Thank you, Julie & Jhos! by Chochmat HaLev

Add your thoughts!

2021-10-27 18:13:41 UTC

Click the pink "+" circle at bottom right of the window and share your message to J&J! You can write something, attach an upload, link to a Web page, search for and add images, and more (•••). Please sign your name at the end. Once you've clicked Submit, we will review and approve. Others can Like your post, and you can Like others' posts by clicking the heart icon at lower left of a post.

— Celebration Committee

Gratitude

2021-10-28 22:40:21 UTC

Dear Jhos and Julie,
It has been so wonderful to have you as our Congregational Leaders at Chochmat Halev, and as our dear friends. Thank you for all you have done for us and our Chochmat community. We were so lucky to be the first Chochmat members you married! And you've been there for us and so many others dealing with deaths and other life-cycle rituals. Thanks for your teachings, your deep soulfulness, your open hearts, your authentic Bima presence, and your love.
Love and Blessings,
Inette and Ida

2021-10-29 18:59:26 UTC

Blessing

2021-10-29 19:46:27 UTC

I bless you that your future endeavors bring as much enrichment and meaning to you as you have brought to so many at Chochmat.
Love and Blessings,
Inette

A Rose is a Rose is a Rose...

2021-10-30 20:31:30 UTC

— Rachel Michaelsen

Big love to you!

2021-11-04 19:49:59 UTC

Jhos and Julie,
What a fun ride to share Jewish Renewal congregational leadership with you during this time! It's been such a blessing to add this to our (very) long, beautiful, queer road together. I'm so grateful that your time at Chochmat gave us many openings to dream together, pray together, play together, and bring our communities together.
May your next adventures be filled with more love, more learning, more teaching, more touching people's lives in the deep and uplifting ways that you do, more relaxing, more enjoying, more naches fin der kinder, more music, and more delicious meals with people you love!
Can't wait to keep it going with you!
love,
Dev

Big, big brachot to you both and lots of love as you move to the next place on the journey. You will be a gift to all whom you serve and inspire!!

2021-11-05 16:33:30 UTC

Appreciation

2021-11-05 18:51:23 UTC

Words fall short of expressing the appreciation I have for Jhos and Julie. Like an amazing early Spring waterfall that you try to capture in a photo, the feeling and experience just does not come through in print. I take a minute of silence and recall the inspiration, excitement, awakening, and joy that Jhos and Julie have brought to me and our community and I say- רַב תוֹדוֹת!
Judy Birnbaum

Blessings on you both!

chochmat — 2021-11-11 00:58:38 UTC

Love,
Steve Freedkin

2021-11-12 16:10:39 UTC

Dear Jhos and Julie,
Words fail when it comes to whst you have offered, in particular during these dark Covid times. The soulful teachings snd the glorious music have truly brought light to my spirit. May you go forth with these gifts to all future endeavors.
Blessings,
Amy Weston

You will be missed!

2021-11-12 17:50:02 UTC

Dear Jhos and Julie,
It has been so wonderful having you both as our spiritual leaders, and you are a tough act to follow! The stories, the singing, the words of wisdom have been so lovely.
Wishing much happiness, success, good health, and joy in your future endeavors.
Love, Sherry and Jerry

May Love Follow You Wherever You Go

2021-11-12 18:08:30 UTC

Jhos and Julie, you are a blessing to all. I am grateful to have crossed paths with you. The gifts you've brought to the community are immeasurable. I live out of state, but drove to the Bay Area for High Holy Day services just because of you. I remember specific things you spoke of - many were funny or extremely touching - but even more importantly, I will always cherish your smiles and the love that radiated from you whenever you spoke or sang. You speak and sing from the heart. You are both a true gift to the world.

Much love to you,
Randy Peyser

2021-11-12 21:55:20 UTC

Dear Jhos you are so beloved and respected. My heart is very full as I send you bows and blessings as you continue your service to life with wisdom, wit and wonder. Your generous spirits are incomparable. How I shall miss you!
With much gratitude and warmest wishes as you follow your journey - an adventure awaits!
Bows and Blessings, L’Chaim
Carole “Chaya” pertofsky 🙏🏼💗

2021-11-13 00:07:52 UTC

Julie and Jhos

We’re blessed knowing you hold us.

