"Three ways are open to a man who is in sorrow. He who stands on a normal rung weeps, he who stands higher is silent, but he who stands on the topmost rung converts his sorrow into song. “ - The Kotzker Rebbe

This Winter

As the High Holiday season concluded, the precarious ceasefire, the uncertainty in Israel and Diaspora and the havoc in Gaza that remains, the tremendous need to mourn, ground and rebuild that continues, we cross the threshold into winter. Between Hanukkah and Purim stretches the longest span of the Jewish calendar without sacred days — a quiet corridor of inner work. These darker days and longer nights surface the ache of loneliness, grief, and the heaviness of a world shadowed by fear, antisemitism, war, hunger, climate crisis, and global uncertainty. And yet, in this darkness the small light of the contemplative impulse - awakens. Temple of One — the theme of this season — asks:

How might we become a self-nourishing sanctuary — of insight, presence, compassion and companionship with Mystery itself?

It honors that many of us are not fulfilled by any one thing — not one community, one role, one friendship. Parts of us are seen; others remain hidden. Temple of One invites us to dwell in the space between and around those parts, to grow our intimacy with this fragmentation within us and in the world, and see them as gates into deeper awareness of mind, creativity, flexibility and wonder.

Daroma: Turning South

The Judaeen sages said that at the old Temple, the table of offerings stood in the north, and the Menorah candelabra stood in the south. If one seeks earthly wealth, one must turn north. Those who seek wisdom, “harotze sh’yakhkim, yadrim,” must turn south, Daroma. (The Last Gate, Bava Batra 25b:8) This turning south is tied to our people’s suffering - it is said that since the destruction of the temple, the mysterious southern wind has not blown.

To resume this southern wind, to tune the mind, attune to the ancestral calendar, to open the heart, to grieve and to praise this season, Daroma offers a rich seasonal schedule of opportunities to practice and be in fellowship together. Grounded in the rigorous Zen training Rami was fortunate to receive, Daroma aims to weave such spirit of practice with Jewish ancestral wisdom, modern home-dwellers life, and with the special needs of the Jewish body, psyche and spirit.

Our guides and Sources

We will be guided by Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and the subject of his book “A Passion for Truth” — the 18th century Polish Kotzker Rebbe whose fierce insistence on practice, solitude, and radical interiority embodies it. We will meet through the book the teachings of Reb Bunam, the Kotzker’s own teacher, and Søren Kierkegaard, whose mystical Christianity and early existentialism Heschel jusxtaposed with the rabbis’.

This will be scafoldings as we explore the infinite depth of the recurring phrase “כולא קמיה כלא חשיב” Kulah Kamei Kelo Hashiv, translated here as “Before the Infinite, all things are unthought” or “Before the Infinite, all things are nothingness” as it used through the centuries in the books of Zohar, Tanya, and other Kabbalistic and Hasidic sources — together with the teachings of tzimtzum, sacred contraction, and bitul hayesh, the softening of egoic form, all as they apply to meditation and tefilah practice. These are not just metaphysical ideas, but lived invitations: to let longing ripen without rushing it into action, when we hold that tension — between ache and restraint, between immediacy and structure, being experience and nothingness — everything we touch gains gravity.

As we travel through this season, Hanukkah will guide us inward, a festival of hidden light kindled in the dark. We’ll emerge again at Tu Bishvat, the New Year for the Trees — a time of quiet roots stirring, a reorientation toward spring and renewal.

‘A disciple of the Kotzker complained to his master that he was unable to worship God without becoming aware of his pride. "Is there a way of praying that prevents the self from intruding?" he asked.
"Have you ever met a wolf while walking alone in the forest?" "I have," he answered.
"What was on your mind at that moment?"
"Fear. Nothing but fear, and the need to escape."
"You see," replied the Kotzker, "at that moment you were afraid without being self-conscious of your fear. It is in this way that we must worship God."‘

Over Ten Weeks, We Will also:

Gather online as a group for weekly practice meetings with silent meditation, prayer, learning, and fellowship;
Immerse in contemplative music;
Each session will include Havdallah — the ritual closing of Shabbat — either at the beginning or end;
Supplement our learning with music, texts on Zen Buddhism, consciousness, grief, and spiritual formation;
Hold impromptu practice offerings (Kabbalat Shabbat, silent meditation, fellowship) with short notice;

Times and dates

Motzaei Shabbat / Saturday evenings, 5:30-7pm Eastern timezone.

