What Is Buddhist Meditation Doing at an Ultra-Orthodox Yeshiva?

Avraham Yurovitch, who died in 2002, was a rabbi of some prominence in Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox community. He was also a mystic who taught meditative techniques to his followers. His son recently published a book based on his ideas, which draw heavily on the works of the 13th-century Spanish kabbalist Abraham Abulafia, recent academic findings about the history of kabbalah, and Buddhist techniques for meditative breathing. Alan Brill dissents: