Rabbi Rivkah Coburn
As a child there was a sense of light which guided me. I did not have words to describe it, except that the light was filled with love, possibility, and joy. Now I recognize that Light as the Divine Presence who lived in me and guided me even when I didn’t consciously know what it was. In Hebrew school I loved prayers. I have very fond memories of going to shul with my father and listening to the prayers while I braided the tzitzit of his tallis. Those fine silky strands of thread which I held represented strong ties to my ancestral lineage and were weaving the way for something much bigger than I could ever imagine.
In Reb Zalman’s story, “A Midwife for Souls”, Reb Zalman names the soul calling that a girl named Shulamit had deep inside her, but could not identify. So too, exactly 30 years ago, R. Linda Potemken named the soul yearning that I didn’t even know I had which set me on a path of learning, healing, and service towards becoming a rabbi.
As a young adult I had a spiritual awakening at a yoga ashram in the Catskill mountains that led me to Reb Zalman and the mystical spirituality that Jewish Renewal offered. I began to study Jewish meditation with Shoshana and R. David Cooper z’’l and R. Jeff Roth. I studied at the Jewish Renewal Life Center in Philadelphia with Reb Marcia, R. Arthur Waskow, R. Julie Greenberg, R. Shawn Zevit, and R. Shefa Gold.
After moving to Portland, OR the threads of light continued to weave together as Reb Aryeh Hirschfield z”l became my rebbe. I began to explore embodied Jewish practice through teaching what I called “Tree of Life Yoga.” It was during that time that Reb Aryeh tasked me with developing and leading embodied morning blessings that he had begun with P’nai Or of Portland. It was in Reb Aryeh’s siddur that I first found R. Burt Jacobsen’s z”l, interpretive translation of V’ahavta: “Make your life into a voice of God both in your stillness and in your movement.” These became words to live by.
After Reb Aryeh’s untimely death I studied with R. David and Maggidah Devorah Zaslow, receiving smicha as a Jewish storyteller and service leader. In 2014, the week that Reb Zalman died, I met R. Diane Elliot, who became my teacher, mentor, and friend as she opened up a world of embodied Jewish practice that enlivened my soul calling. My studies with R. Diane led the way to the AOP’s Hashpa’ah program, DLTI, and the Rabbinic Ordination program. Deep gratitude to everyone I have mentioned, as well as my soul guide, R. Hanna Tiferet Siegel, R. Natan Margalit and R. Nadya and R. Victor Gross, and many other teachers.
Huge gratitude to my beloved Alan, sisters Jennifer and Amy, my friends, soul sisters, and communities. You all continue to be the tztitzit of light and love that connects me to our Jewish tradition in which I may “Ivdu et HaShem b’simcha,” “Serve the Holy One with joy.”