Meeting Antisemitism with Mindfulness

with Rabbi Angela Buchdahl

January 16 – 30, 2025

Thursdays, 3:00 – 4:15 PM ET

Register Now

Learn to meet this moment with mindfulness,
drawing on Jewish wisdom.

We are living through one of the most difficult periods in recent Jewish history. The horrific events of October 7th, the war that followed in Israel and Gaza, and the worldwide explosion in antisemitism have triggered intense emotions — fear, rage, grief, urgency, isolation, helplessness, and more — that have reverberated across the Jewish world.

These shocking and painful events have also activated in many Jews the deep, largely unconscious wounds of Jewish intergenerational trauma, making it hard to think clearly, respond wisely, act in alignment with our values, and maintain our self-worth and humanity.

Join Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, one of this generation’s most respected spiritual leaders and the dynamic and empathic Senior Rabbi of Central Synagogue in New York City, for a course that will provide both comfort and wisdom for grappling with this rising tide. We’ll learn to discern the difference between fear and danger, address internal and external antisemitism, and understand our agency to respond.

Develop tools to address antisemitism wisely — with mind, heart, and intention.

Develop tools to address antisemitism wisely — with mind, heart, and intention.

Weekly Themes

In Meeting Antisemitism with Mindfulness, we will explore and practice some of the mindfulness tools that enable us to respond wisely to rising antisemitism. The sessions will focus on three areas:

Week 1: Understanding the difference between fear and true danger. What is anticipatory anxiety for a future that is not yet here and what is true danger that must be addressed? How can we avoid the fear that we bring upon ourselves?

Week  2: Addressing internal and external antisemitism. What have we internalized? What shame and double standard have we imposed on ourselves?

Week 3: Understanding our agency. Like the Serenity Prayer, in addressing antisemitism, we must reserve our energy for what can be changed and accept what might not — and know the difference.

Rather than merely reacting to antisemitism, we will learn to respond to antisemitism from a position of groundedness and strength.

All sessions will be recorded for those who cannot attend live. While the sessions will vary, each will include the following components:

        • A short meditation or centering practice to begin.
        • A Jewish wisdom teaching.
        • Small group work in breakout rooms, in order to deepen understanding and use the practices we’ve discussed.

Register Today for Meeting Antisemitism with Mindfulness

IJS is pleased to offer this course at two tuition levels.
We encourage you to pay at the highest level you can, which will enable more students to participate.

We will be offering this course free of charge to members of Central Synagogue and Hevraya. Please email us at [email protected] to receive access.

Full Course Tuition

$199

Register Now

Reduced Course Tuition

$149

Register Now

Meet Your Instructor

Rabbi Angela Buchdahl

Rabbi Angela Warnick Buchdahl serves as the Senior Rabbi of Central Synagogue in New York City and is the first woman to lead Central’s Reform congregation in its 180-year history. Rabbi Buchdahl first joined Central Synagogue as Senior Cantor in 2006. In 2014, she was chosen by the congregation to be Senior Rabbi.

Rabbi Buchdahl was invested as a cantor in 1999 and also ordained as a rabbi in 2001 by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York where she was a Wexner Graduate Fellow. She earned a bachelor of arts in religious studies from Yale University in 1994. Born in Korea to a Jewish American father and a Korean Buddhist mother, Rabbi Buchdahl is the first Asian American to be ordained as a cantor or rabbi in North America. Prior to her service at Central Synagogue, Rabbi Buchdahl served as Associate Rabbi/Cantor at Westchester Reform Temple in Scarsdale, New York.

Rabbi Buchdahl has been nationally recognized for her innovations in leading worship, which draw large crowds both in the congregation’s historic Main Sanctuary and via livestream and cable broadcast to viewers in more than 100 countries.

Rabbi Buchdahl has been featured in dozens of news outlets including the Today Show, NPR, and PBS and was listed as one of Newsweek’s “America’s 50 Most Influential Rabbis.” She serves on the boards of the AJC, the Asia Society, the New York Board of Rabbis, and the Yale University President’s Council.

Rabbi Buchdahl and her husband Jacob Buchdahl have three children.