Why You Dont Need To Be Jewish To Attend The Upcoming Jewish Psychedelic Summit – Forbes

Psychedelic drug or psychedelics hallucinogenic drugs in a 3D illustration style.

Healing intergenerational trauma through psychedelics is a key theme that will be explored in the inaugural Jewish Psychedelic Summit to be held virtually, May 2 and May 3. Among the speakers at this two-day confab are rabbis, therapists, mystics and scholars. The brainchild of Madison Margolin, editor and co-founder of DoubleBlind Magazine, a psychedelics-focused publication, Rabbi Zac Kamenetz, who received his rabbinic ordination in 2012 and Natalie Lyla Ginsberg, the director of policy and advocacy at the nonprofit Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, the conference will encapsulate discussion of the past, present and future of psychedelic Judaism.

Recently, the event's three co-founders talked about its conception and planning. They also weighed in on why you do not need to be Jewish to attend the summit.

This Q&A has been edited for conciseness and clarity.

Iris Dorbian: How did the idea for the conference come about?

Madison Margolin: To me, this conference represents a movement that has been brewing for a long time. While there is evidence of entheogenic use in Biblical times, the concept of Jewish psychedelia really began to take off around the 1960s and 1970s, and today has mushroomed a movement that is helping people from secular to Orthodox backgrounds rekindle their relationship to Judaism.

Zac Kamenetz: Madison and I were asked to speak at a conference about psilocybin and we chose to speak about how Jewish time could be a powerful vehicle for psychedelic experience. A few weeks later, we reached out to each other with the same idea a summit to broadcast some of the big questions and conversations happening in the Jewish psychedelic world and to catalyze a growing community and movement of Jews who are curious, interested, or excited about weaving sacred entheogenic use into the rich fabric of Jewish spiritual consciousness and practice. After sharing a few ideas about what could be possible and seeing how big this could be, we asked Natalie to help us make it a reality. The confluence of creative passion and personal connections, dreams and resources came together to create what felt like the next obvious step in the psychedelic Jewish movement.

Madison Margoline, co-founder of DoubleBlind Magazine and Jewish Psychedelic Summit

Dorbian: How did you find the speakers and develop the programming?

Margolin: We put a lot of work into making sure that people of all different backgrounds were represented. That means including people with Jewish backgrounds ranging from Europe to North Africa to the Middle East; from secular to ultra-orthodox; from underground lived experience with psychedelics to academics who have taken a more bookish approach.

Natalie Ginsberg: We had a hard time cutting it down to two days of content. We intentionally made each panel topic a question, to embody the Jewish tradition of questioning and to reflect that each topic is an ongoing exploration and discussion.

Kamenetz: This feels like the best kept secret of the global Jewish community. Having already started an online community called the Jewish Entheogenic Society to capture all the wisdom and wonder about the intersection between Judaism and psychedelics, it was very easy to reach out to speakers and say, You see this happening; its getting bigger [and] we are creating the container for more community conversations and deepening the conversation.

Rabbi Zac Kamenetz, co-founder of Jewish Psychedelic Summit

Dorbian: If I am interested in psychedelics and healing but I am not Jewish, should I still attend this conference?

Margolin: Of course! The summit platforms Jewish wisdom, mysticism and healing modalities in a psychedelic context, but I think that non-Jews could find value in the content as well. Perhaps they would resonate with ways that they could combine their own religion with the psychedelic experience, too, such as even in say Hindu contexts, which can be very grounding and provide a ritualistic framework to something that at times can be so intangible and otherwise difficult to grasp.

Kamenetz: The Jewish Psychedelic Summit is for everyone. We are creating a model for religious or spiritual tradition communities that can work through major questions of theology, spiritual practice, social justice, culturally specific spiritual and respectful care, and processing individual and collective trauma.

Natalie Ginsberg, director of policy and advocacy at the Multidisciplinary Association for ... [+] Psychedelic Studies and co-founder of Jewish Psychedelic Summit

Dorbian: What is your aim for this conference? Do you see it as a one-off or an annual event?

Margolin: I see this conference as a means of gathering an already existent and fast-growing community. I hope that the Jewish Psychedelic Summit can honor those who have been doing both spiritual and healing work in this space for decades prior to the existence of an online conference, while also platforming newcomers to the space who can add to the conversation as academics, rabbis, community builders, mystics, and so forth.

Ginsberg: Judaism encourages us to question and dialogue, and we are hopeful this conference amplifies the growing conversation around psychedelic Judaism and perhaps inspires some Jewish psychonauts to consider integrating some of their ancestral traditions into their modern spiritual and healing practices.

Kamenetz: Since the Jewish counterculture movement, there has been a deep and growing desire by many Jews to experience their traditions directly and on their own terms, without barriers or institutional filters. I hope we can reawaken a sense of the mystery of being and inspiring conscious activism, which is grounded in inner wisdom. We are excited to see where this takes us in the long-term.

Regular registration is $72. For students and lower-income attendees, it's $32 and for those who wish to make a donation to further "community building and research," it's $108. For more information, click here.

Continue reading here:

Why You Dont Need To Be Jewish To Attend The Upcoming Jewish Psychedelic Summit - Forbes