Noticing the Transitional Nature of All Things
Practice originially written as part of the Shevet Reset, a Jewish meditation challenge for younger adults.When I first learned to meditate on retreat, the instructions sounded simple: sit still, follow the breath, and when discomfort arises, notice it before reacting. Easy, right? It was not. My body immediately rebelled—aching knees, itchy skin, endless shifting. I felt terrible at meditating. But eventually, with nothing else to do but practice, something shifted. One day I noticed a strong itch on my nose and, for the first time, I paused. I felt the urge to scratch. I stayed with the sensation. And then—without me doing anything—the itch passed. On its own. That itch changed...
Carpe Diem—or Not (Tazria-Metzora 5786)
One of the most enduring Torah lessons I ever learned came from a 19-year-old college student named Joey. He was interviewing for a campus "engagement" (i.e. outreach) internship when I was the Hillel rabbi at Northwestern. As part of the interview, we asked the applicants to read Hillel's famous three questions (in English) and comment on them: "If I am not for myself, who will be for me? When I am for myself, what am I? And, if not now, when?" It was Joey's response to the third question that stuck with me the most. I had always read that question as a Jewish version of carpe diem—seize the day, which my generation learned from Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society. But Joey looked at the...
Sheila Weinberg Teaching on Retreat
Join Sheila for a teaching on grasping mind she gave in November of 2011 - featuring her wonderful grandkids.
Sheila Reads from Surprisingly Happy
Join Rabbi Sheila Peltz Weinberg as she reads from her new book, Surprisingly Happy: An Atypical Religious Memoir. Included in this podcast is Chapter 18, “Discovering Meditation, Barre, July 1990″ and “Ashrei Yoshvei Veytecha.”
A Gift – Connecting with the Present
Join Rabbi Marc Margolius for a guided meditation, practicing connecting with the present moment, with awareness of what is going on in ourselves and our world.
Gratitude right here right now
Join Rabbi Rachel Cowan for a podcast on how the ongoing process of developing a spiritual practice can help us find joy even with the vagaries and grind of modern day life.
Joy in the Moment That Is
Rabbi Jordan Bendat-Appell, adjunct faculty with IJS, recorded this podcast November 3rd at his Mindfulness Mussar group at his shul - Aitz Hayim Center for Jewish Living. In it, he talks about the common sense that if we just reach a certain goal, achieve a certain thing in our lives, we’ll be happy, but find when we get there that it’s not the magical panacea we’d hoped for, and that this...
Waters of Repose (Psalm 23): Restorative Yoga for Stressful Times
Join Rabbi Myriam Klotz for a relaxing period of embodied spiritual practice. Experience restorative yoga - a kind of yoga that involves gentle, passive stretching, allowing the nervous system to quiet down and experience deep rest. Explore how, in stressful times, we can find our ways to the waters of quiet and repose, restoring the soul to a place of ease and well being. Find renewal in...
Walking as Practice
This meditation is from Preparing the Heart: Meditations for Jewish Spiritual Practice. Rabbi Sheila Weinberg describes walking practice as a way of paying attention to the sensations in the body, gathering our attention and focus in the body. Walking practice is based in bringing awareness to each step as it manifests in sensation through the entire body. Walking is its own practice when it...
The Spiritual Journey of Divine Compassion
Join Rabbi Marc Margolius for a podcast on the period of S’firat HaOmer - counting the Omer – a period marking our spiritual journey from Egypt to Sinai – moving from breaking the bonds of slavery on Pessach to developing our capacity to open ourselves to the divine on Shavuot. Marc’s offering includes a teaching and meditation the holiday of Shavuot and divine compassion (chesed), directed to...
Mindfulness: Training the Attention
Listen to Rabbi Sheila Weinberg as she gives an overview introduction to mindfulness practice on an IJS retreat this January; looking at understanding the nature of the mind and developing a quality of alert, stable attention again and again.You can also listen to Sheila teaching at a Jewish Mindfulness retreat at Spirit Rock Meditation Center (6/25/09) [http://dharmaseed.org/retreats/836].
In the Divine Image
Join Rabbi Sheila Weinberg for a meditation on, and exploration of, what it means to experience life as b’tzelem Elohim – created in the divine image. We return to the beginning, to where it all starts, Chapter 1 of Genesis; recognizing that there can be no liberation from bondage without the affirmation of the inherent dignity of the human being. This understanding is articulated in this...
Sh’ma Koleynu – Hear our voice
Join Rabbi Sheila Weinberg in contemplating Sh’ma Koleynu – Hear our voices. This is the reverse of Sh’ma Yisrael, when our plea to hear is directed to ourselves; here, Sh’ma is directed towards the source of mercy and compassion - Adonai Eloheinu. It is a communal project to ask God to hear our voices – the inchoate layers of feeling, need, hope – that join together and become our communal...
Psalm 27 – Achat Shaalti
Join Rabbi Sheila Weinberg in this series of short podcasts in preparation for the High Holy Days. “Achat Sha’alti me’eit Adonai, otah avakeish; shivti b’veit Adonai kol y’mei chayai, lachazot b’noam Adonai ulvakeir b’heichalo. One thing I ask of Adonai, for this do I yearn: to dwell in the house of Adonai all the days of my life, to see the goodness of Adonai and to visit God’s sanctuary.”...
Devarim: Preparing to Practice
Join Rabbi Jonathan Slater for a discussion of the practice of engaging in and maintaining a spiritual practice; whether prayer, meditation or yoga. Throughout the latter part of the summer and into the fall we read through the book of Deuteronomy/Devarim, where Moses is speaking to the children of Israel, preparing them for entry into the land of Israel and their life there, warning them of...
Shalom Meditation
Join Rabbi Sheila Weinberg for this meditation on shalom. Every day is a good day to pray for shalom. Our most important prayers are sealed with the prayer for shalom – Birkat Hamazon, the Amidah, the priestly blessing. We make our best efforts to work for peace in the world. You are invited to welcome peace, shalom, to enter your body, heart, and mind. This is a meditation for shalom, a...
Mountain Pose: A Posture for Revelation
As we approach Shavuot, explore the physical experience of revelation with Rabbi Myriam Klotz. What is the embodied, sensory, experience of a moment of revelation of the sacred in the world? With the season, we return to the Biblical moment of divine revelation through the gift of the Torah – a kinetic and dynamic moment - standing at Sinai the people saw the voices of divine revelation – all...