Jewish Renewal (Schachter-Shalomi)

1. Introduction

Version followed: Jewish Renewal as published by ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal (aleph.org; ALEPH Ordination Program pages at aop.aleph.org), including its Eighteen Principles, Four Worlds Judaism page, Hashpa'ah programme description and Professional Code of Ethics (revised December 2020), with Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi's books as their publishers and reviewers describe them.

Jewish Renewal is a movement, not a therapy. ALEPH describes it as a “transdenominational approach to revitalizing Judaism” and, in an earlier brochure, as a “phenomenon, not a denomination”: grassroots and multi-centred, without a formal hierarchy. It draws on Jewish mystical (Kabbalistic) and Hasidic sources and on the thought of its founder, Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (“Reb Zalman”, 1924–2014), who received rabbinic ordination in 1947 from the Lubavitch (Chabad) yeshiva Tomchei T'mimim, helped launch Havurat Shalom (1968) and founded B'nai Or Religious Fellowship, which (as P'nai Or) merged with The Shalom Center in 1993 to form ALEPH. [source: ALEPH, What is Jewish Renewal?; ALEPH brochure; AOP history; University of Colorado Innovations in Jewish Life Collections]

Its stated aim is to renew kavanah (intention, inner direction) in Jewish practice across all streams. Its own account of how change happens is spiritual, not psychological: through joyful, accessible, embodied prayer (davvenen), contemplative practice, study of Kabbalistic and Hasidic sources, egalitarian community, and a “neo-halakhic” relationship to Jewish law that treats halakha as a living way of moving through the world, the person deepens an ongoing connection with God, whom ALEPH describes as both immanent in creation and calling from beyond it. These are the movement's religious claims, reported here as the movement holds them. [source: ALEPH, What is Jewish Renewal?; ALEPH brochure]

For the psychotherapist, Renewal therefore enters therapy in three ways: as the client's religious home and identity; as a set of openly taught practices (davvenen, chant, meditation, embodied prayer, Sage-ing) that the client may wish to bring into the work; and as a network of clergy, rabbinic pastors and Jewish spiritual directors (mashpi'im) with whom the therapist may collaborate. Renewal has no secret or initiatory core technique: its practices are taught openly at retreats, in congregations and in published books. The therapist's own work is set out in Sections 4 and 5. [synthesis]

2. Framework

2a. The movement's own structure (as ALEPH publishes it)

Programmes and gatherings. ALEPH Kallah, a week-long festival of Jewish learning with adult and children's programming, music, art and drama, held every two years since 1985 (the brochure reports upwards of 800 participants); Ruach Ha'aretz, an alternate-year retreat; Kol Zimra chant-leader training; Embodying Spirit, En-spiriting Body (somatic practice); a Sage-ing Mentorship Program in Spiritual Eldering; Graceful Transitions (companionship at the end of life and support for caregivers); a Beit Midrash distance-learning programme (Hebrew, introduction to Renewal, Reb Zalman's thought, traditional beliefs and practice); and a mentored Lay Leadership Certificate. Programme offerings change over time; check current listings. [source: ALEPH brochure; AOP history]
ALEPH Ordination Program (AOP). Tracks for rabbi, cantor (hazzan), rabbinic pastor (pastoral care in settings such as hospitals and hospices) and mashpi'a (Jewish spiritual director). Students work with a member of the core faculty (the Va'ad) as Director of Studies; courses run by live video conference; residential components include a summer intensive (“Smicha Week”) and the winter OHALAH conference, where ordinations are held annually. ALEPH reported over 200 ordinations by 2017. OHALAH is the professional association of Renewal rabbis and cantors. [source: AOP history]
Hashpa'ah (Jewish spiritual direction) training. Now a two-year programme (shortened from three): four in-person retreats, live online seminars on hashpa'ah texts and practice, and four semesters of supervised monthly practicum with individuals and groups. The curriculum lists spiritual and pastoral counselling, prayer and ritual, storytelling, spiritual approaches to Torah, mussar, identity, somatic and trauma-informed awareness, and spirituality across the lifecycle. Graduates receive a certificate of completion; ALEPH states this is not a certification because the field of spiritual direction does not certify as such. Practising mashpi'im are expected to remain in supervision and in their own direction. [source: ALEPH Hashpa'ah programme page]
Ethics. ALEPH's Professional Code of Ethics covers spiritual leaders at ALEPH events, students, faculty, staff, leaders of affiliated communities, network members, alumni, visiting teachers and board members, and has a published complaints procedure. [source: ALEPH Professional Code of Ethics]

2b. The psychotherapist's frame (phases) [synthesis]

No source sets a therapy protocol for Renewal clients, and no session count is given in any source; the phases below are a clinical synthesis for working alongside the movement, inside whatever evidence-based treatment the presenting problem calls for.

