Dr. Avram Davis
Inaugurates Brandeis Meditation Society
By Susie Davidson
Advocate Correspondent
WALTHAM - Dr. Avram Davis, the co-director of Chochmat HaLev, an
independent Center of Jewish Meditation in Berkeley, California, will open the
inaugural event of the Brandeis Meditation Society in a talk and meditation
this Sunday, April 7, at 7 p.m. at the Brandeis Women’s Studies Research
Center, 515 South St., Waltham.
The discussion, entitled “Compassion and Enlightenment: The
Jewish Torah View,” will be sponsored by The Hillel Foundation and SCRAM
(the Student Council for the Rose Art Museum), as well as MitBonenim, a branch
of Chochmat HaLev which is dedicated to bringing Jewish meditation to students
and the general Jewish community.
Dr. Davis, who holds a B.A. and an M.A. in Jewish Studies and a
Ph.D. in comparative philosophy, has studied at Yeshiva Adar Torah, Yeshiva
Mossas Rav Kook and Yeshiva Bratzlav. His three books, The Way of Flame, Judaic
Mysticism, and Meditation From the Heart of Judaism, explore his reworkings of
ancient techniques into relevant contemporary practices, through a combination
of experiential, textual and musical means.
At the talk, says organizer Rosie Rosenzweig, who is a Brandeis
Resident Scholar in Women’s Studies and author of A Jewish Mother in
Shangri-la, “he will introduce the very foundations of Jewish spirirtual
development in ways that will not only be accessible, but have the power to
uplift the soul.”
“The new Meditation Chavurah at Brandeis,” she
explains, “practices self-discernment, taking this quality to its
practical limits. This kind of contemplation supports an inner search for
tikkun, a concentration and focus on repairing the distractions that keep us
from realizing our ultimate potential. The Hebrew root of MitBonenim is binah,
that quality of deep understanding and discretion, the realization of
distinctions between the factors that help us, and those that hinder our inner
growth.”
While meditation is common in all traditions, including Judaism,
Christianity, Theravada Buddhism, Zen, Vajrayana, Hinduism, and Sufism,
Rosenzweig explains that it is style, language, emphasis, methodology and focus
which differentiate each approach. MitBonenim utilizes the ancient imagery and
belief systems of Judaism in its practice.
“Mitbonennim,” she says, “seeks to use
rabbinical and biblical texts to revive a long lost art, which was once present
in early and later biblical times. Some of these methods have been used with
children, teens, adults, and seniors, with heartening results.
“The Meditation Chavurah at the Women’s Studies
Research Center at Brandeis University joins a growing national effort to
expose the university community and the communities that it touches to the
benefits of meditation.”
The Brandeis Chavurah’s advisors include Dr. Davis as well
as Nan Davis, co-director of Chochmat HaLev and author of Introduction to
Meditation and Stranger in the Midst: A Memoir of Spiritual Discovery; Rabbi
Allen Lehman, Tikkun Rabbi and Brandeis Jewish Chaplain; Rabbi Malka Young,
LICSW, Director of Healing Partners, Jewish Family Service of Metro-West
Framingham; Rabbi Meier Sendor Ph.D., Spiritual leader of Young Israel in
Sharon and Adjunct Professor in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis
University; and Penina Adelman, LICSW, Brandeis Visiting Scholar in
Women’s Studies, author of Miriam’s Well and The Torah from Aleph
to Tav.
The Brandeis Women’s Studies Research Center is adjacent to
the Waltham railroad station stop. The event will be $5 for general admission,
and free for students with ID. For more information, please email Jewmomrose@hotmail.com or call
781-736-8100. For directionsm, please visit
http://www.brandeis.edu/overview/directions.html
In addition to the talk, a Shabbat celebration with Dr. Davis,
which will include a catered dinner, is planned for this weekend at Beth El of
the Sudbury River Valley (info: secretary@bethelsudbury.org).