Our journeys have changed as a result.

You’ve carried a big load

imbued with love

from you to us

and from us to you.

We’re going to experience a loss

in not having it so available.

I bless you that you both

hold deeply in your hearts

the knowledge

that our love to you

will continue on and on

wherever your paths lead you.

Nancy Newman

Thanks for your Warmth, Caring & Support

2021-11-13 03:54:54 UTC

Having you both as Spiritual Leaders of Chochmat these past many years has made such a qualitative difference in my life. Your music, prayers, drashes, personal sharing, warm and welcoming nature, enthusiasm and humor, and especially your caring and support during my ongoing cancer journey has really lifted me up and deepened my love of Judaism and Chochmat HaLev as my spiritual home. Wishing you all the best in your new endeavors and I look forward to staying in touch! Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Carol Suveda

Great appreciation

2021-11-13 16:12:33 UTC

Dear Jhos and Julie,
Thank you for creating a warm and loving Jewish container where I could reconnect with my Jewish roots. I'm so glad to have had this time with you (tho too short!) and hope that our paths will continue to cross in the future. Enjoy following your paths wherever they are taking you, and may you find exactly what you need along the way.
Lots of love, Cynthia Schrager

Love and Blessings

2021-11-19 01:58:28 UTC

Julie and Jhos,
It's been awesome to collaborate with you, to bring our beloved communities together, to receive your melodies and torahs, to swim in the seas of celebration and mourning together, and to be in the glow of your warm hearts and sparkly neshamas. Sending you blessings for deep peace amidst this experience of shmita, release, for the sweet spaciousness to sense your emergent needs, desires and visions, and for the cheyn v'chesed v'rachamim that will allow them to be realized and and satisfied.
All love, more singing, and so much gratitude,
Shulamit

With love and gratitude

2021-11-24 00:11:20 UTC

I have never felt more connected to my Jewish identity as i do at this time in my life and much of that has to do with the both of you. Thank you for guiding us through this pandemic for all your teaching and guidance before as well. Thank you for all you did to ensure Elijah’s B’Mitzvah was nothing short of extraordinary for our family. My connection has lead me to join the board and try to ensure that other families find their way to this amazing community. With love and gratitude, Lily

Gratitude

2021-11-24 01:32:14 UTC

Julie & Jhos,
I deeply appreciate the unique gifts you both gave to me when I went through very hard times. Julie, when I co-ordinated the Unveiling for my Mother amidst sibling challenges, your compassion and guidance allowed me to carry it through with grace. Jhos, I'm uplifted by your teaching that we can feel devastated by loss, and with time our hearts can heal and continue to open up.
May the people you meet in this next part of your lives experience the beauty of your gifts.
Heartfelt,
Naomi Puro

Love

2021-11-29 03:21:11 UTC

We are so very grateful---more than words can adequately express--- for all the years of leadership, wisdom, humor, and spiritual inspiration. And for creating such a welcoming and safe "sanctuary." You have given so so much of yourselves all these years. We wish all of that for you in return, along with good health, well being, laughter and peace. With enormous love, Jan David, Mollie Simone and Adolfo

2021-11-29 19:57:23 UTC

Jhosala, I have been friends with, studied with, and grown with you so much over the 30 years we know each other. I look forward to getting opportunities to pray and learn with you again in the future. From the early days of Chochmat Halev, you were integral to its wisdom and growth. I am thrilled to be able to say I saw you grow in strength and desire for essential Jewish practice in our community. This picture is from the beach in Pacifica when you received smicha as a maggid. What an incredible new beginning that sent you off on! Now with these last 7 years in leadership with Julie here, you have manifested a unique, powerful and sought after space for Jews to learn all the ways they are and can be Jewish. That is a powerful truth. Those gifts will be talked about and shared with our friends and community with a gleam in our eyes that won't be matched for years to come.
For my family we see you and Julie and Leor as having created a vibrant and compelling weekly service during the pandemic, that is burned into my son's experience and expectation of what being part of a Jewish community is like. He only knows a compassionate, responsive, fun and engaged Jewish community. That is his expectation now. What a great joy! I dont have words to thank you both for that essential lfe giving, life changing truth. You will be sorely missed as our leadership, but we will follow your example and bring our essence to the fore and continue your vision. Toda, toda, rabba.
Shoshana, Isaiah, and Olive the T-rex.

