Nishmat Hayyim and Temple Beth Zion's Adult Learning Committee will add to the wonderful selection of meditation teachings in Boston by co-hosting Norman Fischer for a Shabbaton on July 18 and 19, 2008, and Sylvia Boorstein for a Shabbaton on January 30 and 31, 2009. Nishmat Hayyim is also planning regular one-day retreats and Contemplative Shabbat services in the Boston area and will cosponsor a week-long meditation retreat with the Awakened Heart Project from March 15-22, 2009, in the Northeast. All inspired to attend a weekend or week-long retreat are invited to visit the Awakened Heart Project website. There you will also find articles by these teachers, as well as podcasts, chants, and many other resources to guide us along our paths.

How is this Jewish Meditation Retreat different from other meditation retreats? Like many other Jewish questions, this seasonal query can be answered in two opposite, but mutually informative ways: "Not so different," and "Very different." "Not so different" because this retreat, like others, uses silence, stillness, and a retreat from the habitual preoccupations of daily life to create a structure for cultivating open-hearted awareness. "Very different," because every day begins and ends with the morning and evening prayer services, which redirect our attention to the presence of the divine in everything and the presence of everything in the divine.

These two traditions of practice—the cultivation of open awareness and the perception of all existence as a manifestation of the Oneness of God—were beautifully woven together by our teachers, Sylvia Boorstein, Zoketsu Norman Fischer, and Rabbi Jeff Roth. The first morning, our teachers described each of the prayer chants as instructions for awakening to awe-inspiring aspects of everyday life and for embracing our human condition within this process. On the following days we chanted without instructions, so as to become aware of own experience of each prayer. Each chant was followed by silence, in a structure that has now become "traditional" for the Jewish Renewal movement and would be familiar to anyone who has participated in a Nishmat Hayyim contemplative service. The morning service was followed by a daily instruction for the meditation practice, as is common on other American Buddhist retreats.

Our teachers each brought a particular perspective, reflecting their different paths into Jewish Meditation. Sylvia Boorstein trained as a teacher in the Vipassana (Insight Meditation) tradition and, in that process, discovered a revitalized relationship with her Jewish practice. She summarized the purpose of our meditation practice: "When we are able to quiet our minds, we can greet each experience and each person we encounter in a cordial way." This very clear message highlights the experience we often recognize, when, preoccupied with "grumbly" thoughts, we react to events and people with resentment. At other moments, when we are in a different state of mind, we may respond to these same events and same people with understanding and compassion. While a flare of self-righteous indignation may offer momentary gratification, most of us feel better when we can respond to life compassionately. Sylvia teaches by sharing her experience of developing compassion for herself as she deals with her own "fretting" and "grumbly" mind, in a way that offers hope to those of us who feel stuck in our repetitive patterns of unhelpful thinking. Sylvia embodies the loving relationship to herself and others that is cultivated through meditation practice, exemplified by the way she speaks to herself when she is in turmoil: "Sweetheart, if your mind is in a storm, come in out of the rain and wait until the storm passes".

Zoketsu Norman Fischer, co-founder of Makor Or Jewish Meditation Center in San Francisco, brings his experience as abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center and founder of the Everyday Zen Foundation to his lifelong traditional Jewish observance. Norman shared his poetry, including his Zen-informed translation of the Psalms, as a way of communicating with words what cannot be adequately expressed with words. In this way, meditation teachings are similar to words of prayer, which can prepare us to receive experiences that cannot be described in words alone. It is for this reason that meditation practice, like Jewish observance, cannot be learned from reading texts alone. We could not possibly comprehend the nature of Jewish observance simply by studying an instruction manual, without having community or teachers. Similarly, we cannot fully appreciate any meditation tradition by reading texts alone, without personal guidance and relationships with teachers.

Norman began our series of six evening teachings with a reflection on what the Jewish Renewal Movement is finding in the practices handed down, teacher-to-student, in traditions that, unlike Judaism, have had uninterrupted histories of meditation teaching and vibrant communities of meditation practice. (It is indeed unfortunate that the traditions of specifically Jewish meditation have suffered devastating interruptions that have left us without a continuous personal transmission of practices.) Norman observed that the Jewish community is finding exactly what it needs to revitalize spiritual practice, by learning, interpreting and adapting teachings and practices from other meditation traditions, as they relate to and inform Jewish experience. Rather than threatening the integrity of Jewish practice, this "borrowing" from other cultures has a long history of maintaining vibrancy in our community. Was not the tradition of the Seder borrowed from the Greek Symposium?

As we have integrated meditation teachings and practices into our Jewish observance, we have rediscovered how Jewish practice is, in itself, a spiritual path for personal transformation. This is the message and the mission of the Awakened Heart Project, founded by Rabbi Jeff Roth: that contemplative Jewish practice provides the teaching and experience that enable us to transform our relationships with ourselves, with others, and with the world. The name of the "Awakened Heart Project" communicates the nature of this transformation: a shift out of our habitual patterns of seeing and responding to life into a more awakened awareness of our connection with all of existence. This recognition naturally leads to acting in the world with compassion for all of life, as we recognize all of life to be part of the Oneness of God. Jeff led us each morning in contemplative chant and shared Hasidic tales and teachings that highlight specifically Jewish traditions of understanding all existence as a manifestation of the divine.

As on all meditation retreats, we learned not only from our three teachers but also from the participants, who inspired each other to sit quietly during sessions even when it was difficult, and who demonstrated uninterrupted kindness and generosity to each other even in silent interactions. The sweetness of this experience shared with our warm-hearted group was increased by the beautiful surroundings of Marin County's Ralston White Retreat Center, nestled among the redwoods overlooking San Francisco Bay from the slopes of Mt Tamalpais. The sweet experience was yet further enhanced by the delicious food. In Sylvia's words, "What a wonderful selection of foods for breakfast." And, with her inimitable, Jewish inflection, "Really, you couldn't complain!"

Nishmat Hayyim and Temple Beth Zion's Adult Learning Committee will add to the wonderful selection of meditation teachings in Boston by co-hosting Norman Fischer for a Shabbaton on July 18 and 19, 2008, and Sylvia Boorstein for a Shabbaton on January 30 and 31, 2009. Nishmat Hayyim is also planning regular one-day retreats and Contemplative Shabbat services in the Boston area and will cosponsor a week-long meditation retreat with the Awakened Heart Project from March 15-22, 2009, in the Northeast. All inspired to attend a weekend or week-long retreat are invited to visit the Awakened Heart Project website. There you will also find articles by these teachers, as well as podcasts, chants, and many other resources to guide us along our paths.