When Chochmat HaLev, the Berkeley Jewish meditation center, opened in 1994, the five or six participants in each sitting group had plenty of floor space to themselves. Gradually, however, as the number of participants increased, space has become at a premium.
Avram Davis, founder and co-director of the center, now facilitates groups of around 50 people “and sometimes it seems like people are hanging from the rafters.”
To alleviate this problem, Chochmat HaLev is searching for a new home, having outgrown its “sweet and funky” location on Eighth Street. Its meditative and administrative activities presently compete for 1,200 square feet of warehouse space. Besides the limited room available for classes, the five part- and full-time “staff are on top of each other,” Davis says.
The independent center offers more than 50 ongoing classes and 60 weekend workshops and retreats. In February, it sponsored the third Jewish Meditation Conference in San Francisco, which drew more than 1,000 participants from North America, Europe and Israel.
In addition to serving as a teaching facility, Davis says Chochmat HaLev “could evolve into the pre-eminent school for Jewish meditation in the country.”
An updated and professional facility, he says, is essential to support this growth, providing a place “where people can spend time in a spiritual meditative environment.”
“We would like a larger facility where we can do more retreats, more training, more classes,” says Nan Fink Gefen, co-director of the center. A possible longer-term goal is acquiring enough space to hold residential retreats at the facility.
For now, the directors are looking for a space with a minimum of 3,000 square feet that could be divided into one large meditation room and at least two small offices-classrooms. A small kitchen is on the wish list as well.
“It’s most likely that any place we go into, we’re going to have to do renovations,” Says Gefen, “and we’re willing to do that.”
Chochmat HaLev has been in the housing market for the last two years, and the directors have some specific criteria for their new home. Access to public transportation and parking are important, as are safety and ambiance. “And we’re looking for natural light,” says Gefen, adding that a couple of places were rejected for being too dark.
Although they’ve checked out possibilities in San Francisco, staffers hope to keep Chochmat HaLev in the East Bay, which has been its “core basis of support,” Davis says.
Chochmat HaLev does not have membership dues and is funded through classes and donations. Without volunteering a specific figure, Gefen says fund-raising efforts have been successful. “We have the money to grow. We’re very much in place” when the right situation comes along.
The search committee has encountered some difficulties along the way, including strict zoning regulations and unwelcoming neighbors.
Despite such setbacks, the staff remains optimistic. “We’re working [in] every possible way,” says Gefen, including “driving up and down the street” to check out properties. “We really want to move.”