So Much Love...

peggybrgr — 2021-11-30 01:46:08 UTC

Dearest Jhos and Julie,

We will miss you deeply. Thank you for the gifts you’ve given us: the guidance (with humor and wisdom!) to step into our marriage with clear intention; the mishkan you created for our wedding; the Love you brought to the shiva minyan; and the wisdom, love, humor and sacred music at each service. Now it’s your turn to receive. May all your next steps be filled with grace and lead you with gentleness and love into the future both known and unknown. May you be surrounded with Love and filled with Joy. May you have good health and good food. And may you continue to be grounded in the holy Love that binds you together and radiates outwards to others. With so much love,
Peggy and Eric

Jhos and Julie

2021-12-02 23:47:54 UTC

Blessings to you both for introducing me to a whole new experience of Jewish worship which feeds my soul. I have had you for so short a time but the impact has been major. I'm sorry to lose you so soon. If there is any upside to Covid it was finding you. I wish you much success, joy and peace in your coming years.
With gratitude,
Carol Pevney

2021-12-03 01:12:33 UTC

Many blessings to you both and thank you so much for the years of spiritual leadership! Best wishes to you both for a long and healthy life!!!

Gratitude and kavod

2021-12-03 22:04:26 UTC

Julie and Jhos-

You have brought so much to us and to me. You have dedicated yourselves to holding us through joyous times and unprecedented times. You have brought song and wisdom, smiles and tears. We are stronger and more connected because of you. We have more love because of you. I know from personal experience how dedicated you are, how hard you work. Much kavod to you! May you be blessed on your journey with finding so much love wherever you go.
Love,
Janet Falk

2021-12-04 02:04:51 UTC

Love you both very much. Seven years have gone very fast. What a blessing to have you both as spiritual leaders. I know you will be a blessing to all those who encounter you in your future paths. Wishing each of you Great joy in your future lives.
Finally, God willing, hope to see you both in the future
Ike and Ellen

Thank you

2021-12-04 02:38:55 UTC

Thank you for welcoming me into your community and for the peace and gratitude and love you radiate. I wish you well for the next phase of your journey.
xoxo
Beverly Falk

2021-12-04 03:26:35 UTC

Wordless gratitude

2021-12-04 03:28:24 UTC

2021-12-04 21:55:24 UTC

We love you !!!!

Grateful

2021-12-04 23:15:12 UTC

As you go forward
may you be blessed as you have
blessed us through these years.

Thank you both for your wisdom, voice, and generosity. We love you!

Taly & Joel

2021-12-04 23:18:29 UTC

Blessings for a wonderful new beginnings. Love!!!

2021-12-05 00:07:28 UTC

Nothing but Light

2021-12-05 00:25:23 UTC

Wherever you go, love will be your wings...

2021-12-05 01:19:31 UTC

Deeply Grateful

2021-12-05 01:44:00 UTC

Blessings and deep gratitude to you Jhos and to you Julie. Jhos your teachings, have had a profound impact on me. Julie, your voice touches my heart and my soul. Thank you both for giving me a completely new way to re connect to my Jewish heritage. I first heard you at Rosh Hashanha 2020, when I came to services through the zoom door of Heartsongs. I was blown away by your so very different, and so very meaningful way of leading us in worship…so different from the dry, droning ceremonies of my childhood. I am selfishly sad that you are leaving. I have only had a small taste of your wisdom, warmth, beauty, soulfulness and all of the other wonderful attributes that people have said here. However, I am blessed and fortunate that I have been in the zoom room with you during this past year. May your future continue to be filled with love, grace and deep connection to spirit and to community.

