Yoga and Torah- forthcoming

Posted on May 3, 2010 by Alan Brill | 6 Comments

On the Chabad website, Tzvi Freeman had a very reasonable article on Yoga and Torah, basically he followed the halakhah and permitted Yoga and as exercise. Some of the wild and woolly unlearned baal teshuvah websites attacked the article becuase they know Yoga has an impure spirit, is magic and idolatry. Now the article was taken down from the Chabad site and the internal links removed. I have a copy of the original article on a flash-drive and will get around to re-posting it when I have a chance; it may not be for a week or two.

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6 responses to “Yoga and Torah- forthcoming”

pierre | May 3, 2010 at 4:22 pm | Reply

Something on the “Ophanim” and the claim of the secretly Jewish origins of Yoga(s) would be nice to see.
- Alan Brill | May 3, 2010 at 4:37 pm | Reply
  
  Have you seen this?
  
  Nova Religio
  November 2006, Vol. 10, No. 2, Pages 57–74 , Posted online on October 13, 2006.
  
  Jewish Yoga: Experiencing Flexible, Sacred, and Jewish Bodies
  Celia Rothenberg‌
  
  ABSTRACT: This article delineates and explores three distinctive, although frequently overlapping forms of “Jewish yoga”: Judaicized yoga, Hebrew yoga, and Torah yoga. Each of these is an evolving system of mental, spiritual, and physical experiences based both on yogic practices and on a variety of Jewish teachings as interpreted by different Jewish yoga teachers. To contextualize the development and spread of all types of Jewish yoga, I begin by briefly discussing the Jewish Renewal Movement and hatha yoga in North America today. Then, one example of a Judaicized yoga class is explored through interviews and participant observation with a small group of dedicated students in western Canada. These students work to extend the meaning of the female religious body beyond the halachically observant to one that is “flexible,” sacred, and Jewish. Finally, conceptualizations of Hebrew and Torah yoga are outlined by drawing on the perspectives of key practitioners and their writings.
pierre | May 4, 2010 at 9:59 am | Reply

Now I do. Thanks! I’m not sure if these brands of yoga/judaism interaction make the claim to an ancient mesorah that is made on behalf of “ophanim”, but I’ll look into this piece. A similar phenomena of ‘esoteric’ Judaic origins for the martial arts is made by a “Yemenite Breslov” hip-hop artist who goes by the title the Aluf Abir;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yehoshua_Sofer

Neither Parliament Funkadelic or Louis Farrakhan’s “mothership” could have seen this coming – and who can refute a ‘hidden’ mesorah? Must be emet.
BCF | February 7, 2011 at 5:01 pm | Reply

Did you ever repost the article by Tzvi Freeman??
jonathansilverman | February 21, 2011 at 9:46 pm | Reply

Here is a website i found on ophanim and yoga:

http://www.nefeshhaya.com/
Emanuel Chanoch | July 3, 2013 at 5:01 pm | Reply

Information wants to be free:
http://web.archive.org/web/20080315052646/http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/496869/jewish/Is-Yoga-kosher.htm

Yasher koach Tzvi for the great article! I’m curious why Chabad.org censored your article. Did they ever publish an explanation for the suppression or a rebuttal of your response?