Shir Hadash silent retreat focuses on meditation and yoga
While the prospect of 20 or 30 Jewish adults spending a weekend together in silence may seem oxymoronic, that is just what Congregation Shir Hadash is planning for the weekend of Jan. 19-21.
Slated to be held at the new Soref Education and Retreat Center in Fredonia from Friday evening through mid-afternoon on Sunday, Milwaukee’s only Reconstuctionist congregation is planning a silent meditation retreat for adults that is open to the community.
The retreat will be led by Milwaukee native Rabbi Jeff Roth, 54, now a resident of New Paltz, N.Y., and will include contemplative Kabbalat Shabbat and Shabbat morning services, and daily yoga practice under the guidance of congregant and Torah yoga instructor Terri Schuster, as well as several meditation sessions each day.
Shir Hadash has experimented with silence and silent meditation both at its local retreats and in its services during the last several years, according to spiritual leader Rabbi David Brusin, who has a longstanding interest in exploring such practices.
“We were confident that we had 10 or 15 people who knew they could learn something about themselves, about the community and about relationships with others,” he said in a telephone interview. More than 20 participants have registered to date.
Noting that they are not the first to explore this practice Brusin said “We think it can provide access,” and, in addition to communicating in a different way, it can help us get in touch with the Divine, he said.
Wisdom, kindness, compassion
The retreat will be a visit home for Roth, who is not only an ordained Reconstructionist rabbi, but has also studied privately with and was ordained by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, the founder of Jewish Renewal, which is “a transdenominational movement grounded in Judaism’s prophetic and mystical traditions,” according to the Alliance for Jewish Renewal Web site.
With pre-seminary experience in Jewish youth leadership, he worked for B’nai B’rith Youth Organization, the now named Steve and Shari Sadek Family Camp Interlaken and the Milwaukee Jewish Federation on the young adult campaign.
Roth co-founded Elat Chayyim Retreat Center, which is dedicated to helping Jews renew and revitalize their relationships with tradition and deepen their connections with the Divine.
In Milwaukee to visit his mother on the occasion of her birthday recently, Roth spoke with The Chronicle by telephone.
Explaining why the practice of meditation is valuable, Roth said “there are different ways to look at meditation and its purpose,” In his circle, he said, “the purpose is to develop ‘clear seeing,’ which leads to more wisdom, a kinder heart and more compassion in the world.”
“Some people think [meditation] will lead to being happier, calmer or to an altered state.
That may happen but that is not the purpose,” Roth said. “If wisdom, kindness and compassion are not what Judaism is about, what are we [practicing] it for?”
Roth noted that meditation is not always viewed positively. The most common criticism of meditation is that it seems self-centered and isolating, but the goal is the exact opposite, Roth said.
“The goal is to be connected to the universe and all the beings in the universe and, in essence, seeing them as sacred,” he said.
Roth explained that while he and his co-teachers have been leading retreats for rabbis, cantors and Jewish educators for about six years, this will be the first time he will lead a congregational retreat.
It will not be different from retreats held at Elat Chayyim, he said, except that it will have a different effect on the congregation because it will be a shared experience.
In describing what will happen at the retreat, Roth said the general meditation instruction that he will give is to strive for a constant awareness of what is occurring in the current moment.
Participants will practice “a meditative approach to prayer, sacred chants and paying attention to how the Divine manifests in the world, in our bodies, our feelings and our thoughts,” he said.
This practice helps us “gain wisdom in how one’s mind works and how that same mind, unexamined, can develop patterns of anger, greed and misperception that are at the root of most of the problems in the world,” he said.
The idea of bringing meditation to Jewish practice is not new. Historically, “within the more esoteric and mystical branches of Judaism there are spiritual practices that you might consider meditation,” Roth said.
“But these practices were not very accessible in Judaism. They were held in small esoteric circles and [those who practiced meditation] did not write down what they were doing.”
“Many esoteric traditions have been lost, certainly many were lost in the Holocaust, and so the history of Jewish meditation is based on a lot of speculation and not a lot of documentation,” Roth said.
The costs for the weekend fall into two categories, according to Shir Hadash: For double accommodations for two nights and six kosher non-meat meals the charge is $198 per person (non-member). A limited number of single rooms are available at $250 per person with meals.
Members of the community may call Rocille McConnell at 414-353-6799 to register their interest and confirm space.
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