Our volunteers and trustees
HaMakom thanks our many volunteers and our board of trustees who give their time and professional skills to support HaMakom, and grow the awareness and practice of Jewish mindfulness meditation in the UK.
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.
Zac H. Newman
Zac Newman is HaMakom’s Community Director. He is responsible for the day-to-day running of our organisation. In addition to this role, Zac is a regular teacher for HaMakom. He 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 has taught mindfulness in schools since 2013. He trained to teach 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 has spent extensive time on retreat.
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 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. Bev 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. Bev is a student of the late Rob Burbea and his teaching influences her approach. Bev 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.
Rabba Dr Mira Neshama Weil
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.
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Email: zac@hamakom.community
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Email:
rabbidanny@hamakom.community