Assessment and consent. Goal: understand what Renewal means in this client's life (identity, community, practices, teachers, conflicts) and whether the client wants it to be part of therapy. Tools: the Cultural Formulation Interview and its supplementary module on spirituality, religion and moral traditions (DSM-5-TR) [uncertain: not verified]; a brief practice history (davvenen, chant, meditation, retreats, Kallah, spiritual direction); screening for contemplative adverse effects and for any current teacher-relationship concerns. Move on when the client has said, in their own words, whether and how they want their spiritual life included, and safety issues are identified.
Collaborative integration. Goal: let the client's own practices and meanings support the treatment plan (for example, chant as grounding, Sage-ing as life review), with clear role boundaries, and coordinate with the client's rabbi or mashpi'a if the client wishes. Move on when practice is clearly a resource rather than a source of distress, or when distress linked to practice has been addressed.
Consolidation and handover. Goal: the client carries the work forward in community; spiritual questions that exceed the therapist's role go to clergy or a mashpi'a; any ethics concern is routed through the appropriate complaint channel if the client chooses.

3. Guiding principles

Principles 1–8 are drawn from ALEPH's published principles and pages and translated into practical meaning for the therapist; 9–15 concern the therapist's role and are [synthesis] unless cited.

Renewal is a self-described movement, not a single doctrine. Ask what this client believes and practises; never assume from the label. [source: ALEPH brochure]
Neo-halakhic stance. ALEPH describes itself as neither bound to nor opposed to halakha, extending categories such as kashrut to ecological and ethical concerns. Practically: a client's choices about Shabbat, kashrut or ritual are theirs and their community's; the therapist does not adjudicate religious law. [source: ALEPH brochure]
Personal discernment about tradition. ALEPH's sixth principle holds that some inherited elements are historically limited and that each person decides what to keep. Practically: support the client's own discernment; notice when that freedom brings relief and when it brings decision anxiety or guilt. [source: Eighteen Principles]
Four Worlds. ALEPH's framework of Assiyah (action, body, breath), Yetzirah (feeling, relationship), Briyah (intellect, contemplation, symbols, dreams) and Atzilut (oneness with God). Practically: a lens the client may already use; use their vocabulary, not as a clinical model. [source: ALEPH, Four Worlds Judaism]
Embodied, joyful prayer. Davvenen, chant, dance and expressive arts are central. Practically: expect the body to be part of the client's spiritual life; plan trauma-sensitive options. [source: ALEPH brochure; What is Jewish Renewal?]
Deep ecumenism. ALEPH commits to learning respectfully from other traditions (it names Buddhism and Sufism). Practically: multi-tradition identities are normal in this community; explore them without pathologising. [source: Eighteen Principles; ALEPH brochure]
Egalitarianism and inclusion. Communal life is open regardless of race, culture, class, age, sexual orientation or gender identity. Practically: Renewal may be a refuge for clients marginalised elsewhere in Jewish life; ask about that history. [source: Eighteen Principles]
Accountable leadership and the psyche. ALEPH's principles call for accountable leadership and for drawing on knowledge of the human psyche; its ethics code names the power of spiritual leaders. Practically: treat teacher relationships as relationships with real power; know the complaint route. [source: Eighteen Principles; ALEPH Professional Code of Ethics]
Client-led integration with consent. The client decides whether religious material enters therapy and in what language. [synthesis]
The therapist is not the client's rebbe, rabbi or mashpi'a. Do not teach davvenen or give spiritual direction in therapy; refer. [synthesis]
Attribute, do not adjudicate. Describe God, soul levels and the Divine as the client and tradition hold them, neither affirming nor dismissing. [synthesis]
Do no harm in practice. Contemplative practice can bring difficult experiences; screen, adjust dose, ground. [source: Cheetah House VCE]
Competence and ethics. Spiritual and religious competencies (Vieten et al. 2013) [uncertain: not verified] and the profession's ethics code on competence, multiple relationships and respect for religion [synthesis]: seek consultation when outside your competence.
Self-awareness. Know your own stance towards Judaism, Orthodoxy, Renewal and religion generally; disclose only when it serves the client. [synthesis]
No health claims. No Renewal practice is presented here as a treatment for physical or mental illness; spiritual benefits are the tradition's claims. [synthesis]

