Report: Jerusalem – Aware that many observant Jews prefer to stay away from a Hindu-based practice that might smell like idol worship, California native Aviva Schmidt opened what she says is Israel’s "first kosher power yoga studio."
"Yoga is very controversial and it should be," the 31-year old told Anglo File in her Jerusalem studio, sitting on an exercise ball and playing soothing oriental music in the background. "Yoga is based on Eastern tradition and focuses a lot on meditation. Different positions are worshipping different idols, which goes against Judaism. So I keep it very pareve: for example, I don’t say the names of the positions, there is no chanting, no ohming. I do focus on the breathing, as this is very important in yoga, but any kind of eastern philosophy stays outside."
As there are countless variations of yoga – just as there are many different streams of Judaism – there is no easy answer to the question whether yoga needs to be purged of its spiritual elements to be considered "kosher."
Chaim Amalek emails: You want to do yoga because it makes you happy. You also want to be regarded as a Torah Jew, which (especially given your status as a convert with dubious bona fides) is not doable if you are chanting the names of various Hindu idols whilst contorting yourself into a pretzel (that being forbidden under rabbinical Judaism because it could lead to mixed dancing). The solution? Borrow from the Hasidim, and substitute the names of the various great Hasidic Rabbis of old for those of your new yoga idols. That way, not only would you be better able to pretend to be a Jew, you would be positioning yourself to open up a chain of yoga studios that even Hasidic women would be comfortable in, places where a man (yes, there will be a barrier between the sexes) could be a torah Jew even while secretly pining for the world of the Hindu Sex Goddesses of your new faith.
Remember, in Judaism it is what you do, not what you believe, that counts.
