How fortunate, how blessed are those who dwell in the house of the Divine, they shall praise the name of the Divine forever.  

(My translation of Psalms 84:5, which begins the prayer Ashrei) 

Ashrei is not only one of the most oft-cited prayers throughout the liturgy, recited three times a day, but its opening verse, from which the prayer gets its name, is a beautiful example of one of the many fruits of a Jewish mindfulness practice. 

What is mindfulness?

One way to understand and experience mindfulness is as the active practice of being present to what is arising, moment by moment, without judgement. Sounds simple, but is very hard, especially when the thing being observed or noticed is unpleasant. 

The power of a mindfulness practice is that it can be a refuge, a shelter of peace, to envelop you, when times are incredibly difficult. The practice doesn’t suddenly or magically make the difficulty okay or go away, as is sadly sometimes implied in contemporary secular mindfulness teaching. Instead, it can steady and help you be with and face what is there, moment by moment. 

In my experience, having this practice accompany me during periods of deep joy and profound difficulty has been a source of steadiness and support. This practice may help you, too. 

This article focuses specifically on ways we can apply Jewish mindfulness practice to aspects of our daily lives. This practice is often called informal practice which is distinct from, yet also related to, formal meditation practice. 

Mindfulness has been an integral part of the Jewish tradition for millennia. However, for numerous cultural and historical reasons, this orientation to Jewish practice remain inaccessible to the vast majority of Jews.

Shabbat

Shabbat is a primary Jewish opportunity for deep mindfulness.  

However we approach and observe Shabbat, it is an opportunity to pause, slow down and savor each moment with full presence. Ultimately, mindfulness practice is an invitation to be wholly present and available in the place we find ourselves.  

A description of Shabbat from Genesis 2, recited every Friday night during Kiddush, invites us to be like the Divine who ceased from doing. As Heschel taught, Shabbat is a palace in time, when we cease from the striving that envelopes our weekdays and drop into the beauty of pausing, being with what is here and now.  

You might try this out for yourself. Take a moment this Shabbat to do something with mindful attention. Perhaps it is slowing down when making Kiddush, washing the hands, or saying the Motzi.  

Perhaps it is taking a longer Shabbat walk, noticing what you pass as you do, allowing all of your sense gates to be open and alive to the experience. Perhaps it is singing a nigun or other Shabbat song alone or with others. Notice the quality of the melody and the music, the way it feels in your body as you sing. You might feel some space open up, a feeling of lightness.  

Or you might not feel either of these things and that’s okay, too.  

Here’s a practice I’ve taken on that You may wish to try out. On Friday night, as you prepare for sleep, you may choose to do so in intentional sacred silence. Entering into intentional silence, even if just for a few moments, allows us to slow down and approach actions and thoughts with deeper awareness. After trying this out for a few weeks, you may observe a noticeable shift in your sleep. 

Shabbat isn’t merely the cessation of physical action. It is a portal, a time for deepening spirituality. In the V’shamru, also recited on Friday nights and Saturday as part of Kiddush (Exodus 35) reminds us that by keeping Shabbat, we become re-ensouled. We receive a Neshama Yeterah—an extra soul, a sense of elevated closeness to the Divine and to those around us.  

We might choose to engage in some TorahRefers to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh, also called the Five Books of Moses, Pentateuch or the Hebrew equivalent, Humash. This is also called the Written Torah. The term may also refer to teachings that expound on Jewish tradition. Read more study and do so mindfully, taking in the teachings offered—whether in a book or in synagogue or somewhere else—with open and relaxed attention. 

If none of these resonate for you, you might experiment with finding some small aspect of your Shabbat experience and approach it with openness and full presence. The key is to start small and grow from there. Don’t take on too much all at once.

Blessings

Blessing, too, is its own form of practice.  

The Rabbis of the TalmudReferring to one of two collections, the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds, edited in the 6th century, that contains hundreds of years of commentary, discussion, and exploration of the ideas in the Mishnah. One could describe it as Mishnah + Gemara = Talmud Read more (Menachot 43b) taught that we are to say 100 blessings a day. Blessing is a form of acknowledgement and connection. 

You might choose to say a blessing over your food the next time you eat, using that as an opportunity for acknowledgement of the many hands involved in bringing the food to you, thanking all of those, known and unknown who were a part of your nourishment. 

After leaving the bathroom, you might pause to say Asher Yatzar, noting the immense complexity of the human body, all of the systems that have to function to allow our chiyyut—lifeforce—to flow through us.  

Whether we say 100 blessings a day, each time we stop and make a blessing with intention, we’re allowing ourselves to take an extra moment to stop and ground before going on about our day. 

Prayer

Prayer, too, is an opportunity for mindful presence.  

Traditional prayer can be one of the most difficult parts of Judaism for folks to connect with. The siddur is a work of profound mindfulness but is often approached as though it were a script in an overperformed play. If we approach it with mindful presence instead, the siddur can be a guide to being with our wants and needs, our deepest longings and hopes, our most profound sorrows.  

When you next take time for personal prayer (whether you’re in a synagogue or not), you might choose one particular prayer to focus your attention on. If you are praying with a congregation, there’s no need to be precisely where the congregation is at any given moment. You can take things at your own pace. 

Saying these ancient words with intention and focus can be an entryway into deeper engagement with the text. Meaning-making is often brought about through personal connection instead of running through liturgy as if it was a script that had to be completed in a set timeframe.  

An example of this invitation to presence comes in the first blessing of the Shacharit or morning service, just before the close of the first blessing of the Shema:

כולם אהובים כולם ברורים כולם גיבורים 

Kulam ahuvim, kulam b’rurim, kulam giborim  
We are all beloved, we are all clear, we are all powerful

Focusing on kulam ahuvim—we are all beloved, the tradition reminds us that we are all held by a divine love that is unfathomable to us and thus super hard to actually feel and access. On the many, many days when accessing that belovedness feels beyond reach, it’s a helpful reminder that it’s here and unchanging.  

The Shema is often described as the most central prayer and declaration of connection in the Jewish tradition.  

You may choose to pause just before saying Shema to collect yourself, perhaps even through the act of gathering your tzitzit if you are wearing a tallit. If you’ve found yourself davening quickly, this can be an invitation to return your focus to the act of davening itself. 

One way to do this is to start with a breathing exercise, feeling the lungs fill up on the inhale and noticing the air leaving the lungs on the exhale. A few full breaths in this manner helps calm and center the nervous system. Some folks have the practice of saying one syllable per breath, which means that the Shema is said very slowly. It may take some adjustment at first. You may find that this intentional slowing down changes your experience of the Shema. Or it may not land with you at all. All of that is okay and welcome. 

These are some starting points on how to bring a mindful presence to your Jewish practice. These suggestions are by no means exhaustive but portals to deeper awareness. Their portability means they can be integrated into a busy life and provide moments of ease amidst the relentless pulls on our attention in this age. 

We are fortunate to live at a time when Jewish mindfulness is flourishing. A few additional resources you may choose to explore are:  

• The Institute for Jewish Spirituality 
• Or HaLev 
• A Way In Jewish Mindfulness 
• Contemplative Torah (my newsletter about Jewish mindfulness and Torah)