Our Team

Rabbi Danny Newman

Rabbi Danny is the Founder and Executive Director of HaMakom. He has been studying and teaching meditation, Jewish spirituality, Jewish thought and mysticism for over twenty years and is currently the Rabbi of two Progressive Jewish communities in London. Danny also works as a Life Coach and Facilitator of Men’s Groups and Men’s Retreats. He read Jewish Studies at Oxford University, studied at several Yeshivot in Israel and trained in psychotherapy. Previously he worked for many years in Corporate Law, Finance and Venture Capital in the City of London. He is married and has two young sons.

Zac Newman

Zac Newman is HaMakom’s Community Director. He leads our organisation operationally. Zac also teaches Jewish meditation widely, including for Or HaLev and the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. Zac is a long-time teacher of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction programme. He trained to teach mindfulness through the Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice at Bangor University. Prior to this he studied Theology at the University of Cambridge, and then spent a fellowship in the graduate school at Yale University. Zac is continually interested in how we can wake up to the wisdom of our tradition and the goodness of our lives.

Marc Frank

Marc Frank is HaMakom’s Community Manager. He supports Rabbi Danny with all of HaMakom’s
operations, and is directly involved in the organisation’s outreach and development projects.
Marc is an experienced meditator of over 25 years and is a qualified instructor of Jewish Mindfulness Meditation. He has recently graduated from the Tiferet Jewish Mindfulness Teacher Training Programme, and is currently enrolled in ongoing training through Or Halev’s “Keter” course. He has also served as Retreat Manager for HaMakom and Or HaLev on a number of occasions. Marc lives in Totnes, Devon, where he volunteers as Community Facilitator for the local Jewish Community, works as a Mental Health Support Worker, and is in private practice as an Integrative Gestalt Therapist. He currently sits as Chair of the Devon Faith and Belief Forum and is passionate about bridge-building through mindful interfaith relations and conscious community connection.

Sara Bensusan

In 2014 I was blessed to attend one of the very first HaMakom retreats at Skeet House. The fact that the retreat was in silence was something of a surprise to me, I never thought I would spend a weekend in relative silence. But I was hooked, the meditation, the spiritual teaching, the community, and yes even the silence were and continue to be inspiring. Since then it has been my pleasure and honour and a joyful part of my life to be part of the HaMakom team working with Rabbi Danny and the other trustees to establish HaMakom as a charity and to help to grow the organisation. I also serve regularly as Retreat Manager and produce our residential retreats in conjunction with our teachers. My work with HaMakom is all part of my practice. In other parts of my life I have a son and daughter, now ‘all grown up’ and both living in Brighton. I live with my husband and our cat Opal in North London and in my spare time, I work as a consultant property solicitor.

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.

Miri B Cohen

Miri has been practising meditation for over 25 years, mainly in the Insight tradition. She is an NHS-trained Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy/Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction teacher and a graduate of Yesod, the Jewish meditation programme from Or HaLev and the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. Miri facilitates meditation groups in person and online for HaMakom and secular organisations and gives one to one sessions. She is a member of the Community Dharma Leader system at Gaia House, Devon, UK. Miri is a student of the late Rob Burbea and his teaching influences her approach. Miri is also a long-term practitioner of interfaith dialogue.

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. At the heart of her work is an emphasis on psycho-physical 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.

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, Sapphire Mind, is recently published. 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.

Rabbah 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 has received Orthodox Smicha from 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

We thank our many volunteers who give their time and professional skills to support HaMakom, and to grow the awareness and practice of Jewish mindfulness meditation.

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