Op-Ed Response Rebuttal: When Questions Remain Unanswered
The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the views of CrownHeights.info. The topics discussed in this article are controversial and readers should consult a competent Rabbinical authority regarding all religious matters.
by Yossi M.
The House of More’s response raises new questions while leaving the original halachic concerns largely unaddressed. Let’s examine their key points systematically.
The Definitional Problem: What Makes a “Ceremony”?
Their response perfectly illustrates the core issue. They defend hosting a “cacao ceremony” by claiming it’s merely a “supportive tool” for “nervous system regulation.” But if it’s just a health supplement, why call it a ceremony?
The definition of ceremony is clear: “a formal religious or public occasion” or “ritual observances and procedures performed at grand and formal occasions.” If you’re hosting a “ceremony,” you’re acknowledging its ritual nature. You can’t simultaneously claim it’s “not a religious ritual” while advertising it as a “ceremony.”
This isn’t semantic nitpicking – it’s definitional clarity that exposes their fundamental confusion about what they’re offering.
By the way, what about the sage ceremonies? What about the Hapé ceremonies? Which clearly also trace back to foreign sources.
The Foreign Spiritual Terminology Integration
Their facilitators regularly incorporate concepts and terminology from various non-Jewish spiritual systems into their programming. Multiple practitioners within their network explicitly teach and reference ideas from Hindu, Buddhist, and other Eastern religious traditions.
The Egyptian Goddess Problem
Their dismissal of their drum circle concerns becomes even more problematic with additional research. The facilitator of one of their drum circle events, explicitly states in an interview that her drums are “connected to the ancient Egyptian energy… goddess Isis and Hathor.”
Did they ask her to leave those goddess-connected drums at home? Did they strip the Egyptian deity invocations from her practice? Or are Jewish women unknowingly participating in rituals explicitly connected to foreign goddesses?
The Sound Healing Revelation
Even more concerning is their sound healing programming. One facilitator, Adrian DiMatteo, who hosted a sound bath healing session at one of these centers, presents perhaps the starkest example of this problem. With just a quick search of his website, you can find images of him conducting his healing work with literal idols positioned directly in front of him during sessions. We’re not talking about decorative artwork on the wall or cultural objects in the background – these are actual idols incorporated into his active practice space.
This raises a fundamental question about spiritual discernment: How can practitioners whose work is literally conducted in the presence of idols be brought in to provide “healing” to Jewish communities?
Imagine inviting the Dalai Lama to give a class in Crown Heights on “elevating consciousness.” Or having the Pope conduct a ceremony sprinkling water on our children’s faces – but we’ll rename it something else to make it sound kosher. The source matters. The spiritual context matters. The religious framework matters fundamentally.
When someone’s healing practice is visibly rooted in and conducted alongside idol worship, bringing them into Jewish spaces isn’t just problematic – it’s a complete abandonment of basic halachic boundaries.
Shimshai
Quick fact check, They claim he’s “not a religious figure” but Shimshai explicitly describes himself on his own website as a “spiritual teacher” whose music invokes “ancestral devotion and dedication to higher consciousness.” His songs aren’t subtle world music – they’re worship music to Hindu deities, with tracks literally translating to worship of Shiva, Brahma, and Vishnu.
Kiddush and Cacao
Their comparison of cacao ceremonies to kiddush reveals a lack of understanding. Wine in kiddush is used within an explicitly Jewish ritual framework, sanctified by millennia of Jewish practice and halachic development.
Cacao ceremonies, by contrast, originate in Mayan and Aztec religious practices where cacao was “a gift from the gods” used in religious rituals. The facilitators who hosted the events speak about these practices as ancient rituals, and the invites for these events are calling it “sacred.” These ceremonies are being taught by practitioners who in some cases openly acknowledge their connection to these foreign spiritual roots – they’re not hiding the non-Jewish origins, they’re promoting them as part of the authentic experience.
Imagine someone advertising a “Sacred communion Jewish Circle” – taking communion wafers and wine, then trying to make them “Jewish” by saying a bracha over them. Would that feel authentically Jewish given the profound Christian meaning attached to those elements?
The context of cacao ceremonies is foreign religious worship, not Jewish tradition – especially when the facilitators themselves emphasize this connection to ancient non-Jewish spiritual practices.
The Truth About “Reclaiming”
Their claim that they’re “reclaiming what has always been ours” is historically and halachically absurd. Jewish meditation and spiritual practices exist and have existed for millennia. We don’t need to “reclaim” Hindu chakra systems, Mayan god-worship ceremonies, or Native American spirit rituals.
This argument is particularly dangerous because it suggests that any spiritual practice can be “reclaimed” as Jewish simply by performing it in a Jewish space with good intentions.
