Twelve Day Jewish Meditation Retreat
December 10th to 21st, 2023
with Brian Arnell, Sheila Katz, Rabbis Batsheva Meiri and Jeff Roth
This is a retreat unlike any other we have done. A retreat nestled on a beautiful beach on the Pacific coast of Mexico. We will be hosted by the wonderful people of Mar de Jade, the retreat center they created to host meditation and yoga retreats while using the proceeds to fund medical care and other social justice projects for the local community.
For many years, Norman Fischer has been holding an annual retreat at Mar de Jade. After we had our own retreat there this past winter, we concluded that Mar de Jade would be the perfect place for our annual Long Retreat.
Please take a look at their website.
Brian, Sheila, Batsheva, and Jeff will be leading this Twelve-Day Jewish Meditation retreat from December 10th – December 21st, 2023.
Norman and Kathie Fischer will have their weeklong Zen retreat from December 2nd - 9th This creates the opportunity to have a nearly three-week retreat, one week as Norman’s Zen student, then twelve days of Jewish contemplative practice
Mar de Jade (Sea of Jade) is an open home that welcomes people to a safe and loving atmosphere where they can rest, nourish their spirit and enjoy a simple way of life. Set between a tropical jungle mountainside and the rolling waves of the Pacific Ocean, Mar de Jade is surrounded by natural beauty and absolute tranquility.
Mar de Jade has a very comprehensive information page that answers many questions about the facility, about travel and what to bring, and what is available in that part of Mexico.
Three buffet meals are carefully prepared daily from scratch using fresh, local and when possible, organic ingredients. A lot of what is served is grown on their own 18-acre Organic Farm. The menu is mainly vegetarian with fish options.
Faculty Biographies
Rabbi Jeff Roth worked with Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi for eight years as the director of, first B’nai Or Religious Fellowship and then the renamed P’nai Or. He was ordained by Reb Zalman and by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. He was the co-founder of Elat Chayyim-the Jewish Spiritual Retreat Center, where he served as Executive Director and Spiritual Director for 15 years. Currently he is the founder and Director of The Awakened Heart Project for Contemplative Judaism. He is the co-leader of the Deepening Contemplative Practice Intensive-3 which is a year long program of retreats and weekly practice sessions. He has facilitated of over 200 Jewish meditation retreats. He is the author of, Jewish Meditation Practices for Everyday Life and Me, Myself and God from Jewish Lights Publishing.
Rabbi Batsheva H. Meiri, is a 24-year veteran congregational rabbi in Asheville, NC. For the last decade, her primary focus has been the mindfulness training she has pursued in various Jewish, Buddhist and secular settings and discovering the ways those practices can inform and shape the life of the synagogue community she leads. Her practice and teaching draws from the training she has received at the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, Awakened Heart Project, Or Halev, Spirit Rock, True Nature Education and Asheville Mindful Living. In the last 4 years, she has co-taught numerous retreats in both Asheville and around the United States alongside her teachers and colleagues.
Brian Arnell re-connected with Judaism in the late 70’s when he joined a Jewish renewal community in Portland Oregon. In the ‘80’s he was one of the founders of P’nai Or of Portland, a renewal congregation. In 1998, he moved full-time to the Elat Chayyim retreat center in New York’s Hudson Valley and began intensive study of Jewish contemplative practice. He left the retreat center in 2006 and moved to Philadelphia. He is the Senior Teacher of Springboard Meditation Sangha.
Sheila H. Katz, PhD, (aka “Yocheved”) loves finding teachings of meditation in Hebrew texts and traditions. She got hooked on exploring the roots of suffering and awakening consciousness from reading Buber’s I and Thou at age 14.
As a Berklee Professor of Contemplative Studies, her courses explore non-dual strands of religious wisdom traditions in global history. Her work with Palestinians and Israelis (Connecting with the Enemy: a Century of Palestinian-Israeli Joint Nonviolence) illuminates how attending to suffering can open paths to compassionate action. She is a co-founding teacher of Nishmat Hayyim ("Breath of Life”) meditation community. Her doctorate is from Harvard University in Middle East History which she taught for 36 years. She co-leads the annual 3-week retreat of the Awakened Heart Project. Sheilahannahkatz.com
The Retreat
The sight and sound of the ocean is a wonderful place to deeply explore the nature of life, and what a precious gift it is to be here. Often times, being present to the joy of being in the world is not our day to day experience. It is easy to get caught up in the challenges that naturally accompany each day of our lives.
Spending twelve days in contemplative practice is a wonderful way to gain balance in our lives and cultivate a grateful heart, which can see the truth of our lives more clearly. This practice opens a heart of wisdom and compassion, propelling us to a life of loving-kindness. This twelve day meditation retreat will give you the tools and the time to delve inward and cultivate these qualities.
Using the vehicle of silence, and a variety of Jewish meditation approaches, this retreat will help you to look deeply into your own life. The retreat includes daily periods of prayer, chant and yoga. Daily instruction in meditation will help guide both beginning and advanced practitioners into the sacred space of the retreat process. Throughout the retreat we will maintain social silence. There will also be times for questions and answers, as well as private interviews with the instructors.
Our hope is that a significant number of people will want to sit for the full twelve days. Preference will be given to those sitting the entire retreat – shorter stays will be considered only when space permits.
Registration Information
The fee for the 12 days of the retreat include your room, three wonderful meals a day, use of meditation/yoga equipment, and the beach. We have added a small administrative fee to cover the other retreat costs. The retreat fee does not include support for the teaching staff. Donations to support their work will be discussed at the end of the retreat.
All rooms have private bathrooms, natural bath amenities, hot water, in-room safe, mosquito screens on windows, and ceiling fans. All rooms have air conditioning except for Dorm Rooms (Loft Rooms).
- Ocean Rooms have an unobstructed ocean view and a balcony or terrace. Almost all have bathtubs, some have a separate shower. Some have futons and a separate sleeping space. All require steps to climb as they are located on second, third and fourth floors.
- Garden Rooms have a view of our lush tropical gardens and a terrace or outside sitting area. They are all on ground floor, some have a few steps and some have ramp access. Most have bathtubs, some also have a separate shower and a futon.
- Guest Rooms are simple yet comfortable rooms for one or two people, with garden or jungle views.
- Dorm Room (women only) are ideal for the budget conscious woman that would like to share with 3 other women.
Costs for the retreat depend on the type of room you’d like. The links below take you to the room description on the Mar de Jade website.
Ocean Rooms as a double: $2695 each
Garden Rooms as a double: $2540 each
Garden Rooms as a single: $3560 each
Guest Rooms as a double: $2145 each
Guess Rooms as a single $3110 each
Guest Room Loft as a quad: $1595 each
Ocean Rooms as a single: $3795
Single Rooms are very limited – Please contact Brian before you sign up for one.
Financial support is available through The Awakened Heart Project. Contact Jeff with requests for aid.
For questions about registration or for additional information contact brian@awakenedheartproject.org
To register for the 2023 Twelve Day Jewish Meditation Retreat at Mar de Jade, please click on the "Register Now" button below.