WHAT IS JEWISH
RENEWAL AND JEWISH MEDITATION?
JEWISH RENEWAL
Jewish Renewal is not a sect, like Orthodox or
Progressive Judaism. It is a movement, but it tries to be an influence on those
sects. Although currently in Melbourne it is supported by Progressive Judaism.
Jewish Renewal has been created from Kabbalah,
Chassidism, Feminism, Environmentalism, Scientific discovery and Eastern
spirituality. It emphasizes small-scale gatherings. There are Jewish Renewal
Siddurs for various occasions and a vast number of reference works. (See
below).
Jewish Renewal is open to all Jews with all varieties
of Jewish belief (including atheists) who have an interest in the Jewish
Renewal Philosophy, as well as non-Jews who have an interest in Jewish Renewal.
Jewish Renewal activities include Services,
Meditation sessions, workshops and discussions. Often these activities are
combined.
Specific activities include: guided and silent
meditation; chanting with percussion instruments; gender free and inclusive
prayers; use of non-Jewish sources of knowledge and spirituality such as poems
and readings; group Misheberachs in services; group discussions and
participation by attendees in activities.
Jewish Renewal was started by Reb Zalman Schachter
Shalomi in the 1960’s. He had been
ordained at the Lubavitch Yeshiva but became disenchanted with it and sort to
widen the spiritual influences on his work. He presents the central teachings
of Hassidism and Kabbalah in a contemporary and heartfelt manner. He has
published more than 175 articles and translations, and his books include
Spiritual Intimacy: A Study of Counseling in Hasidism, Fragments of a Future
Scroll, and Paradigm Shift.
There are many Rabbis who are part of the movement
including Rabbi Cooper, Rabbi Shefa Gold, Rabbi Marcia Prager. Rabbi Arthur
Waskow, Reb Shlomo Carlebach. Jewish Renewal “ordains” its own Rabbis.
Jewish Renewal exists primarily in USA, but there are
small offshoots in Melbourne, Sydney and Auckland.
A major centre for Jewish Renewal is Elat Chayyim
near New York, which conducts regular residential workshops.
For more information see: www.aleph.org (The Alliance for Jewish
Renewal).
Jewish meditation is a profound spiritual path that is
rooted in the history of Judaism. It
seeks the possibility of finding a link with Universal Oneness where "The
end is embedded in the beginning."
For me, my path has been circuitous, which is not
unique. The path of many followers of Jewish Meditation match mine. My journey
began with the late Dr. Ainslie Mears. He helped me to tune into my body
rhythms and breathing. Relaxation soon followed, with its concurrent feelings
of warmth and pleasure. That was in the late 70's. From this beginning, my
search for meditation with a spiritual base began. It was not until 1981, when
my late husband died, that I was introduced to Hindu meditation. I was looking
for peace. My connections with Muktenenda's Ashram lead me to visit their
International Centre in India. After returning to Melbourne, my practice
continued for another three years.
One day during a lecture at the Ashram, the word
"One" came up in the talk, with the emphasis that everything in the
world is related to this "Oneness". I said to myself, "Where
have I heard that before?" "Of course, in the Shema." By
coincidence, the next time I went to synagogue, the Rabbi also spoke of the
"Oneness". I had come home again,
to my Jewish heart.
I thought, ”Why should I be meditating using Hindu
words when Hebrew is my heritage?”
However, it was not until my second marriage, to Bern
Boas, in 1992, that my yearning to learn more about Judaism began. I became the
facilitator of a Jewish Meditation group at LBC. In 1997 and I celebrated my
Batmitzvah
The saying that "All roads lead to Rome,"
is true of Jewish Meditation. There are many similarities with other forms of
meditation found in Buddhism, Sufism, Hinduism and Christianity. One commonality is noticing the breath. Practices begin with focused breathing.
What distinguishes Jewish Meditation from other forms
of meditation is the study of Torah, and the use of Hebrew language (which
gives a deep meaning to mantras) and some specific chanting, rituals amd
prayers. All these practices are
interchangeable.
Jewish meditation changes us. As with any other spiritual practice, this
may take months, years or decades.
Some people report that they have found a place of
inner security that has been missing.
