REGISTRATION FORMS

RABBI SHEFA GOLD'S PILGRIMAGE TO ECUADOR AND THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS : April 19-29, 2009
(Tour organized through Community Development Partners For The Americas, LLC)

REGISTRATION FORMS

DATES:
Departure: Sunday, April 19, 2009
Return: Wednesday, April 29, 2009



Double Occupancy at the San Jorge Eco Lodge in the mountains near Quito and Campo Duro, in The Galapagos Islands. (single rooms may be available on an optional basis with a price differential). Price includes: lodging for 9 nights in Quito and in the Galapagos Islands, 3 daily meals, round-trip air-fare from Quito to the Galapagos Islands, all transfers and transportation to group activities, all activities lead by Rabbi Shefa Gold, all city tours, all cultural, ecological, spiritual and touring activities.

To submit your registration materials please print this page and mail to CDPA: 203 Rockingstone Ave. Larchmont, NY 10538. USA. email: CDPA@cdpa-americas.org. Phone: 914-439-7731.

You may also contact Rabbi Shefa Gold at shefa@rabbishefagold.com


INSTRUCTIONS

1. Please sign and return the complete registration forms to Hune Margulies, Ph.D., Director, CDPA 203 Rockingstone Ave. Larchmont, NY 10538.
2. Mail this entire registration and include a check for the total cost of the retreat.
3. Attach to this application a photocopy of the picture page of your passport and a copy of your health insurance card, back and front.

Part I: Personal Information

Full Name, title:
email address:
Date of Birth:
Gender :
Occupation:
Home Address:
City: State: Zip code:
Home Phone:
Cell Phone:
Spouse’s email:
Emergency email:
Work Phone:
web site:
Country of Residence:
Place of Birth:
Citizenship:
Passport Number:
Passport Expiration:
Health Insurance Carrier:
Name of insured:
Policy Number:
Work address:
Emergency Contact Name:
Phone Number:

What is your spiritual practice? (if you have one):


Please provide us with a brief explanation as to special circumstances or concerns: (special diets, health issues, disabilities, etc.). Please describe in detail. All information is strictly confidential and it will be used solely for the purpose of arranging for special services as needed.


➢ Do you speak Spanish?

➢ Need Special Diets?

➢ Taking Medications?

➢ Allergies?

➢ Other Health Issues?

➢ Disabilities?




Part II: Financial Information and Instructions:

Double Occupancy at the San Jorge Eco Lodge in the mountains near Quito and at Campo Duro, Isla Isabela, in The Galapagos Islands. (single rooms may be available on an optional basis with a price differential). Price includes: lodging for 9 nights in Quito and in the Galapagos Islands, 3 daily meals, round-trip air-fare from Quito to the Galapagos Islands, all transfers and transportation to group activities, all activities lead by Rabbi Shefa Gold, all city tours, all cultural, ecological, spiritual and touring activities.

Payments: Method of payment: Check, Money Order, Cash. Make checks payable to: Community Development Partners For the Americas. Optional choices are not included.

Cancellations: Depending on airline, hotels, buses and other supplier’s policies. After receipt of application a voucher for your deposit will be issued and e-mailed to your attention.


Please Make all checks payable to: COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PARTNERS FOR THE AMERICAS. 203 Rockingstone Avenue. Larchmont, NY 10538, USA. Tel: 914-833-7787 / 914-439-7731. Email: CDPA@cdpa-americas.org . www.culture-and-ecology.com

Part III

Please read and sign:
Waiver and Release

Release executed on the___day of __________ , 200 __ , by ________________ (the 'Traveler Releasor') , resident of__________________________________________to Rabbi Shefa Gold and CDPA (the 'Releasee').

I, the Releasor, in consideration of my participation in the Rabbi Shefa's Pilgrimage April 19-29, 2009, and run and/or operated by the Releasee, waive, release, and discharge the Releasee and CDPA , its owners, officers, directors, employees, members, agents, assigns, legal representatives and successors, and all business associates and partners involved in the presentation of the above noted activity and each of them their owners, officers and employees, and any other people officially connected with this event from all liability for or by reason of any damage, loss or injury to person and property, even injury resulting in the death of the Releasor, which has been or may be sustained in consequence of the Releasor's participation in the activity described above, and notwithstanding that such damage, loss or injury may have been caused solely or partly by the negligence of the Releasee. I am aware of the risks of participation. I understand that participation in this program is strictly voluntary and I freely choose to participate. I understand that the Releasee does not provide medical coverage for me. I verify that I will be responsible for any medical costs I incur as a result of my participation


