"Why are we here?" is a fundamental question that never gets answered. "Do we die or are we constantly being born and reborn from one universe into another?" "Why are trees and birds free of emotional upheaval, whereas humans suffer and go to therapy to alleviate that suffering?" Drawing from wellsprings of ancient and early medieval Aramaic and Hebraic sources, Rabbi Gershon will introduce us to a rarely taught body of wisdom that is rich with practical insights into the gifts and glitches of being alive. He flavors his workshops with wild meditations, spirited chants, enlightening stories, and gleanings of the lesser promulgated mystery wisdom of non-party-line Judaism, spiced with concentrated doses of his notorious deep belly humor.
Rabbi Gershon Winkler has a refreshing and uninhibited spirituality he's harvested from 19 years of living in the remote wilderness. He's written ten books on Jewish philosophy, mysticism, and folklore and received his rabbinical ordination in Jerusalem under the tutelage of old world kabbalistic masters Eliezer Benseon Bruk and Yosef Ratzabi, and in the "new world" from Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. He serves as a some-time circuit-riding rabbi for the Jewish communities of Missoula, Montana, and the Four Corners region of New Mexico and Colorado, volunteers as a visiting rabbi for four state prisons, and co-founded Walking Stick Foundation and Retreat Center, which endeavors to recover and share the wisdom and ceremonies of "indigenous" Judaism and other earth-honoring traditions.Gershon Winkler "combines the wit of actor Robin Williams with the wisdom of the Ba'al Shem Tov." - The Jerusalem Post, May 25, 2001
"Gershon Winkler peppers his [workshops] with a healthy dose of storytelling, chanting, and humor, creating the impression that we're attending the lecture of your favorite college professor or a performance by the likes of monologist Spalding Gray." - Missoula Independent, Missoula, Montana (September 1998)
"But ask now the beasts and they shall teach you; and the birds of the sky, and they shall tell you. Or speak to the earth and she shall teach you; and the fishes of the sea shall declare to you." - Job 12:7-8