Mindful Judaism – Jewish Meditation and Contemplative Judaism
A Living, Breathing Judaism for Today and Tomorrow
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”
Have you ever wanted something so bad that it hurt your heart? Seen something so horrific that it just bled your heart dry? Just want to go home, lie in bed or even a corner somewhere, and long to feel safe for even just the one, single night?
Continue reading ““How Much Longer”?: Taking Sabbatical in the Fields of Our Heart”
I am writing tonight on election night, November 3, 2020. The results are slowly coming in, yet I instead want to write to you.
I was recently invited to share my opinion as a Jewish rabbinical student about the 2020 presidential election. At first, I wanted to decline this request, yet I now elect to speak my voice. What I have to say might perhaps be unusual to some or many, yet I offer my words with an open mind and grateful heart.
Continue reading “Neither Blue nor Red: Can You Hear It?”
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).
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.
Continue reading “Betzelem Ish v’Isha: Are We Created in God’s Image? Or Is God Created in Ours?”
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”
Over the past month or two, it has taken me some time to write about Tisha B’Av and preparing for the High Holidays, the sacred Jewish liturgical period of the Yamim Noraim, the Days of Awe and Wonder.
This is in part because of the day to day stresses and changes of life, but also because I have been genuinely wrestling with the meaning and place of brokenness and sacredness, new beginnings and endings, and sacrifice and atonement, especially from the perspective of a contemporary 21st Century Jew and American Zen practitioner. Continue reading “Preparing for the High Holidays: Broken Spirit, Broken Heart (Ru’ach Nishbarah, Lev Nishbar)”
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”
Hundreds of thousands of books and billions of pages have been written about it. It is so complicated, yet so simple. But not easy! In many ways, it all comes down to just a few short words, “How are you? Really!?” Continue reading “How are You? Really!?”