Opening the Heart
Jewish Meditation Retreat

Rav James leads and directs the vision of Or HaLev. Ordained by Rav Daniel Landes, with a doctorate in Jewish Studies from the University of Chicago, he has been studying and teaching meditation and Jewish spirituality for over twenty five years. He was the founding Rosh Yeshiva of Romemu Yeshiva and has taught and innovated programs in Jewish thought, mysticism, spiritual practices and meditation at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, Haifa University, Yeshivat Hadar and in a variety of settings around the world. He strives to integrate his study with his practice, and to help teach and live Judaism as a spiritual discipline.

Dev Noily serves as Senior Rabbi at Kehilla Community Synagogue in Oakland, California, Lisjan Ohlone territory of Huchiun, where they have led a weekly (now twice weekly) meditation sit since 2013. Dev trained in the Institute for Jewish Spirituality’s Jewish Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training program (2016-17) with teachers Sheila Weinberg, Jordan Bendat Appel and Jeff Roth. They have practiced at Spirit Rock in northern California/Coast Miwok territory, Plum Village, and Blue Cliff Monastery in NY, and have taught at the East Bay Meditation Center.

Genevieve Greinetz serves as Assistant Rabbi and Director of Education at Peninsula Temple Beth El in San Mateo, CA where, among other things, she gets to engage in Jewish mindfulness with people of all ages. She has an academic background in East Asian religion, and very much enjoys studying texts of all traditions. She is a published poet and someone with many passions – mindfulness is a common thread through all that she does.