With love

Barbara Karmazyn
Canadian zoom attendee

Jhos and Julie

2021-12-05 03:58:48 UTC

May your lives be blessed as you have blessed Chochmat HaLev and the greater community with your great hearts, unique voices and deep wisdom. I will miss your presence but know that your unique spiritual "perfume" will continue to sweeten all the souls you have touched.
With gratitude, love and every good wish for your future.
Linda Blachman

with love…

2021-12-05 14:47:06 UTC

Dear Jhos and Julie,

You’ve given so much to me, in so many ways, on a personal level….more than I can ever say. You’ve helped me deepen and find more joy in my connection to Judaism and the complexities of Talmud and Torah. You’ve helped me hold myself with greater kindness and more love.

And, you’ve held all of us close, nurtured us, and awakened our Jewish Neshamas.

You’ve enriched our souls through the beauty and spirit of your voices and songs.

You’ve brought us closer to Judaism, and created a strong thriving warm and welcoming spiritual community at Chochmat.

You’ve helped us cope with the challenge of remaining aware of the chaos, heartbreak and craziness of our world while keeping our hearts open and continuing to have faith in our power to create positive change and our power to bring love into our world.

And you’ve delighted us, challenged us, inspired us, and blown our minds, at times, with your brilliant, innovative, heart opening Torah & Talmud wisdom.

May you always be sheltered and blessed by the depth and magnitude of the love and blessings that you have brought to us, as you journey forward.

Love,

Marcy Berman

my dearest gay mom & dad

bkoatz — 2021-12-05 15:06:14 UTC

i love you both with all my heart. getting to be counted among your array of children is one of the biggest privileges and blessings of my life. everywhere you are, is a temple and holy place for hashem. chochmat was the place where I first waltzed in - big beard, tall heels, short skirt - and you whisked me into the swirl of shabbat with love, joy and big gay arms. i am going to miss your presence in those hallowed halls - your angelic voice julie, your mind-blowing drashes, jhos, both of your effervescent neshamas and the musical joy you both emit. But i know that you will create many temples, many holy places, many offerings to our god, our community and our ancestors, literally w h e r e v e r you are/go. I so deeply bless this next chapter of your life - as individuals and together. And hope to still be blessed to swirl into it - no beard now, skirts still short - and delight in these years hashem, i pray, will lay out for us in joy, peace and creative service to all that's good in the world

hamsas on your heads, you gay lil queerdos!

binya

With love

2021-12-05 17:25:50 UTC

Sending blessings from Israel for a safe and harmonious landing in the new chapter of your life.
I feel lots of gratitude for the way you made me feel included and at home in Chochmat.
Thank you Julie and Jhos for sharing your gifts with the community, the world needs more people like you two.
Please let me know if you come over to Israel I will be happy to see you here.
May you be happy and keep spreading your kindness and wisdom.
Jérémy Marais

With Gratitude and Love

2021-12-05 18:36:27 UTC

Dearest Jhos and Julie,
You are my role models for how to live my life with integrity, soulfulness, hope and love. In other words, how to be my best and truest self. You have blessed our community with your life-affirming presence; may the blessings you have bestowed on us be returned to you a thousand-fold.
Helen Zung

2021-12-05 18:41:25 UTC

Through this long and very difficult passage of time, when we felt the lights go out, when our hearts became smaller, pinched as we were by so much grief and loss and hatred around us and sometimes within us, you Julie and Jhos kept talking, teaching, singing, praising, mourning, infusing our lives with the divine spirit, with the holy, and in the process, reflecting the deeper, sacred truth of love and the possibility, indeed the necessity, of transformation and goodness and wholeness. You two souls, who came to us, made for us the music of angels, allowed us the tears we needed to wash clean our hearts, you two who reflected a gorgeous way to be Jewish that we could finally embrace as ours...you two who threaded sacred word after sacred word on strings of light, who brought about the beauty of ages: May you both be blessed on your journey as abundantly as you have blessed us and blessed this community (that's a stream of never ending blessings!). May your steps be light and your journey made by poetry. May your lives finally be empty enough to fill with time...time that is yours and that is marked by endless beauty and forever joy. And may you never leave our side!
All our love, all our gratitude.
Louise, Jason and Damon

Music and Authenticity

mandodave — 2021-12-05 18:48:59 UTC

I found playing music with you both, to be deeply gratifying! The music and the mood were always so REAL, so harmonious, and so vibrant! I hope to play with you again in some way shape or form!

