Shalom Hevria, my name is Yaakov Lehman. Originally from Tucson, Arizona, I now dwell amidst the beautiful hills of Judea with my wife and baby daughter.
Rabbinical Student | Social Entrepreneur | Chassid | Dude. I am a mystical cartographer of paradox, my inner rhythm compelling me to traverse life’s majestic polarities. I live by my Tribal identity firmly rooted within the Tents of Jacob, though my soul remains inextricably linked to the broader trajectory of Global society.
Wisdom Tribe, my latest venture, seeks to build a digital and experiential bridge between authentic Jewish Wisdom and the global Mindfulness movement (truly exciting stuff!). I am a student of the Pilzno Rebbe, teacher of Qi-Gong, creator of Cruisin With DAJUS, co-founder of The Israel App, and now proud member of this wonderful new Hevria community.
My writing style is drawn of several influences. First, I am a “big chassid” of grandaddy of poetic prose Walt Whitman. Tracing Whitman’s influence down through the Ginsburgs, Dylans, and Abbie Hoffmans of the world, you may be surmise that my teenage years were filled with the revolutionary fervor of the 1960s. I was certain that I was born in the wrong decade.
It wasn’t until I realized that in fact I was a child of the 60s- the 5760’s– that my soul began to assume a directed and balanced posture for its brief sojourn in this world. Thus began my spiritual transformation. I exchanged my Mandarin for Hebrew, the rasta fringes atop my head for the four cornered fringes hanging from my sides. As my soul began to shift into 58th Century consciousness, I became imbued with a deeper awareness and confidence in my life calling. I had begun to walk the path of Teshuva, and it was just as marvelous as it was miraculous. Yet I was not destined to dispense with outside world; I was still committed to a 2-year Masters program arranged by the European Union. Which brings me to the second major influence in my writing: Academia.
I am an impassioned researcher, chasing footnotes a natural pastime. I feel at home longboarding through the vast expanse of a university campus- to the library. I completed a BA in Global Studies from UC Santa Barbara, an MS in Global History from the London School of Economics, and an MA in Globalization from the University of Vienna. Contemplative by nature and sociologist by training, my mind perceives the world through the lens of the mankind’s manifold arrangements of social affairs. Tickling my proverbial “fancy” in particular is the study social movements; “Exodus… Movement of the people.”
In summary, you can locate my writing style between the free-flowing effluence of the great American countercultural poets, and the structured veracity demanded of academic researchers. Trumping both in significance is the dance spanning these two dialectical ends of the spectrum, a dance guided by the sweet melody emanating from the inner wellsprings of the Torah’s life giving Wisdom.
Etz Haim Hee, dude.
Lchaim, tovim, v’shalom!
