“Return us to You and we will Return”:
Contemplative Practice for the Season of Teshuva
A Virtual 4-part Elul Series
With Rabbi Benjamin Barnett
Tuesdays, August 18 & 25, September 1 & 8, 2026
At 8:30-9:45am PT // 11:30am-12:45pm ET // 4:30-5:45pm UK // 6:30-7:45pm Israel
On Zoom
*Sessions will be recorded for those who cannot make the live sessions
We are given Elul, the month leading up to Rosh Hashanah and the Ten Days of Teshuvah, as an invitation and a challenge to behold our lives more clearly.
The season’s practice of Ḥeshbon HaNefesh (accounting of the self) is a pathway to perceive more truthfully the impacts of our thoughts and actions. This kind of honest assessment takes great compassion, allowing our minds and hearts to open to what is difficult and vulnerable.
Through contemplative practice, we can nurture these very qualities: clarity, compassion, and honesty.
In this series, we will gather in an accessible and supportive container to cultivate these attributes, becoming more awake to our lives, to those who need us, and to the world in which we live.
What We Will Cultivate:
Over the course of these four weeks, you will be supported in strengthening your capacity for:
Teshuvah m’ahavah (Repentance from Love): Returning to your core from a place of deep love—for yourself, for others, and for our world.
Heshbon HaNefesh (Accounting of the Self): Closely examining your life with Behirut (Clarity) and Emet (Truthfulness).
Rahamim (Compassion): Awakening compassion and learning to access it more wholeheartedly.
S’liḥah (Forgiveness): Engaging in intentional ways of reflecting on, requesting, and granting forgiveness with integrity and care.
What Each Session Includes:
Each session is designed to provide both deep practice and actionable integration. Every gathering will include:
Guided Meditation: Periods of silent meditation with clear instructions and ongoing guidance.
Sacred Chanting: Chanting of traditional verses to open the heart.
Journaling & Reflection: Dedicated time for personal writing and inner contemplation.
You will have access to a dedicated WhatsApp group to communicate with other participants throughout the course.
Who is this for?
This series is open to all, from beginner to advanced meditators and whatever your relationship with Jewish life is like. It provides a welcoming and supportive space to connect with others on a shared path of exploration and growth, and will offer mutual encouragement and support on your meditative journey in a Jewish spiritual framework.
The Journey
We will begin by identifying our own yearnings and intentions for doing Teshuvah this year-discerning where we each feel called to shift our habitual ways of being for the benefit of others and ourselves.
Throughout the series (and during the weeks between sessions for those moved to go deeper), we will utilize various practices to view our paths with increasing clarity and reflect on how to continue refining them. The series will also offer explicit guidance on the practices of forgiveness, helping you turn toward requesting and granting it where it is needed most in your life.
Meet Your Teacher
Rabbi Benjamin Barnett
Benjamin serves as Rabbi of Havurah Shalom in Portland, Oregon. In that role, he strives to listen deeply and accompany others in ways that support healing, growth, and meaning in the lives of individuals and in the community. As a teacher of Jewish meditation and contemplative prayer, he works to inform the pursuit of justice with the wisdom and compassion born of spiritual practice.
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.
We want to make this series accessible to anyone who wishes to join it. If the scholarship rate is financially unfeasible for you, please write to zacn@orhalev.org, with a brief explanation of why you’d like to join us and your financial needs, and we will do our best to make the series accessible to you.
We Are Here
Any questions? Please email Or HaLev Program Director, Zac Newman, at zacn@orhalev.org
