Are you a Jewish Millennial? Are you involved in more than enough to keep any “normal” person busy? All at the same time? Are you achievement oriented? Maybe more than is helpful? Do you value diversity? And each person’s extraordinariness? Are you in relationship with people of different faith traditions and spiritualities? And value each one? Do you enjoy being part of a team and collaborating with others? And maybe need a little more quiet time? Are you spiritual, but (perhaps) not religious? Jewish Mindfulness Meditation may be for you!
Dor L’Dor (Generation to Generation)
Each generation looks upon the next with a bit of both great faith and great doubt – a mixture of idealism, hope, and skepticism.
I am thinking back to the quintessential moment of cultural shift when Elvis Presley first came on television in 1956, shaking his hips from side to side. It was a hallmark moment for the United States and American culture at large. Each generation has these moments!
It is hard to believe that the “Silent Generation” could imagine their “hippie” children go from burning bras and flags in the 1960s to become “yuppies” that managed the banking and finance industries in the 1980s (through today). While the “Baby Boomer Generation” has retained their anti-authoritarianism of their youth, they evolved as each generation evolves and will always evolve in the future.
In a recent blog post I wrote on The Pew Study: Why Jewish Meditation, Contemplative Judaism, and the Necessity of Innovation, I described some trends in both the Jewish and larger American worlds where young people are increasingly turning to something and somewhere other than organized religion and houses of worship to explore personal meaning and meet their needs. Yes, there is reason to be concerned. And yes, there is reason to see opportunities ahead.
Who are Millennials?
Millennials are adults who were born between 1981 and 1996 and represent one of the largest populations in the United States. With a population of 74 million, millennials are expected to outnumber baby boomers in as soon as 2019 (Pew Research Center).
If you are a millennial, you know that you and your friends were influenced by such defining moments as the popularization of computers, the Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal, the 9/11 attacks and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the internet and digital age, and our nation’s first ever African-American President.
Millennials grew up in an age where multiculturalism and diversity are assumed, divorce rates climbed above 50% and single parent families were the norm, the “helicopter parent” was born, interfaith marriage is a fact, and competition for admission to schools and the workforce were fierce.
It is no wonder that millennials are often described as achievement oriented, ambitious, idealistic, and mistrustful of legacy institutions and organized religion.
You Don’t Have to be Perfect!
While people from every generation think that they had it the hardest and most difficult, the millennial generation grew up with the expectation of repairing what previous generations could not repair.
Millennials experience a great deal of pressure! At seemingly every front! If you are a millennial, you may have experienced these pressures first hand. In some ways, they are expected to get in the best schools, land the dream job, and gain one promotion after another. In other ways, they are expected change the world, solve world peace, and right every wrong of history. This is impossible! For anyone! Of any generation!
Jewish Mindfulness Meditation is a practice of letting go. Over and over again! Breath after breath! It is a process of acceptance. It is not accepting that injustice should occur or evil exist, but a knowing that reality is what it is. Only then can we truly respond in the most appropriate and compassionate way possible.
Social Networking Sites
Some may believe that meditation and sitting alone quietly and still is a solo activity. Acting selfishly. Nothing more than “navel gazing.” But this is not true! Religion and spirituality of any kind is not a solo activity. Spirituality is a participatory activity. Spirituality is a team sport!
If you are a millennial, you have been taught the importance of teamwork, diversity, and collaboration. You were taught the importance of being a part of the group and social networking. Some say to an excess and at the expense of your individualism, uniqueness, and intrapersonal, spiritual development.
Millennials have seen the advent and proliferation of social networking sites like Myspace, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and many, many others. Yet, in some way, the greatest social networking site is your place and seat in meditation.
Meditation is the practice of forgetting who you think you are, were, and should be. It is the sometimes slow-going practice of releasing the hold of “I, Me, Mine” – who “I” think I am, what is important to “me”, and what I think is “mine”.
This natural process of being in relationship with self and others is truly the practice of embracing diversity! Meditation is the practice of realizing that each and every one of us – and all creation – is created in the image of the Divine (Genesis 1:27)!
But I Don’t Believe!?
We are often taught that to practice anything related to religion or spirituality, you have to believe something in particular. This is not true!
Jewish Mindfulness Meditation – and meditation in general – does not require you to believe anything. Meditation practice does not require you to believe in any doctrine, belief system, or creed. It only requires your willingness to sit down, be quiet, breathe, and to repeat these steps over and over and over again.
Meditation is not about dogma. It is not about a specific list of beliefs. This is especially important for Jews who grew up in interfaith homes and families or are in an interfaith relationship. Meditation is less about belief and more about experience, your experience moment by moment. You don’t have to believe anything in particular to meditate!
Yet, meditation is an invitation to study yourself – to become more and more familiar and intimate with yourself, who you genuinely are, your heart and mind – and in the process realize from the inside out for yourself how utterly unique and similar you – and all people – actually are.
But I Don’t Trust Institutions!?
If the Pew Study (see here) is right, more and more Jews are shifting away from formal affiliation with synagogues and formal Jewish institutions. This is even more so for younger Jews and Jewish millennials!
I have written about the role of the synagogue and importance of Jewish innovation before (see this post and here). If we value the lives and experience of young and millennial Jews, perhaps the question shouldn’t be how to bring more young Jews into the (institution of the) synagogue, but how to address their unique experiences and the spiritual needs that younger and millennial Jews have. My sense – and experience – is that Jewish Mindfulness Meditation is one such way.
Meditation is not about belonging to one denomination or another or to any one organization or another. It is not about believing what others believe or what you are told. It is not about trusting authority figures or any particular legacy institutions.
Meditation is about learning to trust yourself and your innate instinct to do good. Please learn this truth for yourself. Take the risk!
Please appreciate that essentially you are never alone! You never were really alone! And you will never truly be alone!
Even if you are not a Jewish millennial, Jewish Mindfulness Meditation may still be for you! From generation to generation – midor l’dor – we all need a bit of respite, don’t we?
If you are a part of the “Silent Generation”, Jewish Mindfulness Meditation is for you! If you are a baby boomer, Jewish Mindfulness Meditation is for you! If you were in “Generation X”, Jewish Mindfulness Meditation is for you! And if you were born after the millennials and a part of the “iGen” or “Generation Z”, Jewish Mindfulness Meditation may also be for you (please see here)!
Next Steps
As always, if you are interested in learning more about Jewish Mindfulness Meditation or how to create a more meaningful spiritual path for you and your loved ones, please make sure to sign up and click the “Stay Connected Now!” button below!
Mindful Judaism is pleased to offer daylong Jewish meditation and mindfulness retreats, shabbatons (weekend workshops), and other live and in person events throughout California and beyond.
Please join Mindful Judaism for a Jewish Mindfulness Meditation Daylong Retreat on Sunday, August 19, 2018 at Temple Beth Am in Los Angeles this summer! This event is co-sponsored by MindfulJudaism.com, Rabbi Ariel Sholklapper, Temple Beth Am, Ikar Los Angeles, and B’nai David-Judea Congregation. You may register for this innovative retreat here.
If you are interested in bringing Mindful Judaism to your community, synagogue, or meditation group, please contact us at adam@mindfuljudaism.com for more information and to make arrangements.
Adam Fogel
www.mindfuljudaism.com