“I thought I understood the prayers pretty well but found out that I didn’t,” said Rose, 48. “After an hour of exercise, we’re all in a different place than when we walked in. We learned other levels” of the prayers.
The Southern California women are the first students of a new prayer method that involves the entire individual — mind, body and soul — in Jewish worship. The method, which differs from liturgical dance, has been developed and co-taught by bodyworker Judy Greenfeld and Kabbalah Professor Tamar Frankiel of the University of Judaism.
Other prayer styles incorporate movement, but Greenfeld and Frankiel say their discipline is unique. The two wrote a book on the subject, “Minding the Temple of the Soul,” which was recently released by Jewish Lights Publishing. They also will hold workshops on their technique at the Conference on Alternatives in Jewish Education at Stanford University this weekend.
While the conference will be the first opportunity for Frankiel and Greenfeld to share their method publicly outside Southern California, the prayer style has made a big impression on some spiritual leaders in Los Angeles.
“It’s about time,” says Rabbi Jack Shechter of the University of Judaism.
“To have dance motion…in which God’s word is expressed to give you a visual and a movement, that is a cutting-edge thing in the area of religious expression.”
Classes in the method can last up to 2-1/2 hours. Greenfeld begins with stretches and deep breathing to Jewish music. She keeps the class focused on the body’s specific parts as well as its sefirot, or energy centers. Once the body is free of stress, it’s ready to receive through prayer, she says.
Together with Frankiel, Greenfeld leads the worshippers through four prayers in Hebrew, accompanied by body movements that may represent objects or concepts mentioned in the prayers.
For the Mah Tovu, the worshippers use their arms as imaginary paintbrushes to draw a tent of sacred space around the body. Swaying and lifting the arms toward the sky during another prayer represents a candle flame, which in turn represents the soul. Some of the movements and poses activate acupressure points, the teachers say.
Frankiel and Greenfeld spent several years developing the technique after Greenfeld took a Kabbalah class from Frankiel.
The bodyworker, who was not always Jewishly active, has studied mind-body disciplines from around the world. She was particularly impressed by those who heal themselves through body-alignment disciplines.
“When the body got aligned, something incredible started to happen with their minds and spirits. I finally thought: Judaism is this incredible religion; it’s got to have some of this in it.”
Before she met Greenfeld, Frankiel — a comparative world religions scholar, Kabbalah expert and Orthodox Jew — had been davening for years, and often tried to incorporate subtle movements into her morning prayers.
Before she got out of bed, she chanted, “Blessed are you that frees the captive,” while stretching her limbs to loosen the joints.
As she recited the words, “It raises those who are bowed down,” she bowed and then raised herself up. She thanked God for “providing for all our needs” while tying her shoes.
When she met Greenfeld, the two merged ideas to develop a prayer method that would further involve the body.
They searched Jewish texts that dealt with the body. It didn’t take long to uncover connections. For example, there are 18 vertebra in the spine and 18 benedictions. The Talmud states that the 248 positive mitzvot pertain to the body’s 248 limbs and organs, Greenfeld said.
Perhaps most central to the prayer movements is the approximate correspondence of the body’s 10 sefirot to the seven chakras, or energy centers, celebrated in Eastern philosophy.
Frankiel notes that the practice appeals to women more than to men, who traditionally have their own institutions of communal worship, such as the minyan.
“Most women,” she adds, “are comfortable with the idea of expressing themselves with a slow graceful movement of exercise, where men are more oriented with something that accomplishes a goal.”
Greenfeld says she is overwhelmed by her students’ enthusiasm for the class. Many say it has set them on a spiritual path toward or back to Judaism.
And for her, “It made the mundane very exciting. I don’t want to go to the other disciplines anymore. It’s feeding me on all those levels that, before, I went out to look for something else to heal.”
“Minding the Temple of the Soul” by Tamar Frankiel and Judy Greenfeld (167 pages, Jewish Lights, $15.95).