In this moving episode for Sukkot and the two-year anniversary of the trauma of October 7, Rabbi Marc Margolius invites us to enter the sukkah as a space of collective healing, remembrance, and unity. Drawing on teachings from the Torah, Talmud, and Jewish mystical tradition, he guides listeners to imagine the entire Jewish people—and all who suffer—dwelling together under one sacred canopy. Through meditation, prayer, and Rumi’s The Guest House, we practice welcoming every guest who shows up, every emotion, holding sorrow and joy side by side within a Sukkat Shalom, a shelter of peace.

In this episode, Rabba Mira Neshama Niculescu explores the practice of moving slowly and adapting to life's inevitable spiritual and other ascents and descents, especially during the Jewish holiday cycle. Through teachings from Hasidic wisdom and metaphors of rain, dew, storms, and drops, she teaches how wisdom and connection come to us in varied forms—gentle, dripping, flowing, even piercing. Join her for a short meditation to embrace life's oscillations, and to set our intentions for deeper connection, trust, and wholeness in the year ahead.

As we enter the Days of Awe, discover how grounding body, breath, and spirit can prepare us for true transformation. In this episode, Rabbi Jenny Solomon blends guided meditation with insights from Parashat Nitzavim, exploring what it means to stand rooted and attentive before the Divine. Join her for a short, simple practice for finding steadiness, courage, and renewal on the threshold of the new year.

In this episode, Rabbi Sam Feinsmith of the IJS faculty guides us to prepare for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur with a short meditation on the theme of “Seeing Through the Eyes of Love.” Instead of approaching the High Holidays through harsh judgment, he explores how teshuvah, repentance, can be rooted in consciousness of loving presence within our own awareness. Rabbi Feinsmith roots this teaching in Unetaneh Tokef, a key High Holiday prayer, and wisdom from the great medieval Jewish thinker Maimonides, offering a guided meditation which invites us to feel seen by the Divine with infinite love and compassion – and to bring that perspective into self-forgiveness and renewal.

In this episode of our podcast, IJS Core Faculty member Kohenet Keshira haLev Fife invites us to approach the month of Elul as a time of gentle self-assessment, compassion, and return through embracing our essential belovedness. She explores how even small shifts in our daily lives can lead us closer—or further—from our deepest intentions. Together, we remember our belovedness and reconnect with what truly matters as we prepare for the new year.

In this episode, Alison Cohen explores how mindful awareness can help us shift from autopilot reactivity to intentional, compassionate response. Rooted in the themes of teshuvah — return and transformation — she helps us reflect on how pausing, sensing, and staying in contact with the present moment creates space for choice and change. Join her as she leads us, through breath, reflection, and gentle inquiry, to reconnect with our capacity for choice and to meet each moment with kindness.

As we return from a summer hiatus, Rabbi Dorothy Richman guides us through the spiritual themes of the month of Elul, the Jewish season of teshuvah or returning — soul accounting (Cheshbon HaNefesh), the wisdom of Psalm 27, and the mystical search for the Divine Face within our own hearts, drawing on teachings from Rashi, Rabbi Shneur Zalman, and Rabbi Alan Lew. Join her for a beautiful meditation to prepare for the New Year by turning inward through stillness and breath, a contemplative path to deep inner knowing and teshuvah (return).

In this episode, Rabbi Shir Meira Feit explores the rich interplay between movement and stillness in Judaism — especially the layered, elusive nature of stillness in the body, heart, and mind. Through the lens of Kabbalistic wisdom and awareness of this season in the Jewish year, they reflect on the spiritual energy of the month of Sivan and the Hebrew letter Zayin, inviting us into a practice honoring both stillness and motion. Join Rabbi Shir Meira Feit for a short meditation to sense the pulse of life, even in stillness.

In this episode, Rebecca Schisler explores the spiritual concept of Yesod (foundation) during the sixth week of the Omer period, focusing on how we can become vessels ready to receive divine blessings in our lives. She guides us to connect with our inner foundation—that unchanging awareness that remains steady even during life's storms—while imagining what it would feel like to embody readiness for the blessings we long for. Join her for a guided practice to integrate this spiritual foundation into our everyday actions -- even washing the dishes.

In this episode, Rabbi Jenny Solomon explores how we might understand atonement not as erasure, but as gently covering our wounds, as with a bandage or blanket, with the intention to heal and learn from them and move forward. She connects the ancient ritual of Yom Kippur with breathwork and mindful awareness, creating space for both rootedness and rising. Join her to practice tending to our past mistakes with compassion, covering them over -- not to conceal, but to acknowledge and heal, to return and renew.

In this episode, mindfulness teacher and coach Yael Shy explores the spiritual significance of waiting, based on the Torah's description of the priests needing to keep "God's watch" for seven days before the Divine Presence can dwell within them. She connects this with our own yearning and waiting for spiritual connection, inviting us to explore how recognizing divinity within ourselves might transform our relationship with ourselves and others. Join her for a guided meditation to imagine the Divine Presence dwelling within us, embracing the uncertainty of spiritual waiting with kindness and faith.

