In the second part (click here to listen to the first part) of a Jewish meditation talk given at a 2005 ECAMP retreat, Rabbi Joanna Katz opens with a quote from the Dalai Lama suggesting that the very purpose of our life is to seek and to move towards happiness. Using a verse from Deuteronomy and stories from her own meditation retreat experiences Joanna describes the merit of being with what is arising.

We do this by rejoicing in everything that God has given us. …this is a practice instruction inclining our hearts to rejoice in all that’s been given to us… …it also reminds us of ‘that place,’ of wholeness and of center, where we experience that joy…

Be with yourself. …allow yourself to be with what comes up for you in [this] moment. Sometimes it’s hard to do that because we are aversive, because we want something or because we’re in fear.

The beginning of a talk (click here to listen to the next part) given at a 2005 ECAMP retreat, Joanna reflects on the isolation, attachment and judgment that prohibits us from experiencing a truly free and peaceful happiness. Joanna uses the Shevah Brachot (seven blessings traditionally said at weddings) as a way of encountering the true happiness that God (and we) wish for ourselves.

…we are blessing them to be happy in the way that God and Adam and Eve were happy before the exile. …this is about the capacity to be in a state of union with God.

When we connect with the ground of being and also the truth of our experience there is a capacity for joy that is radically different than the happiness we hear about all the time.

Accompanied by acoustic guitar, introductory kavahnot (intentions) and pauses for meditation, this 47 minute recording provides a full experience of contemplative Jewish chanting. The service, led by Sylvia Boorstein and Rabbi Jeff Roth at the March 2006, Discovering the Divine retreat includes Modeh Ani, Ma Tovu, Elohai Neshama, Kol HaNeshama, Or Chadash and the Shema.

And in this moment, being enough is enough. Being alone, by itself, is enough. This world full of beings and breath is itself an acknowledgment and a praise of the Divine.

A thirteen minute introduction to contemplative Jewish prayer. This talk by Rabbi Jeff Roth includes practice instructions on how to work with the interface of mindfulness, concentration and prayer.

Rather than only being left at the mercy of, ‘now I’m angry, now I’m lustful,’ it’s actually possible to cultivate the heart-mind space that has qualities like what we’ll be working with in the prayers.