When Peter Kreps meditates, his mind is usually clear.
At a Jewish meditation retreat two years ago, however, all he could think of was preparing his backside for relief from the hard ground on which he was sitting.
“I was squirming around all week looking for something to sit on and I got an idea,” said the Berkeley resident, who has engaged in meditation for 20 years. “Meditation is something that has roots in Jewish tradition, so what would a Jewish meditation cushion look like?
“I realized that such a thing did not exist. We are renewing the practice of Jewish meditation that has been obscured for so long we do not know what Jews used to sit on when they meditated.”
So the 51-year-old Kreps, who has a software consulting firm called Kavanah Consulting, started another business called Ma’asei Kavanah, Hebrew for “work of intention.”
The company develops Jewish meditation supplies. In the past two years, he has sold about 200 cushions that are the Jewish equivalent to zafus, or Zen meditation pillows.
“I have been known in lighter moments to refer to them as Jufus,” he said.
Designs atop the six-sided cushions include variations of the Star of David. Another pattern consists of 10 concentric circles that represent 10 attributes of God in Kabbalah, or Jewish mysticism.
“I wanted to create something that feels Jewish,” Kreps said. “It gives me a sense that I am part of a growing community of Jewish meditators who are comfortable with things that are authentically Jewish.”
Kreps created the original designs and found the materials for a seamstress to make prototype cushions two years ago. He now has a production shop manufacture the cushions, which cost $60 to $68 each. They’re available by calling (510) 528-5393.
The cushions are made of either cotton twill, cotton velveteen or embossed rayon/acetate velvet. They’re filled with buckwheat hulls or kapok, a natural fiber from the seed pods of a Southeast Asian shrub.
As production has expanded, Kreps has found local Judaica artists to come up with new designs for the cushions. He is hoping the cushions will join ritual objects such as menorot and tallitot, which have developed into their own medium of Jewish art.
Kreps sells the cushions to congregations with Jewish meditation groups. These include Conservative Congregation Beth Sholom in San Francisco and his own congregation, Jewish Renewal Aquarian Minyan in the East Bay. He also supplies Jewish meditation centers like Chochmat HaLev in Berkeley and Elat Chayyim, a Renewal retreat site in New York.
In addition to the cushions, he sells cotton-twill mats used to give more cushioning to meditators’ knees.
Kreps, who considers the enterprise a tzedakah project, donates a portion of the profit back to the meditation centers and synagogue groups.
“I try to give the money back to the Jewish meditation community that inspired me to do this work and supported meditation as a spiritual practice,” he said.
“I am happy to be able to supply accouterments to make it more comfortable for people to meditate, and for them to meditate in an authentically Jewish atmosphere.”