Jewish meditation

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Meditative Kabbalah Shiviti with

Kabbalistic names of God

Jewish meditation includes practices of settling the mind, introspection,

visualization, emotional insight, contemplation of divine names, or
concentration on philosophical, ethical or mystical ideas. Meditation may
accompany unstructured, personal Jewish prayer, may be part of structured
Jewish services, or may be separate from prayer practices. Jewish mystics
have viewed meditation as leading to devekut (cleaving to God). Hebrew
terms for meditation include hitbodedut (or hisbodedus, literally "self-
seclusion") or hitbonenut/hisbonenus ("contemplation").[1][2]

Through the centuries, meditation practices have been developed in many

movements, including among Maimonideans (Moses Maimonides and
Abraham Maimonides), Kabbalists (Abraham Abulafia, Isaac the Blind, Azriel
of Gerona, Moses Cordovero, Yosef Karo and Isaac Luria), Hasidic rabbis
(Baal Shem Tov, Schneur Zalman of Liadi and Nachman of Breslov), Musar
movement rabbis (Israel Salanter and Simcha Zissel Ziv), Conservative
movement rabbis (Alan Lew), Reform movement rabbis (Lawrence Kushner
and Rami Shapiro), and Reconstructionist movement rabbis (Shefa Gold).

History

There is evidence that Judaism has had meditative practices since the time of
the patriarchs. For instance, in the book of Genesis, the patriarch Isaac is
described as going "lasuach" in the field - a term understood by many
commentators as some type of meditative practice (Genesis 24:63).[3]

Similarly, there are indications throughout the Hebrew Bible that Judaism
always contained a central meditative tradition.[4]
Early Jewish mysticism

Historians trace the earliest surviving Jewish esoteric texts to Tannaitic times.
This "Merkavah-Heichalot" mysticism, referred to in Talmudic accounts,
sought elevations of the soul using meditative methods, built around the
biblical vision of Ezekiel and the creation in Genesis. The distinctive
conceptual features of later Kabbalah first emerged from the 12th century,
although traditional Judaism predates the medieval Bahir and 13th century
Zohar back to the Tannaim, and the preceding end of biblical prophecy.[5]

Maimonides

Moses Maimonides, often considered the greatest Jewish philosopher,

described meditation as settling the mind and allowing for divine providence
and inspiration.[6][7] In one passage in The Guide for the Perplexed (3.32),
Maimonides suggests that meditation is a higher form of worship than either
sacrifice or prayer.[8][9] In another passage in the Guide (3.51), Maimonides
offers a parable that suggests that purely intellectual, private meditation is the
highest form of worship.[10][11]

Abraham Maimonides, son of Moses Maimonides, also recommended private

meditative practices that were designed to rid the mind of desires and allow
for communion with God.[12][13] Abraham Maimonides developed a "Jewish
Sufi" meditation practice that was influential in medieval Cairo.

Kabbalah

Kabbalists of different schools have been concerned with a range of esoteric

encounters with divinity mediated by different meditative practices, ranging
from ecstatic mystical cleaving to God, or prophetic visual and auditory
disclosing of the divine, to theurgic manipulation of theosophical divine
emanations. Practices included meditation on the names of God in Judaism,
combinations of Hebrew letters, and kavanot (esoteric "intentions").

The main concern of the Theosophical Kabbalah such as the Zohar and Isaac
Luria was on theurgic harmonisation of the sephirot Divine attributes, though
recent phenomenological scholarship has uncovered the prophetic
visualisation of the sephirot as a Divine Anthropos in the imagination of the
medieval theosophical practitioners.[14]. In contrast, the main concern of the
medieval Ecstatic Kabbalah, exemplified most fully in Abraham Abulafia's
"Prophetic Kabbalah", was on unio mystica and drawing down the influx of
prophecy upon the practitioner. Abulafia opposed interpreting the sephirot as
theosophical-theurgical hypostases, seeing them in Maimonidean negative
theology psychological terms, while viewing his meditation mysticism as a
superior Kabbalah. The ethic of meditation mysticism in Abulafia and other
Ecstatic Kabbalists was a minority tradition to the Theosophical Kabbalah
mainstream, but later aspects of it became incorporated in the 16th century
Theosophical compendiums of Cordovero and Vital, such as drawing down
divine influx, and subsequently influenced the psychologisation of Kabbalah in
Hasidic self-absorption in God. Ecstatic traditions were at a disadvantage for
normative Judaism, as they made classic meditation their central
preoccupation; as with Maimonides the mitzvot Jewish observances were a
means to the end purpose of mystical or philosophical cleaving to God (or the
Active intellect). In contrast, Theosophical traditions centred around the
theurgic power and cosmic centrality importance of normative Jewish
worship and Halakha observance, especially when carried out with elite
Kavanot mystical intentions.