Love and blessings,
Dave

We are blessed to have been bathed in your light!

2021-12-05 19:05:13 UTC

Dear Jhos and Julie,

Although our time at Chochmat has been just a few years, and during a pandemic as well, we will always remember and cherish the warmth you extended to us when we showed up and the delight of the experiences we have shared.

May the Divine One light the path before you always!

lisa & max

Thank you

2021-12-05 19:27:21 UTC

Thank you for building a warm and loving place for us to find community. Your songs have touched our heart.
Arjun, Kabir, Morry & Sandhya

2021-12-05 20:50:20 UTC

Thank you.

You are amazing!

2021-12-05 21:08:34 UTC

Dear Julie and Jhos
Oh how you will be missed. But I look forward to seeing you in your many next incarnations. I'm so grateful to have worked with you and been blessed by your brilliance, wisdom and magic. Not to mention the music...oh the music! Thank you xo
Jennifer Berezan

2021-12-05 21:44:35 UTC

Julie and Jhos Dears,
Thank you Thank you!
Jhos, thank you for your depth, wisdom, and cocktails (occasionally but not necessarily causally connected).
Julie, thank you for your enormous and tender heart, expressed in everything you do.
Julie and Jhos, in a system with a history of leadership strife, thank you for modeling respect, collaboration, and humility as requisite qualities in leadership.
And so another chapter ends. I am grateful for the ride and looking forward to what comes next.
With tons of love,
Laura

love from ur gay kiddos

bkoatz — 2021-12-06 00:07:13 UTC

With Deep Gratitude

2021-12-06 00:07:28 UTC

Dear Jhos & Julie,

Countless are the ways your presence has blessed my spiritual journey in this community. From your teachings, singing, stories, humor, compassion and sharing of your own journeys, I have continued to find in Chochmat a home for my heart and soul. I and we are so much richer for having walked this path with you these past years. May your new path be filled with joys and blessings!

Andrew Utiger

Blessings on your journey. May all your dreams come true.

2021-12-06 00:15:55 UTC

We send you off with love onto the next chapter of your amazing lives. Thank you for your years of creative joy you gave Chochmat.
With heartfelt blessings,
Shelley and Nadine

J+J=Love to the power of 10!

2021-12-06 00:32:25 UTC

The two of you have been the most welcoming, approachable gateway to Judaism we could have ever hoped for. Always bringing loving kindness to our interactions. You will always have a special place in our hearts and we thank you for sharing your gifts and beautiful souls with us. Love, Barbara & Sharon

2021-12-06 01:09:02 UTC

Jhos and Julie
What a dream you both are… the gifts you have given to the larger Bay Area Jewish community even as you have loved up Chochmat have been unreal… at UA, your music, your joy, your mentorship of fellows… like ripples in a sea of love… deepest gratitude and love. Adam Berman

So grateful

2021-12-06 01:12:47 UTC

Thank you for all the love, grace and inspiration and support for my journey. Blessings for your new chapters!
With love,
Susanna

2021-12-06 01:18:28 UTC

Blessings for Dancing onward

It was such a joy to see you dance and sing almost every Shabbat I joined you. I miss being at Chochmat in person and having leaders who embrace such joy and movement.

Love and Gratitude

2021-12-06 01:18:47 UTC

Blessings to you, Julie and Jhos, on your new chapters, which I hope will bring you great fulfillment, joy and meaning! I have the deepest gratitude to each of you for the joy, connection, meaning, reflection, humor and wisdom you have brought to my life and the lives of my children. We are forever changed for the better by you.
With love,
Jen, Jessie & Noah

Julie. Heart to heart.

2021-12-06 01:24:54 UTC

Bows and blessings. The love that pours from your deep heart, from your beautiful eyes, how the Shechina speaks through your voice have filled and nourished my soul. With deep gratitude always and always, Carole

2021-12-06 01:26:35 UTC

Thanks for your rich voices of inspiration and harmony. Bless you both with continued growth and Well Being!
Steven Sondheim/Chicago

Dearest Julie and Jhos,

2021-12-06 01:28:14 UTC

Thank you, my beloved leaders, teachers, and musical stars for facilitating such loving homecoming for my Jewish heart and soul. I am so very blessed to have shared this brief yet beautiful time with you. May you be infinitely blessed as you journey forth on all the adventures that await you. My heart is forever with you!

