Episode 16: A Jewish Mysticism of Time and Space w/Hadar Cohen

Hadar is a spiritual leader and community organizer manifesting visions of feminism, soulful prayer, and communal care. Hadar loves birthing her own projects including feminism all night – a communal all night learning immersive around feminism and spirituality. She is a graduate of Cooper Union, where she studied Electrical Engineering, and alt*div, a alternative divinity school centering the intersection of justice and spirituality. She is a lover of dance, song, and communal transformation. She writes about spirituality, justice, and embodied experiences in a newsletter called in loving faith. To receive updates for her events and writings, subscribe at tinyletter.com/hadarcohen.

We began our conversation about how we can tap into the majesty and beauty of the world around us – and what such a worldview can do for the way that we also view ourselves.

“The moon also travels very fast compared to the other planets. It shifts basically every night and it rotates through signs. It is the planet of change. And part of why that feels really important for me is because I change so much. I remember reading somewhere that we feel something like 1000 emotions a day. And that’s like ‘wow!’ that is a lot of emotions!’ And yet we are only conscious of like ten!”

We also addressed gender inequality in Silicon Valley as Hadar was a consultant for tech firms around the issue of diversity and inclusion.

The fact that a CEO is meditating is great but that’s not the solution. But the question still remains: what is happening on the inside. And the only way to know that is through communal accountability. Which is actually key for feminist transformation. Nobody can be a feminist in isolation. It’s all about how we show up in an inter-connected way for each other and hold each other accountable. The answer is not meditate and everything will be OK but I think that we need to set up structures. We need mandatory feminist education for everybody. We need massive levels of structures to be changed.

For some books recommended by Hadar be sure to check out:

• “every word is a prayer” by Hadar Cohen

• “The Collected Poems of Audre Lorde” by Audre Lorde

• “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” by Paulo Freire

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