But ask anyone who makes it a daily practice, and they’ll say it’s about a lot more than that.
“It’s not just what happens on the cushion,” said Rabbi Alan Lew, spiritual leader of San Francisco’s Congregation Beth Sholom.
Lew, considered a trailblazer in bringing meditation to mainstream Judaism, was one of the many speakers at “Opening the Heart: A Jewish Meditation Conference” that took place last weekend at San Francisco’s Congregation Emanu-El.
Some 600 people gathered at the historic Reform congregation to sit, chant and listen.
Co-sponsored by Berkeley’s Chochmat HaLev and Emanu-El as well as 40 other organizations, this was the third such conference. The last one was two years ago.
Lew was one of the many to extol the benefits of a daily meditation practice.
According to its practitioners, regular meditation provides not only a deeper connection to the divine, but clarity, heightened awareness, deeper relationships with others and inner peace.
“With a daily practice, we let that awareness spill over into the rest of our daily experience,” said Lew.
“It saturates our body and breath with mindfulness,” he added, noting that many people go through life feeling a sense of disconnect.
While many consider meditation to be the provenance of Buddhism, its adherents point out that it long had a place within Judaism, becoming especially popular in the Chassidic tradition.
Like many others, Lew strayed from Judaism while on his spiritual path, and spent years immersed in Buddhist meditation. His decision to join the rabbinate did not mean quitting meditation; it meant placing it within a Jewish context.
Now, because of his own practice, the Conservative rabbi said that when he reads the Torah, “every text becomes one about Jewish meditation.”
Rabbi Helen Cohn, one of Emanu-El’s spiritual leaders, was among those welcoming the participants on Saturday night.
Noting that she had also welcomed those gathered three years ago, she said the climate back then was such that it seemed odd an establishment congregation like Emanu-El would host such a fledgling movement.
Marveling at how meditation has joined the mainstream, Cohn said, “Emanu-El now has its own meditation group. And the Reform movement is holding a five-day meditation retreat in April. It has become an established part of Jewish life and spirituality.”
Nan Fink Gefen, co-director of Chochmat HaLev, gave more evidence of this burgeoning popularity, noting that a practice that was once largely considered beyond the pale of Judaism is now being offered at synagogues and Jewish community centers around the country.
In addition, Chochmat has a certification program in Jewish meditation, which has 80 students enrolled.
Pointing out that the conference’s theme, “Opening the Heart,” was chosen before the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, Gefen said that maintaining a meditative practice was especially important in light of the situation in the Middle East and worldwide.
With all that’s going on in the world, there is a tendency by many people to “numb out,” according to Rabbi Andrea Cohen-Kiener, another speaker. Opening one’s heart to all the suffering in the world can take an emotional toll on the psyche. Nevertheless, she said, “the times we do keep an open heart reflect divinity. When I wake up, I become cognizant of my connection to all beings, and I feel responsible for all beings.”
Cohen-Kiener’s discussion of how opening one’s heart could lead to effecting change was echoed by several speakers.
Rabbi Jonathan Omer-Man of Berkeley said that in addition to a meditation practice, the concept of tikkun olam is equally important. He complimented the Reform movement for making social justice an integral part of its platform.
Taking the popular phrase “No peace without justice” one step further, Omer-Man said there can be no peace of mind without justice.
“Finding the balance between our inner and outer work is difficult,” he said, “but the two are not in opposition.”
Avram Davis, co-director of Chochmat, also made the point that working on one’s inner transformation in turn benefits society as a whole.
In addition to the panel discussions, participants had many opportunities to meditate throughout the day, both together and in smaller workshops.
A concert of sacred music on Sunday night had participants — many dressed in a rainbow of velvets and chenilles — spilling into the aisles, arms aloft, whirling like dervishes.
The conference offered some lighter moments as well, with Rabbi David Cooper describing his would-be book, “Meditation for Dummies,” as one that would say “relax” on the first page, and then “relax” on the second page. For his part, Rabbi Ted Falcon said this about his personal journey: “In the early ’70s I got interested in finding a spiritual path. Of course, I was already a rabbi.”
Aliza Shapiro of Berkeley compared meditation to seasoning a soup. “Your sensory awareness is heightened,” she said. “You lose track of time, even if it’s just for three seconds, and then there’s clarity in figuring out what spice to add — you just know.”