Pinchas Giller questions usage of the term "meditation" for Theosophical

(mainstream) Kabbalah's theurgic kavanot intentions, where deveikut cleaving
to God was secondary, preferring the term more accurately for Ecstatic
Kabbalah's unio mystica methods and goal. He sees generalising the term in
reference to all Kabbalistic intentions as a reflection of contemporary
zeitgeist, promoted by Aryeh Kaplan and others. He recommends Ecstatic
Kabbalah, the Jewish Sufism of Abraham Maimonides, or Chabad Hasidic
prayer contemplation as paths more suited to develop a future ethic of Jewish
meditation (unio mystica). However, as mitzvot are the primary centre of
traditional Judaism, Giller sees Jewish prayer, rather than classic meditation
akin to Eastern Religions, as the true central expression of Judaism.
Theosophical Kabbalists and later Hasidism were deeply concerned to
develop mystical approaches to prayer, whether theurgic in the case of
Kabbalah, or devotional and self-nullifying in the case of Hasidism.[15]

In contrast to rationalist Jewish philosophy's progressively anti-metaphysical

interpretation of Jewish observance, Theosophical Kabbalists reinterpreted
Judaism's prayer and mitzvot as cosmic metaphysical processes, especially
when carried out in particular ways that could channel the mystical flow
between the Divine sephirot on high and from the divine realm to this world.
They reinterpreted standard Jewish liturgy by reading it as esoteric mystical
meditations and the ascent of the soul for elite practitioners. Through this, the
border between supplicatory prayer and theurgic practice blurs if prayer
becomes viewed as a magical process rather than Divine response to
petitions. However, Kabbalists censored directly magical Practical Kabbalah
willed control of angels for only the most holy, and justified their theurgic
prayer as optimising the divine channels through which their prayerful
supplication to God ascends. Kabbalists declare one prayers only "to Him
(God's essence, "male" here solely in Hebrew's gendered grammer), not to His
attributes (sephirot)". To pray to a Divine attribute introduces the cardinal
idolatrous sin of division and plurality among the sephirot, separating them
from their dependence and nullification in the Absolute Ein Sof Unity. Instead,
Kabbalist prayer, following the liturgy, is only to God ("Blessed are You, Lord our
God" - the Divine Essence expressed though different Names of God in
Judaism). However, each traditional Name of God corresponds in Kabbalah to
a different manifestation of the sephirot. Moses Cordovero, who systemised
Kabbalah, explains that the sephirot names (Keter, Chokhmah, Binah, etc) are
the vessels of each attribute; to pray to the vessel is idolatry. The
corresponding Names of God (Eheye, Yah, Havayah, etc) relate to the inner
Divine Unity dimension of each sephira, expressing the forms the unified
Infinite light takes as it illuminates within each vessel; prayer to traditional
liturgy Divine Names is prayer to God's Essence, expressed through particular
sephirot supernal channels on high. Corresponding with the traditional words
of prayer, the Kabbalist intentionally contemplates each Divine Name sephirot
channel with theurgic Kavanot meditations to open the Divine flow so prayer
supplication to God's hidden innermost Will (concealed within the innermost
dimensions of the first sephirah Keter, where it merges into the Ein Sof) is
optimised, as the traditional prayer relates, "May it be Your Will that... your
Kindness overrides Judgment" etc.

Aryeh Kaplan described what he termed "meditative kabbalah", shared across

academic divisions between Theosophical and Ecstatic Kabbalists,[16] as a
midpoint on the spectrum between "practical kabbalah" and "theoretical
kabbalah".[17]

Ecstatic Kabbalists
Abraham Abulafia

Abraham Abulafia (1240–1291), a leading medieval figure in the history of

Meditative Kabbalah and the founder of the school of Prophetic/Ecstatic
Kabbalah, wrote meditation manuals using meditation on Hebrew letters and
words to achieve ecstatic states.[18] His teachings embody the non-Zoharic
stream in Spanish Kabbalism, which he viewed as alternative and superior to
the theosophical Kabbalah which he criticised.[19] Abulafia's work is
surrounded in controversy because of the edict against him by Shlomo ben
Aderet, a contemporary leading scholar. However, according to Aryeh Kaplan,
the Abulafian system of meditations forms an important part of the work of
Hayim Vital, and in turn his master Isaac Luria.[20] Kaplan's pioneering
translations and scholarship on Meditative Kabbalah[21] trace Abulafia's
publications to the extant concealed transmission of the esoteric meditative
methods of the Hebrew prophets. While Abulafia remained a marginal figure
in the direct development of Theosophical Kabbalah, recent academic
scholarship on Abulafia by Moshe Idel reveals his wider influence across the
later development of Jewish mysticism. In the 16th century Judah Albotini
continued Abulafian methods in Jerusalem.[22][23]