Others say that they finally have a sense of meaning after a lifetime of
alienation. It always shifts our
perception of the world.
There are there core meditations that can be
practiced; focused meditation, awareness meditation and emptiness
meditation. It is usual to begin with
focussed meditation.
For beginners it is recommended to stay with one for
a number of months before trying out another.
Over time, one learns what is best for oneself.
The use of effort is often equated with trying to do
something using energy to make something happen. The paradox in this striving is self-defeating.
The problem is how to have effort, without making
effort, so that a person will not be a victim of his or her own
expectations. The effort requires acute
attention on a level that transcends self-awareness, which is related to
attentiveness.
When we are deeply interested in something, we are
attentive without effort. Some call
this choiceless awareness; we just do it.
Spiritual mastery has the quality of diminishing the
identification of self.
Mastery is self- discipline, the ability to say no,
as well as the strength to override impulses and do just the opposite.
Dorothea Tropp-Boas
2006.
By Rabbi Kennard Lipman. See: http://www.innerjew.com/Selectedwriting.html
To meditate on 'impermanence' is to implement a
Buddhist view. Impermanence
is not just a platitude about how everything is
changing and life is short.
To 'meditate' on such a view is, as we mentioned
above, in some way to
assent to the truth of that view. I have had
considerable experience (first
of all, my own) about the consequences of taking up
'meditation' as
value-free technique, without understanding whether
one has really assented
to the view or not. Many problems can arise when
there is an unconscious
conflict between an individual's actual views, i.e.,
those they live by, and
those embodied in a meditation. By 'individual's
actual views' I mean deeply
valued ones inherited from tradition, which the
person herself may not even
be able to articulate.
At the very least, one needs to be aware of the
relationship between view
and meditation in taking up any practice. At most,
one needs to understand
that there are serious conflicts among the 'views'
which lie behind
'meditations' from different traditions. For example,
in the Indian
tradition there are different interpretations of the
meaning of 'oneness'.
In the most famous contemplative tradition of
Hinduism, the Advaita Vedanta
of Shankara, 'oneness' is understood as advaita ,
i.e., that Brahman, the
ultimate reality, is 'One without a second'. In
Mahayana Buddhism, 'oneness'
is understood as advaya , the 'non-duality' of the
ultimate truth, nirvana ,
and of the relative truth, samsara . In another
well-known Hindu school, the
'oneness' of advaita is qualified so as to contain
dvaita , 'twoness' or
duality. (4) As explained above, all these views have
consequences for how
one 'meditates'. How would one then talk about a
Jewish view of oneness,
such as that of the Sh'ma , that God is 'one'?
One very sophisticated view is found in Chabad
Hasidism, which is very close
to the Hindu 'dvaita-advaita ', 'duality in
non-duality' view. This example
will illustrate for the Jewish reader the practical
consequences of adopting
a view. According to Chabad, following the Zohar,
there are two
'unifications'. The 'upper unification' is known as
yihuda' 'ila'ah and the
'lower unification' is yihuda' tata'ah. In the upper
unification one
experiences complete negation (bittul ) of individual
self-conscious
existence (yeshut ) in the 'oneness' or light of God
(YHVH), like the rays
of the sun at their source where they cannot even be
referred to as 'rays'
(5). This seems quite similar to a variety of Indian
views of the ultimate
reality or truth.
However, the Chabad philosophy has something quite
remarkable to say about
the 'lower unification', which makes it more similar
to the Hindu view of
'duality in non-duality' than to the Buddhist view of
'non-duality'. The
'lower unification' is done from the perspective of
duality, as an
individual, self-centered being. One maintains a
knowledge of the 'higher
unity' without annihilating the dualistic
perspective. Furthermore, Chabad
tells us that while the 'upper unity' nullifies
individual self-centeredness
('ego'), it does not change its perspective. It is
the lower unification,
operating at the level of duality, that can change
the perspective of the
'ego'. This change is called 'refining' or 'sifting'
good from evil (birur).
