High Holy Day Soul Work, Part 5 As Rosh Hashanah comes closer, our prayers become more urgent, because ready or not, the holy days are upon us. We reflect more deeply on our misdeeds of the past year, and where we have fallen short of being our best selves. Part of the powerful ritual we go through each High Holy Day season is the cleansing of our Continue Reading
Lovingkindness Practice for Self & Others
Love is on my mind today. Love of others and love of ourselves. Two issues arise again and again when I teach about lovingkindness and mindfulness: the lack of self-compassion and the lingering hurt in relationships. Luckily, there is a lovingkindness mindfulness practice you can learn that addresses both. Self-Compassion In terms of self-compassion, Continue Reading
Rabbi Jill’s Meditation & Mindfulness Booklist
Jewish Meditation & Mindfulness Books (* most highly recommended) *Meditation App: I use Insight Timer (available on the Itunes & Android app store.) See you there! Bloomfield, Diane. Torah Yoga: Experiencing Jewish Wisdom Through Classic Postures. Jossey-Bass, 2004. *Boorstein, Sylvia. That's Funny, You Don't Look Buddhist: On Being a Continue Reading
Lovingkindness (Chesed) Practices and Resources
Judaism holds that the world was built with chesed (lovingkindness) We read in Psalms: Olam Chesed Yibaneh עוֹלָם, חֶסֶד יִבָּנֶה (The world is build with chesed*) Psalm 89:3. Our entire world is not only built with chesed but continually sustained our acts in the world. A few weeks ago, in our Hineni community, I taught a beautiful practice that I Continue Reading
This Doesn’t Feel Like Holy Ground
I don’t know how you are doing lately - but an awful lot of people I know are feeling overwhelmed, too busy, burdened by the energy of the season and many are struggling to walk through family illnesses and loss and economic difficulties. The end of the year often tends to be like this. Perhaps we can take some guidance from Moses, who in Continue Reading