Opening the Heart 2027: A Silent Jewish Meditation Retreat

Opening the Heart is a silent Jewish meditation retreat held over seven days at the Brandeis-Bardin Campus in Riggins, California. It is led by Rabbi Dr. James Jacobson-Maisels, Rabbi Dev Noily, Jes Golden and Danielle Berrin, and offered through Or HaLev. The retreat is open to people of any Jewish background and any level of meditation experience, and it brings together Jewish mindfulness, Hebrew chant and prayer in a shared silence.

What to Expect

The week is built around silence held in community. Speech is set aside except for teachings, question-and-answer sessions and small group meetings, so each person can be with their own thoughts and feelings while surrounded by others doing the same. Silence is interspersed with Hebrew chants, and the intention is a setting of compassion where nothing needs to be explained or articulated.

Days follow a steady rhythm. Wake-up bells ring at 5:30 AM, and at 6:00 there is sitting practice, prayer in traditional or alternative forms, and chanting. Breakfast is at 8:00, followed at 9:15 by guided sitting and walking practice. After lunch at 12:30, the afternoon session at 2:00 might hold sitting, a Q&A, prayer, walking practice or yoga. Another sit begins at 5:15, dinner is at 6:00, and the evening continues with sitting, walking and time for prayer at 7:00. A teaching follows at 8:00, and the day closes at 9:30 with a good night or a niggun circle. Participants arrive between 3 and 5 PM on the first day to settle in.

Your Teachers

Rabbi Dr. James Jacobson-Maisels is the founder and spiritual director of Or HaLev: Center for Jewish Spirituality and Meditation. Ordained by Rav Daniel Landes, he holds a doctorate in Jewish Studies from the University of Chicago and has studied and taught meditation and Jewish spirituality for over twenty-five years. He was founding Rosh Yeshiva of Romemu Yeshiva and has taught at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, Haifa University and Yeshivat Hadar. He works to integrate study with practice and to live Judaism as a spiritual discipline.

Rabbi Dev Noily is Senior Rabbi at Kehilla Community Synagogue in Oakland, California, where they have led a weekly meditation sit since 2013, now held twice weekly. Dev trained in the Institute for Jewish Spirituality's Jewish Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training program with Sheila Weinberg, Jordan Bendat Appel and Jeff Roth, and has practiced at Spirit Rock, Plum Village and Blue Cliff Monastery. They have also taught at the East Bay Meditation Center.

Jes Golden, Ph.D., is a Jewish meditation teacher, writer and researcher who focuses on embodied experience in Jewish and Buddhist meditation. A graduate of Or HaLev's three-year Jewish Meditation Teacher Training program, Jes teaches regularly for the organization. They are Adjunct Faculty at the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, an IJS Marbeh Fellow, and a Postdoctoral Affiliate at the Meditation Research Program at Harvard Medical School and Mass General Hospital. Their Ph.D. in Philosophy is from UC Berkeley.

Danielle Berrin is a writer, journalist and communications professional and a lifelong student of Judaism. She first attended an Or HaLev retreat in 2016 to cover it as a journalist and has been a student of contemplative practice since. She completed Or HaLev's three-year Jewish Meditation Teacher Training program and teaches in various settings around Los Angeles, bringing curiosity and wonder to the unfolding story of our lives.

The Setting

The retreat takes place at the Brandeis-Bardin Campus in Riggins, California. Rooms are single, double or triple occupancy, and the fee covers accommodation and all meals. Food is kosher, and Shabbat is observed in public spaces. Attendance is limited to keep the experience personal and intimate.

The campus is most accessible from Hollywood Burbank Airport and LAX. The Simi Valley rail stop is 3 miles away and can be reached directly from Hollywood Burbank Airport. Before the retreat, attendees receive a spreadsheet for coordinating carpools from the airport.

Before You Go

No prior meditation experience is needed, and no particular Jewish background is required. The retreat is taught in English. Included are your room, kosher meals, sitting and walking sessions, teachings, Q&A sessions and small group meetings. Transportation to and from the campus is your own responsibility. Terumah, an optional offering to the teachers, is invited at the end of the retreat and is not part of the fee.

Anyone with questions about whether the retreat suits them, including mental health concerns, can be put in touch with the lead teacher before registering.