Books
Contemplative works that serve as gateways into practice — reflections, guides, and explorations of pilgrimage, Judaism, Buddhism, and AI.
See the books →
Books, experiences, and technology that help people cross the next threshold in their spiritual journey.
A monthly letter on contemplative craft — pilgrimage, Torah, Zen, and the making of things.
Why a studio
One work, many doorways
For years these felt like separate projects — writing, teaching, AI, apps, Japan, meditation, Hasidut, music, pilgrimage. They aren't. Each one is a gateway into the same larger journey: a life of awareness, wisdom, and transformation.
Someone might read a book, listen to the podcast, use an app, attend a workshop, walk a temple path in Japan, and keep learning afterward. Each project opens onto the next.
book→podcast→app→workshop→pilgrimage→practice
The name
Kephitzat ha-derekh — the shortening of the path
In Jewish legend, kephitzat ha-derekh names those moments when a journey that might have taken years suddenly becomes possible — because someone, or something, opens a door. The angel of the leap is קפציאל — Kaphtziel.
Medieval Jewish spell books invoked Kaphtziel to jump the road: to cross in a day what would otherwise take a hundred. The Japanese tradition knows the same magic as shukuchi — shrinking the earth. This studio takes its name, and its work, from that idea: building doorways that shorten the path.
The image at right comes from a seventeenth-century Jewish manuscript of practical Kabbalah — the same drawing that opened the original Kaphtziel blog in 2004. Twenty years later, the angel is still on the door.
What we make
Five doorways
Pilgrimages
Small-group contemplative journeys to Japan, now in formation: Zen temples, shrines, silence, beauty, and Jewish spiritual practice through the lens of 52 Gates.
Walk with us →Technology
Meditation apps, Japanese-learning tools, and AI resources for clergy and spiritual seekers — thoughtful technology in service of practice.
AI for Clergy →Teaching
Retreats and workshops on meditation, Hasidic wisdom, AI and spirituality, and the meeting of Judaism, Buddhism, and contemporary life.
Upcoming retreat →Media
Podcast, music, essays, video, and online courses — the studio's voice in the world, free to enter and open to all.
Listen & read →Doorway one
Books
52 Gates
Reflections on Living
52 Gates: Companion Guide
For Individual Practice and Group Exploration
The Ten Pathways
A Mystical Guide to Transformation
Laughing Lightning
A Life of Milarepa · A Novel
RAW
The Unfinished Finished Poems
AI for Clergy
Harnessing the Power of the Digital Golem
The Vibrating Silence
Sacred Sound Meditation through Body, Heart, Mind, and Spirit
The Next Right Thing
74 Offerings
The Great Tree
A Tale of the First Humans
Teaching · Upcoming retreat
Grief, Presence, and Fierce Love
A Weekend Retreat on Living With Loss
November 6–8, 2026 · Dharmakaya Center for Wellbeing · Cragsmoor, NY
Rabbi Ben Newman & John T. Henderson
Grief is the natural consequence of loving fully in a world where nothing stays. This weekend holds it as a teacher rather than a problem to solve: guided meditation, poetry, gentle yoga, teachings from Jewish and Buddhist traditions, time in the woods, and real space — nothing rushed, nothing forced. For loss of any kind, recent or long carried. Open to practitioners of any background, or none.
Details & registrationDoorway two
Pilgrimage to Japan
The first Kaphtziel journeys are now taking shape: small-group contemplative travel through temples, shrines, gardens, and mountain paths. Days shaped by silence, beauty, and Jewish spiritual practice through the lens of 52 Gates — one gate at a time, one threshold at a time.
Groups will be kept small. If you feel the pull, write to us and you'll be the first to know when the inaugural journey opens.
You're on the pilgrimage list — you'll hear first when the journey opens.
The studio's voice
Listen, read, follow
The Neshamah Project
Podcast
Kaphtziel
Music on Spotify
Essays
Times of Israel
Kaphtziel Blog
Kabbalah & philosophy · est. 2004
Kaijin Haru
Music project
Rabbi Ben Newman
About the founder
Stay at the gate. A monthly letter on contemplative craft — pilgrimage, Torah, Zen, and the making of things.