Living Arts (SJLA) is Or Shalom’s hands-on learning program, founded and led by Rabbi Me’irah Iliinsky, a longtime textile artist and painter of sacred texts. Rooted in the idea that “one mitzvah draws another,” SJLA opens the door to Jewish life through creativity and craft. To hear more from Rabbi Me'irah, please join the SJLA Google Group!