Mindful Judaism – Jewish Meditation and Contemplative Judaism
A Living, Breathing Judaism for Today and Tomorrow
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”
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”
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”
You may have heard or read stories about enlightenment in Buddhism. Much like Jewish midrash, these stories are filled with wonder, miracles, and awe. Is there such a thing as Jewish enlightenment? And what is our enlightenment story?
This upcoming Saturday, we celebrate the holiday of Shavuot (what is celebrated in Christianity as Pentecost). On Shavuot, we celebrate the giving and receiving of the Ten Commandments at Mt. Sinai. Shavuot is also called Zman Matan Torateinu – or the Time of Giving our Torah – and is a commemoration of the gift of receiving the entire Torah. Yet what does this have to do with enlightenment? Continue reading “What is Jewish Enlightenment? Kan VeAchshav! Here and Now!”
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”
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?””
The other week, I was listening to a podcast on Jewish Mindfulness. It was an interesting and foundational interview and really made me think about the future of Judaism, more specifically, the future and direction of Jewish Mindfulness, what an engaged Judaism looks like, and to even ask the question if God is a liberal or a conservative? Continue reading ““Engaged” Judaism: Is God a Liberal? Or a Conservative?”
Happy New Year! We would like to wish you a wonderful and healthy 2018 filled with blessings, joy, and satisfaction!
Thank you all for your support and encouragement since the development and launch of Mindful Judaism! We are off to an excellent start and look forward to more to come!
Some exciting news for the upcoming year include Continue reading “Happy New Year 2018 from Mindful Judaism!!”
I often reflect on the place of God in the 21st century. In this postmodern age of hyperrationality absent truth and meaning, it feels as if God is dying. Still, I am not yet ready – and will never be ready – to say Kaddish for God.
Each generation and individual person must struggle passionately with God and self and find our own unique way to do so, because it is not God’s life on the line, but ours.
While we don’t wrestle with emanations of God along the riverbank, like Jacob, we wrestle with the Divine each and every day – in each moment – through accepting our strength and limitation, struggling with our demons and seeing the Divine face in them, embracing life – our life – as it is with all of its complexities, and acting in the most compassionate way we know how.
Continue reading “Wrestling with God in the 21st Century: Ally or Adversary?”