Area Summary

Loneliness, distraction, polarization and despair plague our society like an epidemic. These are far more than unpleasant feelings–they are health risk factors, leading to high levels of chronic stress, which in turn causes elevated risks for a variety of diseases. Stress is sometimes countered by artificial means, and loneliness through the weak connections afforded by social media, but such efforts cannot solve the root problems. Jewish spiritual teachings offer a vision of contemplative activity as both deeply nurturing and radically subversive precisely because it jolts us beyond the values and structures that dominate our lives, inviting us to reconnect our minds and bodies to the fullness of the world and to the spiritual infinities it can express.