Isaac of Acco

Isaac ben Samuel of Acre (1250-1340) also wrote about meditative

techniques. One of Isaac's most important teachings involves developing
hishtavut, which Aryeh Kaplan describes as equanimity, stoicism, and a total
indifference to outside influences. Rabbi Isaac sees hishtavut as a
prerequisite for meditation.[24]

Joseph Tzayach

Joseph Tzayach (1505-1573), influenced by Abulafia, taught his own system

of meditation. Tzayach was probably the last Kabbalist to advocate use of the
prophetic position, where one places his head between his knees. This
position was used by Elijah on Mount Carmel, and in early Merkabah
mysticism. Speaking of individuals who meditate (hitboded), he says:

They bend themselves like reeds, placing their heads between

their knees until all their faculties are nullified. As a result of this
lack of sensation, they see the Supernal Light, with true vision
and not with allegory.[25]

Theosophical Kabbalists
Moses ben Jacob Cordovero

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Moses ben Jacob Cordovero (1522-1570) taught that when meditating, one
does not focus on the Sefirot (divine emanations) per se, but rather on the
light from the Infinite (Atzmus-essence of God) contained within the
emanations. Keeping in mind that all reaches up to the Infinite, his prayer is
"to Him, not to His attributes." Proper meditation focuses upon how the
Godhead acts through specific sefirot. In meditation on the essential Hebrew
name of God, represented by the four letter Tetragrammaton, this
corresponds to meditating on the Hebrew vowels which are seen as reflecting
the light from the Infinite-Atzmus.

Isaac Luria

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Isaac Luria (1534–1572), the father of modern Kabbalah, systemised Lurianic

Kabbalistic theory as a dynamic mythological scheme. While the Zohar is
outwardly solely a theosophical work, for which reason medieval Meditative
Kabbalists followed alternative traditions, Luria's systemisation of doctrine
enabled him to draw new detailed meditative practices, called Yichudim, from
the Zohar, based on the dynamic interaction of the Lurianic partzufim. This
meditative method, as with Luria's theosophical exegesis, dominated later
Kabbalistic activity. Luria prescribed Yichudim as Kavanot for the prayer liturgy,
later practiced communally by Shalom Sharabi and the Beit El circle, for
Jewish observances, and for secluded attainment of Ruach Hakodesh. One
favoured activity of the Safed mystics was meditation while prostrated on the
graves of saints, in order to commune with their souls.

Hayim Vital

Haim Vital (c. 1543-1620), major disciple of Isaac Luria, and responsible for
publication of most of his works. In Etz Hayim and the Eight Gates he
describes the theosophical and meditative teachings of Luria. However, his
own writings cover wider meditative methods, drawn from earlier sources. His
Shaarei Kedusha (Gates of Holiness) was the only guidebook to Meditative
Kabbalah traditionally printed, though its most esoteric fourth part remained
unpublished until recently. In the following account Vital presents the method
of R. Yosef Karo in receiving his Heavenly Magid teacher, which he regarded
as the soul of the Mishna (recorded by Karo in Magid Mesharim):
 Meditate alone in a house, wrapped in a prayer shawl. Sit and
shut your eyes, and transcend the physical as if your soul has left
your body and is ascending to heaven. After this
divestment/ascension, recite one Mishna, any Mishna you wish,
many times consecutively, as quickly as you can, with clear
pronunciation, without skipping one word. Intend to bind your
soul with the soul of the sage who taught this Mishna. " Your soul
will become a chariot. .."

Do this by intending that your mouth is a mere vessel/conduit to

bring forth the letters of the words of this Mishna, and that the
voice that emerges through the vessel of your mouth is [filled
with] the sparks of your inner soul which are emerging and
reciting this Mishna. In this way, your soul will become a chariot
within which the soul of the sage who is the master of that
Mishna can manifest. His soul will then clothe itself within your
soul.

