Blessing the Sea – Lane Igoudin | Author, Professor, Dad

Writing Inward: The Power of Critical Self-Reflection

What is critical self-reflection? How does it apply to writing and language studies? My chapter “Critical Ethnography and Dialogic Reflection in Student-Led Language Research” in a new academic volume What Is Critical in Language Studies: Disclosing Social Inequalities and Injustice (Routledge, 2021) discusses critical self-reflection in language studies and is related to a study IContinue reading “Writing Inward: The Power of Critical Self-Reflection”

From a Failed Burglary to Hanukkah History

With these new additions, the Heliodorus stele places of the beginning of the Hanukkah story in its historical context.

Bird Sacrifices in Ancient Israel

Touring the caves of Tel Maresha in Beit Guvrin National Park (Israel), we came upon a columbarium – nesting boxes or perches for thousands of pigeons and doves.

Mujerista Theology, or Finding Sacredness amidst Poverty and Oppression

This post is part of Blessing the Sea 4. Is search for the sacred a class privilege? Or to put it differently, are the opportunities to touch the divine – beyond the formal religious settings open to the masses, like synagogues, churches, or mosques – luxuries afforded only to those who can afford them, andContinue reading “Mujerista Theology, or Finding Sacredness amidst Poverty and Oppression”

Meeting Life’s Challenges with Palms Together

This fall, I am participating again in a three-month practice period at Zen Center Los Angeles. Traditionally called Ango, this is the time of intensified practice to strengthen awareness and concentration, built around a particular theme. The theme of this year’s ZCLA Ango is gassho. As its website explains: Gassho is the act of placingContinue reading “Meeting Life’s Challenges with Palms Together”

Serialized Blog on Morning Prayers as Meditative Practice

The Applied Jewish Spirituality institute in Jerusalem published my 3-part mini-blog called “Setting the Right Intention with Morning Prayers,” which describes how to set up an individual spiritual practice that combines Jewish morning prayers with mindful techniques.

Setting the Right Intention with Morning Prayers: A Personal Liturgy

This is part 1 of a 3-part post I wrote for the Applied Jewish Spirituality blog about discovering the time and place for daily meditation in morning prayers. My Hebrew name is Akiva ben Ariel. Akiva comes from Yaakov, ‘the follower’, in Genesis; Ariel being my father’s Hebrew name. My dharma name is Kyojin, meaning ‘abiding in compassion’.Continue reading “Setting the Right Intention with Morning Prayers: A Personal Liturgy”

A Jerusalem Notebook

In the summer of 2019, I was studying in an intensive program at the Conservative (Masorti) Yeshiva in Jerusalem. It turned out to be one of the most transformative experiences I’ve ever had. Here’s a brief account of my discoveries from that time. Last year in Jerusalem… struck by a teaching of Rabbi Kook, explainedContinue reading “A Jerusalem Notebook”