If you are anything like me and either enjoy reading books or grabbing a bargain, take a look! I noticed today that the kindle version of one of my favorite Zen books is on sale this month on Amazon – Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi.
Continue reading “What is “Beginner’s Mind”? And Did Heschel Describe It?!”REGISTER NOW: High Holidays 2023 – Jewish New Year Interfaith Zen Retreat in the Bay Area
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.
Continue reading “REGISTER NOW: High Holidays 2023 – Jewish New Year Interfaith Zen Retreat in the Bay Area”What is “Jewish” Meditation? Is Meditation 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.
Continue reading “What is “Jewish” Meditation? Is Meditation Even “Jewish””REGISTER NOW: High Holidays 2023 – Yom Kippur Zen Mindfulness Jewish Meditation Retreat
The Jewish High Holidays are a period of reflection and opportunity to renew our intentions for the coming year in a deeply personal and meaningful way.
Please join Rabbi Adam Fogel and Mindful Judaism on a Zen Mindfulness Jewish Meditation retreat this Yom Kippur! The Yom Kippur retreat will include periods of silent sitting and walking meditation, an abbreviated chant style service, time for speaking from the heart in hitbodedut, and sacred sharing in council to close the retreat.
Continue reading “REGISTER NOW: High Holidays 2023 – Yom Kippur Zen Mindfulness Jewish Meditation Retreat”What is Your Attachment Style with God?
We all need to feel safe and comfortable in our relationships. With our spouses, parents, children, family and friends, and yes… even with God!
The more important and intimate the relationship, the greater our need for emotional safety. With God too! Especially with God!
Continue reading “What is Your Attachment Style with God?”SAVE THE DATES: 2023 High Holiday Zen Mindfulness Jewish Meditation Retreats Coming to California
Come and join Mindful Judaism this 2023 High Holiday season!
This year, we will be offering two contemplative High Holiday Zen mindfulness Jewish meditation retreats!
Save the dates!
Continue reading “SAVE THE DATES: 2023 High Holiday Zen Mindfulness Jewish Meditation Retreats Coming to California”Outfoxing God: The Tail End of Amends and a Warm Welcome to the Human Race
There is no way around it. No one can outfox God. No matter how smart we think we are or how hard we try, there is no outsmarting the Divine. Yet… we try! And try we do! Perhaps even must?!
Continue reading “Outfoxing God: The Tail End of Amends and a Warm Welcome to the Human Race”Dear God: Love Letters from / to the Divine
Have you ever written a letter to God? Wished that you could simply speak your Truth to the Divine and hear back? We all need that! And so does the Divine! This is what Shavuot is all about!
In one of my Rabbinical School classes on Pastoral Care and Chaplaincy, my chevruta (study partner) and I offered parallel interpretive translations of Psalm 42 written as letters from and to God.
With the permission of my chevruta, Cantor Russell G. Jayne, MSM, PharmD, I would like to offer our correspondence with the Divine to you in honor of the Shavuot holiday tonight and tomorrow. Chag Shavuot sameach! Have a wonderful Shavuot holiday!
Continue reading “Dear God: Love Letters from / to the Divine”I Will Follow “You”: The True Gift of Shavuot
In just a few days, we celebrate receiving the Torah on the Jewish holiday of Shavuot. It may not always feel like we receive the gifts that we want and “deserve” or even have what to offer others or ourselves. Then, what did we receive that fateful day over 3,000 years ago? What are the gifts you celebrate this Shavuot?
Continue reading “I Will Follow “You”: The True Gift of Shavuot”Brit Shalom: A Covenant of Peace You Can Count On
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”