REGISTER NOW: High Holidays 2023 – Jewish New Year Interfaith Zen Retreat in the Bay Area

Jewish New Year Interfaith Zen Retreat

Come celebrate Rosh Hashanah and the Jewish New Year on this contemplative interfaith Zen retreat in the Bay Area! You may register now!

Rosh Hashanah is a holiday of waking up. We awaken from the deep slumber of selfishness, conceit, and putting ourselves above others and awaken to something different. On Rosh Hashanah, the Divine calls out to wake us up from the darkness of ignorance and to open our eyes and hearts to the truth and awe that is always surrounding us and that which also makes up the very fabric of our ordinary life.

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What is “Jewish” Meditation? Is Meditation Even “Jewish”

What is Jewish Meditation - Is It Even Jewish

Sometimes questions are more simple than we know. Often times, questions are also more complicated than we hope.

One such question is “What makes meditation Jewish?” This question might just be simple AND complicated to answer?! I write about this elsewhere (here and here), though allow me to answer this question here as simply as possible, albeit with a complicated caveat.

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Have You Only But One Blessing?!: Stealing Birthrights and Giving Voice to the Voiceless

Have You Only But One Blessing?!: Stealing Birthrights and Giving Voice to the Voiceless

The characters in the Bible are far from perfect. Yet this makes sense, as we too are just as far from perfect. What occurs in this week’s parasha is simply wrong. While it might be applauded as heroic in the tradition, if what happened in the Bible happened in your family, I imagine you would be disturbed.

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The Sacrifice of Isaac: Beyond Obedience… is Love!

The Sacrifice of Isaac - Beyond Obedience... is Love

The binding and sacrifice of Isaac is one of the most disturbing, gruesome, and hellish koan in all the Bible. How can God ask Abraham to raise his beloved son Isaac as a sacrifice? It is astounding! Yet, if we penetrate this koan fully, we are invited to raise our most compassionate heart-mind and not only save Isaac’s life, but Abraham’s and God’s lives too! And perhaps even our own!

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Betzelem Ish v’Isha: Are We Created in God’s Image? Or Is God Created in Ours?

Betzelem Ish v'Isha: Are We Created in God's Image? Or Is God Created in Ours?

In this week’s parashah, God tells us that life and death, blessing and cursing, are placed before us, and that we should choose life so that we and all of our children and our children’s children shall truly live (Deuteronomy 30:19).

Living and Dying

God places blessing and cursing right in our face and the power to give and take life with just who and how we are, the look in our eyes and our facial expression or smile, and through how we see ourselves and one another.

God places before us life and death and asks us to choose. God places before me and before each individual person living and dying and begs me, you, and us to choose living. When we choose life, we choose to live and to enliven our life and those of others. Only then do we—only then can we—truly become alive.

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Brit Shalom: A Covenant of Peace You Can Count On

Brit Shalom: A Covenant of Peace You Can Count On (A Reflection of Parashat Pinchas)

When I was a student in the Institute for Jewish Spirituality’s Jewish Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training (JMMTT) program, one of my colleague students would write a weekly reflection on that week’s parashah – or weekly lectionary portion from the Hebrew Bible.

Each week, one of the other students would masterfully integrate the themes, symbols, and ideas from the weekly Torah portion with the fruits of their personal mindfulness meditation practice, telling a story so grand and marvelous that it could only be told through the individual lens of a Rabbi and gardener, an integral psychiatrist, a Hazzan and performer, an artist and activist, a mediator and DJ, a professor and neuroscientist, a singer-songwriter and liturgist, a social worker and yoga therapist, and others. Continue reading “Brit Shalom: A Covenant of Peace You Can Count On”