In deepest love and gratitude,
~Yulya

remarkable and beyond….

aliceprussin — 2021-12-06 01:36:17 UTC

sparkling and glowing fairy lights in deed
And word and word and word
Whether hebrew or english or yiddish
And song and song and song
Mizrahi or sephardi or ashkenazi or folk or pop
And teach and teach and teach
By example by story by seducing by leading
And making sacred, sacred, sacred
All bumbling, struggling, wrestling, sweating,
Crying, laughing, striving, goofing moments
Of our very very various lives…

2021-12-06 01:47:32 UTC

To the one and only Rebbe Jhos. We have lived many lifetimes together since 1996. My mystical comrade, dear friend and partner in spiritual mischief. Wherever life takes you next, you will continue to bless this world. I love you so much. May we have many more adventures together.

So much love

2021-12-06 01:48:19 UTC

Much love to you both Jhos and Julie. Thank you for always receiving me with a warm smile and hug. I needed them each time. May the joy and tender care you inspire in those around you come back to you 10 fold. Much much love.

Zvi Bellin

Gratitude

2021-12-06 02:09:00 UTC

Dearest Jhos and Julie,
We are so grateful to you for every way in which you have inspired Kiki and also for the inspiration we have experienced each time we have attended a Chochmat service. We hope our paths continue to cross and we wish you all the best in the next chapter of your lives.
With all our love
Deena and Michael

Thank you, with love!

2021-12-06 02:18:43 UTC

Jhos and Julie, thank you SO MUCH for being there for Don and me whenever we needed you. (And we always needed you, whether we knew it or not!) I don't know how we would have survived the pandemic months without seeing and hearing you on Zoom every Friday evening. It was the highlight of our week! And our cat loved services as well, believe it or not. She would sit on our laps on the couch, and purr away the whole time. (She knows good harmony when she hears it!) We will miss you dearly, but hope we can continue to stay in touch, one way or another.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Daphne and Don White

Blessing in going forth...

2021-12-06 02:28:27 UTC

Dear Jhos and Julie,

May you be blessed as you have blessed, light to light, love to love. One of my fondest joys of being with you both is the integrity of how you gaze, deeply, widely, outwards together in one great embrace. May this sustain your shared purpose as you go forth.

B'ahavah, with all my heart,
Judy Fleischman

Not farewell

2021-12-06 02:32:23 UTC

Grateful for all the MANY ways you've shepherded our community, shown up for us and our families, brought your music and your light-in-the-darkness; knowing this isn't goodbye; rather a blessing for continuing to bring joy, wisdom and beauty to the world, with this next chapter.

with love,
Fred & daniella

As you move on, we know you may be leaving the bima, but we also know you are not leaving us. Your blessings, joy, music and spirit will continue to shine and illuminate this community.

2021-12-06 02:32:30 UTC

Karen Broder

LOVE

2021-12-06 02:33:52 UTC

Thank you for all your love and big hearts. I love you both and wish you a transition full of blessings.

❤️ Carolyn Arnold

So much gratitude

2021-12-06 02:42:11 UTC

Jhos and Julie, your leadership at Chochmat has meant more to me than I can express! I can't even express the growth I've experienced being part of Chochmat and being in community with you. As a young queer person you welcomed me with open arms. I'll never forget coming to your house for shabbos and you blessing me and the other young queer people there <3 Jhos, so many times you give a drash, or lead a meditation, I feel like you're reading my mind and saying exactly what I needed to hear in order to grow and deepen my understanding of this challenging time I find myself alive in. Your storytelling is just amazing, I never get tired of hearing your stories. You are an inspiration with your vulnerability and everything you've lived in your life, so many adventures, and talents! I love the cooking and the cocktail making stories and the folk music making and firefighting and just all of it. Julie, your voice just transports me to another plane spiritually, I love hearing you sing, it has been incredibly transformative for me. And your grounding presence. So many times when my heart was broken/breaking I was able to let it out and cry in shul, you came and offered me the warmest hug. I didn't have to say anything, you just held me both physically and spiritually. Every time you reach out to me I feel the kindness and compassion pouring through. You embody warmth, grace, the divine feminine, and generosity in a way that allows me to live with more grace too, and inspires me. Both of you-- you are role models for me, role models of queer leaders, role models for staying hopeful in a broken world, and a beautiful queer relationship. You are incredible at holding space, at bringing a community through these crucial rituals like the high holidays in a way that is beyond what I've ever experienced, these experiences are among the most meaningful in my life. I feel stronger and more able to connect to my purpose as well as to my spirituality, to Shechinah/the divine, to my culture. I miss you and I'm so grateful to have you both in my life and in the world. May you both find so much joy and abundance in your upcoming and new projects and also find time and space for rest and beauty. Thank you for everything you do, sending you so much love. Olivia