At a certain point in the process of reciting the words of the

Mishna, you may feel overcome by exhaustion. If you are worthy,
the soul of this sage may then come to reside in your mouth. This
will happen in the midst of your reciting the Mishna. As you
recite, he will begin to speak with your mouth and wish you
Shalom. He will then answer every question that comes into your
thoughts to ask him. He will do this with and through your
mouth. Your ears will hear his words, for you will not be speaking
from yourself. Rather, he will be speaking through you. This is the
mystery of the verse, "The spirit of God spoke to me, and His word
was on my lips". (Samuel II 23:2)[26]

Hasidism

The Baal Shem Tov

 Hasidic prayer often
emphasizes emotional
dveikut (cleaving to God),
especially through
attachment to the Tzaddik

The Baal Shem Tov, founder of Hasidic Judaism, took the Talmudic phrase
that "God desires the heart" and made it central to his love of the sincerity of
the common folk. Advocating joy in the omnipresent divine immanence, he
encouraged emotional devekut (fervour), especially through attachment to the
Hasidic figure of the Tzaddik. He also encouraged his close disciples to find
devekut through seclusion (hisbodedus) from others and by meditating on
select kabbalistic unifications (yichudim) of Yitzchak Luria.[27] As Hasidism
developed and became a popular revival movement, use of esoteric
Kabbalistic Kavanot intentions on Divine names was seen as an impediment
to direct emotional Devekut cleaving to God, and was dropped in favour of
new meditative and contemplative practices of Divine consciousness.[28] This
downplaying of the theurgic role of Theosophical Kabbalah, the
psychologisation of Kabbalistic symbolism, and emphasis on Divine
Omnipresence, began with the Baal Shem Tov. In a parable he related that
knowing each of the detailed Kabbalistic Kavanot in prayer unlocked
individual gates in Heaven, but tears break through all barriers to reach the
King Himself.

Chabad Hasidism

Breslov Hasidim spend time

in secluded communication
of their heart to God. In
Jewish communities they
often seek this solitude in
Nature at night
 Chabad differed from
mainstream Hasidism in its
preparation for prayer by
intellectual contemplation of
Hasidic philosophy.

Dovber Schneuri, the second leader of the Chabad Dynasty wrote several
works explaining the Chabad approach. In his works, he explains that the
Hebrew word for meditation is hisbonenus (alternatively transliterated as
hitbonenut). The word hisbonenut derives from the Hebrew word Binah (lit.
understanding) and refers to the process of understanding through analytical
study. While the word hisbonenus can be applied to analytical study of any
topic, it is generally used to refer to study of the Torah, and particularly in this
context, the explanations of Kabbalah in Chabad Hasidic philosophy, in order
to achieve a greater understanding and appreciation of God.

In the Chabad presentation, every intellectual process must incorporate three

faculties: Chochma, Binah, and Daat. Chochma (lit. wisdom) is the mind's
ability to come up with a new insight into a concept that one did not know
before. Binah (lit. understanding) is the mind's ability to take a new insight
(from Chochma), analyze all of its implications and simplify the concept so it
is understood well. Daat (lit. knowledge), the third stage, is the mind's ability to
focus and hold its attention on the Chochma and the Binah.

The term hisbonenus represents an important point of the Chabad method:

Chabad Hasidic philosophy rejects the notion that any new insight can come
from mere concentration. Chabad philosophy explains that while Daat is a
necessary component of cognition, it is like an empty vessel without the
learning and analysis and study that comes through the faculty of Binah. Just
as a scientist's new insight or discovery (Chochma) always results from prior
in-depth study and analysis of his topic (Binah), likewise, to gain any insight in
godliness can only come through in-depth study of the explanations of
Kabbalah and Hasidic philosophy.[29] In this view, enlightenment is
commensurate with one's understanding of the Torah and specifically the
explanations of Kabbalah and Hasidic philosophy. Prolonged concentration
devoid of intellectual content, or hallucinations of the imagination, should not
be mistaken for spiritual enlightenment.
Chabad accepts and endorses the writings of Kabbalists such as Moses
Cordovero and Haim Vital and their works are quoted at length in the Hasidic
texts. However, the Chabad masters say that their methods are easily
misunderstood without a proper foundation in Hasidic philosophy.

Breslav Hasidism

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov used the term hisbodedus (alternatively

transliterated as hitbodedut, from the root "boded" meaning "self-seclusion")
to refer to an unstructured, spontaneous and individualized form of prayer and
meditation. It may involve speaking to God in one's own words, although
Rebbe Nachman teaches that if one does not know what to say, one should
repeat the words "Ribbono Shel Olam," which will create a heightened state of
awareness.[30] The goals of hitbodedut may include establishing a close,
personal relationship with God and a clearer understanding of one's personal
motives and goals or (as in Likutey Moharan I, Lesson 52) the transformative
realization of God as the "Imperative Existent," or Essence of Reality.