Birur leads to the notable, and I would add
characteristically Jewish,
conclusion that, "There is a tremendous
advantage to the service of
refinement, because the source for the body and
animal soul [which exist on
the level of yeshut ] is higher than the source of
the Godly soul [the level
of the higher unification]. Therefore, [their
refinement] contributes an
added dimension of light and life energy to the Godly
soul." (6) What is
characteristically Jewish here is the respect for
duality and the necessity
of working on the dualistic level in order to reveal
a unity even greater
than the upper one. The reason for this respect for
duality is, as I have
indicated at the beginning of this discussion, that
it is a willful creation
of the Creator, and not some accident, illusion,
appearance, mistake, etc.
To illustrate the practical consequences of views,
let me give an example
from the world of psychology, where there has also
been much contemporary
interest (and there are many Buddhist-Jewish
psychologists!) on the
relationship of Buddhist meditation to psychotherapy.
(7) People involved in
this work have noted that some individuals in therapy
may require 'building
up' their fragile egos before they can engage in
Buddhist 'non-self'
meditation. Hence the slogan coined by Jack Engler:
"You have to be a
somebody before you can be a nobody." What I
point out here as
characteristic of the Chabad view (and Judaism in
general, I would argue),
is that both the work of becoming a 'nobody' and
becoming a 'somebody' are
sacred work.
There is a difference between studying the structure
of the self and its
development from an ultimate point of view, and
studying it from its own
perspective as a developing self. Furthermore, one
work does not necessarily
come after the other, with no-self as the goal. In
the Chabad example, the
work of becoming a somebody leads to an even greater
sense of completeness
than the 'nobody-work' of the upper unification.
Obviously, this is a complex discussion which goes
beyond the limits of this
brief essay, but I bring up this question of
different types of 'oneness' to
alert the reader to what is involved in entering into
the 'garden of
meditation'. We should bring just as much
sophisticated knowledge and
reflection to this subject as we (post-)modern Jews
do to other contemporary
political, social, cultural and religious issues in
Judaism.
In summary, while one may wish to adopt and practice
certain forms of
meditation from outside the Jewish tradition (which
would not be something
new for us), it is essential to understand that
meditation practices
implement a view or a way of seeing. This means that
meditation literally
builds worlds and determines behavior. Assenting to a
view through a form of
meditation that one does not fully understand could
in fact, as an
epiphenomenon, make one feel better about oneself and
behave more carefully
in the world. But it may also further remove people,
in subtle and profound
ways, from the Jewish practices that they so
sincerely wish to recover and
renew.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The term Jewish Renewal refers to a set of practices
within Judaism that attempt to reinvigorate Judaism with mystical, Hasidic,
musical and meditative practices. In this sense, Jewish renewal is an approach
to Judaism that can be found within segments of any of the Jewish
denominations.
The term also refers to what is emerging as a
distinct Jewish movement, the Jewish Renewal movement, led by rabbis Arthur
Waskow and Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. This Jewish Renewal movement casts
Kabbalistic and Hasidic theory and practice within a non-Orthodox, egalitarian
framework. This movement incorporates such liberal social phenomena as
feminism, environmentalism and pacifism, and adds to traditional worship
ecstatic practices such as meditation, chant and dance. In seeking to augment
Jewish ritual, Renewal Jews borrow freely and openly from Buddhism, Sufism,
Native American religion, and other faiths; this is termed syncretism. Many Jews
outside this movement view religious syncretism as outside the bounds of
Judaism.
Jewish Renewal, in its most general sense, has its
origins in the North American Jewish counter-cultural trends of the late 1960s
and early 1970s. During this period, groups of young rabbis, academics and
political activists founded experimental havurot (singular: havurah) or
"fellowships" for prayer and study, in reaction to what they
perceived as an over-institutionalized and unspiritual North American Jewish
establishment.
Initially the main inspiration was the pietistic
fellowships of the Pharisees and other ancient Jewish sects.
Also initially, some of these groups, like the
Boston-area Havurat Shalom attempted to function as full-fledged rural communes
after the model of their secular counterparts. Others formed as communities
within the urban or suburban Jewish establishment. Founders of the havurot
included the liberal political activist Arthur Waskow and Michael Strassfeld
(who later became a Conservative rabbi.) Although the leadership and ritual
privileges were initially men-only, as in Orthodox Jewish practice, the
"second wave" of American feminism soon led to the full integration
of women in these communities.
