IJS is here for you
When emotions are running close to the surface, IJS is here for you. Rabbi Josh Feigelson shares his reflections below.
Our Fine Furry Friends (Bo 5786)
I don't know about you, but for me it's been a stressful time of late. Not at work so much, but in life. There have been the normal stresses that come with being the "sandwich generation"—parenting kids, caring for aging parents. It's been oppressively cold in Chicago, which means spending less time outside, and thus feeling more cooped up. And then there's witnessing what's happening in my mom's hometown of Minneapolis, what's happening in the streets of Iran, what's happening to big things I—and, I expect you—took for granted, like NATO. So, stress—and understandably so. It should not surprise you to hear that, despite my regular meditation practice, I'm not perfect. Far from it. While I...
Expectancy — not Expectation
Episode 22: Expectancy -- not Expectation "All of Scripture is holy, but the Song of Songs is holy of holies" said Rabbi Akiva -- and also Rabbi Shefa Gold. She mines this book as a source of inspiration and personal teaching, through chant and silence. "Here comes my beloved!" Read the episode transcript
What Are We? The Redemptive Power of Prayer
Episode 21: What Are We? The Redemptive Power of Prayer In the early part of the morning service, we meet a passage that carries us through a profound contemplation of our lives. Rabbi Jordan Bendat-Appell leads us through the prayer, and into it, to find our way to love. Read the episode transcript
A Conversation about Purim with Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie
In case you missed it, watch Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie in conversation with Rabbi Josh Feigelson, IJS Executive Director. This live public event sponsored by IJS, took place on Thursday evening, February 12, 2021 with an audience of more than 600 people. Rabbi Amichai shares a unique perspective on Purim and offers new ways to celebrate virtually this year. Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie is...
Kissing the Mezuzah Opening the Door to Prayer
Episode 20: Kissing the Mezuzah Opening the Door to Prayer Who doesn't like to kiss? But, how many extend that to kissing the mezuzah? Aviva Chernickk has -- as a practice when she comes home and leaves the house, and as a prompt to cultivate the love invoked in the Shema. Read the episode transcript
Chant as the Heart of Prayer
Episode 19: Chant as the Heart of Prayer Cantor Audrey Abrams brings her background as a music therapist (and her self-awareness as a "shower davener") to help us use chant to open the heart, face our truth, and emerge more whole. Read the episode transcript
I am? And You are? Dialogic Personal Prayer
Episode 18: I am? And You are? Dialogic Personal Prayer Grounding his practice in the teachings of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Hacohen Kook and Rav Dov Singer, Rabbi Yosef Goldman leads us into a deep engagement with our own lived experience, grounding us in a heart of gratitude. Read the episode transcript
Listen to Rabbi Josh Feigelson on a New Episode of Drinking and Drashing
Newly released! Listen to IJS Executive Director, Rabbi Josh Feigelson, discuss Jewish Spiritual Practice, Parshat Yitro, and much more in the latest episode of Drinking and Drashing: Torah with a Twist.Available wherever you get your podcasts!
Waking Up to Blessing
Episode 17: Waking Up to Blessing Rabbi Susan Leider invites us to join her as she wakes up, connecting the daily Birkhot Hashachar to each step along the way. Read the episode transcript
Chant to Open the Heart
Episode 16: Chant to Open the Heart Chanting a niggun is not only an outward expression of yearning. It can also penetrate the heart. Rabbi Hannah Dresner, chanting in her car, leads us in practice from a parched place, to open to the flow available at all times. Read the episode transcript
Music to Evoke Prayer
Episode 15: Music to Evoke Prayer Music is so evocative! In just a few notes we can be taken back in time to a far-off place, to a connection with another person. How does that work? What is added through words? Cadence, intonation, emphasis? Join Rabbi Lydia Medwin as she sits with and unpacks her experience of "Change is Gonna Come" with Otis Redding, and find your own prayer through music,...
Personal Morning Davening
Episode 14: Priestly Blessing: Lovingkindness Prayer Rabbi Ari Lev Fornari starts his morning davening (prayers) with the awareness that prayer is an embodied practice. He connects with sensation, with sound, with memory, and with the words of the Tradition for a personal engagement with the morning liturgy. Read the episode transcript
Priestly Blessing: Lovingkindness Prayer
Episode 13: Priestly Blessing: Lovingkindness Prayer How do we prepare our hearts to pray? What conditions our souls to know what is important? Rabbi Amy Eilberg has used the mindfulness meditation practice of metta, or lovingkindness, for this purpose. The phrases she employs to settle and orient her heart are those of the Priestly blessing (Num. 6:2-26). Join her in this prayer practice for...
Prayer as a Hug
Episode 12: Prayer as a Hug The spring and summer of 2020 have been tumultuous, burdened by isolation and confusion during the pandemic, by fear and anger at systemic racism, uncertainty about the future in the run-up to an election. Hazzan Sabrina Sojourner invites us to rest in the hugs of our ancestors, In God's embrace, to find strength and hopefulness. Read the episode...
Etz Hayyim Hi — Praying With A Tree
Episode 11: Etz Hayyim Hi -- Praying With A TreeThe biblical book of Proverbs refers to the Torah as a "Tree of Life" and we sing those words when we return the Torah to the Ark after reading from it. But, what does that really mean? Maor Greene asks just this question, and investigates the experience of prayer with a Tree. Go outside with them to see what it's like!Read the episode...
Embodied Awakening Prayer
Episode 10: Embodied Awakening Prayer The traditional Jewish morning service begins with blessings acknowledging the workings of the body. But, sometimes we need to wake up more fully even before engaging in liturgical prayer. Rabbi Myriam Klotz leads us through her embodied awakening practice, inviting you to join in as well. Read the episode transcript
Embodied Chant to Open the Heart
Episode 9: Embodied Chant to Open the Heart Many people approach prayer as an intellectual endeavor: I read the prayers and they say something, perhaps even what I mean. Others sense that prayer comes from the heart: when in community the sense of belonging and the invitation to connect with spirit opens the heart. Hazzan Joanna Dulkin reminds us that prayer begins in the body, and is energized...
Turn Your Torah into Tefillah
Episode 8: Turn Your Torah into Tefillah Rebbe Nachman sought to use every possible methodology available to him to help people connect with their truest selves and to the Divine. One such practice was turning one's Torah Study into Tefilah (prayer). Rabbi David Jaffe gives us instructions, demonstrates, and leads us in this prayer practice. Read the episode transcript
Praying All Three Paragraphs of the Shema
Episode 7: Praying All Three Paragraphs of the Shema In many liturgically grounded communities, it is often only the first and last paragraphs of the Shema (Deut. 6:4-9; Num.15:37-41) that are recited as a community. But, what about the middle paragraph (Deut. 11:13-21)? Shouldn't it be part of our prayer? Rabbi Dan Liben thinks so, and shows us how he raises it up in a mindfulness-based prayer...