Meditation from the Heart of Judaism: Today's Teachers Share Their Practices, Techniques, and Faith

by Avram Davis (Editor), Alan Brill (Contribution by), Andrea Cohen-Keiner (Contribution by), David Cooper (Contribution by), Avram Davis (Contribution by)

Overview

Techniques explained by the masters—for today's spiritual seeker

Meditation is designed to give you direct access to the spiritual. Whether it’s through deep breathing during a busy day, listening to the quiet after turning off the car radio, chanting in prayer or ten minutes of visualization exercises each morning, meditation takes many forms. But it is always a personal method of centering our spiritual self.

Meditation has long been practiced in the Jewish community as a powerful tool to transcend words, personality and ego and to directly experience the divine. Inspiring yet practical, this introduction to meditation from a Jewish perspective approaches it in a new and illuminating way: As it is personally practiced by today’s most experienced Jewish meditators from around the world.

A "how to" guide for both beginning and experienced meditators, Meditation from the Heart of Judaism will help you start meditating or help you enhance your practice. Meditation is a Jewish spiritual resource for today that can benefit people of all faiths and backgrounds—and help us add spiritual energy to our lives.

Contributors include:
Sylvia Boorstein • Alan Brill • Andrea Cohen-Keiner • David Cooper • Avram Davis • Nan Fink • Steve Fisdel • Shefa Gold • Lynn Gottleib • Edward Hoffman • Lawrence Kushner • Alan Lew • Shaul Magid • Daniel C. Matt • Jonathan Omer-Man • Mindy Ribner • Susie Schneider • Rami M. Shapiro • Shohama Wiener • Sheila Peltz Weinberg • Laibl Wolf • David Zeller

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781580230490
Publisher:	Turner Publishing Company
Publication date:	04/01/1999
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	920,309
Product dimensions:	2.36(w) x 3.54(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

Avram Davis is a respected teacher of Jewish meditation and spirituality, and the founder and codirector of an independent renewal center for Jewish learning and meditation, Chochmat HaLev in Berkeley, California. He is the author of The Way of the Flame (Jewish Lights), an introduction to the practice of meditation, and coauthor of Judaic Mysticism.

Contributions by Alan Brill, Andrea Cohen-Keiner, David Cooper, Avram Davis, Nan Fink, Steve Fisdel, Rabbi Sehfa Gold, Lynn Gottleib, Edward Hoffman, Rabbi Lawrence Kushner, Alan Lew, Shaul Magid, PhD, Daniel Matt, Jonathan Omer-Man, Mindy Ribner, Susie Schneider, Rami Shapiro, Shohama Wiener, Sheila Peltz-Weinberg, Laibl Wolf, Rabbi David Zeller, 

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Heart of Jewish Meditation
Avram Davis

1 The Teaching and Practice of Reb Yerachmiel ben Yisrael
Rabbi Rami M. Shapiro
2 Silencing the Inner Voice(s)
Rabbi Lawrence Kushner
3 It Doesn't Matter What You Call It: If It Works, It Works
Rabbi Alan Lew
4 Study as Meditation
Susie Schneider
5 Keeping God Before Me Always
Mindy Ribner
6 Noble Boredom: How to View Meditation
Rabbi Jonathan Omer-Man
7 Jewish Meditation Today and Its Obstacles
Avram Davis
8 The Hierarchy of Jewish Meditation
Rabbi Alan Brill
9 Opening the Inner Gates
Edward Hoffman
10 A Splendid Way to Live
Rabbi David Zeller
11 On Mindfulness
Sylvia Boorstein
12 Meditation as Our Own Jacob’s Ladder
Rabbi Steve Fisdel
13 That This Song May Be a Witness: The Power of Chant
Rabbi Shefa Gold
14 Meditating as a Practicing Jew
Rabbi Sheila Peltz Weinberg
15 Meditation and the Art of Growing Your Neshamah
Rabbi Laibl Wolf
16 Healing and Meditation
Rabbi Shohama Wiener
17 Why Meditate?
Daniel C. Matt
18 The Promise of Jewish Meditation
Rabbi David Cooper
19 Go to Your Self
Andrea Cohen-Kiener
20 Meditation and Women’s Kabbalah
Rabbi Lynn Gottleib
21 Piety Before Ecstasy
Shaul Magid
22 Notes from a Beginning Meditation Teacher
Nan Fink
Best Practices: A Distillation of Techniques and Outlook
Avram Davis

Notes
Glossary
Suggested Readings and Materials
About the Editor

Editorial Reviews

"Avram Davis is a pioneer in the new art of teaching Jewish meditation.... He has assembled a sparkling catalog of some of its best contemporary teachers. Their many perspectives light up facets of the holy quest for nearness to the One."
—Rodger Kamenetz, author, Stalking Elijah and The Jew in the Lotus

“One of the most inspiring books I have ever read in my professional career. Absolutely spectacular. Wise, delicious, inspiring and comforting. A journey into the richness of spirituality.”
—Caroline M. Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit; coauthor, The Creation of Health

“In dozens of beautiful ways this book shows how meditation can bring you home to yourself and God.”
—Jack Kornfield, author of A Path with Heart

“A treasury of meditative insights and techniques from some of the most enlightened teachers in Judaism. Each page is a meditative experience that brings you closer to God.”
—Rabbi Shoni Labowitz, author, Miraculous Living: A Guided Journey in Kabbalah through the Ten Gates of the Tree of Life

From the Publisher

Davis (The Way of the Flame, HarperCollins, 1996) has compiled 22 essays on meditation by Jewish leaders, teachers, and writers such as Lawrence Kushner, Rami Shapiro, Nan Fink, Edward Hoffman, and others. These thinkers discuss issues of interest to the Jewish lay reader: traditional background, meditative approaches and techniques, obstacles to practice, and the importance of attitude. Davis summarizes the basics in the final chapter, noting that because it did not spring from a monastic tradition, the essence of Jewish meditation lies largely in a concern with everyday life. A worthwhile addition to the growing number of books on Jewish spirituality.

Library Journal