House Blessing Ceremony
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Need someone for Buddhist or Jewish house blessing
Sept 2010
My wife and I recently moved into a house in Berkeley and we'd love to find someone who can provide a Buddhist or Jewish 'new house blessing' ceremony. It's actually an old house (1920s) but it's new to us! Traditional or non- traditional ceremonies are fine, we're just looking for a ceremony from either of our traditions that can help us mark the transition to a new home. Thanks for any advice or recommendations you can offer! New Berkeley Homeowner
I've got two good choices for you:
Rabbi Avram Davis, organic farmer and teacher of Jewish Meditation, is a great presence for ceremonies and probably knows Buddhist blessings, too. When our daughter was in the NICU, Avram helped us do a meaningful baby naming in the NICU garden. He lives on a farm somewhere North of San Francisco, but always seems available for East Bay events. Rabbi Avram Davis moretorah2 [at] gmail.com (707) 226-1525
Daniel Lev is the rabbi who married us. It was a great ceremony that people are still talking about. Daniel is spiritual, kind, musical, and funny. He lives in south Berkeley Rabbi Daniel Lev doctorfeelbetter [at] gmail.com 510-684-4950 Both are great teachers, and I recommend them equally. . . Scott
You can go to Afikomen and buy a little booklet that has the blessing for hanging a mezzuzah on your doorpost. It costs a couple of bucks and you can use it or modify it as you like. happy new home
For personalized, warm, sensitive help with any degree and any kind of Jewish ritual, contact Jewish Milestones! They recently helped us conduct our DIY, Athiest/Jewish/Hippie Rite of Passage Bar Mitzvah (Torah and all), and it was perfect. ''Responding to changes that have taken place in Judaism and in the lives of modern Jews, we enable people to refresh their perspective on what Judaism has to offer at life's most critical junctures.'' We are so lucky to have them right here in Berkeley, though they are an excellent resource for a variety of needs. Do check out the website and visit them. http://www.jewishmilestones.org/ Ruth
When my family moved into our home, I got a these spell kits from HausWitch - I found it really soothing and nice way to mindfully transition to a new space.
Hope this helps!
Copied some excerpts from the book Hello, Goodbye: 75 Rituals for Times of Loss, Celebration, and Change. We found it at the library!
Greeting/Imaging Ritual: I lost the intro text, but copied the excerpt I have. Essentially, you slowly and mindfully walk through your home and do an imagination exercise, both of the house's past and your future. You can also do a similar closing ritual at your old home.
3. The Kitchen: Enter the kitchen and pause. This is where you and many others will be nourished and fed. Notice the oven, the stove, the refrigerator, the sink, perhaps a place that has already fed many people. Now, imagine the many more meals to be made here.
As you greet the kitchen, ask yourself: Who will be nourished here?
4. The Bedroom: Stand at the doorway of your bedroom. Envision yourself tucked into your bed after a long day. This is a room for resting, dreaming, mak. ing love, reading a book, sleeping. As you greet this new bedroom, ask yourself: Can I let myself rest here?
Keep Going: Everyone's home is different. Keep greeting your home and all of its many parts, taking in its personality and story, and imagining what kind of home you want it to be.
THE ALTAR of STORIES RITUAL
Start with an object from your last home or neighborhood. Maybe you lived near a beach, so it could be a shell you collected. Or a stone from the driveway or even the old key from your last apartment. It doesn't have to be monumental but just an object that carries a memory of where you've just come from.
Find a central place in the home. This could be the mantel on the fireplace, a prominent windowsill, or on the ledge next to the stairs.
As you place the object there, it can become the cornerstone for your new home. However, betore placing it, remember its story. Why is this object important to you? Where did it come from? Why did you decide to keep it? If you are alone and it feels strange to speak out loud, write these stories down. This object and its story will be the beginning of your home's first altar.
Let this spot be a place that collects other important objects during your time in this new home. As you live there, this altar can be a gathering place for other precious possessions that you acquire, find, or are gifted while living here.
Since this is an altar of stories, your objective is to learn and remember all you can about what lives on this altar: Where did it journey from, what is it made of, who made it? This isn't just a place of things, its a collection of living stories.
As guests come over, you can introduce them to your altar of stories. Make tea, sit with them, and share or let them ask you questions about what lives on your altar.
In this way, you have a place in your home where you can practice remembering and telling these stories.
THE LITTLE BIT of EARTH RITUAL
Oh no! I'm almost out of characters. Basically, you take some earth from your old home (maybe a garden patch or nearby park) and find a place to mingle it with new earth from your new home, for example in a clay pot or garden bed. Hold the earth, take a breath, smell it, maybe tell a story of your old home. Let others participating do the same. Then, mingle it with the new home's earth. Maybe plant something in that spot? Breathe. Pause. Can conclude with a blessing: "We are brand-new here. We don't know the place, the land, our neighbors very well at all. May we love our new home by learning it well."
Smash a champagne bottle against the house. Done.