Spiritual Autobiography
Raised in the suburbs of New York City, Ore’s maternal roots crossed by land and water from Eastern Europe fleeing the Russian pogroms in the early 1900’s and landing on Ellis Island to Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. Their paternal roots go back likely to Spain and Andalusia until the Moors and Jews were exiled in 1492 when their ancestors crossed land and water to Morocco. In 1948 their grandparents were convinced to leave Morocco and moved to Israel/Palestine. Ore’s family’s lineage washed in the assimilation into whiteness and American culture has led them to an endless discovery of truth, reconciliation and understanding of their heritage through pilgrimage, culture building and life long healing.
A seeker and mystic at heart, Ore left their conservation Jewish upbringing in New York discovering Insight and Shambhala meditation centers, Vipassana retreats, dance and Contact Improvisation in Western Massechusetts, living in the woods and farming, practicing seasonal and monthly moon rituals with anarchist witchy neo-pagan activists and queer radical faeries in Oregon, which eventually brought them back to their Jewish roots via radical leftist earth-based Jewish community in the Bay Area. Their education has trained them to hold a multi-religious perspective and an anti-oppression lens. Their practices continue to expand as they grow to meet their spiritual path and evolution. They continue to root in their Jewish practice while studying meditation and Vedic lifeways with Anuttara Lakshmin Nat, who practices a tantric buddhist lineage and is founder of Sahajayana. All of their identities as a white, ashkenazi and Mizrahi Jew, non-binary Queer person shapes their work alongside their life experience. They draw from the wisdom of the earth, their teachers and lineages and deep embodied play. Ore holds a steady commitment to move towards living in right relationship with the land, plants, creatures, and people. They currently live on the unceded territory of the Awas-was speaking peoples of the Uypi tribe currently stewarded by the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band.
Call to Chaplaincy and Approach to the Work
Ore’s call to Chaplaincy and threshold tending arose out of the death of a beloved friend taken too soon to cancer. Ore witnessed their friend choose to use their death as an opportunity to heal their past in profound ways that opened their spirit to a beautiful death. They were part of a communal death tending process which moved them to follow this path professionally. When they were ordained as an Interfaith Chaplain, they took on the Hebrew name “Oreget Adamah”. The dictionary definition of Oreget is: “to braid, to weave; to spin out, conclude, argue, conceive a decision, and to follow the grooves of the garden bed.” Adamah means ‘earth’ whose roots also contain the word for ‘human’. Ore believes that we are all on a weaving path in life, following the grooves of our garden beds, making decisions as best we can given our life circumstances, struggling and finding joy along the way. As a change-maker and practicing anti-racist, they believe that change can only come if we begin within. As an “earth weaver”, Ore is here ultimately in service of our collective healing journey that is made possible when we come together to grieve, pray, play and dream. They are ready to wrestle with tough and transformative questions that could reshape the collective field. They are guided by their ancestors and the benevolent spirits and guides seen and unseen that are here for us when we tap into the supports that are always here for us.
What is Chaplaincy and Inter-Spirituality?
Inter-spirituality and interspiritual was coined by Waye Teasdale to support the recognition of commonality between various traditions and spiritual paths. Where ‘Interfaith’ has been used to get different religions to come together for dialogue from their various perspectives, Interspiritual acknowledges the differences but then seeks to build bridges to support the understanding of interconnectedness and oneness with our humanity.
Chaplaincy is a field that brings trained clergy to non-religious settings to offer spiritual care to folks from all religious and faith backgrounds as well as those who are spiritual but not religious (SBNR), agnostic or atheist. Traditional settings range from hospitals and hospice care, prisons, and the military. Chaplains have been reaching beyond these spaces and may be found in corporate organizations, at natural disaster sites, or on the streets during protests and actions for social change (see Faith Matters Network and Movement Chaplaincy).
From end of life concerns, existential and spiritual questions to holding sacred space in the emotional struggles of the daily mundane to the greater Mystery unfolding in our time, Ore is asking: How do we Chaplain this Movement Moment?
EDUCATION & TRAINING
Starr King School for the Ministry Masters of Divinity, 2021
The Chaplaincy Institute Interfaith Ordination and Clergy in Good Standing, 2021
Body-Mind Centering Somatic Movement Educator, 2009
Process Work Institute Winter Intensive on Conflict Transformation, 2011
Daring Compassion Faith Matters Network Social Justice Chaplaincy, 2019
Re-evaluation Counseling (RC) – peer counseling practice for over 10 years