Yom Kippur Retreat 5777 / 2016
Join Or HaLev for our Yom Kippur Silent Meditation Retreat 5777 with Rabbi Dr. James Jacobson-Maisels and Daniel Yoel Cohen October 10-12, 2016 Kibbutz Hannaton, Israel Yom Kippur offers the powerful and concentrated possibility of atonement, the coming back into alignment with the soulful essence of who we are, of an honest […]
Reflections, August 2016
By Rabbi Dr. James Jacobson-Maisels Parshat Va’etchanan The Vitebsker’s interpretation of va’etchanan starts with Rashi’s reading of one of the parsha’s most famous verses: Rashi interprets the verse “You have been shown to know [that YHVH alone is God; there is none beside Him]” (Deut 4:35) according to the Targum (the ancient Aramaic translation) which renders […]
Reflections, July 2016
By Dr. Rabbi James Jacobson-Maisels Parashat Balak We have just returned from a powerful retreat where it was wonderful to see some of you. We had the opportunity on retreat to be with our experience, such as the craziness of our comparing minds (ie. s/he is a better/worse meditator than I am) and the truth of the […]
Reflections, June 2016
By Dr. Rabbi James Jacobson-Maisels Parashat Nasso / פרשת נשא (This will apply to this week's Parsha if you are in Israel, or next week’s if you are in the U.S.) What is freedom? Our consumerist culture would have us believe that freedom is about having access to many choices and the ability to decide […]
Reflections, May 2016
By Rabbi Dr. James Jacobson-Maisels “I will run on the path of Your mitzvot for they widen my heart” (Ps. 119:32). Do not we all want that widened heart? The Vitebsker in parshat Emor tells us that joy is accessible to us all. The path is the practice of letting go of ego, and the […]
Reflections, March 2016
By Rabbi Dr. James Jacobson-Maisels “This is the law (Torah): When a person dies in a tent” (Num. 19:14). How do we want to die? What kind of death do we desire? R. Israel Hopshtein of Koznitz, the Maggid of Koznitz uses death as a way of talking about life and uses two ways of […]
Opening the Heart: A Jewish Mindfulness Meditation Retreat
Join Rabbis James Jacobson-Maisels and Nancy Flam as we together explore how the practice of meditation helps us cultivate the qualities of well-being, contentment, gratitude, forgiveness, compassion, and wisdom. This six-day experience held in social silence includes daily instruction in meditation to guide both beginning and advanced practitioners into the sacred space of the […]
Reflections, February 2016
Ki Tisa By Rabbi Dr. James Jacobson-Maisels Judaism, for the most part, prescribes behavior; not thoughts or feelings. For a religion of laws, this is wise, as how can one demand that a person think or feel a certain way? But R. Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk, in his teaching on Ki Tisa challenges this approach […]
Reflections, December 2015
By James Jacobsen-Maisels, Founder and Spiritual Director There are times when we feel overwhelmed, helpless, as if life is closing in on us, like it is all just too much. In many ways, it’s the atmosphere of this time of year: the days are getting shorter, the darkness longer. What are we to do? Yet […]
Reflections, October 2015
By James Jacobsen-Maisels, Founder and Spiritual Director Earlier this month, a new baby girl was born to our family. She is our third child and hers was the third birth I had been present for. It was wondrous, emotional, extraordinary and simply miraculous. It isn’t surprising that it was so wondrous and emotional for me, […]