4. Intervention inventory

The movement's practices are described as ALEPH and Reb Zalman's publishers describe them; the therapist's procedures around them are [synthesis] unless a source is given. The therapist supports, assesses and coordinates; teaching the practices belongs to Renewal rabbis, cantors, chant leaders and mashpi'im.

4.1 Mapping what Renewal means in the client's life

Purpose: establish the place of Renewal in identity, community, family and meaning before anything else; use early in assessment and whenever religion surfaces. [synthesis]
Steps: (1) Ask how the client came to Renewal (raised in it, came from Orthodox, Chabad, Reform or secular backgrounds, from another tradition, or through a partner). (2) Ask which community, rabbi or programme matters (a local havurah or congregation, Kallah, retreats, ordination study, hashpa'ah). (3) Ask which practices they keep and which they have let go, given ALEPH's emphasis on personal discernment about tradition. (4) Ask what the movement gives them and what, if anything, it costs (family conflict, belonging, finances, time). (5) If the client uses ALEPH's Four Worlds language, invite them to locate the current problem in it (action and body, feeling and relationship, thought and meaning, connection with God) and record their words, not a clinical translation. (6) Summarise back and agree whether and how spiritual material enters the treatment plan.
Example language (illustrative): “When you say Renewal is your spiritual home, what does that look like week to week?” “You mentioned the Four Worlds. Where in those worlds does this depression seem to live for you?” “Would it help to bring your davvenen into our work, or would you rather keep it separate?”
Watch for: assuming beliefs from the label; translating the client's spiritual terms into pathology; a client who came from a stricter community and carries guilt or family rejection. Working: the client uses their own vocabulary freely and the treatment plan reflects their stated wishes.

4.2 Cultural Formulation Interview with the spirituality, religion and moral traditions module

Purpose: structured cultural assessment that includes religious identity, practices, community support and conflicts; use at intake or when religious themes are central. [uncertain: not verified — DSM-5-TR CFI and its supplementary module]
Steps: (1) Explain the purpose: to understand the problem in the client's own cultural and religious terms. (2) Cover the core domains (cultural definition of the problem, perceptions of cause and context, support and stressors, help-seeking, what the client wants from care). (3) Use the supplementary spirituality module where religion is salient: spiritual identity, role of practice, relationship to community and clergy, any spiritual struggle. (4) Ask specifically whether the client sees a spiritual dimension to the problem and whether a rabbi, rabbinic pastor or mashpi'a is already involved. (5) Feed the answers into the formulation and plan. Do not reproduce the interview items on handouts; use the published manual.
Example language (illustrative): “Some people understand what they are going through partly in spiritual terms. Is that true for you?” “Who in your community knows about this, and who would you want to know?”
Watch for: a client who answers in the Renewal register (Godwrestling, sparks, soul levels) and then apologises; normalise. Working: formulation includes both clinical and spiritual understandings without forcing one into the other.

