Meditation Centers

• Elat Chayyim Center for Jewish Spirituality
  The Elat Chayyim Center for Jewish Spirituality, a program of the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center, is a living laboratory for the development and renewal of contemporary Jewish spiritual life.


• Nishmat Hayyim
  Our aim is to support Jewish spiritual life; to provide accessible gateways into Judaism; and to cultivate better physical and emotional health and well being in a Jewish context.

Recommended Reading

• Be Still and Get Going: A Jewish Meditation Practice for Real Life by Rabbi Alan Lew


• God in Your Body: Kabbalah, Mindfulness and Embodied Spiritual Practice by Jay Michaelson


• God Is a Verb by Rabbi David Cooper


• Jewish Meditation: A Practical Guide by Aryeh Kaplan


• One God Clapping: The Spiritual Path of a Zen Rabbi by Alan Lew


• Opening to You: Zen-Inspired Translations of the Psalms by Norman Fischer


• That’s Funny, You Don’t Look Buddhist: On Being a Faithful Jew and a Passionate Buddhist by Sylvia Boorstein


• This Is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared: The Days of Awe as a Journey of Transformation by Alan Lew

Other Sites of Interest

• ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal
  ALEPH is a core institution in the Jewish renewal movement, dedicated to the Jewish people’s sacred purpose of partnership with the Divine in the inseparable tasks of healing the world and healing our hearts.


• Chochmat HaLev
  Located in Berkeley, CA, Chochmat HaLev brings together a love of Jewish tradition, an emerging vision of its renewal, and a yearning for a meaningful, spiritual community.


• Everyday Zen
  The Everyday Zen Foundation’s mission is to share the Zen attitude, spirit, and practice with the world in a variety of settings. It is dedicated to listening to the world, to changing it and being changed by it.


• Institute for Jewish Spirituality
  IJS is dedicated to enriching the spiritual dimension of Judaism. Programs of text study, meditation, prayer, yoga and spiritual direction are offered for rabbis, cantors, educators, lay leaders and Jews of all denominations.


• Makor Or
  Makor Or is the San Francisco based Jewish meditation center founded by Rabbi Alan Lew and Zoketsu Norman Fischer. The center brings Jewish meditation to a new level by providing daily meditation, weekly classes, monthly retreats and an intensive yearly..


• Metivta
  Los Angeles based Jewish community, Metivta is a unique place for anyone interested in learning Jewish meditation, studying Jewish texts and practicing the teachings that are at the heart of these disciplines.


• Spirit Rock
  Spirit Rock Meditation Center is dedicated to the teachings of the Buddha as presented in the vipassana tradition. The practice of mindful awareness, called Insight or Vipassana Meditation, is at the heart of all the activities at Spirit Rock.


• Zeek: A Jewish Journal of Thought and Culture
  Zeek Magazine is an independent Jewish journal of thought and culture, which features innovative writers, artists, and critics whose work speaks to questions of Jewish culture, society, and spirit.