Daily Meditation

One of the more prominant aspects of the current Jewish Renewal movement is the rediscovery of Judaism's rich heritage of meditative and contemplative practices. They were seen as superstitious by those who favored a more rational Judaism in the 1800's and so minimized in much of Western Europe. Knowledge of these techniques were preserved primarily among Hasidic communities in Eastern Europe and among Sephardic communities throughout North Africa and the Middle East, but were almost lost forever as millions of teachers and practitioners were murdered during the Holocaust.

Feeling their Jewish faith sterile of personal methods of spiritual enlightenment many American Jews sought such knowledge elsewhere and formed as much as 60-70% of those flocking to Buddhist monks and monasteries. With new insights, many of these "JuBu's" have returned to the faith of their father's and have found in translating ancient manuscripts a deep legacy of meditation in Judaism's past. One of the original pioneer's in these efforts was the late Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, whose book "Meditation and the Bible" (and other works) has decoded and revealed this rich heritage of meditation used by Judaism's greatest rabbis and prophets and has inspired many, including myself, to study and present this knowledge to the world. One of his translations is of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov's book Hishtap'khuth HaNefesh, or Outpouring of the Soul.

The primary Hebrew word for meditation is Hithbodeduth. Although described by many for thousands of years, this term is most closely associated with Rabbi Nachman (1772-1810). He calls for a practice of daily meditation and says this:

One must be very worthy in order to be able to meditate for a given time each day and regret what he must.

Not everyone can be worthy of doing this. The days pass and are gone, and one finds that his life is over and he never once had the time to think about the meaning of his life.

One must therefore make sure to set aside a specific time each day to review his life calmly. He should consider what he is doing, and ponder whether it is something worthy of one's devotion. (Sichoth HaRan 47)

Rabbi Nachman's teachings (as translated by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan and others) have played a large part in my spiritual return to Judaism after a period of doubt and wandering. Like others, I thought Judaism was a system of laws and ethics without any meaningful path to direct experience and knowledge of the Divine. Teachings such as the one above showed the error of my thinking and inspired me to learn and teach it to others. We'll continue to explore this forgotten legacy and how it can produce a more meaningful Judaism for the 21st century.

Until next time....

Shmuel