In Fall 2021, the Jewish Teen Initiative (JTI) at Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston and BaMidbar launched a nine-month Mental Health and Wellness Track of the JTI Peer Leadership Fellowship. The teen fellowship cohort focused on peer engagement through a mental health and wellness lens, culminating in community projects. Throughout Mental Health Awareness Month, stay tuned to BaMidbar and JTI as we share their projects related to mental health awareness and stigma reduction.
By Nathan Barry
Unbeknownst to many people, meditation is a major practice in Judaism. For centuries, it has been used by Jews to deepen their relationship with G-d, find deeper self-understanding, and create inner peace. People would often meditate by using chants from psalms. You may observe this when you are at a temple and the congregation takes part in the Amidah. Another common form of meditation was done in complete stillness and silence. This would be used by sages to clear their minds and souls before worshiping. This practice could also have been done in conjunction with hitbodedut meditation which was used to find a deeper consciousness. Maimonides believed it could bring us closer to G-d.
In this day and age, there is a chance you may not be looking to deepen your connection with G-d or find deeper self-understanding, but rather to ease the stresses of everyday life. These meditative practices that have been used for ages can still apply today.
To start, many benefits have been associated with meditation. One is it can help you gain a new perspective on a stressful situation. It can also help you increase your patience and tolerance. Similar to the idea of meditating in complete silence before worship to clear one’s mind and soul, meditation helps empty negative emotions. Meditation is also known to increase self-awareness and increase imagination and creativity.
As you can see, Jewish Meditation still applies today. There are numerous tutorials on YouTube on how to practice Jewish Meditation if you are interested in exploring meditation through that route. If you aren’t looking for a spiritual experience, there are YouTube tutorials that can guide you through other forms of meditation. Additionally, there are numerous applications available such as Headspace and Calm which can lead you through guided meditations. Options abound when it comes to meditation, so I suggest finding one that works for you and exploring other options to see if there is one that works even better.
Making a habit out of meditation is a great way to reduce your stress and clear your mind. It has been used for centuries to help people deepen their connection to G-d and the ideas behind it apply to everyday life.
YouTube Links
Meditation for Beginners:
Guided Jewish Meditations – Tikkun: Perfecting the World:
Bio
My name is Nathan Barry. I live in the coastal city of Newburyport, Massachusetts where I am a senior at Newburyport High School. I am also a Peer Wellness Fellow with the Jewish Teen Initiative where I am working to provide fellow teens with resources to cope with mental health struggles.
In Fall 2021, the Jewish Teen Initiative (JTI) at Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston and BaMidbar launched a nine-month Mental Health and Wellness Track of the JTI Peer Leadership Fellowship. The teen fellowship cohort focused on peer engagement through a mental health and wellness lens, culminating in community projects. Throughout Mental Health Awareness Month, stay tuned to BaMidbar and JTI as we share their projects related to mental health awareness and stigma reduction.