The second annual Hineni* event is a day-and-a-half mindfulness meditation retreat (non-residential) for Jewish, Jewish-adjacent, and curious individuals from all backgrounds. It is open and appropriate for experienced and new meditators alike.

Taught by Rabbi Seth Castleman, the retreat is sponsored by Ohavi Zedek Synagogue and will be held at the Burlington Friends Meeting House.

The retreat will include meditation instructions, sitting and walking meditation practice, guided meditation, eating meditation, mindful movement, teachings, as well as prayer and chanting. The majority of the retreat will be in silence. Friday dinner and Saturday lunch will be provided.

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* Hineini means “Here I am!” in Hebrew, a spiritual call of presence.

“Rabbi Seth is a powerful and engaging storyteller and mindfulness teacher, who beautifully weaves together ancient Jewish and Buddhist practices. His presence emanates compassion; and he has an immense capacity to hold complexity in a complicated time in Jewish history.”
– Lindsay Foreman

Rabbi Seth Castleman is a teacher, writer, and storyteller with over 25 years of experience teaching mindfulness and spiritual practice in houses of worship, meditation centers, prisons, and universities.

Castleman is trained in both the Jewish and Buddhist traditions. After 20 years of meditation practice and two years of silent retreat as a lay-person in the US, India, and Nepal and as a monk in Burma, Seth was trained as a teacher by Jack Kornfield at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, CA. He was authorized as a meditation/dharma teacher in 2008. Following eight years of rabbinical studies in the US and Israel, Castleman was ordained in 2011 as a rabbi by one Orthodox, one Conservative, and one Reform rabbi.

In addition to teaching meditation and spiritual practice, Castleman is the Founding Director of Exodus Project, an inter-faith organization in California serving 1,000 women and men returning from incarceration annually.

Castleman has published in two dozen newspapers, periodicals, and anthologies on the intersection of contemplative practice and social justice and the transformational power of brokenness. As a storyteller, Seth has performed in theaters, on radio and television, and at countless kitchen tables. Seth uses myth, storytelling, and humor as central tools in his teaching and counseling work.