Apart from some tentative articles in Response and
other Jewish student magazines, the early havurot attracted little attention in
the wider North American Jewish community. Then, in 1973, Michael and Sharon
Strassfeld released The Jewish Catalog: A Do-It-Yourself Kit. Patterned after
the recently-published counter-culture Whole Earth Catalog, the book served
both as a basic reference on Judaism and American Jewish life, as well as a
playful compendium of Jewish crafts, recipes, meditational practices, and
political action ideas, all aimed at disaffected young Jewish adults. The
Jewish Catalog became one of the best-selling books in American Jewish history
to that date and spawned not only two sequels but a much more widespread
havurah movement, including self-governing havurot within Reform, Conservative
and Reconstructionist synagogues.
By 1980 an increasing number of havurot had moved
away from strictly traditional Jewish worship practices, as members added
English readings and chants, poetry from other spiritual traditions, percussion
instruments, and overall a less formal approach to worship. Some saw the Essene
community, which inspired Jesus, as the right model.
The Winnipeg, and later Philadelphia-based, Zalman
Schachter-Shalomi, a Hasidic-trained rabbi who beginning in the 1960s broke
with Orthodox Judaism. Together with such colleagues as Arthur Waskow, he
established the B'nai Or Fellowship (now the ALEPH Alliance for Jewish Renewal)
which served as a loose umbrella organization for like-minded havurot. In 1979,
Waskow founded the B'nai Or magazine New Menorah; it was in this publication
that he coined the term "Jewish Renewal."
Schacter was strongly influenced by Sufism (Sufi
Islam) and Buddhism, even translating some of the prayers into Hebrew. He also
focused more on urban sustainable living than rural culture, and suggested for
instance interconnected basements of houses in urban neighbourhoods that would
create collective space especially for holidays, while providing the level of
privacy secular life had encouraged. Some of these ideas have influenced urban
economics.
The greater cohesion and focus created by B'nai
Or/ALEPH and its magazine led gradually to the spread of Jewish Renewal
throughout much of the United States and, by the close of the century, to the
establishment of communities in Canada, Latin America, Europe and Israel. By
this time, the beginnings of institutionalization were in place, in the form of
the administrative Network of Jewish Renewal Communities, the rabbinical
association OHaLaH, and an increasingly formalized (if not widely recognized)
rabbinic ordination program to replace Schachter-Shalomi's private ordinations.
Statistics on the number of Jews who identify
themselves as "Renewal" are not readily available. Nevertheless, the
movement has had a significant impact on most other streams of Judaism,
particularly within the United States. Perhaps the greatest impact has been on
the Reconstructionist movement, which began as an avowedly rationalistic and
intellectual phenomenon but, under the influence of rabbinic and lay leaders
with a Renewal orientation, has come to embrace Jewish mystical imagery and
practice, particularly in its wholly new series of prayer books issued in the
1990s. Signs of Renewal influence can be found elsewhere; it is not uncommon
for Reform and Conservative congregations to feature workshops on Jewish
meditation and various Judaized forms of yoga. The often-controversial trend in
non-Orthodox movements towards increased ritual and leadership privileges for
woman, lesbians and gays arguably has its origin in the liberal political
activism of those havurot which formed the kernel of Renewal.
Critics of Jewish Renewal claim that the movement
emphasizes individual spiritual experience and subjective opinion over communal
norms and Jewish textual literacy; the above-mentioned formalization of the
ALEPH rabbinic program may be a response to such criticism. Many find fault
with what they consider to be excessive borrowing from non-Jewish traditions; such
large amounts of non-Jewish practices and ideas have been borrowed that
non-Renewal Jews see the Renewal movement as moving outside the boundaries of
Judaism altogether. They hold that just as Jews cannot adopt Christian beliefs
and practices and still consider themselves to be followers of Judaism, one
cannot adopt Buddhist, Sufi, and polytheistic beliefs and practices and still
consider themselves to be part of Judaism.
