Prayer Project 2018 Module 1 Hitbodedut

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Hitbodedut: Cultivating Spontaneous Conversations with God Taught by Rabbi David Jaffe and facilitated by Rabbi Susan Leider Sunday, October 21 - Friday, November 16 This online course is for Kol Shofar members only. According to Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, hitbodedut - talking spontaneously with God -every day is the most powerful path to spiritual growth. Over these four weeks we will try out this potent practice, starting with small amounts of time and building each week. Daily assignments will explore preparing to speak, setting intentions, time and space for practice and closing a session. We will address what it means to have a conversation when you are not sure to whom you are speaking or if there is any conversation partner at all! Related practices will include turning Torah into Prayer, a particular technique for connecting the mind and the heart to transform action. A month of hitbodedut has the power to open the heart, clarify priorities, increase awareness of our soul's desire and strengthen our connection with God. Hitbodedut is not designed to take the place of liturgical prayer but it can have a profound influence on the quality of our more formal prayer lives. Rabbi David Jaffe is the Founder and Principal of The Kirva Institute, dedicated to bringing people into closer, healthier relationships with others, themselves and God for the sake of the repair of the world. He is the author of Changing the World from the Inside Out, Winner of the 2016 National Jewish Book Award for Contemporary Jewish Life and Practice. Course Requirements: Watch teaching video and read brief lesson on Sundays; set aside 20 minutes to practice Monday-Friday; post in online discussion forum in response to weekly reflection questions; participate in live, weekly processing group with Rabbi Leider. This course is taught through online, interactive ZOOM sessions. For questions or to enroll, please email Dawn at [email protected] for more information visit: www.kolshofar.org/center-for-jewish-spirituality/ .

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<I>Hitbodedut</I> for a New Age: Adaptation of Practices Among the Followers of Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav
Hitbodedut for a New Age Adaptation of Practices among the Followers of Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav Tomer Persico AbstrAct: The quest for personal and inner spiritual transformation and development is prevalent among spiritual seekers today and constitutes a major characteristic of contemporary spirituality and the New Age phenomenon. Religious leaders of the Bratslav community endeavor to satisfy this need by presenting adjusted versions of hitbodedut meditation, a practice that emphasizes solitary and personal connection with the divine. As is shown by two typical examples, popular Bratslav teachers today take full advantage of the opportunity to infuse the hitbodedut with elements not found in Rabbi Nachman’s teachings and to dispense with some elements that were. The article addresses the socio-political rationale at the root of these teachers’ novel interpretation of Bratslav hitbodedut and the ways they attempt to deal with the complications that arise out of their work. Keywords: acculturation, Bratslav, contemporary spirituality, hitbodedut, Israel, mysticism, New Age, Rabbi Nachman The Bratslav Hasidic community is currently experiencing an unprece- dented burgeoning. As one of the primary sites for welcoming secular Jews “back into the fold” of observant Judaism, as a fruitful wellspring of contemporary cultural creation, and as the organizing and operating force behind the annual Rosh Hashanah pilgrimage to Uman, Ukraine, the field of its influence is wide (Baumgarten 2012; Mark 2011). The sect was founded by Rabbi Nachman (1772–1810) from the town of Bratslav (Bres- lov) in Ukraine, an early Hasidic leader. As might be expected, just as the flowering of this old Hasidic commu- nity is itself new and surprising, many of the phenomena characteristic of Israel Studies Review, Volume 29, Issue 2, Winter 2014: 99–117 © Association for Israel Studies doi: 10.3167/isr.2014.290207 • ISSN 2159-0370 (Print) • ISSN 2159-0389 (Online) 100 | Tomer Persico current Bratslav practices are novel and would surprise a veteran Bratslav Hasid.
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