In this meditation for Passover, Rabbi Dorothy Richman explores how the Seder ritual of dipping spring greens in salt water represents our ability to accept both freshness and bitterness, both joy and sorrow. She invites us to notice and embrace the "brutiful" nature of existence, where seeming opposites are actually unified experiences within our bodies. Join her for a short, beautiful teaching and meditation for tasting ancestral tears and hopes, and remembering that we have navigated narrow places before -- and can find our way to openness again.

In this episode, Rabbi Marcelo Bronstein explores the concept of "enoughness" in generosity, drawing from the Torah's account of Moses halting contributions to the tabernacle because the people had given sufficient resources. He reflects on Parker Palmer's distinction between ego-driven giving and soul-driven purpose, inviting us to meditate on when generosity crosses from authentic giving into ego-driven excess. Through guided meditation, he encourages us to examine our personal patterns of giving and our ability to recognize when "enough is enough" in our relationships and acts of kindness.

In this episode, host Rabbi Marc Margolius guides a meditation for pausing to investigate truth through curiosity and loving connection, drawing inspiration from the Torah's description of the essence of the Divine as love. He invites us to set aside distractions, settle into our bodies through mindful awareness, and practice receiving and channeling divine love as a response to the challenges we face in our lives and our world today. The practice includes a beautiful rendition of Olam Chesed Yibaneh ("A World of Love") by Rabbi Menachem Creditor, and a meditation for experiencing ourselves as vessels for radiating love in a world that desperately needs it.

In this episode, Kohenet Keshira haLev Fife explores the transitional period between winter and spring as a time of gentle awakening and realignment -- a time for thawing after emotional or psychological numbness. Kohenet Keshira reflects on finding balance amidst overwhelming world events and personal challenges, offering guidance to counteract our sense of life being out of control. As we transition into the month of Adar, here's a helpful meditation for staying grounded and responsive, not reactive, during deeply challenging times.

In this episode, Rabbi Dorothy Richman delves into the meaning of "Zeh Eli v’Anveihu" — "This is my God, and I will make a place" — from the Song at the Sea. Through Midrash and commentary, she explores how even the most vulnerable, from maidservants to infants, personally experienced the Divine at the Red Sea, and how their experience offers us a model for spiritual awareness. Through breath, song, and meditation, Rabbi Dorothy Richman guides us to explore the practice of creating space for the sacred in moments of upheaval – just as our ancestors did in their journey to freedom.

In these fraught times, expert mindfulness teacher Alison Cohen explores the power of names and the wisdom found in the second book of the Torah, Shemot (Exodus), which literally translates to "Names." She offers a beautiful, simple meditation practice: giving ourselves “permission to pause” to bring compassionate awareness to the “names” or identities we have unconsciously adopted or inherited, seeing these “names” for what they are — temporary labels that don't define who we truly are. Join Alison Cohen as she offers us the gift of pausing, being fully present, and reconnecting with the wisdom of our deepest, most authentic selves.

In this episode, Rabbi Shefa Gold explores the idea of the "precious circle," a concept that profoundly changed the way she practices meditation and connects with Divine support. It began during a walk along the beach in San Diego when Rabbi Gold realized that in order to receive blessings, one must first be open to divine support. When we feel supported, we can relax, and when we relax, we can open, ultimately receiving the blessings we seek. This is the "precious circle” – a cycle of feeling supported, relaxing, opening, and receiving. Listen now and rest in Shabbat consciousness of timeless time, and spaceless space.

In this episode, Zac Newman of HaMakom, a Jewish mindfulness center in the United Kingdom, offers a teaching and practice for acknowledging and meeting with compassion and wisdom the inevitable challenges we may experience which obstruct the light and joy of Hanukkah. He suggests a simple three step meditation practice: noticing any difficulty that is present, and meeting it mindfully; acknowledging the shared humanity of the difficulty; and offering ourselves compassion. This practice encourages us to make space for both what is hard and what is joyful, helping us hold both with openness and care. Join us for a guided meditation that nurtures self-compassion and allows us to find light, even in moments of struggle.

This episode features a meditation led by Rabbi Jenny Solomon. She based this practice in a verse from the first chapter of the Book of Ecclesiastes: "The sun rises, the sun sets, and glides back to where it rises; one generation goes, another comes, but the earth remains the same forever." This verse, and its rabbinic interpretation, reminds us that change is constant: the sun rises and sets; breaths, thoughts, feelings, sensations all come and go -- and, throughout it all, we can experience continuity of Divine Presence, consistency of Divine grace and love, which is woven throughout the changes. The earth remains the same. Join Rabbi Jenny Solomon for a short practice to help us join the flow of perpetual change, and notice within it God's constant love and sustenance.