“Judging a Fellow Jew”
Their appeal about “judging a fellow Jew” is a classic deflection tactic. Identifying avoda zara isn’t about judging – it’s about protecting the community from forbidden practices.
When someone offers practices rooted in foreign religious systems to Jewish communities, pointing out the halachic problems isn’t lashon hara – it’s pikuach nefesh.
The Bottom Line
This isn’t about being unwelcome to seekers or rejecting all alternative approaches. It’s about honest labeling and halachic integrity. If you’re offering Hindu chakra work, Native American spirit ceremonies, and Mayan religious rituals, call them what they are – don’t market them as “Jewish healing.”
The Jewish people deserve practitioners who can distinguish between kosher wellness approaches and foreign religious practices. Until these fundamental issues are addressed with genuine rabbinic guidance and halachic clarity, the concerns remain valid and urgent.
We welcome genuine dialogue with qualified rabbinic authorities about establishing clear halachic guidelines for wellness practices in Jewish communities.
To be clear: I’m not here to police personal choices. I’m simply here to point out what’s important – that when these practices are brought into Jewish spaces and marketed as “Jewish healing,” we need to be honest about their origins and maintain halachic integrity in our community spaces.
Arifree
Why can’t jews learn to eat better and exercise before getting into all this weird wellness stuff 🤷♂️
Anonymous
regardless of if these practices are right or wrong, jewish or not, real healing is private. rehab, therapy, hospitals — they don’t market to you. when it’s needed, the right people guide you. places like house of more push it heavily, creating a scene around trauma work. if the wrong people take the “medicine,” it can do more harm than good. healing isn’t a trend.
Not Again
Yossi, we’ve seen this movie before, at least twice. Like COTS and Mic Drop, this starts as back and forth in op-eds, dragging names and community site comment sections through the mud. Ultimately, it creates enough controversy in our homes, schools, and shuls, that someone thinks to get actual rabonim involved and Daas Torah rules the day. Please skip the drama and just go to the end this time.
Hi can I offer you a hug
I’m sending you a hug from the bottom of my heart. I would like you to feel loved and cared for. May Hashem grant you inner peace and joy
You need a ceremony
My friend, you need a hearty dose of the beautiful, healing work being done at House of More.
Ahhh
Note the patronizing comment.
Ahayuasca
It’s funny because I know many people who go to HOM and have been doing the rituals and drug circles for the last few years, and none of them seem any better off. They just don’t realize they are happy cause of the camaraderie and are escaping their issues with hallucinogenic and religious ceremonies that are as full of BS like the purges from ahuyasca. Nothing done there is done w Torah values
Boruch
Written by GPT, but still amazing points.
From The House of More
This isn’t a search for truth anymore; it’s a campaign to prove you’re right. What began as halachic concern has turned into guilt by association. That may stir reaction but it isn’t serious argument. We’ve made clear that we care about halacha and address real concerns. But trying to salvage your original claims by stretching further doesn’t count as one of them.
AH
No, that’s precisely the problem. If you “cared about halachah” by more than lip service, you’d have addressed the writer’s halachic concerns. Instead in your response article you specifically said, “ This is not the space to address every claim made in the op-ed” – because you haven’t got responses, just a lot of flak and deflection.
AH
I love chulent
P. McDonald
Long live the house of more! Don’t bother with the nay sayers. The only thing that would make them happy is your misery
AH
Right! Who cares about halachah? If it makes you “happy” to eat a cheeseburger or to play video games on Shabbos or to cheat in business, then just do it!
(Yes, this is sarcasm, though to “P. McDonald” it appears to be a mission statement.)
Resident
Everyone is invited to join the farbrengen on Sunday 12 sivan for shavous and month of sivan. You can see for yourself. When you are being helped good, if not drop it like a hot potato. Not everything fits for everyone. We can agree to disagree.
Dov Werdiger
That was a let down, your “systematic” analysis was just more of the same. Rather than provide any type of critical thinking and perspective shift you just dug your feet deeper and regurgiated what you said earlier. You haven’t shown that you understood the response from House of More at all.
Dov Werdiger
Here is one thread that will actually unravel your whole premise. I have actually met Adrian DiMatteo, I have heard his story about how he recently discovered his mother was Jewish and HoM provided a space for him to connect to Judaism and to begin to integrate this into his life’s journey.
You can armchair websearch and chatGPT all you like but you lack human empathy. In the name of Halacha too.
AH
How does that “unravel” anything? You know, there are lots of people who “connect to Judaism” and even convert, but via Reform or other non-Torah movements. That doesn’t make them kosher. There are even stories of people who were spurred to return to Yiddishkeit after meetings with Hindu gurus; are we now going to call those part of Yiddishkeit too?