4.3 Client-led integration of davvenen (prayer) and davvenology

What it is (as published): davvenen (prayer) in Renewal is meant to be accessible, joyful, creative and embodied. ALEPH defines davvenology as the art of experimenting with creative and renewed prayer, including chant and embodied prayer. Reb Zalman and Joel Segel's Davening: A Guide to Meaningful Jewish Prayer (Jewish Lights, 2012) covers kavanah, niggun (wordless melody), davvenen through the four worlds (action, formation, creation, emanation), praise, blessings, synagogue life and prolonged prayer; Jewish with Feeling (Riverhead, 2005) holds that prayer depends on feeling, not rote words. [source: ALEPH, What is Jewish Renewal?; Spirituality & Practice review; Publishers Weekly review]
Purpose: let an existing prayer practice support the client's goals (meaning, connection, affect regulation, hope) when the client wants that; use in the integration phase. [synthesis]
Steps: (1) Ask what the client's davvenen is like now: alone or in community, liturgical or spontaneous, sung, silent or moving. (2) Ask when prayer helps and when it is hard (for example, prayer feels empty in depression; praise feels false in grief). (3) Agree whether to track prayer as a resource (when practised, what changed). (4) If prayer has become distressing, explore without prescribing a fix; the client may take the question to their rabbi or mashpi'a. (5) Do not lead prayer, write prayers for the client, or teach liturgy in session; if the client asks, refer to their rabbi, a Renewal congregation or a mashpi'a.
Example language (illustrative): “What happens in you when you davven on a good day? And on a day like this week?” “It sounds like praise feels out of reach right now. Is that something to bring to your rabbi as well as here?”
Watch for: the therapist drifting into teaching; prayer used compulsively to neutralise anxiety (see 4.9); spiritual struggle (anger at God, felt absence) that the client experiences as shameful. Working: the client describes practice as chosen and nourishing, or brings the struggle into both therapy and their spiritual relationships.

4.4 Chant, niggun and embodied prayer as client resources, with trauma-sensitive options

What it is (as published): chant and niggun are central; ALEPH's Kol Zimra trains chant leaders who use sacred text for healing, community-building, inner exploration and meditative states, and its somatic programme treats the body as the ground of prayer, learning and teaching. Dance, drama and expressive arts are also used. [source: ALEPH brochure]
Purpose: where the client already chants or sings niggunim, these can serve as a familiar self-soothing or grounding resource between sessions. Health claims for chant are the movement's; no clinical evidence is reviewed here. [synthesis]
Steps: (1) Ask which chants or melodies the client already uses and how they feel during and after. (2) If the client wishes, agree to use a familiar niggun as a grounding anchor: sung or hummed at normal breathing, eyes open, feet on the floor, with full permission to stop. (3) Offer choice about eyes open or closed, posture, volume, and length; the client sets them. (4) Check arousal before and after on a simple self-rating. (5) Avoid any breath-holding, rapid breathing or progression; do not introduce new contemplative techniques; refer the client to a Kol Zimra-trained chant leader or their congregation for teaching.
Example language (illustrative): “You said that melody steadies you. Would you like to hum it now, eyes open, and notice your feet? Stop whenever you want.”
Watch for: chant or ecstatic group prayer triggering dissociation, flashbacks or overwhelming emotion, especially in trauma survivors; body-based group work feeling invasive. Working: arousal settles, the client feels in control, and can use the resource alone. Trauma-sensitive principles follow Treleaven's trauma-sensitive mindfulness (2018) [uncertain: not verified].

4.5 Working alongside hashpa'ah (Jewish spiritual direction)

What it is (as published): ALEPH describes hashpa'ah as the relationship with a Jewish spiritual director or companion (mashpi'a), glossed as being in the Divine flow, with guidance on faith and practice, relationship with the Divine, and the meaning, calling and purpose of life. It continues Reb Zalman's work as a mashpi'a ruchani and draws on Hasidic literature; the training was designed in the early 2000s by Rabbi Shohama Wiener and colleagues with his blessing. Reb Zalman's Spiritual Intimacy: A Study of Counseling in Hasidism (Jason Aronson, 1991) addresses counselling in Hasidism. [source: ALEPH Hashpa'ah page; Karnac listing]
Purpose: coordinate when a client sees both a therapist and a mashpi'a, so roles are clear and the client is not split between them. [synthesis]
Steps: (1) Ask whether the client has a mashpi'a, rabbi or rabbinic pastor and what they bring to each. (2) Clarify roles together: therapy addresses symptoms, diagnosis, risk and psychological treatment; hashpa'ah addresses the spiritual relationship and discernment. (3) With written consent, contact the mashpi'a to agree on what is shared (often only that both are involved and any safety plan). (4) Agree how the client will handle conflicting advice: bring it to each relationship openly. (5) If the client has no mashpi'a and wants one, point them to ALEPH's Hashpa'ah programme graduates or their rabbi; note that the field does not formally certify directors, so the client can ask about training, supervision and adherence to ALEPH's code.
Example language (illustrative): “It sounds like your mashpi'a helps you listen for what God is asking, and here we work on the panic. Would it help if the two of us spoke briefly, with your permission?”
Watch for: a mashpi'a or therapist drifting into the other's role; triangulation; the client hiding risk from one helper. Working: the client experiences the two relationships as complementary.

