Chaverim means friends. Our Makom Shalom dream is to create an ever deepening circle of spiritually growing friends who support each other through the beauty and challenges of life.
Chaverim Circle is a group aimed to support us to grow spiritually as individuals, friends, and community. We will meet one evening every month for two hours to explore dimensions of spirituality and spiritual growth through the wisdom of the Chasidic Masters, such as our relationship to soul, shadow, God, and how we relate to each other in community from these parts of ourselves.
Each participant will have a Spiritual Chevrutah (learning partner) to learn with during the monthly Chaverim Circle session and to meet weekly at mutually convenient times to continue the exploration.
WHO: Chaverim Ciricle is for Adult Member Only - Please Join Makom Shalom to join this and other Member Only Offerings
WHERE: Location TBD - Once we have numbers interested, we will follow up with location and other details
WHEN: First Mtg is Wed. Nov.19, 2025. We may change time based on this SCHEDULING POLL *Please Fill out if Interested
HOW: Here is an outline of monthly Chaverim Circle Sessions:
Gather: Sing a niggun (wordless melody), meditate, Check-in together [~ 20 min.]
Study: Read and learn from a text of a *Chassidic master (English translation) to spark a theme of spiritual growth. We will break out into chevruta to read and glean from the text, then return to the whole group to share ideas and grok the text. [~ 30 min.]
Spiritual Chevrutah: Break out into Spiritual Chevrutah to discuss how this text applies to our lives personally, practicing deep share and listening, honoring confidentiality, and cultivating a deepening friendship. [~ 30 min.]
Completing the Circle: Return to the full circle to sing a niggun, meditate again, and harvest our learnings from the text and from ourselves [~ 30 min.]
Close: We will be given guidance for the month for Spiritual Chevrutah time and then close by inviting a different person each week to offer a closing blessing [~ 10 min.]
Commitment: Chaverim Circle is for Makom Shalom members only. The request is to commit for one year, which includes 12 monthly sessions and Spiritual Chevrutah time in between. Commitment is critical to support the container as a whole and for mutual support with your Spiritual Chevrutah. We can explore emergent needs as they arise. Members are invited to come to a first session to discern if they want to commit for the year.
* We will begin the Chaverim Circle by learning from Rabbi Kalonymus Shapira (the Piaseczno Rebbe), the Rabbi of the Warsaw Ghetto, who left us with incredible insights about personal spiritual development and building conscious community. As we progress, we will expand our learning with other masters like Rabbi Nachman of Bresolv, Rebbe Yehuda Leib Alter of Ger (The Sefat Emet), and Rabbi Yisroel ben Eliezer (The Ba’al Shem Tov), among others.