THE REBBE’S CALL FOR SCIENTIFIC MEDITATION 1 www.jct.ac.il/site/borhatorah e Lubavitcher Rebbe ’s Call for a Scientiĕc Non-Ħasidi c Meditation Rabbi natan ophir (Offenbacher), PhD About the Author Dr. Natan Ophir (Offenbacher) received his MA (1988) and PhD (1993) in Jewish Philosophy from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem where he ser ved as campus rabbi from 1982–1998. Born in Philadelphia, he graduated from the Talmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia and completed his BA at Yeshiva University in New York in 1974. He then came on ạliyah, spending seven years at Yeshivat Mercaz Harav Kook where he received rabbinical ordination. Dr. Ophir has written many articles on Jewish philosophy. His most recent publication is a biography of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach. Dr. Ophir’s specialty is teaching Jewish meditation in the light of neuropsychology. He is currently teaching at the Jerusalem College of Technology. See http://jerusalem- meditation.com; www.JewishMeditation.org.il. bstract In February 1978, Rabbi Menaħem Mendel Schneerson (the Lubavitcher Rebbe) sent out a conĕdential memorandum asking for “doctors specializing in neurology and psychiatry” to develop a meditation program that could serve as an alternative for the popular meditative imports from the Far East such as Transcendental Meditation (TM). Dr. Yehuda Landes, a psychologist in Palo Alto, California, responded positively and soon launched a pilot project. en in July 1979, the Rebbe issued a public announcement asking for more people to help in developing and disseminating a Jewishly acceptable form of meditation.