4.6 Spiritual Eldering and Sage-ing with older clients

What it is (as published): Reb Zalman founded the Spiritual Eldering Institute in 1989; ALEPH describes Sage-ing as training and tools for seeing ageing as a journey of uncovering wisdom, and its Sage-ing Mentorship Program trains mentors who guide others to discover their life's wisdom. [source: CU Innovations in Jewish Life Collections; ALEPH, What is Jewish Renewal?; ALEPH brochure]
Purpose: for older clients involved in Sage-ing, support life review, legacy and acceptance of mortality as complementary to treatment of late-life depression, grief or adjustment. [synthesis]
Steps: (1) Ask whether the client takes part in Sage-ing or Spiritual Eldering groups and what they are working on. (2) Invite life-review themes into therapy at the client's pace: turning points, regrets, gifts to pass on. (3) Distinguish developmental reflection from depressive rumination; treat depression in its own right. (4) If the client wants structured Sage-ing work, refer to ALEPH's or other Sage-ing mentors.
Example language (illustrative): “In your eldering group you are looking back at your life. What would you like to look at here, and what would you rather keep there?”
Watch for: unresolved trauma, losses or Holocaust-related family history surfacing in life review; hopelessness presented as acceptance. Working: the client reports greater meaning and connection, not increasing withdrawal.

4.7 End of life, grief, ritual and community support

What it is (as published): ALEPH's Graceful Transitions programme teaches compassionate companionship for people at the end of life and support for caregivers; AOP rabbinic pastors work in hospitals and hospices. [source: ALEPH brochure; AOP history]
Purpose: use the client's community and Renewal ritual as grief supports; involve a rabbinic pastor or chaplain when the client wishes. [synthesis]
Steps: (1) Ask what rituals the client is using or planning (Renewal communities often adapt or create ritual; ALEPH's eighteenth principle calls for renewing ceremonies with curiosity and humility). (2) Explore whether ritual helps or feels empty. (3) Map community support and who has shown up. (4) With consent, coordinate with the rabbi, rabbinic pastor or hospice chaplain. (5) Assess for prolonged grief and depression in the usual way.
Example language (illustrative): “Is there a ritual your community offers, or one you want to create, that would help mark this loss?”
Watch for: pressure to grieve “spiritually” (see spiritual bypass, 5.4); isolation in small communities. Working: the client feels accompanied and grief is moving.

4.8 Deep ecumenism and multi-tradition identity

What it is (as published): ALEPH commits to “deep ecumenism”, engaging other traditions respectfully (its brochure names Buddhism and Sufism). Reb Zalman held the World Wisdom Chair at Naropa and co-founded the Sufi-Hasidic Inayati-Maimuniyya order in 2004. [source: Eighteen Principles; ALEPH brochure; CU Innovations in Jewish Life Collections]
Purpose: help clients who hold Jewish and other spiritual commitments (meditation lineages, Sufi practice) explore identity, belonging and family reactions. [synthesis]
Steps: (1) Ask which traditions the client draws on and how they fit together for them. (2) Explore reactions from family or former communities, including other Jewish movements; ALEPH's principles ask for respect towards other Jewish communities even in disagreement. (3) Where the client practises in several traditions, ask about total practice load and any intensive retreats (see 4.10). (4) Refer theological questions to the relevant teachers.
Example language (illustrative): “How do your sitting practice and your davvenen sit together for you? Do they ever pull in different directions?”
Watch for: family conflict framed as betrayal; a sense of belonging nowhere; the therapist's own views on syncretism. Working: the client describes a coherent, self-chosen spiritual identity.

