Grow Freedom: A 6-Day Guided Pesach Cleanse + Day Long Retreat

Pesach Cleanse to Grow Freedom ~ Gather virtually to cleanse mind, body and soul from toxins and spiritual slavery. A week long guide of foods to eat, with recipes and prompts to cleanse and inspire!

Culminating in an optional Day Long Retreat on the 16th ~ gather to learn, meditate, share movement, ritual, and fresh food. We'll close with a mikvah at our own urban homestead. See below for more.

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Organized by: Devorah Brous, Heather Smokler, Shimon Darwick, Sara Haston

Every year, Jewish people worldwide go through great lengths to prepare for Passover. Every-day dishes are traded out for holiday dishes, cupboards are “spring cleaned” top to bottom, fridges are emptied and polished, and the entire house is literally cleaned inside out. As we prepare to dive into a week of meaning, Passover is flooded with discussions, questions, song, and prayer as we retell stories from our collective memory and study the journey from slavery to freedom. During this time, many families turn to highly processed, high-calorie, and high-sodium foods that imitate wheat with an enormous amount of preservatives and additives. Cleansing is a powerful tool that we will utilize within the rich history of Pesach, to engage with and respond to these troubling times.

But, what if Passover was not just about cleaning our homes? What if Passover was the Jewish response to self-care? What if we used the eight day holiday as a journey to be liberated metaphorically from our bondage to processed foods?

Netiya’s six-day virtual guided cleanse is an opportunity to clean the body/mind/spirit and turn to healthy garden fresh produce as we dive into our inner gardens: our minds, bodies, and spirits - and free ourselves of the hametz that prevents us from sprouting and cultivating our fullest potential as clear-minded beings, and sharply tuned activists.

Netiya’s cleanse will offer recipes, shopping list, and guided prompts that pull from our current political climate to discuss modern slavery related to food injustice, the ban on undocumented immigrants (many of whom work in the food chain as farm and restaurant workers), and our environment. Themes of justice are deeply rooted in Torah and can inspire our reflection and strategic, coordinated action. We know that when we're nourished from within, we can be more conscious, and act more effectively.

We'll cleanse in community and on our own, by eating healthy, locally-sourced foods from the garden, raw and cooked, and drinking waters, broths, and teas. Starting on 9am on Tuesday, we'll embark upon a time of inner tending with fresh fruit, vegetables, water, and herbal teas as we plant the seeds for a healthy season and prepare ourselves to engage in acts of spiritual resistance. We are certain that this cleanse will build the power of individual participants, and cultivate our community as together we move through the Pesach season from vulnerability to a cleansed and empowered sense of self, more grounded, more clear, and more ready to engage in spiritual resistance in our community.

The Day Long Retreat will be on April 16th, from 10-6pm in Sherman Oaks. Register below for an unforgettable journey.