Dear Mishpocha,
I just returned from Summit at Sea, a conference that feels like an oracle of future psychedelic conversations. The soulful Shabbat held on a deck overlooking the ocean offered members of the tribe a chance to come together, kibbitz, sing, and pray.
Summit has played a pivotal role in my life. During the 2016 cruise, a panel discussion about psychedelics put the topic on my radar; a bit of experimentation a few hours later with my yiddin’ friends crystalized my desire to spend more time with Jews fascinated by these substances. Ten years later, I returned to Summit as general counsel for a company I’m proud to serve, and part of a rapidly evolving industry and a transnational Jewish psychedelic community I care deeply about.
I couldn’t help but smile when conversations about the Executive Order came up during the conference. While I am proud of the role I’ve played in W. Bryan Hubbard’s journey, there is a particular event at the beginning of it all that remains extra special. When I offered to host a dinner at my home in New York in 2022 for Hubbard to meet influential people in the psychedelic space, I also told him I would arrange for a special Shabbat. After enjoying an Israeli feast on Thursday, we set off the next day to the home of friends in the neo-hassidic psychedelic underground—one of whom also hails from Appalachia. I felt it was important for me not only to share my Rolodex but also what I hold most dear: time with Jews exploring new avenues for healing who also advocate for harm reduction in the community. This is how I hope to always show up, both as a connector in a growing industry and a proud Jew in an emerging (and sometimes hostile) landscape.
I pray this newsletter brings you hope, solace, and nachas. It is my pleasure to share it.
Um grande beijo, Adriana
Events
Summit at Sea lectures that stood out: “Sex, Drugs & AI: What it Means to be Truly Human in the Age of Technology” by Noah Feldman, “The Medicine is the Experience: How Games, Psychedelics and AI are Transforming Mental Health,” “Experience as Medicine: Intentional Design in the Age of Transformation,” and Mark Hyman’s interview of Dalibor Sames during “Ibogaine for the Brain: From Addiction Breakthroughs to Cognitive Wellness.” Fellow Summiters: Talia Eisenberg, Joyce Braverman, Lauren Taus, Jonathan Sabbagh, Liz Friedland, and Elian Zach of Lila Journey.
Dr. Dalibor Sames & Dr. Mark Hyman discuss the science and mystery of ibogaine. In the room when the Executive Order was signed were Matt Zorn (wrote the EO), Hadas Alterman, Henry Berkowitz, Marcus Capone, Nora Volkow (Russian-Mexican-American neuroscientist and longtime director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse is the great-granddaughter of Leon Trotsky).
ICPR speakers will include Joanna Kempner, Ido Cohen, Jonathan David, Michal Dobrovinsky, Ido Hartogsohn, Nir Tadmor, Joshua White, Guy Simon, Noam Enbar, Leor Roseman, and Ayelet Yekutiel.
Am looking forward to Psychedelic Medicine Coalition’s Federal Summit in Washington DC next month. Jay Kopelman will speak.
Ketter Retreats, founded by Hanna Radomski, is hosting their next psychedelic retreat in the Netherlands (August 6–9), a special retreat for Gestalt practitioners (November 26–29), and a webinar with Tali Avron entitled “Gender matters: creating safer, more attuned psychedelic spaces.” Last week, Ketter hosted its 2nd legal psilocybin retreat in the beautiful dunes of the Netherlands. Hanna Radomski, Elie Gottlieb, Guy Simon, and Susanna Hinderks welcomed the group to a retreat that had Jewish spiritual elements such as Shabbat and Havdala.
Jerusalem-based psychotherapist Rabbi Ami Silver is teaching the online series Derech: Teachings and Practices for Navigating the Inner Journey through Shefa.
Protests occurred at the Psychedelic Culture conference organized by Chacruna where Allison Hoots, Rabbi Zac Kamenetz, Miriam Kagan, Shelby Hartman, Jaz Cadoch, Adam Strauss, Rick Doblin, and Ariel Vegosen spoke. There were no panels about Jewish psychedelic culture during the 3-day event.
New Yorkers on Bicycle Day took to the streets of Manhattan for the March for Cognitive Liberty. Speakers included psychiatrist Julie Holland.
Madison Margolin launched The DoubleBlind Guide to Psychedelics on April 22 at powerHouse Books in Brooklyn, in conversation with Zach Sokol.
Sacred Rise, a 4-session virtual psychoeducation group weaving challah-baking with mindfulness, journaling, somatic awareness, and grounding techniques led by Sonia Albin, has two cohorts starting soon. Register @thechallahtherapist.
