Kanjin Yael Raff Peskin

Kanjin Yael Raff Peskin (she/her) interweaves her Jewish ritual observance and her Zen practice with her dedication to social justice and cultivating beauty in the world. She received lay ordination from Vietnamese Zen Teacher Thich Nhat Hanh in 1993 and in the Soto Zen lineage of Shunryu Suzuki Roshi from Hoka Chris Fortin at Tassajara, where Yael has been returning since 1988 and, in recent years, has been part of the Tassajara kitchen crew. Yael has facilitated meditation groups, family sangha gatherings, mindfulness retreats, and Jewish festival celebrations in nature for children and their families for over forty years. In 2013, Yael created KULANU, a year-round playgarden and evolving community in Sebastopol, sharing nature-based Jewish tradition and Zen mindfulness practices with infants through preschoolers and their families in an outdoor Waldorf environment. Yael is the mother of three adult children and grandmother to one of the sweetest people she has ever met!