Dear ones

aliceprussin — 2021-12-06 02:42:35 UTC

such deep gratitude for these years together at Chochmat.
And years before and years to come.
Creating and making a safe place to belong and to join in has been a deep gift for me. It is such a blessing to learn about the richness and safety that a spiritual home can offer. I now know it is possible. so much love, I cannot express my deepest gratitude.
The community grew with such love and tenderness under your glowing chupah, and we will continue to hold all of that as we move forward, broken hearted AND open to what is to come.
thank you thank you thank you
So so so much love,
Alice

Bridge

2021-12-06 02:49:40 UTC

From back in the day ...
Love Upon Love
Blessings & Brachot on your way to you both.
Jhos I remember when ...
And what I remember was how you would open yourself up and bring it down ...
you would lay yourself open as the bridge we could all journey across to get to a higher ground
And how accessible you would make that higher ground so we could all relate to it.
You are a blessing wherever you go.
You have been a blessing in my life that I continue to count.
Thank you for being you.
Thank you for being in my life.
Thank you for being in all of our lives
& making room in your life to hold us all in your hearts.
Love,
SaraHope

thanks upon thanks

2021-12-06 02:50:04 UTC

Thanks for being so present in our lives through so many twists and turns. From the beginning you indulged us in our desire to create a space where we could truly get to know one another. Little did we know what a beloved lifelong friendship it would blossom into. Thank you for guiding us through all of our family's joys and sorrows — you've really been there for all of it. You SHOWED UP. :) Here's to many, many more years of shared moments and journeys.

Thanks for kindling my love for Judiasm

2021-12-06 02:53:53 UTC

Dear Jhos and Julie,
I never was inspired to go to Friday night services until I found you two, Lior and the entire team at Chochmat. Both Carol and I have shared notes... our community home is our temple in Reno, but our spiritual home is with you and Chochmat.
Thank you for reaching out and taking the time to speak to me after Liz passed. I will be touched by your generosity and kindness forever.
Wishing you the very best in whatever is next for you and I pray our paths will cross again.
Sending oceans of love,
Jane Grossman, Reno

2021-12-06 03:23:48 UTC

You have fed our roots with love and wisdom and the tree shall grow great and live on. Thank you Jhos and Julie from Andy Wolpert & Karen Marker

What a gift!

2021-12-06 22:07:43 UTC

Thank you both so much for sharing the gifts of your beautiful hearts, minds and presence! The Chochmat services gave me such spiritual nourishment and hope through the Pandemic. I am in awe of what you were able to accomplish on Zoom--a feeling of real community. And the music was so well done-- technically, creatively and spiritually. So moving and joyful. I am in deep gratitude to you!
In love and light, Annie Goglia

2021-12-06 22:59:39 UTC

Dear Jhos and Julie,
For seven years, you have blessed me on Friday evenings after long hard weeks at the hospital. Sometimes I crawled in to Chochmat, barely able to string words together. At the end of the evening, I was inevitably transformed -- re-grounded, re-energized, reconnected, restored, even buoyant.
During the past 19 (!) months, your virtual services have had a similar effect. You've never watched me dance around my living room, singing, because I usually daven with the recording later in the evening (once I'm actually home). I wanted to let you know that, even though you haven't see me on Zoom, you've been with me nearly every Friday, helping me release the week as I pray for those who are sick and say Kaddish for those who have died (such a lot of them lately).
Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for your spiritual support during this incredible time.
I so wish we could say goodbye in person. I'm sending you hugs and wishing you every happiness and every blessing.
with so much love, Sue

From Arjun and Kabir

chochmat — 2021-12-06 23:48:33 UTC

The video may be viewed at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/15jFwRqeLC1NqnWIzk-bvyIkdcaB_CkGs/view

Love upon love upon love!

