Rabbi Jeff Roth
Rabbi Jeff Roth (he/him), D.Min., M.S.W. is the founder and Director of The Awakened Heart Project for Contemplative Judaism and the author of Jewish Meditation Practices for Everyday Life (2009) and Me, Myself and God: A Theology of Mindfulness (2016). He has led over 230 meditation retreats over the last 25 years, during a period of a dramatic growth in interest in Jewish Mindfulness (Heartfulness) Meditation, often among Buddhist teachers and practitioners (re)exploring their Jewish roots.
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. Rabbi Roth was a founding staff member for five rounds of the Jewish Mindfulness Teacher Training Program co sponsored by IJS and the Awakened Heart Project. 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.
Upcoming Programs by Rabbi Jeff Roth
Exploring the Self Through Jewish and Buddhist Contemplative Practice
Also Rabbi Joanna Katz
August 20 - 24, 2025
The Nature of the Self is naturally a prime phenomenon that is directly encountered through meditation practice. We can learn a lot about the experience of “selfing” by focused attention on each moment of experience. In addition, from certain Buddhist teachings we might learn that there is “no separate self”. A prime teaching from one […]