Seven Ways of Joy:
A Sukkot Meditative Journey
With Rabbah Dr. Mira Niculescu & Zac Newman
Monday, Oct 6 - Tuesday, Oct 14, 2025
Seven 30-minute meditations in your inbox throughout Sukkot
& a 75-minute Live Session on Sunday, Oct 12, 2025
at 11:00am PST/ 2:00pm EST/ 7:00pm UK/ 9:00pm Israel*
*This session will also be recorded if you're unable to make it live
Sukkot is called “the time of our joy”.
What is there in this holiday that invites us to experience joy?
In Sukkot we build booths and we are invited to dwell in them for seven days. From these frail shelters which become our symbolic home, we are invited to invite everyone and everything to enter and spend time with us. From this attitude of openness and willingness to connect, from agreeing to be vulnerable and the kind of deep connection this can foster, we learn to create many conditions for joy.
So it goes in meditation and mindfulness practice: each time we sit, as we agree to create a space for presence and allow what is, we allow the unfolding of deep connections with ourselves, with others, with life and with the Divine.
In this week-long journey, through daily meditations, intention, reflection and practice instructions, we will connect with the joy of Sukkot and open ourselves to the blessings it has to offer us here and now.
Each day, we will gather the fruits of practice together, each in our own time zone, and then we will gather for a live session to seal the journey together, as the Holiday draws towards its close.
For each of the days of Sukkot you will receive a 30-minute guided meditation video from Mira or Zac, exploring and practicing with the daily theme and resource below.
On October 12, just before Simchat Torah, you will be invited to a 75 minute live session with the teachers, with meditation, teachings, and a time for Q & A.
This course is an invitation to:
Explore the richness of Sukkot as an embodied experience from the Jewish tradition
Connect with profound and timeless resources of heart and mind through various practices
Play at your growing edges by reconnecting to the meaning of ancient rituals
Meet sacredness and divinity right where you are
Share a Jewish meditative journey with others around the world
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.
Our journey will include a meditation for each day of Sukkot:
On each day of the festival we will explore one way of creating, nurturing and experiencing the conditions for true joy.
Day 1: The joy of relief
Day 2: The joy of building space
Day 3: The joy of playfulness
Day 4: The joy of shelter
Day 5: The joy of opening
Day 6: Live session!
Day 7: The joy of sharing
Day 8: The joy of starting anew
Meet Your Teachers
-
Rabbah Dr. Mira Neshama Niculescu
Mira teaches Jewish texts and spiritual practices as a way of life. She is a Doctor in the Socio-Anthropology of Religion, an ordained Rabbah from the modern Orthodox yeshiva Harel in Jerusalem and a certified teacher of mindfulness meditation and yoga. For over 10 years, she has been sharing her exploration of Torah, Hasidut, Mussar, and Jewish meditation in English, Hebrew and French.
Born in Paris and living in Jerusalem, she writes and teaches globally online and in person, inviting students to dive deep into their own inner work (tikkun atsmi) as a way to contribute, one person at a time, to the tikkun (repair) of the world. -
Zac Newman
Zac is Or HaLev Program Director & Teacher. He has been practicing mindfulness since 2008 and teaching practice since 2013. He trained to teach mindfulness through the Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice at Bangor University. Prior to his role at Or HaLev, Zac was the Community Director of HaMakom, the UK-based Jewish meditation organisation. Zac is a long-standing student of religious studies and psychotherapy. He is a rabbinical student in the ALEPH Ordination Program, and he is continually interested in how we can realize the wisdom of our tradition and the goodness of our lives.
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. We strive to make this retreat 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 enables this retreat to happen and helps support Or HaLev's activities and grow our community.
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Any questions? Please email Or HaLev Program Director, Zac Newman, at zacn@orhalev.org