4.9 Neo-halakhic choices, scrupulosity and religious OCD

Context: Renewal treats halakha as living and invites personal discernment; many clients find this freeing, but some (often those raised in stricter communities) bring scrupulosity: obsessive doubt about sin, purity, correct blessings or prayer, intrusive blasphemous thoughts, and compulsions such as repeating prayers, reassurance-seeking from rabbis, or excessive confession and self-accounting. [source: Eighteen Principles; Siev, Sheppard Pratt CME; synthesis]
Purpose: recognise scrupulosity and treat it with ERP adapted to the client's values. Siev describes ERP as first-line for scrupulosity, notes poorer outcomes and the risk of clients leaving treatment or religion when asked to violate core tenets, and lists adaptations in assessment, therapeutic stance, rationale, handling uncertainty and perceived risk of sin, and technique, plus working with clergy. [source: Siev, Sheppard Pratt CME]
Steps: (1) Assess: ask whether the practice is driven by love and choice or by fear and the need for certainty; whether co-religionists or the client's rabbi would see the behaviour as required. (2) With consent, consult the client's rabbi on what the tradition actually requires; in Renewal this is often less than the client fears. (3) Build exposures that the client and rabbi agree do not violate genuine religious commitments (for example, saying a blessing once without repeating, tolerating doubt about whether kavanah was “enough”, limiting reassurance requests). (4) Frame response prevention as serving the client's religious values. (5) Track compulsions and distress. Contraindications: exposures that the client experiences as genuine sin; acute suicidality; no consent.
Example language (illustrative): “Your rabbi said one blessing is enough. The OCD says do it again. What if we practise letting the first one stand, and notice the doubt without answering it?”
Watch for: the therapist presenting religion as the problem; the rabbi being drawn into giving reassurance; the freedom of Renewal practice becoming a new arena for doubt (“have I chosen correctly?”). Working: compulsions fall and the client reports practice feels more like devotion than duty.

4.10 Screening for and responding to contemplative difficulties

Context: Renewal offers meditation, chant, ecstatic and embodied prayer, retreats and week-long gatherings. The Varieties of Contemplative Experience study (Lindahl et al., PLOS ONE 2017, 100+ interviews with Western Buddhist meditators and teachers) documented meditation-related challenges in seven domains: perceptual, affective, conative, cognitive, sense of self, social and somatic, with hyperarousal and dissociation among them. Cheetah House offers symptom lists, trauma resources and consultation for teachers and clinicians. Farias et al. 2020 (Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica) systematically reviewed adverse events in meditation [uncertain: not verified]. Findings from Buddhist samples are applied here to Jewish contemplative practice by analogy. [source: Cheetah House VCE; synthesis]
Purpose: detect and manage difficult experiences, before and after retreats or intensive practice.
Steps: (1) Before an intensive retreat or week-long gathering, ask about trauma history, recent psychosis or mania, dissociation, sleep and current stressors; discuss whether to attend, attend part-time, or choose less intensive sessions. (2) After practice, ask openly about unusual experiences across the seven domains without leading. (3) If difficulties arise: reduce intensity and duration of practice, shift to eyes-open, movement-based or communal options, use grounding (sensory contact, ordinary activity, sleep, food, social contact), and pause practices that intensify symptoms. (4) Distinguish spiritual emergency or “dark night” experiences from psychosis, mania, depression or dissociation: assess insight, functioning, sleep, risk, duration and family history; do not pathologise meaningful religious experience, and do not miss illness. DSM-5-TR includes a code for a religious or spiritual problem (Z65.8). (5) With consent, coordinate with the teacher or rabbi about pausing or modifying practice; refer to psychiatry when indicated; Cheetah House consultations exist for clinicians.
Example language (illustrative): “Some people find that intense prayer or meditation stirs up things that are hard to handle. Has anything like that happened for you?” “For the next few weeks, let's keep practice short, eyes open, and with other people around.”
Watch for: sleep loss, escalating energy, grandiosity, fragmentation, flashbacks, depersonalisation, and community framing of distress as a spiritual stage to push through. Working: symptoms settle with dose reduction and grounding; the client can return to practice gradually or chooses not to.

