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Kabbalah Meditation Album — Download Today

May 2, 2011 by Patrick Beaulier

We’re thrilled to announce the release of our first album Etz Chaim: Kabbalistic Meditation featuring…

  • Ten world music inspired tracks with guided meditations by Michael Sabani
  • Ten music-only tracks
  • Two bonus tracks … your free gift from PunkTorah

That’s 22 songs for only $9.99. You can download directly here using Paypal. Once you submit payment, we will email you a download link in twelve hours or less.

Filed Under: Jewish Media Reviews, Judaism & Belief, Random (Feelin' Lucky?) Tagged With: convert to judaism, convert to judaism online, darshan yeshiva, Etz Chaim Kabbalah Meditation Album, jewish meditation, jewish music, jewish world music, kabbalistic meditation, meditation, new age music, online conversion, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, punktorah, punktorah music, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier, world music

PunkTorah Radio: Jewish Meditation, A Cookbook, And Kurt Cobain

March 8, 2011 by Patrick Beaulier

Hey all! This week we talk about 90’s music, a Jewish meditation CD, a cookbook, and a secret project!

PunkTorah Radio: Jewish Meditation, A Cookbook, And Kurt Cobain

And subscribe here on iTunes!

 

Filed Under: Community Member Blogs, Jewish Media Reviews, Podcasts & Videos, Random (Feelin' Lucky?), Your Questions Answered Tagged With: alternative, cd, cookbook, darshan yeshiva, G-d, God, Jewish, kurt cobain, meditation, Music, newkosher, nirvana, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, project, punktorah, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier, the, vegan

Kosher Your Kitchen

October 29, 2010 by Patrick Beaulier

Kashering a kitchen is a very easy process based on thoughtful cleaning.

Similar to the Buddhist practice of working meditation (zazen), kashering includes:

  • Cleaning a kitchen fully
  • Immersing cooking and eating utensils in a hot pot of water (mikvah)
  • Heating cooking surfaces for one hour, including stoves, ovens and grills
  • Taking the utensils to the mikvah for a spiritual cleansing

Step 1: Get Organized

Simplification is a great way to start the kosher process. You’re planning a new eating life — so why not have a new kitchen, too? Getting rid of clutter, difficult-to-clean gadgets that you never use, decorations that are supposed to hold food, but somehow never do…these are all great ways to clear your mind and put yourself in the right place before taking on this new lifestyle.

Step 2: Clean Your Kitchen

There’s no magical way to clean your kitchen. But thanks to Martha Stewart, we can offer a few tips. Make sure that everything is clean, including all your dishes and utensils that you plan to kasher.

Step 3: Koshering!

There are a few ways to kosher your kitchen including:

  • Blowtorch: heating a pan or cooking surface until it is “red hot”. A great tip for this is to wrap your cooking item in kosher aluminum foil before you start
  • Oven: heat metal hot enough in an oven that it reaches 451 degrees (the temperature that paper burns). Self-cleaning cycle on an oven reaches this temperature, so this is a simple way to kosher
  • Hot Water: boiling a large pot of water, then placing individual items like flatware, plates, glassware, etc. one at a time. You can also use this same method for sinks, counter tops, and other large areas that can’t be heated through fire; just pour the hot water from the pot on the surface

No matter which method you use for which item, make sure that you follow normal safety procedures!

Step 4: Mikvah

Once the kitchen utensils have been cleaned and heated, it’s time to take them to the mikvah for a “spiritual cleaning”.

A mikvah is a natural, stationary body of water including lakes and oceans. Also, many communities have formal mikvahs inside synagogues. Whether you choose to go something outdoors or a formal setting doesn’t matter. Pick what is meaningful to you!

Here are the steps:

  • Place all the items on a wire screen, or a mesh bag. The goal is to make sure that they are completely submerged and completely touched by the water. If you go to an indoor mikvah, the mikvah attendants will usually have these kind of items. Call ahead, just to double check.
  • Say the blessing:

Baruch atah Adonai Elohainu melech ha olam asher kidshanu bemitzvotav vitzivanuh al tevilat kelim.

