The Department of Mysticism and Spirituality has held open free events for the general public, on its fascinating study topics, for years - both at Zefat Academic College and throughout the country. This page presents flyers for most of these events and photos from them.
A variegated and rich collection of newsletters sent to those interested in the contents of the Department of Mysticism and Spirituality, during the years of its existence at Zefat Academic College. The newsletters included news of the department, as well as news from Israel and the worldwide in the fields of mysticism and spirituality, columns dealing with academic concepts and content related to the department, descriptions of academic literature and academic events, inspirational quotes, and more.
This lecture presents a surprising and innovative spiritual-alternative strategy of Israeli-Jews to refer to the Jewish tradition - an interpretation of the tradition while identifying with the anti-heroines of an ancient Jewish legend. In this way, the characteristic approach of the "spiritual-but-not-religious" (SBNR) trend that criticizes the religious establishment is expressed, while adopting the criticism inherent in the ancient Jewish sources. In our case it's the retelling of an ancient Jewish legend - about a witch hunt conducted by Rabbi Shimon ben Shatach in Ashkelon in the second century BC.
In this event (14th Elul 5784; August 31st, 2023) the end of the journey of the Department of Mysticism and Spirituality at Zefat Academic College (Safed) was marked. An exciting, sad-happy event, which included a presentation by Prof. Marianna Ruah-Midbar Shapiro, memories of students and lecturers, a lecture by Prof. Moshe Idel, a special ceremony, a Playback show by the members of the department, songs and blessings.
Is there a connection between the fact that Mindfulness has become fashionable in the cultural space and the scientific recognition it has received? How did Mindfulness turn from a spiritual practice to a evidence-based scientific practice? In this lecture, we presented the development process of the scientific-medical discourse about Mindfulness, in an unusual context: observing this phenomenon as part of a cultural process. One of the main conclusions was that the intensity of the secularization and the Westernization of the meditation is a predictor of the degree of its acceptance in the Western discourse.
this lecture presented the scientific-medical discourse on mindfulness, in which this meditation became an accepted and desirable trend. In order to illustrate the success of mindfulness - a comparison with the status of Transcendental Meditation in the scientific-medical discourse is also presented.
This page presents concentrated information about the research project of the liturgical poem Im Nin’alu (lit., “if were locked”), carried out by Omri Ruah-Midbar and Marianna Ruah-Midbar Shapiro. The research…
What is the relevance of religion and spirituality to the current digital culture and gaming world? This lecture waas included in an internation workshop on Societal and Value-related Aspects of Online Gaming in MENA (Middle Esat and North Africa) Region.
This panel concluded the 9th Israeli Conference (and the last one - 2018) for the Study of Contemporary Spiritualities. It included four Israeli spiritual teachers who examined contemporary society, in Israel in particular, and its challenges, from the spiritual aspect they are occupied with.
This fascinating session, organized and chaired by Prof. Marianna Ruah-Midbar Shapiro, dealt with deities in Neo-Paganism, Occultism and the New Age.