Whether you're a prayer leader, a musician, or just someone who loves music, gather with Joey in Berkeley to explore the deep wellspring of Jewish melody, feel the transformative power of communal song, and discover pathways into music as a spiritual practice.
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Jump into harmony and deep musical meditation to discover how ancient prayers become vibrant songs...
Join Rising Song founder and musician Joey Weisenberg for three days of Jewish spiritual music making in Berkeley that will transform the way you listen and sing.
Learn More About the Retreat
Schedule Overview
Sunday, August 23: 7:00 - 9:30 PM
Monday, August 24: 9:30 AM - 12:30 PM, 2:00 - 5:30 PM
Tuesday, August 25: 9:30 AM - 12:30 PM, 2:00 - 5:30 PM
Sunday, August 23
7:00 - 9:30 PM - Opening Session
Monday, August 24
9:30 - 11:00 AM - Singing Gathering
11:15 AM - 12:30 PM - Teaching Session
12:30 - 2:00 PM - Lunch Break (BYOLunch)
2:00 - 3:30 PM - Singing Session
3:50 - 5:15 PM - Teaching Session
5:15 - 5:30 PM - Singing
Tuesday, August 25
9:30 - 11:00 AM - Singing Gathering
11:15 AM - 12:30 PM - Teaching Session
12:30 - 2:00 PM - Lunch Break (BYOLunch)
2:00 - 3:15 PM - Singing Session
3:30 - 4:30 PM - Teaching Session
4:45 - 5:30 PM - Singing Finale!
First and foremost, we will be singing together for many hours, creating beautiful melodies and collective harmonies.
This retreat is also an all-levels space for bringing your queries and curiosities about Jewish music — from the practical to mystical sides of making music and building singing communities to the song-filled dreamscapes of the Jewish sages and more. Sessions will be interactive and include time for Q&A, so come ready with your questions!
In the teaching sessions, we will be covering the following topics and more::
- The Art of the Nigun
- The Torah of Music
- Beautiful Jewish Scales and Ear Training
- How to Facilitate a Song Circle
- From Psalm to Song: Uncovering the Hidden Melodies of Our Texts
- Kli Zemer: Instruments as Vessels of Song
The early bird registration fee is $475 and ends on June 1. The regular registration fee for this program is $500.
Subscribers to Joey's Song Is Prayer community receive a 10% discount on the registration fee. Enter BERKELEYSUBSCRIBER at checkout.
Scholarships are available - If the fee poses an obstacle to participation, please reach out to us at [email protected]. Alternately, if you'd like to sponsor some scholarship participants, please reach out as well.
We will provide coffee and tea, but food will not be provided. We can provide a list of great lunch restaurants in the area if needed.
Reflections From Retreat Participants
Candace Steingisser
Past Retreat Participant
The Song Is Prayer retreat was life changing and an amazing spiritual experience. Each lesson was infused with joy, and he shared his music with such patience, skill and wisdom. I learned how to listen more attentively to rhythm and understand the significance of one collective voice.
Shira Coffee
Past Retreat Participant
It was amazing to spend three days listening. When song welled up from the entire room it was a shock and a delight. We became an ensemble in that very first moment. The unity of purpose buoyed my own singing. By the second day I settled in with a sense of trust, and it was clear that Joey trusted us, and trusted the music to lead us. He set an example that I want to model as I work with my choir and support congregational singing in my community.
August Watters
Past Retreat Participant
Joey is addressing a deeply-held need in our communities: To help us connect to Jewish prayer and spirituality through music. His website and seminar helped me to identify and address weak points in my Jewish education, to help work toward a fuller experience. Being there, I just wanted to get lost in the sound!
Sasha Borenstein
Past Retreat Participant
The time together with Joey was a looping back, a return to singing, supporting a connection with people who sing and are lifted up by song. The moments with my eyes closed so that I could only pay attention to the song and the melody and the words reverberating inside of my body were precious.
Mike Gildesgame
Past Retreat Participant
Joey is one of the very few people I’ve met who has music in his kishkes. Music and rhythm are as much a part of his being as his breathing and pulse. In particular, his repetition of nigunim for many minutes reminds me of what my friend says about going on silent retreats — it extends a canopy of spirituality over the group.
Hilda Lopez
Past Retreat Participant
It was a blessing to be at song is pray retreat. Studying and singing with Joey will nourish your soul, heart and spirit. It makes no difference if you speak no Hebrew or are not musically inclined.
Liz Feldman
Past Retreat Participant
Three days of deeply soul nourishing song, voices blending together in beautiful harmonies. Wow. And so many nuggets of understanding and new knowledge — the rhythm I FINALLY found, the music theory tidbits, Joey’s thoughtful kavannot. My heart really cracked open.
