The NYU–Johns Hopkins Religious Professionals Study explored the effects of psilocybin on clergy from diverse faith backgrounds, including rabbis, ministers, and imams. Participants reported profound spiritual experiences, with many saying the sessions deepened their sense of vocation and connection to the divine. It has become a landmark in understanding how psychedelics might intersect with spiritual leadership and religious life. Since the study’s results were released just a few months ago, it has received significant coverage in the media. After Michael Pollan’s New Yorker piece, and Jay Michaelson’s beautiful response, there are still more stories to tell.
In our second installment, you’ll hear from Jeff Vidt. a crtified Spiritual Care Specialist and registered Psychotherapist, Rabbi Julie Hilton Danan, Ph.D., the religious leader of Seaside Jewish Community, Rehoboth Beach, and  Pastor Ruben Nuño, Director of the Ecumenical Outreach Partnership at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church. Moderated by Hunt Priest, founder and Director of Community Relations of Ligare: A Christian Psychedelic Society, this event offers a rare window into how psilocybin and the groundbreaking study from John’s Hopkins and NYU impacted the spiritual lives and trajectories of these leaders.

This podcast is offered as a free community resource by Shefa: Jewish Psychedelic Support. If you feel moved to donate to support this work, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠you may do ⁠so on⁠ our⁠⁠⁠ website⁠ here.⁠⁠⁠

Our intro and outro music is an excerpt of the song ⁠Ein Od⁠ by ⁠Yosef Goldman⁠.

Podcast Episode: Revelation and Return — Religious Professionals Share Their Stories From the Hopkins Trial

The NYU–Johns Hopkins Religious Professionals Study explored the effects of psilocybin on clergy from diverse faith backgrounds, including rabbis, ministers, and imams. Participants reported profound spiritual experiences, with many describing a deepened sense of vocation and connection to the divine. Since its release, the study has become a landmark in understanding how psychedelics may intersect with spiritual leadership, receiving significant media coverage—from Michael Pollan’s New Yorker piece to Jay Michaelson’s thoughtful response.

In this episode, recorded live on September 16, 2025, we hear firsthand accounts from study participants about how these experiences impacted their spiritual lives and trajectories.
 Rev. Dr. Seth Jones and Dr. Jaime Clark-Soles share moving reflections on how psilocybin deepened their understanding of the sacred and shaped their vocations, in a conversation moderated by Rabbi Zac Kamenetz. While Sughra Ahmed was unable to join us live, her voice and perspective are part of a broader conversation still unfolding.

The Q+A portion brought out some of the richest reflections of the event, with thoughtful questions from attendees and generous responses from our speakers.This program was a collaboration between Shefa: Jewish Psychedelic Support, Ligare: A Christian Psychedelic Society, and Ruhani, an organization focused on the intersections of Islam, Muslim cultures, and psychedelics.

https://www.shefaflow.org/
https://www.ruhanispirit.org/
https://www.ligare.org/

Featured Guests
Dr. Jaime Clark-Soles
 Professor of New Testament at Perkins School of Theology (SMU) and Director of the Baptist House of Studies.
 She is the author of six books, including Reading John for Dear Life and 1 Corinthians: Searching the Depths of God, and is currently writing Psychedelics and Soul Care: What Christians Need to Know (Eerdmans). Dr. Clark-Soles is also certified in Psychedelic Assisted Therapies and serves as a Field Scholar with the Emory Center for Psychedelics and Spirituality. jaimeclarksoles.com

Rev. Dr. Seth Jones is an ordained minister, writer, and spiritual scholar whose work explores the intersection of beauty, mysticism, and extraordinary spiritual experiences. With a Doctorate of Ministry in Semiotics, Church, and Culture from Portland Seminary, his career has spanned ministry, finance, and communal living—reflecting a lifelong commitment to reinvention and spiritual inquiry. He has served diverse church communities from Yellowstone National Park to coastal Maine, and is currently based in La Crosse, Wisconsin, where he works as a Spiritual and Grief Counselor for a hospice organization and is completing a book on the meaning-making of peak experiences. Seth is passionate about preserving beauty and spiritual depth in a rapidly changing world.

Moderator Rabbi Zac Kamenetz is a rabbi and community leader based in Berkeley, CA. As the founder and CEO of Shefa, Zac is leading a movement to integrate safe and supported psychedelic use into the Jewish spiritual tradition, advocating for the healing of individual and inherited traumas, and inspiring a Jewish religious and creative renaissance in the 21st century. He is a qualified instructor ofMBSR and is trained in ketamine-assisted care through Inbodied Life. Zac is certified in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy by the Hakomi Institute of Northern California.

This podcast is offered as a free community resource by Shefa: Jewish Psychedelic Support. If you feel moved to donate to support this work, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠you may do ⁠so on⁠ our⁠⁠ website⁠ here.⁠⁠

Our intro and outro music is an excerpt of the song ⁠Ein Od⁠ by ⁠Yosef Goldman⁠.

Rabbi Zac speaks with Dr. Marc Aixalà, author of “Psychedelic Integration: Psychotherapy for Non-Ordinary States of Consciousness” a telecommunications engineer, psychologist, psychotherapist and certified Holotropic Breathwork facilitator specializing in supporting people who face challenging experiences with expanded states of consciousness. They discuss what psychedelic integration can look like, the challenges of integration these experiences, and risks of overlooking integration of psychedelic journeys.

Dr.Marc Aixalà Biography: Marc Aixalà is a Telecommunications Engineer and Psychologist with a Master's degree in Integrative Therapy and Strategic Brief Therapy. He is a senior Holotropic Breathwork facilitator and trainer, certified with Grof Transpersonal Training, and the author of Psychedelic Integration: Psychotherapy for Non-Ordinary States. 

