Our Team

Rabbi Danny Newman

Danny is the Founding Partner of HaMakom. He has been teaching and practising meditation for over 10 years and is a student of Reb Zalman Shechter Shalomi. He works closely with Reform Judaism and is the spiritual leader of the Elstree & Borehamwood Masorti Community. Previously he read Jewish Studies at Oxford University, trained in psychotherapy and worked for many years as a corporate lawyer in the City of London. He is a certified Integral Development Coach.

Rabbi James Jacobson Maisels

James directs the vision of Or HaLev & is a devotee of mindfulness practice. Ordained by Rav Daniel Landes, with a doctorate in Jewish Studies from the University of Chicago, Rav James lectures internationally on Jewish Spiritual practices. He also teaches at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, Haifa University & Yeshivat Hadar. He strives to integrate his study with his practice, & to help teach & live Judaism as a spiritual discipline.

Rabbi Sheila Peltz Weinberg

Sheila served as a congregational rabbi for seventeen years and has published widely on such topics as feminism, spiritual direction, parenting, social justice and mindfulness from a Jewish perspective. Rabbi Weinberg has taught mindfulness meditation and yoga to rabbis, Jewish professionals and lay people in the context of the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. She serves as a spiritual director to a variety of Jewish clergy including students and faculty at HUC-JIR in New York. She is creator and co-leader of the Jewish Mindfulness Teacher Training Program.

Bev Cohen

Bev has been practising meditation for 25 years and it is central to her life. She has facilitated a regular weekly meditation group in north London and teaches one to one sessions in Brighton. She has qualified in mindfulness-based approaches for teaching (MBCT/MBSR) with the NHS. She has had the privilege of sitting with some of the world’s best meditation teachers.

Gidon Fineman

Gidon trained in Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) at Oxford University’s Mindfulness Centre (OMC). He has taught MBCT courses in North London as well as teaching mindfulness courses for Oxford University students, workplace groups, secondary school teachers, and at the OMC for the general public. Alongside working with MBCT, Gidon teaches mindfulness meditation retreats HaMakom. He also works within NHS adult mental health services. Gidon is a registered teacher with the British Association of Mindfulness-Based Approaches (BAMBA), and follows the OMC’s Guiding Ethical Principles.

Mika Hadar

Mika comes from a long line of Hasidic healers. Being trained in a variety of mind-body systems including the Alexander Technique, Hatha Yoga and Cranio-Sacral Therapy, Mika has developed the unique practice of Subtle Yoga. Her work explores the subconscious self-alignment and self -healing capacity of the body alongside re-education through Subtle Yoga. At the heart of her work is an emphasis on Psychophysical integration. Mika is based in London and teaches internationally.

Rabbi Daniel Silverstein

Daniel received his ordination from Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School in New York, and is past Director of Jewish Life & Learning for Hillel at Stanford University. He is an accredited meditation teacher, and teaches at Pardes, Romemu Yeshiva, and the OU and is the founder of Applied Jewish Spirituality.org, a platform for online exploration of Jewish spirituality. He read Social & Political Science at Cambridge University.

Zac H. Newman

Zac H. Newman is HaMakom’s Operations Manager. He is responsible for the day-to-day running of our organisation. In addition to this role, Zac works freelance as a teacher of mindfulness and meditation. He teaches in schools, one-to-one, in workplaces and in public groups. Meditation practice and Judaism have both been profound influences for him, and through HaMakom he is grateful to be able to explore the many ways they overlap. He has trained to teach through the Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice at Bangor University, and he has spent extensive time on retreat.

Roland Brandman

Roland is the Chairman of HaMakom. He speaks and writes about the traditional sources for Jewish contemplative thought and practice. His new book on the subject is due to be published in Spring 2022. Roland is also a property lawyer, a synagogue chazan (“the English Cantor”), a past exhibitioner of Oxford University (reading Classics), and a member of the Athenaeum Club.

Dr Mira Neshama Niculescu

Mira is a Paris-born scholar and teacher of Jewish spirituality and meditation. She earned a Ph.D. in Sociology of Religion at Ecole de Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris (EHESS) and is a Post-Doctoral Golda Meir Fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem as well as at the Oxford Center for Judaism and Hebrew Studies, researching the phenomenon of Judaism and Buddhism as well as Jewish Meditation. A certified Jewish Mindfulness Teacher with the Institute for Jewish Spirituality (IJS), Mira is also an Orthodox Smicha Fellow at the Yeshiva Har’El in Jerusalem.

Rabbi Lisa Barrett

Lisa has been practicing meditation for over 30 years. She served as a congregational rabbi for 10 years, leading Contemplative services in her communities and at HaMakom retreats. Lisa taught Jewish studies at JCoSS and at North Cheshire Jewish Primary School, and also trained in Spiritual Direction with Elat Chayyim Centre for Jewish Spirituality in the US. Lisa is currently working as a Chaplain at The Christie cancer hospital in Manchester.

Our volunteers and trustees

HaMakom graciously thanks our many volunteers and our board of trustees who give their time and professional skills to support HaMakom grow awareness and practice of Jewish Mindfulness Meditation in the UK.