The Musar Movement

Rabbi Yisrael Meir HaCohen

Kagan at prayer.

The Musar (ethics) movement, founded by Rabbi Israel Salanter in the middle
of the 19th-century, encouraged meditative practices of introspection and
visualization that could help to improve moral character. Focusing on the
truthful psychological self-evaluation of one's spiritual worship, the Musar
movement institutionalized the classic musar literature tradition as a spiritual
movement within the Lithuanian Yeshiva academies. Many meditation
techniques were described in the writings of Salanter's closest disciple, Rabbi
Simcha Zissel Ziv.[31]
According to Geoffrey Claussen of Elon University, some forms of Musar
meditation are visualization techniques which "seek to make impressions
upon one’s character—often a matter of taking insights of which we are
conscious and bringing them into our unconscious." Other forms of Musar
meditation are introspective, "considering one’s character and exploring its
tendencies—often a matter of taking what is unconscious and bringing it to
consciousness." A number of contemporary rabbis have advocated such
practices, including "taking time each day to sit in silence and simply noticing
the way that one’s mind wanders."[32] Alan Morinis, the founder of the Mussar
Institute, recommends morning meditation practices that can be as short as
four minutes.[33] One of the meditations especially recommended by Morinis
is the practice of focusing on a single word: the Hebrew word Sh'ma, meaning
"listen."[33]:270

Orthodox Judaism

Recent Orthodox Judaism teachers of Jewish mystical meditation methods

include Aryeh Kaplan and Yitzchak Ginsburgh. Kaplan especially, published
scholarly and popular books that reinterpreted and revived historic Jewish
mystical contemplation techniques in terms of the late 20th century zeitgeist
for meditation.

Conservative Judaism

Conservative Rabbi Alan Lew has been credited with teaching Jewish
meditation to thousands of people.[34] His synagogue Congregation Beth
Sholom in San Francisco, California, includes a meditation center, the first
meditation center connected to a Conservative synagogue.[35][36] By 1997,
Lew noted that almost all of the largest Conservative synagogues in northern
California had regular meditation groups.[37] Conservative rabbi Geoffrey
Claussen has encouraged Conservative Judaism to adopt meditation
practices from the Musar movement.[32] Conservative synagogues that
promote meditation practices in the 21st century sometimes describe these
practices as helping people to create space in their lives to be present.[38]

Reconstructionist Judaism

Reconstructionist rabbis such as Sheila Peltz Weinberg[39] and Shefa Gold[40]

have been noted for their Jewish meditation teachings.[41]
Reform Judaism

Meditation activities have become increasingly common at Reform

synagogues in the twenty-first century.[42] Rabbis Lawrence Kushner and Rami
Shapiro are among the Reform rabbis who encourage Jewish meditation
practices.[43]

See also

Fear of God (religion)

Jewish views on love

Love of God

Nigun

Ohr

Teshuvah

Tzedakah

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4. Kaplan, Aryeh (1985). Jewish Meditation . New York: Schocken Books.

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19. "Series of Classes" . Retrieved Oct 8, 2014.

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21. Meditation and the Bible and Meditation and Kabbalah by Aryeh Kaplan

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23. "Chabad Jewish Center invites Somerset County residents to 'Be The
Judge' " . Retrieved Oct 8, 2014.

24. Meditation and Kabbalah, Aryeh Kaplan, Samuel Wieser publications, p.140

25. Meditation and Kabbalah, Aryeh Kaplan, Samuel Wieser publications, p.165

26. Mishna Meditation

27. Baal Shem Tov. "Tzava'as HaRivash 82" . Solitude. Retrieved 2019-06-17.
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73910-8" . PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2019-07-26.

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suddenly at 65" . J. Retrieved 2019-07-26.

37. Meditation from the Heart of Judaism, ed. Avram Davis, p. 51.

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42. Kaplan, Dana Evan. The New Reform Judaism: Challenges and Reflections.
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43. Meditation from the Heart of Judaism, ed. Avram Davis.

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Study of Abraham Maimonides and His Times. Oxford University Press, 2015,
ISBN 019872876X

Schneuri, Dovber, Ner Mitzva Vetorah Or, Kehot Publication Society,

1995/2003, ISBN 0-8266-5496-7
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Spirituality, JSL Press 2010, ISBN 0-9717229-1-9

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