2021-12-07 04:42:36 UTC

Dear Julie and Jhos,

I am so grateful to you both for welcoming me into the music and community at Chochmat Halev back in 2016. For years, I had searched and yearned for a Jewish spiritual community that would feel at home for me: a place with progressive politics, great music and community, and a place firmly rooted in radically relevant Jewish tradition and deep meaning. Under your spiritual, community, and musical leadership, I found that ever so rare set of qualities. And I also found friendship with each of you, and admiration for your totally talented, open-hearted, funny, queerly delightful, lovable, wise, learned, and caring sweet souls.

Julie, your voice is beatific. Your way is gentle and caring. Your presence is like the comfort of a mother’s embrace. I feel calm and inspired by you and when I’m around you. As a musical collaborator you and I connected with a shared dedication to preparation, organization, and attention to detail!

Jhos, you are wise, and funny, and tough, and soft, and constantly full of surprises and stories that draw from what seem like countless lives lived. You draw me in and make me laugh and think and rethink with you stories and scholarship.

Jhos and Julie, Julie and Jhos, together you have a synergy, a whole greater than the sum of your parts, though each of you is scintillating in your own way and what each of you bring to your collaboration is so distinct, yet so harmonious.

I am ever so grateful for knowing you and collaborating in music and service with you. Thank you for helping me kindle a new flame of Jewish learning and practice. Thank you for welcoming me onto your team, for sharing so much incredible music, stories, wisdom, and goodness.

As you prepare to embark on this next stage, I am blessing you with the best wishes, and with these words from Jhos’s setting of the Y’varecha prayer:

“The road is long

and the journey, it can be so hard

And no one’s strong enough to travel it alone

May you be a blessing and be blessed by everyone who knows you

And may you always do your best to serve with love”

Ahava raba!

Lots of love!

Mike Perlmutter

2021-12-07 04:44:17 UTC

Sofia sends her love!

You can go, but you won't be gone

2021-12-07 06:35:07 UTC

Jhos and Julie,
No matter where you are, no matter what you do, you will always live in my heart (and all the hearts you have touched, beside). You saw me, and didn't look away. You reveled in the connection, and valued what there is to value. You forgave me my humanity, and embraced me without reservation. So how could I turn my back on your flock? How could I participate and yet hold myself apart? I couldn't, and I didn't.

You have a vision, and you shared it with me, so now I see it, too. I joined the board, hoping I can make your vision a reality, hoping I can carry your legacy forward, and hoping we can find a leader who can unite us as you did. And no matter what happens in the future, your flock will always be yours. And I will always follow you.

All that's left is for me to wish you the best the world has to offer: writing, teaching, maybe some travel and R&R. May you continue to be kind even in the most unkind circumstances. And may you be happy, healthy and whole, as you were always meant to be. Because you will always be holy to me.

So much love and gratitude....

2021-12-09 05:15:59 UTC

Jhos and Julie, we will never forget that moment when you wrapped Jonathan up in the torah during his naming blessing, with all the love and laughter around us, surrounded by friends and family. Julie, your guidance was so meaningful as we prepared for Jonathan's birth, the recording of your beautiful voice in our ears as we experienced labor and delivery, and we continue to sing to him daily in our lullaby's...ha'hava, ve'rachamin, chesed, ve'shalom! Then, having you at our bris, officiating the ceremony--was pure magic!

We are so grateful to both of you for all your love, spiritual guidance, midrashim, care for our kids, and always holding space for all of us, both personally and in the community.

May your next chapter involve much love, light, learning, vibrancy and joy!! We will miss you at CH, but hope we can continue to stay connected!

Much love, Matt, Judy, Julius, Nathaniel and Jonathan Goodman XO