(Self) Compassion and the Art of Forgiveness: Cultivating True Freedom before the Yamim Noraim
A Virtual 4-part Elul Series
With Rabbah Dr. Mira Neshama Niculescu
Thursdays, September 5, 12, 19, 26, 2024
At 9am-10am PST / 12pm-1pm EST / 5pm - 6pm UK / 7pm-8pm Israel
On Zoom
Each year during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, Jews in the world rush to perform a practice as familiar as uneasy: forgiving, and asking for forgiveness. Easier said than done, isn’t it?
Immediately upon hearing the word “Forgiveness”, some of us may feel a reaction rising within: what if I can’t forgive myself? What If I don’t want to forgive someone? What if I’m too embarrassed to reach out? What if I am mad at God?
Forgiving may be one of the most fundamental spiritual practices in the Jewish tradition, yet it may be one of the most misunderstood.
Forgiveness is untying unnecessary knots and giving ourselves a chance for true Freedom. It is taking true responsibility for our own lives.
And it can be playful, too.
The keys are clarity, compassion, responsibility-taking, and choice.
In this 4-part course, through text study, meditation, inquiry and practical tools for everyday life, we will use these keys to harness the power of forgiveness, connect to Jewish Spirituality, cultivate true freedom, and prepare ourselves from within for a meaningful Yom Kippur.
This course is an invitation to:
Explore the meaning of Forgiveness and self-compassion as tools for freedom
Learn Jewish texts about the wisdom of Forgiveness in the Jewish tradition
Experiment with powerful meditation practices that help letting be and letting go
Befriend the one in you who doesn’t want to forgive- and leave it alone until it feels ready
Play with various tools from Indigenous Jewish meditation, but also Loving-Kindness Meditation, somatic experiencing, journaling, dance and more, until you find the language that works for you
Give ourselves the gift of a true preparation for the High Holidays
Each session comprises a guided and silent meditation, a teaching, a time for Q & A and optional homework to do in between sessions.
*Sessions will be recorded for those who cannot make the live sessions
In each session, we explore one way of embodying (self) compassion and taking responsibility for our lives. We do so through focusing on a key middah (quality), highlighting its challenge and its antidote, and focusing on a specific contemplative practice to help us on the road towards true Freedom.
Session 1. Letting Go of the Hope for a Better Past: Taking responsibility for my own future
In this session, we draw the background of forgiveness: what it means, what it entails, and what it does not entail. We highlight that forgiving doesn't mean what happened was ok. Rather, it can mean freeing ourselves from resentment, which can be defined as holding on to the hope of having had a better past.
Quality-Middah: Resilience (chossen)
Challenge-Yetser HaRah: Anger, regret, discouragement
Antidote-Tikkun: Faith, spiritual alchemy: transforming the mud into a lotus
Session 2. Forgiving Myself: Taking responsibility for my own life
Forgiving anything and anyone starts with ourselves. And the name of it is self-compassion. In this session, we define compassion, highlight how it is different from self-indulgence, and how it actually sometimes entails a healthy self-discipline and boundary-setting, towards taking responsibility for our own lives.
Quality-Middah: Self-compassion (rachamim)
Poison-Yetser HaRah: Guilt
Antidote-Tikkun: Overcoming the inner-judge
Session 3. Forgiving Others, Forgiving God: Taking responsibility for our own freedom
We tend to think about forgiveness as primarily relational and dialogical. Yet, it is first and foremost an inner practice: forgiving (ourselves, others, Life, or even, God), in a surpising way, has little to do with what others did, do, or don’t. And this is good news, because then we do not depend on them. In this session, we explore how forgiving others, God or life, is about giving ourselves the freedom to live the life we deserve to have, no matter the past we had.
Quality-Middah: Surrender - Humility (anavah) & Trust (bitachon)
Challenge-Yetser HaRah: Victimhood, passivity
Antidote-Tikkun: Wanting to be light rather than to be right
Session 4. Asking for Forgiveness: Taking responsibility for my actions
We often see what others did to us, less so what we did to others. This is in part because regret or shame can get in the way of actually taking responsibility, but also because, many times, we don’t know that someone was hurt because of us, or cannot understand how what we did was damaging.
Taking responsibility for our actions is a great step of growth, and it may depend on all the previous steps. In this concluding session, we recapitulate the steps of our journey. We highlight how clarity, compassion, taking responsibility and choosing the life we want, are not only tools for our own freedom: they will help us be better to others, too.
Quality-Middah: Soul assessment-facing our selves (cheshbon nefesh)
Challenge-Yetser HaRah: Shame
Antidote-Tikkun: The courage to repair
Meet Your Teacher
Rabbah Dr. Mira Neshama Niculescu
Mira is a Paris-born scholar and teacher of Torah and Meditation. She earned a Ph.D. in Sociology of Religion at Ecole de Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris (EHESS) and received Orthodox Smicha ordination from Rabbi Daniel Sperber for Beit Midrash Har’El in Jerusalem. A certified Jewish Educator (Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies), a certified Jewish Mindfulness Teacher with the Institute for Jewish Spirituality (IJS), a certified Vinyasa Yoga teacher (Sira Yoga RYT 200), and a certified Mindfulness Meditation Instructor (Mindfulness Training Institute).
Choose your rate
At Or HaLev, we believe in the spirit of generosity as an essential part of practice. We also acknowledge that financial abilities differ for everyone and we strive to make this class accessible to those who wish to participate, regardless of ability to pay.
Please consider paying at the highest rate that you are able to. Your generosity will help in supporting Or HaLev's activities and in growing our community.
Supporter
Enables a scholarship for those who cannot afford the course.
Standard
Covers the actual cost
of the course.
Scholarship
A subsidized rate
of the course.
If the scholarship rate is financially unfeasible for you, please write to naomi@orhalev.org and we will do our best to make the course accessible to you.
