Book Talk with Jeremy David Engels
Thank you Jeremy David Engels for joining Rabbi Josh Feigelson for this insightful conversation about his book: On Mindful Democracy: A Declaration of Interdependence to Mend a Fractured World. Please enjoy the recording below.Jeremy David Engels is the author of six books, including On Mindful Democracy: A Declaration of Interdependence to Mend a Fractured World (Parallax, 2026), as well as a Liberal Arts Endowed Professor of Communication Arts & Sciences at Penn State University, co-founder of Yoga Lab, and a mindfulness and yoga teacher. You can find him in the classroom, lecture hall, on a meditation cushion, or a yoga mat, sharing his insights on how to become capable,...
Safe at Home (Huqat-Balak 5786)
There is a serious debate among knowledgeable people about a very important question: What is the best baseball movie of all time? In my experience the choices often come down to Field of Dreams (starring Kevin Costner and featuring an immortal monologue by James Earl Jones that is guaranteed to bring the hardest-edged person to tears) and Bull Durham (also starring Kevin Costner—I know, I know—and featuring an immortal dialogue with Tim Robbins about the effective use of platitudes in press conferences). In my own humble opinion, both of these views are misguided. The best baseball movie of all time, hands down, is The Natural, a 1984 adaptation (well, a transformation) of Bernard...
Solid as a Rock
I just returned from vacation, where I went hiking from village to village in the Atlas Mountains. The Atlas Mountains are very steep and rugged, but people have lived there for as long as anyone can remember. The villages cling to the sides of narrow valleys in neat, terraced rows of mud and stone houses, walnut and cherry orchards and small plots of barley and peas. The trails between the...
Shopping Meditation
I hate shopping. I get overwhelmed very easily by the competing demands of all the products, prices, and salespeople. When I can’t find what I’m looking for right away, I tend to get discouraged and walk away, often intending to make do without. So when I went to the neighborhood camera store to buy a replacement battery and they didn’t stock the kind I needed, I took a deep breath and girded...
Receiving Torah
Shavuot, the holiday that celebrates the gift of Torah, begins on Saturday night. The Torah itself describes this occasion as being accompanied by dramatic and terrifying noise and spectacle: thunder, long shofar blasts, earthquake, fire and smoke. As I type this, I am listening to the honks and sirens on Seventh Avenue far below, and I wonder: if Mt. Sinai were in New York City, would...
Setting an Intention
Contrary to many assumptions, spiritual practice is not in fact easy. There are so many reasons – truly compelling reasons - to get up from the cushion, to close the prayerbook, to break the pose, to cancel the meeting with my hevruta (study partner). And yet, the really hard part of spiritual work begins when we transition from the centering stillness of our practice to the busy, confusing,...
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...