4.11 Teacher relationships, power, misconduct and leaving

What the movement publishes: ALEPH's Professional Code of Ethics (revised December 2020) holds that spiritual leaders' authority carries a duty not to exploit it; that sexual activity with a person under the leader's significant authority is unethical “even if suggested or welcomed”; restricts relationships with former congregants for at least a year and then case by case; and sets out a complaints procedure (any source may complain; a hearing committee of at least three; written response; preponderance-of-evidence standard; outcomes from advisory to expulsion; appeal to the Board). ALEPH has publicly disavowed at least one teacher, stating that ethical breaches were substantiated in 2006 and that Reb Zalman revoked that person's ordination, and has warned against using spiritual language as a cover for unrepaired harm, quoting Reb Zalman's image of spiritual bypass as “whipped cream on garbage”. [source: ALEPH Professional Code of Ethics; Kol ALEPH 2015 statement]
Purpose: help clients reflect on teacher relationships, recognise exploitation or coercive control, decide whether to complain, and recover after leaving a group. [synthesis]
Steps: (1) Ask neutrally about important teachers and what the relationship is like. (2) Explore signs of coercive control as clinical literature generally describes them [synthesis]: isolation from family or outside friends, secrecy, financial pressure, a teacher's claims of special authority over the client's decisions, sexualised boundary crossings, punishment for questions. Renewal is a non-hierarchical movement and these are not presumed; they are screened as in any community. (3) If misconduct is disclosed, prioritise safety, validate, and inform the client about ALEPH's complaint route (or the relevant body if the teacher is not ALEPH-affiliated) and any mandatory reporting duties that apply to you. (4) For clients who have left a community, address grief, loss of belonging, religious trauma and rebuilding meaning, without pushing them towards or away from faith.
Example language (illustrative): “How free do you feel to disagree with your teacher?” “What happened was not your spiritual failing. If you want, we can look at what reporting would involve.”
Watch for: self-blame framed spiritually; fear of losing community; the therapist putting a pejorative label on the group. Working: the client makes informed, uncoerced choices about the relationship.

4.12 Collaboration with Renewal rabbis, rabbinic pastors, chaplains and mashpi'im

Purpose: coordinate care when the client wants their religious leaders involved (bereavement, hospital care, scrupulosity, crisis). [synthesis]
Steps: (1) Obtain specific written consent naming who, what and why. (2) Agree the minimum necessary information. (3) Respect each role: clergy for ritual, law and spiritual guidance; rabbinic pastors for pastoral care; therapist for assessment and treatment. (4) Agree on how safety concerns will be shared. (5) Review the collaboration with the client.
Example language (illustrative): “Would it help if I spoke with Rabbi [name] about what the tradition actually asks of you here?”
Watch for: confidentiality leaks in small communities; clergy offering reassurance that feeds OCD. Working: the client feels supported, not discussed.

4.13 Managing the therapist's own role

Purpose: keep boundaries clear in a small, interconnected movement. [synthesis]
Steps: (1) Note any overlap: attending the same congregation, Kallah or ALEPH programmes, or being a Renewal student, mashpi'a or clergy yourself. Address multiple relationships per your professional ethics code before they arise. (2) Decline to act as the client's rabbi, rebbe or spiritual director in therapy. (3) Reflect on your own religious commitments and reactions to Renewal (enthusiasm, scepticism, Orthodox or secular views); seek consultation. (4) Self-disclose only briefly, purposefully, and when it serves the client. (5) Build spiritual and religious competence through training and consultation (Vieten et al. 2013 competencies [uncertain: not verified]).
Example language (illustrative): “We may see each other at shul. Let's agree now how we'll handle that.”
Watch for: idealisation of the therapist as a spiritual figure; the therapist's own spiritual agenda. Working: roles stay clear and the client brings spiritual material freely.

5. Handling problems

The movement's sources do not address psychotherapy problems; except where cited, the responses below are [synthesis].