Meeting #1: Nov 29, 2025 - opening

Meeting #2: Dec 6, 2025

Meeting #3: Dec 13, 2025 - Hanukka seventh night

Meeting #4: Dec 20, 2025

Meeting #5: Dec 27, 2025

Meeting #6: Jan 3, 2026

Jan 10 2026 - no event, full solo practice week

Meeting #7: Jan 17, 2026

Meeting #8: Jan 24, 2026

Meeting #9: Jan 31, 2026 - ahead of Tu bishvat on 2/2

Meeting #10: Feb 7, 2026

Tuition

$350-500 for the full season, one time. This includes the program’s 10 group sessions, communications, and optional pop-up offerings.

If you are able, please offer the full amount — this helps support others who require reduced tuition.

This is not a mass-market course. It is intimate, experiential, and relational. Pricing reflects that.

If finances are a barrier, do reach out — no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

Cancellation policy: Full refund through the first week of the program.

"In the Kotzker's thought the aim of reflection was to overcome the dualisms within a person. Self-knowledge implies honesty…because we know that a person may sincerely believe something about himself that is not true….The Kotzker did not seek to convert his disciples into quietists, who might exalt the motionless inner state of the soul… [but to] engage in elucidating the self."
- Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

Reading Material

Throughout the season, we’ll be in conversation with the book A Passion for Truth by Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel — a spiritual and philosophical encounter between Heschel and the Kotzker Rebbe. Participants are encouraged to acquire a copy of the book. Selected excerpts may be shared digitally for weekly reflection and discussion. (Amazon Link.) Other reading material will be shared digitally.

Optional 1:1 Spiritual Accompaniment

Rami is available for individual 30-minutes check-ins and 60-minute sessions at an additional fee. These meetings offer spiritual accompaniment and may include learning, coaching, shared practice, and pastoral care.

Who is This For?

Those with regular synagogue experience who are yearning for consciousness-centered experiential Jewish experience.
Those who whether by choice or by personal, age, mental, or physical requirements lead long period of solitary life, or yearn to add presence and solitude to their life.
Those engaged in meditation, psychedelic practice, grief work, or Dharma paths — Jubus or HinJus seeking to weave their spiritual practice with their Jewish ancestral heritage.
If you come from a different ancestry or practice a different spiritual path, you are warmly welcome. Do know that Daroma is a Jewish-centered program, and will center on Jewish themes, vocabulary, teachings, and culture.
Daroma is non-political. It acknowledges both emergent and the ancestral aspects of human, and particularly, Jewish experience. That includes the land of Israel — its mountains and rivers, plains and forests, flora, fauna, sky and seas — that has long been an inherited and lived dimension of the ancestral path across generations of Hebrews, Israelites, Judeans, and, today, Jews — regardless of politics, along with other peoples who share the love for it . To join Daroma is to acknowledge, be in resonance or be in a relationship with this statement. Rami is Israeli and Daroma is an Israeli-welcoming space.

Peace-building Impact

A percentage of proceeds will be donated to a peacebuilding initiative in Israel and Palestine.

Registration

To join the Winter Season of Temple of One, Use the form below to share your intention to participate. I’ll follow up personally with payment options and next steps. If this is your first interaction with me or with Daroma, feel free to share a bit about yourself — your relationship to meditation, Judaism, or anything else you’d like me to know. You’re also welcome to ask any questions about the program, tuition, or accessibility.

This step helps ensure resonance, allows for sliding scale access, and preserves the relational spirit of the offering.

Please register asap and indicate your level of payment pledge as a minimum number of pledges will be needed to launch the program and make scholarship available for others. Please do not complete your payment until you hear back from Rami.

To keep the container intimate, new participants would not be able to join once the program starts.

Learn more Rabbi Rami Avraham Efal

Daroma: Temple of One 5786 Winter Practice Season