Regah shel shtika (“a moment of quiet”) is a set of practices reclaiming the Jewish tradition of quieting (shtika/Hashkata) to support wellbeing and foster ethical behavior within Jewish educational spaces, with a longer-term goal of forming a solid basis for ethical Jewish communities. This project is important because as members of the Jewish collective, we have a responsibility to help heal what is broken within our culture. Investing in spaces of silence can help devote the type of inner work that fosters the emotional intelligence and ethics that can heal what is broken. This may seem too great a task. But when it feels overwhelming, let us remind ourselves of what Rabbi Tarfon said in Pirkei Avot (2:7) “It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you at liberty to neglect it.”
March 2024
Rega Shel Shtika: How Quieting Fosters Ethical Behavior
Reintroducing practices of silence within Jewish learning communities can foster ethical behavior.
Rabba Dr Mira Neshama Weil is a Scholar and Teacher of Jewish Spirituality, a Jewish Educator, a meditation Teacher, a mindfulness coach, and an artist. She earned a Ph.D. in Sociology of Religion at Ecole de Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris (EHESS) and received orthodox smicha from Rav Prof. Daniel Sperber at Beit Midrash Har’El in Jerusalem.
A certified Jewish Experiential Educator (Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies), Mindfulness Teacher (Institute for Jewish Spirituality) and Mindfulness Instructor (Mindfulness Training Institute) Mira is also a certified yoga teacher (Sira RYT 200H), and an illustrator. Born in Paris, she lives in Tel Aviv with her Husband Matan, with whom she cofounded the Jewish Meditation App project, Neshima.co. When she is not learning torah, meditating or painting, she pursues her search for the best challah recipe.
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