Date:
Name of Traveler:

Signature of Traveler

Name of Traveler

Signature of Traveler

Rabbi Shefa: The Meaning Of Pilgrimage

The Meaning of Pilgrimage

In 1980 I hitch-hiked through Europe with a guitar, a change of clothes, a tent and a sleeping bag. I was learning the “Art of the Road.” I was learning to open my eyes. I traveled without a set itinerary, determined to open to a new adventure each day. Daily I was forced to let go of expectations and I encountered generosity in the most unexpected places. I kept making plans, only to see them dissolve in the light of startling synchronicities and unforeseen encounters. Every place of rigidity in me was forced to bend or soften.

As I stood at the tip of the Greek mainland, at the Temple of Poseidon, I heard the call of Jerusalem. I decided to make my journey into a pilgrimage. I imagined standing before the Western Wall of the ancient Temple and bringing the force of my whole life’s longing as my offering to lay before God. I imagined standing before that Wall with so much love, that all the walls between myself and God might be shattered.

In that moment of Intention, my journey was transformed. At one level I still looked like a sight-seer, entertained by history and strange customs. Yet I also knew that as a pilgrim, each step of my journey had the power to strip me bare, so that I might finally stand before God and know myself.

It was a wonderful and dangerous journey. The military had recently taken over the government in Turkey; there was a civil war going on in Syria; and then the Iran/Iraq War broke out, with Syria and Jordan taking sides against each other. I was learning about the subtle arts of survival, bargaining and bribery. I was, for the first time, stepping out of the “Western” world-view, learning new rules and unlearning so much that I had believed certain.

Meanwhile, I was keeping a meticulous journal of my inner life. I knew that each strange scene I confronted was reflecting back to me some aspect of my inner landscape that I had till that day been ignoring. I was determined to use each step of my pilgrimage as a vehicle for self-discovery. I was determined to see each person I met as a messenger who had come to teach me something essential.

I arrived at the Wall in Jerusalem in the middle of the night in the pouring rain. I was tired but more alive than I had ever been. Each outward step towards Jerusalem had also been an inward step of uncovering the complexities of my own heart. The daily Jewish prayer says, “LiYerushalayim ircha, b’rachamim tashuv.” To Jerusalem Your City, you will return with Compassion.

As I approached that ancient holy wall, I tried to keep my heart steady with compassion. The sound of rain against stone seemed like the tears of all my ancestors flooding me now… and then I heard a voice, calling me. “Hey Baby, come here and kiss me!” I could not believe it. The voice was coming from the guard-booth at the edge of the courtyard where a bored but insistent Israeli soldier was beckoning to me.

I turned to him, exasperated. I sighed and thought, “I can’t believe you’re ruining this historic moment!”

Turning back toward the Wall, I tried to compose myself and focus my intention to be wholehearted before God. The whole time I stood there praying, the soldier kept yelling through the rain, “Kiss me, Kiss me!” And I couldn’t help but laugh.

Many years later I studied the Song of Solomon whose opening line says, “Kiss me with the kisses of your mouth, for your sweet loving is better than wine.”

Finally I am able to receive the hidden message of my pilgrimage. That obnoxious Israeli guard who only knew a few words of English was my messenger, my angel, come to tell me:

God is calling you to intimacy with the Reality before you. “Kiss me,” Life says. “Open to the truth of God in this moment. Open to the fullness of pleasure and pain. Every time you turn towards the past or towards an abstract idea, I will call you back to Me through a simple yet profound engagement with Life. Your sweet loving is better than wine, better than an abstract ideal, better than getting high, better than fame, better than sex, better than knowing a lot, better than success. Kiss me, Kiss me!”

To embark on a pilgrimage is to open to the message that you have spent your whole life resisting. To embark on a pilgrimage is to be willing to leave behind the familiar comforts, habits, addictions and self-definitions, and walk straight into the Truth of who you were meant to be.

My dream is to gather a group of people who will travel together with me as pilgrims and support each other in our heart’s yearning for wholeness. Each morning we will gather to build and refine our intentions, using practices of meditation, chant and prayer. Then we will spend our days exploring sacred sites, beautiful landscapes and meeting the people who live there. Each evening we will gather again to reflect, integrate our experiences and celebrate the insights we have received.

We will travel during April 18-29, 2009. This will be an awesome journey to a magnificent place. And it will be an adventure of the Spirit for those who dare to use the outer journey as an opportunity to venture inward.

For more information please write hune@martinbuberinstitute.org / 914-439-7731