Letting It Out (Beha’alotcha 5786)
My wife Natalie is a woman of many talents, and she always has a craft project of one variety or another that she’s working on. At one point she made beautiful cloth banners with Hebrew letters that still adorn our home at Jewish holidays. For the last few years, she’s been working on a special kind of embroidery in which she overlays black and white photos with splotches of color. About a decade ago, she was also doing embroidery, but of a different kind: funny/ironic takes on what you might find more traditionally on a throw pillow in an antique store. (I know this was around 2016, as one of them said, in traditional black serif letters on a white background, “A woman’s place is in the...
Being a Blessing (Naso 5786)
While the Priestly Blessing is a central ritual at my family’s Shabbat table, that hasn’t always been the case. For whatever reason, it wasn’t part of my parents’ repertoire when I was growing up. That changed when, at age 12, I attended the bat mitzvah of a family friend and saw her parents place their hands on her head and recite the words. I told my folks, “I’d like us to do that.” Soon thereafter, my dad started blessing my brothers and me. (For whatever reason, my mom left it to him to do.) In both the relationship with my father and my relationship with my children, I have experienced real power in this ritual. Parent-child relationships aren’t easy, and Friday afternoons can be...
Sim Shalom
Episode 3: Sim ShalomThe Sages taught, "there is no blessing greater than peace", and for that reason they chose to conclude every prayer service, and many prayers, with peace. Rabbi Sheila Peltz Weinberg leads us through a deep, prayerful reflection on the classic prayer Sim Shalom, Give us Peace.Read the episode transcript
Letting God Love Me
Episode 2: "Letting God Love Me" What could be more delightful, but might be more difficult, than letting God love us? In her practice, Rabbi Nancy Flam invites us to join her in just such a moment: to rest in the divine embrace, without comment, without question. Read the episode transcript
Where do we find what we so deeply need right now?
For Giving Tuesday, we’ve made a one-minute video that speaks to the work that IJS does -- and to our ongoing dedication to you. Your support helps IJS continue to provide meaningful and life-changing programs. Please give as generously as you can.All donations made before December 31 will be matched dollar for dollar thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor.
To Admit the Truth in My Heart
Episode 1: "To Admit the Truth in My Heart" To begin our series, Rabbi Jonathan Slater gives an overview of various forms of prayer, setting the context for the varieties of prayer practice we'll meet in this program. He then shares his practice, which includes a chant, for cultivating truth in the heart, so that inside and outside match, to cultivate integrity and wholeness. Read the episode...
IJS and JCCA: A New Partnership
In June 2020, IJS launched a pilot program in a professional development partnership with Jewish Community Centers of North America (JCCA) to bring our programming to hundreds of JCC professionals nationwide and ultimately to thousands of end-users. We're helping these individuals practice Jewish mindfulness through our Awareness in Action course.Read all about this partnership in...
An Evening of Conversation with Rabbi Art Green
On Tuesday evening November 10, 2020, Rabbi Josh Feigelson, PhD, IJS Executive Director, interviewed Rabbi Dr. Art Green at a live public event sponsored by IJS, to an audience of more than 500 people. This is a full recording of their conversation. Art Green is one of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality's founding teachers. He is also the founding dean and current director of the...
Welcome to Open My Heart: Living Jewish Prayer
Welcome to Open My Heart: Living Jewish Prayer Welcome to Open My Heart: Living Jewish Prayer. Prayer in the Jewish Community is varied in its nature, but common in its expression -- it is largely a communal endeavor. However, our tradition is rich in sources prompting us to pray regularly, often on our own, in our own words. Perhaps this is the moment, when we are so much on our own, that...
A Major New Partnership Between IJS and Or HaLev
The Institute for Jewish Spirituality (IJS) and Or HaLev Center for Jewish Spirituality and Meditation (OHL) announced today a major new partnership to develop the next generation of advanced Jewish mindfulness meditation teachers in North America, Israel, and the United Kingdom. The initiative will be led by Or HaLev Founder and Executive Director Rabbi James Jacobson-Maisels and...
Mindfulness Practice for Election Night
I remember election night 2016, which coincided with an IJS meditation teacher trainingretreat. At first glance, it might seem dissonant to bring an election with all of itsemotion, spin, and hype into the retreat experience. However, at the Institute we havethe conviction that if our practice is going to be real it must be accessible and operativein real life--no matter what the...
Embodied Practice: The Breath of Life
In times of stress, it may be harder for us to access the full sense of aliveness that comes with taking a deep breath. In this video, Rabbi Myriam Klotz leads you in an embodied practice that focuses on the breath of life, nishmat chaim.
Justice, Justice Shall You Pursue
The pursuit of justice, tzedek, is a central pillar of Jewish spiritual practice. In this video, Rabbi Marc Margolius shares a meditation on tzedek as a synthesis of two other middot (spiritual qualities), zerizut (energetic response) and hodeya (gratitude).
Prayers to Recite Before Voting
Below we offer three prayers for you to choose from, to be recited before voting. We recommend reciting your prayer(s) of choice immediately before casting your ballot as a way to ground your kavvanah (intention) for voting. The first was written by Rabbi Sam Feinsmith of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. The second, an improvised variation on the Kaddish, was composed by the...
Reflections on Sukkot
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about dwellings and about containers -- about the temple whose destruction we mourn on Tisha B’av at the start of the holy day arc and about the sukkah that we celebrate at its end. About the houses and apartments we’ve all been largely cooped up in these past many months, and about the way we can lock up our emotions, especially the painful ones, in our bodies.A...
The Shofar Project Adds Four New Partners
We are pleased to announce that ALEPH, the American Conference of Cantors, Cantors Assembly, and Torat Chayim have joined The Shofar Project as our newest partners.These four organizations join the Central Conference of American Rabbis, International Rabbinic Fellowship, Rabbinical Assembly, Reconstructing Judaism, Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, Union for Reform Judaism, and the...
The Institute for Jewish Spirituality Collaborates with Movements in Historic Cross-Denominational Spiritual Partnership
In an historic cross-denominational partnership, the Institute for Jewish Spirituality today announced the Shofar Project, a program of spiritual preparation for the High Holidays in collaboration with the Central Conference of American Rabbis, International Rabbinic Fellowship, Rabbinical Assembly, Reconstructing Judaism, Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, Union for Reform...
Rabbi Myriam Klotz Joins IJS Staff as Senior Program Director
The Institute for Jewish Spirituality (IJS) announced today that Rabbi Myriam Klotz will join the organization’s staff as Senior Program Director effective August 17. Klotz, a major figure in Jewish yoga and embodied practice for decades, has been a faculty member at IJS since 2003. She has taught in the organization’s flagship clergy leadership training programs and recently helped to launch...
IJS Welcomes Maidelle Goodman Benamy as Director of Development
The Institute for Jewish Spirituality announced today that Maidelle Goodman Benamy will become the organization’s Director of Development effective July 22. Benamy joins IJS after an already distinguished 35-year career in philanthropy and Jewish communal work. She has previously served as Vice President of Development at the Educational Alliance, Executive Vice President at the Jewish National...
Awareness in Activism: Jewish Spiritual Practice for Personal Change and Social Justice
During the COVID-19 pandemic and the current uprising for racial justice, I have been teaching an online program for the Institute for Jewish Spirituality (IJS) in mindfulness and character development, “Awareness in Action: Cultivating Character through Mindfulness and Middot.” Through this program, participants have applied tikkun middot practice -- mindfully cultivating innate...