Category: Prayer

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SAVE THE DATE: Jewish Meditation Retreat in Los Angeles Scheduled for August 19, 2018

Save the Date - Jewish Meditation Retreat in Los Angeles Scheduled for August 19, 2018

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 is a wonderful opportunity to learn about Jewish Mindfulness Meditation and contemplative prayer, ask any questions you may have, and practice in sacred community. All of the details are below! Continue reading “SAVE THE DATE: Jewish Meditation Retreat in Los Angeles Scheduled for August 19, 2018”

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A Jewish Heart Sutra: The Great Wisdom-Heart Prayer – Tefilat Chochmat Lev Hanorah

Jewish Heart Sutra - The Great Wisdom-Heart Prayer - Tefilat Chochmat Lev Hanorah

I have been playing a lot recently with the roots of Jewish Mindfulness Meditation in Insight Meditation (Vipassana) and traditional Buddhist meditation. As a Zen practitioner, I am familiar with the Heart Sutra, a liturgy that is chanted daily throughout the Buddhist world. I began to play around with what a Jewish Heart Sutra would sound like. Take a look below!
Continue reading “A Jewish Heart Sutra: The Great Wisdom-Heart Prayer – Tefilat Chochmat Lev Hanorah”

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All Alone Together With God: Passover, Shavuot, and the Path from Enslavement to Freedom

All Alone Together With God: Passover, Shavuot, and the Path from Enslavement to Freedom

Over three millennia ago, our Israelite forefathers and foremothers wrestled with their Gods and risked the perilous desert journey from enslavement to freedom. Seven Sabbaths later, God revealed himself, and on that day – as on this day – God spoke, and speaks, to each one of us and All that is Israel. Continue reading “All Alone Together With God: Passover, Shavuot, and the Path from Enslavement to Freedom”

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Rabbinic Judaism and Halachah: One Fence too Many?

Rabbinic Judaism and Halachah - One Fence to Many

Over the past few months, I’ve been studying and practicing with the ideas, thought, and innovations of Jewish history. I especially marvel at the creativity of Rabbinic Judaism just following the destruction of the 2nd and final Temple in Jerusalem. This makes me wonder about the constant unfolding of Jewish history and tradition. Is there a period of Jewish life after Rabbinic Judaism? What comes next? Continue reading “Rabbinic Judaism and Halachah: One Fence too Many?”

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The Pew Study: Why Jewish Meditation, Contemplative Judaism, and the Necessity of Innovation

The Pew Study - Why Jewish Meditation, Contemplative Judaism, and the Necessity of Innovation

The Pew Research Center published its landmark study on A Portrait of American Jews in 2013. This important research – commonly called the Pew Study – presented a series of contradictions and what felt like an ever unfolding series of “bad” news for the American Jewish community. The Pew Study felt to many as a punch to the gut of American Jewry! But where does Jewish meditation and contemplative Judaism fit in? Any why now?! Continue reading “The Pew Study: Why Jewish Meditation, Contemplative Judaism, and the Necessity of Innovation”

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What is God?: A Reflection on Purim and Divinity

What is God? - A Reflection on Purim and Divinity

Understanding the world’s great religions and spiritual traditions is not an academic pursuit. It is a participatory sport! True study of the Way lies not in answering the great questions, but in asking them. Who am I? Where do I come from? Where am I going? Yet after many years of meditation and Zen practice, I have become less interested in the questions: Who is God?, Where is God?”, or Why doesn’t God…?. The question that I have grown to ask and appreciate is: What is God? And how can I live my life in this way? Continue reading “What is God?: A Reflection on Purim and Divinity”

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What are Your “God Moments?”

What are Your God Moments?

There are some moments in life that can only be described as “God moments.” We may think that these can only be feel-good moments of pleasure and joy, but this is not always so. God moments may be experienced both when witnessing the miraculous or when feeling great terror or pain. God moments are those moments in our life where the naked truth is fully unveiled and we bear witness to the awe found in profound presence. Continue reading “What are Your “God Moments?””

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What is Prayer?: How Do I Pray? And Can Prayer Be Meaningful?

What is Prayer? How Do I Pray? And Can Prayer be Meaningful?

Over the past few months, I have been reflecting very much about prayer. Especially since beginning Rabbinic study and founding Mindful Judaism, I have been exploring the following questions: What is prayer? How do I pray? And can prayer be meaningful?

There is a Rabbi Jonathan Sacks quote in the introductory essays to the Koren-Sacks siddur (Jewish prayer book) that I absolutely love: Continue reading “What is Prayer?: How Do I Pray? And Can Prayer Be Meaningful?”

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Yom Kippur: The Practice of Meditation and Atonement

Yom Kippur - The Practice of Meditation and Atonement - Choose life!

While Yom Kippur is a holy day set aside for atonement, each and every day can be a day of atonement. When we sit in meditation, we practice atonement. We practice returning to who we really are.

When I first started practicing meditation, I was blessed to spend time with and learn from Rabbi Don Ani Shalom Singer Sensei. To the best of my knowledge, Rabbi Singer is the only ordained Rabbi and empowered Zen teacher. He often taught that meditation itself is a practice of at-one-ment. Continue reading “Yom Kippur: The Practice of Meditation and Atonement”

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