Cantor Jeff Klepper
Past Retreat Participant
I love how Joey weaves together strands of song, text, prayer, silence, and music theory, all with a sweet sprinkling of humor.
Elana Ponet
Past Retreat Participant
Being in a group of about 60 people, almost all of them new faces and souls provided fresh connections. Joey taught us some musical theory concepts to enhance our appreciation of the magic of song and sound. I learned so much, and it seemed that everyone left filled with love and joy, inspired to keep learning.
Daniella Stark
Past Retreat Participant
I’ve been an online subscriber and attendee of Joey’s retreats for several years, and always find the experience enriching. He continuously evolves as an artist and a person, so his teaching is renewed each time. It has helped make my own renewal possible.
Cantor Dara S. Rosenblatt
Past Retreat Participant
It was a deep and rich spiritual time – and also intellectually interesting. Many moments will stay with me, but chief among them is the way Joey shifted the time of chatter and “shpilkes,” pivoting it into what became the deepest time of singing and spirit. After that, the room became still, and the craving to climb back into such a spiritual state was palpable.
Louise Enoch
Past Retreat Participant
So much singing, so much wisdom, so much joy!
Gavriel Savit
Past Retreat Participant
What a deep and resonant pleasure it was to sing with Joey for two and a half days. The main thing I’m taking back with me is that in a group of people with many different and sometimes discordant perspectives and ideas, a harmonious, cooperative, sympathetic communal connection is very much available through song.
Sara Reid
Past Retreat Participant
Joey led us through a beautifully spiritual experience, combining nigunim, bits of song and nusach, as well as powerful moments of silence. It felt like magic.
Judith Golden
Past Retreat Participant
Singing in community with so many beautiful voices was a transporting experience. Joey started us with a very simple nigun that blossomed into wonderful lessons about the importance of being grounded in the melody, understanding how to work with major, minor and freygish scales, ear interval training, so much more.
Cantor Riki Lippitz
Past Retreat Participant
It was a deep and rich spiritual time – and also intellectually interesting. Many moments will stay with me, but chief among them is the way Joey shifted the time of chatter and “shpilkes,” pivoting it into what became the deepest time of singing and spirit. After that, the room became still, and the craving to climb back into such a spiritual state was palpable.
Rabbi Shelley Goldman
Past Retreat Participant
I was moved to tears at least three times in three days. I came to be able to experience what is possible in a prayer space. I came to sing with other people. I brought my congregants so that they could feel what it is like to learn with other creative and thoughtful Jews, to be in a room filled with them. I cannot truly express in words what it feels like to touch, if only for a second, the holiness that is when people sing, breathe, and are together in quiet. Divine.
Ashley Perl
Past Retreat Participant
I came to Song is Prayer curious about the intersection of music, spirituality, leadership, and Jewish practice. I left feeling energized and inspired, and gained practical tools for songwriting, facilitating group experiences, and understanding the subtle dynamics that can help creativity flourish. What surprised me was how applicable the teachings are beyond music. The experience invited me into deeper joy, creativity, presence, and connection.
Sarah Appel
Past Retreat Participant
Song is Prayer was a non-verbal and spiritual experience and well-worth the registration fee. I experienced feelings of release of suffering and euphoria that seemed to reside in the long silences after the singing stopped. It was a great experience to meet Joey and I learned a lot about leading groups by watching him and from him his teachings.
Sherry Angel
Past Retreat Participant
I found magic at Joey Weisenberg’s Jewish spiritual music retreat. I have never felt such a strong sense of community and unity among a group of singers. I experienced deep joy and healing tears as I was swept up in the “river of song.” The melodies we sang still run through my head. I am studying through his site, tinkering with my own melodies, exploring song circles in my community—all efforts to keep the magic going. Thank you for opening my soul to a deep, visceral way of experiencing Judaism and spirituality.
Caryn Chaden
Past Retreat Participant
I am not a member of the clergy or a song leader or even especially knowledgeable about Jewish tradition, but I love to sing. Joey met me where I am and led me deeper into this practice and all the rich liturgy and theory behind it. He has a dual gift for storytelling and articulating complicated concepts in understandable language. I was able to draw connections between the content of the workshop and my very secular life. And then, of course, there was the music. We became a holy chorus. I loved every minute.
Meet Joey Weisenberg
Joey Weisenberg, founder of Hadar’s Rising Song Institute, is a musician, teacher, and spiritual guide who has dedicated his life to Jewish song and prayer.
Through decades of teaching, performing, and creating, he helps students connect with music in a deeply meaningful way.
Whether you’re learning to lead prayers, exploring new melodies, or discovering the spiritual power of song, Joey inspires every step of the journey.
 “I’m so excited to visit the Bay Area and sing with you all! We’ll have lots of time to make really inspirational music together, so come immerse in a musical mikvah, and join me to study techniques of Jewish spiritual music making. Can’t wait!”Â
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