Renewalists counter that Judaism has long since
assimilated Canaanite, Babylonian, Hellenistic and Muslim elements without harm
to its integrity. Others, including some within the Renewal community, maintain
that the movement has been more successful in providing occasional ecstatic
"peak experiences" at worship services and spiritual retreats than in
inculcating a daily discipline of religious practice.
As well, within the movement, some have observed a
tension between those who prefer to focus on liberal, even radical, social
activism on American, Middle-East and global issues; and those who favor an
emphasis on meditation, text study and worship. These, together with the
challenge of training and recruiting future generations of leaders, are the
issues facing Jewish Renewal today.
ALEPH Alliance for Jewish Renewal (http://www.aleph.org/)
Network of Jewish Renewal Communities
(http://www.jewishrenewal.org/)
OHaLaH: The Association of Rabbis for Jewish Renewal
(http://www.ohalah.org/)
ALEPH's Rabbinic Studies Program
www.aleph.org/rabbinic
Chochmat HaLev (Wisdom of the Heart)
San Francisco Bay area Jewish center for Meditation
and Spirituality
<http://www.chochmat.org>
Jewish Renewal Life Center, Rabbi Julie Greenberg,
Web site: www.jewishrenewal.org/lifecenter
Rabbi Kennard Lipman
http://www.innerjew.com/Selectedwriting.html
Rabbi Rami Shapiro
<http://www.simplyjewish.com/>
Metivta--Rabbi Jonathan Omer-Man's L.A. contemplative
school for Jewish wisdom
<http://www.metivta.org/>
Yakar Center for Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
<http://www.yakar.org>
Yakar in London
<http://www.yakar.demon.co.uk>
Jewish Mysticism, Meditation and Kabbalah
KAVANNAH: Jewish Mystical and Meditational Resources
(Michael Sidlofsky)
<http://kavannah.org>
Kabbalah/Jewish Mysticism Resource Page (Dawn
Lipthrott)
<http://www.relationshipjourney.com/>
Jewish Spirit Journal (Yitzhak Buxbaum)
<http://www.jewishspirit.com>
Tree-of-Life Mystery School (Joseph-Mark Cohen)
<http://www.TreeofLifeSchool.com/>
Panu Derech--Kabbalah Journal (Bnei Baruch Kabbalah)
<http://www.kabbalah-web.org>
NY Center for Jewish Meditation and Spiritual
Practice: a program of the Academy for Jewish Religion
<http://www.ajrsem.org>
Shabbat AM Silent Meditation at Temple Israel of
Greater Miami
Silent non-traditional meditation sitting without any
teachers, methods or explanations.
Contact: Andy Warnick 305-382-8838
Marcia Falk: Jewish Feminist Liturgy
<http://www.marciafalk.com>
Shalom Center (R. Arthur Waskow)
<http://www.shalomctr.org>
Jewish sexual ethics, eco-Judaism, prayer, a good set
of creative divrei Torah (lessons of the Torah) by Rabbi Arthur Waskow/
Tikkun Magazine
<http://www.tikkun.org>
Retreat Centers and Conferences
Elat Chayyim--Jewish Renewal Retreat & Program
Center, upstate NY <http://www.ElatChayyim.org
The ALEPH Kallah:
A bi-annual week-long renewal conference
www.aleph.org/kallah.htm
Periodicals
Jewish Bulletin of Northern California
http://www.jewishsf.com
The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles
<http://www.jewishjournal.com>
The Jewish Angle (David Holzel)
<http://www.mindspring.com/~dbholzel>
Tikkun Magazine (Michael Lerner, ed)
<http://www.tikkun.org>
Pumbedissa (R. Gershon Winkler, Lakme Elior)
<http://www.walkingstick.org>
Kerem: Creative Explorations in Judaism (Gilah
Langner)
<http://www.kerem.com>
Rabbi Shefa Gold's site
www.rabbishefagold.com
Reb Shlomo Carlebach's site
http://www.shamash.org/judaica/rebshlomo/
Rabbi Jeffrey Marker
http://www.echonyc.com/~rabjeff
AJ Heschel, in Memoriam
http://www.jcn18.com/heschel
Rabbi Goldie Milgram--Reclaiming Judaism as a
Spiritual Practice
http://www.rebgoldie.com
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