With extensive experience in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, Marc has worked in clinical applications of psilocybin for depression at Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu Hospital and trained with MAPS in the therapeutic use of MDMA. He served as an integration psychotherapy specialist with ICEERS and co-founded the ICEERS Integration and Support Service. Marc has also contributed to psychological emergency services through Kosmicare, working as a volunteer, team leader, and trainer. 

Currently, he is actively involved in clinical trials with psilocybin and is deeply committed to mentoring and training the next generation of psychedelic therapists. As a teacher, he created the ICEERS Integration Training and collaborates with various training programs for psychedelic therapy and integration, sharing his expertise with professionals who support those navigating non-ordinary states. 

Based in the countryside, Marc offers psychotherapy in Barcelona, and he continues to support the therapeutic and professional growth of the psychedelic therapy community.

This podcast is offered as a free community resource by Shefa: Jewish Psychedelic Support. If you feel moved to donate to support this work, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠you may do ⁠so on⁠ our⁠ website⁠ here.⁠

Our intro and outro music is an excerpt of the song ⁠Ein Od⁠ by ⁠Yosef Goldman⁠.

Natalie Lyla Ginsberg, Global Impact Officer of MAPS and co-founder of the Jewish Psychedelic Summit, speaks with Rabbi Zac about the potential and challenges of creating Jewish psychedelic community in this moment. Along with other collaborators, Natalie hosted the Aravah Festival this past October, a Sukkot-themed celebration in Mendocino, CA. 

Natalie Lyla Ginsberg Biography: Natalie Lyla Ginsberg (MSW) is the Global Impact Officer at the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, (MAPS) and the co-founder of the Jewish Psychedelic Summit.  Natalie joined MAPS in 2014, founding the Policy & Advocacy department, and serving as its director for 5 years.  At MAPS, Natalie initiated and co-developed MAPS’ Health Equity program, including MAPS' first MDMA Therapy Training for Communities of Color, and co-authored the first study interviewing Palestinians and Israelis who have shared ayahuasca ceremonies.  She is currently conducting a study with Columbia University interviewing MDMA couples therapists. Before joining MAPS, Natalie worked as a Policy Fellow at the Drug Policy Alliance, where she helped legalize medical cannabis in her home state of New York, and worked to end race-based marijuana arrests.  Natalie was born and raised in New York City and currently lives in Los Angeles, CA. She received her B.A. in history from Yale College, and her master’s of social work (M.S.W.) from Columbia University."

This podcast is offered as a free community resource by Shefa: Jewish Psychedelic Support. If you feel moved to donate to support this work, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠you may do ⁠so on⁠ our website⁠ here.

Our intro and outro music is an excerpt of the song ⁠Ein Od⁠ by ⁠Yosef Goldman⁠.

Rabbi Zac speaks to Dr. Roman Palitsky, Director of Research Projects for Emory Spiritual Health and a Research Psychologist for Emory University School of Medicine. Zac and Roman discuss the launch of a joint research project between Emory and Shefa, Jewish Journeys, the first population study of Jewish attitudes, practices, and needs towards psychedelics, generously funded by Common Era.

Dr Roman Palitsky's Bio: Roman Palitsky, MDiv, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Director of Research Projects in Spiritual Health at Emory University, and he is faculty in the Emory Center for Psychedelics and Spirituality. His research applies a bio-psycho-social-spiritual approach to improving behavioral interventions by ensuring that the treatments we offer are responsive to care seekers’ cultural needs and strengths. His work in psychedelic treatment research reflects these commitments by seeking to make psychedelic therapies rigorous, effective, and accountable to the many patient populations who might benefit from them, and to support those care seekers who may experience adverse effects.

This podcast is offered as a free community resource by Shefa: Jewish Psychedelic Support. If you feel moved to donate to support this work, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠you may do so on⁠ our website⁠.⁠⁠⁠

Our intro and outro music is an excerpt of the song ⁠Ein Od⁠ by ⁠Yosef Goldman⁠.

This episode is apart of Awakening Consciousness: Shefa’s High Holiday Beit Midrash

This podcast is offered as a free community resource by Shefa: Jewish Psychedelic Support. If you feel moved to donate to support this work, ⁠⁠⁠⁠you may do so on⁠ our website⁠.⁠⁠

Our intro and outro music is an excerpt of the song ⁠Ein Od⁠ by ⁠Yosef Goldman⁠.

This episode is apart of Awakening Consciousness: Shefa’s High Holiday Beit Midrash

This podcast is offered as a free community resource by Shefa: Jewish Psychedelic Support. If you feel moved to donate to support this work, ⁠⁠⁠you may do so on⁠ our website⁠.⁠

Our intro and outro music is an excerpt of the song ⁠Ein Od⁠ by ⁠Yosef Goldman⁠.

This episode is a part of Awakening Consciousness: Shefa’s High Holiday Beit Midrash.

This podcast is offered as a free community resource by Shefa: Jewish Psychedelic Support. If you feel moved to donate to support this work, ⁠⁠you may do so on⁠ our website⁠.

Our intro and outro music is an excerpt of the song ⁠Ein Od⁠ by ⁠Yosef Goldman⁠.

This episode is apart of Awakening Consciousness: Shefa’s High Holiday Beit Midrash

In the memory of Hersh Goldberg-Polin and all those innocent lives who have been lost, Rabbi Zac shares some of his psychedelic torah to end this year and look out to the next.