5.1 Stuck client. Re-check whether the spiritual frame and the clinical frame are pulling in different directions (for example, the client believes suffering must be borne as Godwrestling while also wanting symptom relief). Name both, ask which the client wants to prioritise now, and consider whether a rabbi or mashpi'a should hold the theological question while therapy holds the symptoms.
5.2 Reluctance to bring religion into therapy. Respect it; consent is ongoing. Leave the door open once and do not return to it unless the client does. Equally, if the client wants religion included and you feel uneasy, take that to consultation rather than steering away.
5.3 Overwhelm after a retreat, Kallah or intensive chant. Follow 4.10: safety and risk assessment, sleep, grounding, reduced practice, psychiatric review if psychotic or manic features appear, and (with consent) contact with the teacher. Do not tell the client to “push through”, and do not dismiss the experience as only pathology.
5.4 Spiritual bypass. When spiritual language (gratitude, oneness, everything is God) is used to avoid grief, anger, trauma or accountability, gently notice the gap between words and affect. ALEPH itself warns that spiritual language is not evidence of repair, citing Reb Zalman's “whipped cream on garbage” image [source: Kol ALEPH 2015 statement]; the client may find that phrase from within their own tradition useful.
5.5 Non-adherence to between-session work. Ask whether the task fits the client's Shabbat and festival rhythm and community commitments; adjust scheduling and task type (for example, no writing tasks on Shabbat if the client keeps that practice). Do not assume which observances a Renewal client keeps; ask.
5.6 Rupture over the therapist's perceived stance. A client may experience the therapist as too secular, too traditional, or as judging Renewal's innovations (or, for a client from an Orthodox family, as siding with Renewal). Name the rupture, ask what was heard, acknowledge your part, and restate that the client's beliefs set the frame.
5.7 Family and intra-Jewish conflict. Clients who moved to Renewal from stricter communities, or whose families reject Renewal's egalitarianism, inclusion of LGBTQ+ people, or interfaith openness, may face loss, shame or estrangement. Work on the relationships, not the theology; ALEPH's principles call for respect towards other Jewish communities even in disagreement [source: Eighteen Principles], which some clients find a useful stance.
5.8 Interest in psychedelic spirituality. Reb Zalman's first LSD experience (1962, with Timothy Leary) and his 1966 lecture “Kabbalah and LSD”, which preceded his parting with Chabad leadership, are documented [source: CU Innovations in Jewish Life Collections]. A client may cite this history. Do not advise on substances; explore motives, assess risk (psychosis history, mood disorder, medications), and route medical questions to the client's doctor.
5.9 Fasting and other observances with health implications. If the client asks about fasting (for example on Yom Kippur) or other demanding observances while ill, pregnant or on medication, route the medical question to their doctor and the religious question to their rabbi, who can speak to exemptions as their tradition holds them. Give no fasting or food prescriptions.
5.10 Disclosure of teacher misconduct. See 4.11: safety first, believe and validate, explain ALEPH's complaint route and any mandatory reporting obligations; never pressure the client to report or not report. If a minor is involved, follow your jurisdiction's child-protection procedures; ALEPH's code prohibits sexual activity with a minor by those it covers [source: ALEPH Professional Code of Ethics].
5.11 Confidentiality in small communities. Renewal communities are interconnected; agree in advance how you will handle chance meetings and what you will and will not say to clergy or mutual acquaintances.
5.12 Client asks the therapist to teach a practice or pray together. Decline warmly and refer to a Renewal rabbi, chant leader or mashpi'a; you may support the client's own practice as a resource (4.3, 4.4).
5.13 Client wants to train as a mashpi'a or enter ordination while in therapy. Explore motivation and readiness; note that ALEPH expects mashpi'im to remain in supervision and their own direction [source: ALEPH Hashpa'ah page]; therapy and direction should remain distinct.

Sources

Web sources:

Books and papers cited:

Schachter-Shalomi, Z., & Segel, J. (2012). Davening: A Guide to Meaningful Jewish Prayer. Jewish Lights.
Schachter-Shalomi, Z., & Segel, J. (2005). Jewish with Feeling: A Guide to Meaningful Jewish Practice. Riverhead.
Schachter-Shalomi, Z. M. (1991). Spiritual Intimacy: A Study of Counseling in Hasidism. Jason Aronson.
Lindahl, J. R., et al. (2017). The Varieties of Contemplative Experience: A Mixed-Methods Study of Meditation-Related Challenges in Western Buddhists. PLOS ONE, 12(5).
Farias et al. (2020), Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica; Treleaven (2018), trauma-sensitive mindfulness; Vieten et al. (2013), spiritual and religious competencies; DSM-5-TR Cultural Formulation Interview [uncertain: not verified].
ICD-10-CM Z65.8, Other specified problems related to psychosocial circumstances (includes 'Religious or spiritual problem'), https://www.unboundmedicine.com/icd/view/ICD-10-CM/945432/all/Z65_8___Other_specified_problems_related_to_psychosocial_circumstances

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