Blessed are You, L‑rd our G‑d, King of the Universe, Who has sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded us concerning the immersion of a vessel [or vessels].

  • If you are in an indoor mikvah that is also used for ritual immersion by people, then out of respect, say the blessing in the room next to the mikvah, and not the mikvah room itself. If you are using something outdoors, then you can say it anywhere.
  • Remaining silent, dip the utensils. And you’re done!

Filed Under: Random (Feelin' Lucky?) Tagged With: cleaning, convert to judaism, convert to judaism online, darshan yeshiva, easy kashering, kashering, kosher your kitchen, meditation, online conversion, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, punktorah, rabbi beaulier, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier, zazen

Album Review: Achat Sha’alti (One Thing I Seek)

June 18, 2010 by Patrick Beaulier

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di5coZUGg0Y

Michael מִיכָאֵל Sabani

Kirtan is a part of bhakti yoga, the yoga of devotion. It is done in call-and-response format, and is used to bring the chanter into and altered state of consciousness, “at once ecstatic, contemplative and — most of all — playfully improvised”. In kirtan, the goal is to chant to G-d and to develop an ecstatic state of awareness that brings insight and peace, so that we merge with the Beloved through devotion, hence the moniker “the yoga of devotion”. Borrowing certain ideas and instruments from Hindu tradition and basing them solidly in a Jewish framework, the Kirtan Rabbi, Rabbi Andrew Hahn, Ph.D. uses Hebrew texts as a basis with the lyrics “drawn from the Hebrew Bible and the siddur (the traditional Jewish prayerbook), as well as from the language of Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism)”. At first I was skeptical, but it works, and it works very well.

On the newest album, Achat Sha’alti (One Thing I Seek), Rabbi Hahn has delivered a very well produced album full of affecting chants. The call and response format works very well and allows the listener to connect with the rhythm of the music and the patterns of the chanting. I found myself chanting along in the car and while working, giving me a nice respite in the middle of the day. Using the chants drawn from the bible and the siddur brought a unique insight to them, and in some cases it was as if I had heard them for the first time. On the previous Kirtan Rabbi album, Live! the music and chanting was just as engaging, though not as fresh. The production values on Achat Sha’alti are a refreshing step forward. The lush instrumentals add to the atmospheric chanting from the melodious opening Kaddish to a trance Lecha Dodi medley. The droning harmonium makes an incredible background to the traditional niggunim used as melodies and inspiration for the different tracks. As a tool for personal worship or meditation, I can highly recommend this album, especially to those familiar with other kirtan artists like Krishna Das or Jai Uttal and who want to be able to use kirtan and the bhakti yoga system as a devotional tool in service to Hashem. Or if you just like cool music!

Achat Sha’alti (One Thing I Seek) and Kirtan Rabbi Live! are available at iTunes and on the Kirtan Rabbi website.

Filed Under: Jewish Media Reviews, Podcasts & Videos, Random (Feelin' Lucky?) Tagged With: bhakti, Counterculture, devotion, Jewish, Jews, Judaism, kirtan, meditation, Music, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, prayer, Punk, punktorah, rabbi, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier, Religion, Torah, yoga

A Yom Hashoah Meditation

April 11, 2010 by Patrick Beaulier

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE7lML-CsDg]

Filed Under: Judaism & Belief, Podcasts & Videos, Random (Feelin' Lucky?), Shabbat & Holidays Tagged With: Counterculture, darshan yeshiva, holiday, Holocaust, Holocaust Remembrance Day, Jewish, Jews, Judaism, meditation, never again, patrick "aleph" beaulier, patrick aleph, prayer, Punk, punktorah, rabbi patrick aleph beaulier, Religion, Torah

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