World Ayahuasca Forum falls on Rosh Hashanah but the organizers are interested in furthering the conversation about ‘Jewish ayahuasca’ at another time. Leor Roseman and Mordechai Walder presenting and Maxi Cohen attending.
Jews in Weed held their 2nd Annual Purim Party with nearly 100 people gathered in New York and the pre-Shabbat call featured Shirley Halperin, who got her start at High Times and went on to become the first female co-editor-in-chief of Rolling Stone.
Dr. Jessica Roda hosted Rabbi Zac Kamenetz at Georgetown University for an event entitled “Heal Us and We Will Be Healed, (Re)Introducing Psychedelic States into Jewish Practices.”
Manna Festival hosted a “Decolonial Judaism” Passover in California. Natalie Ginsburg, David Sauvage, and Mordechai Walder attended.
Research
DemeRx, founded by Deborah C. Mash, announced FDA acceptance of IND application to advance DMX-1001 for the treatment of alcohol use disorder.
A groundbreaking study published on April 1, 2026, in Science Advances, demonstrated the successful engineering of a single plant system—a relative of tobacco, Nicotiana benthamiana—to simultaneously produce five distinct, high-value psychedelic compounds: DMT, psilocin, psilocybin, bufotenin, and 5-MeO-DMT. Researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science, led by Shirley (Paula) Berman and Asaph Aharoni, achieved this by mapping the full DMT biosynthetic pathway and integrating genes from three different biological kingdoms—plants, fungi, and toads—into the plant, effectively turning it into a "living factory." Berman has recently opened her own lab at the Volcani Center!
Psychedelics reached the U.S. Supreme Court once again in U.S. v. Hemani, a case that could reshape the federal statute barring controlled substance users from owning guns. Justice Elena Kagan invoked ayahuasca as a hypothetical — noting it is non-addictive and only temporarily alters consciousness.
MAPS Israel has much news to share. Keren Tzarfaty was a guest at Ran Sapir’s podcast; they attended and spoke at the ICAR conference; the Healing October 7th initiative, an open-label MDMA-assisted psychotherapy study for PTSD led by Sheba Medical Center is now in the final stages of screening and preparing to begin its first cohort; they opened enrollment for a new cohort of their foundational training in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, developed in collaboration with the Hakomi Institute and the Sagol Center for Brain and Mind; clinical spaces at Lev Hasharon and Be’er Sheva Mental Health Centers have been renovated; and a psilocybin study for treatment-resistant depression has enrolled its first participant.
Israeli ibogaine activist Boaz Wachtel called attention to the paper, Illicit Trafficking of Natural Psychotropics from Gabon: Special Focus on Iboga.
Charles Nemeroff, co-director of the Charmaine & Gordon McGill Center for Psychedelic Research at Dell Medical School in Austin, spoke with Psychedelic Alpha about ibogaine, scientific rigor, and his concerns about de-medicalized access models like Oregon’s. He is part of a consortium in Texas receiving $50 million for ibogaine research.
Researcher Jonathan David presented at Psychedelic Intersections 2026 at Harvard Divinity School on the spread of ayahuasca in the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) world exploring how one of Judaism’s most closed communities is engaging with Amazonian shamanism, and how participants interpret these experiences through a Jewish lens.
UJA-Federation of New York’s Israel Office head Itzik Shmuli has made mental health services are one of UJA-Federation’s four primary funding priorities, alongside emergency aid, support for Holocaust survivors and elderly citizens, and improving bomb shelters.
Chaplains in Psychedelic Assisted Therapy: Rationale and Competencies
was published in the Journal of Religion and Health. Co-authors included Rabbi Aaron D. Cherniak.
People & Projects
Eco art therapist Mor Keshet and clinical psychologist Natalie Cohen collaborated on videos about dance as integration in preparation for the publication of Cohen’s memoir.
Earth’s Gifts is a multi-sensory creative gratitude ritual blending eco-art therapy, somatic awareness, and Earth-honoring practice designed by Mor to return you to what sustains you. Available at morkeshet.com.
Blake Mandell, Co-Founder and CEO of Transcend Therapeutics, celebrated the sale of Transcend to Otsuka. Mazel tov on that and the voucher!
Jilly Rubenstein founded Anamnesis Bio to provide a scalable, GMP-grade supply of iboga alkaloids by extracting plant cells and proliferating them in bioreactors. This botanical synthesis platform is designed to deliver defined alkaloid profiles and reproducible quality, creating a credible and sustainable path from plant to medicine at scale.
Ophir Netzer and Lisa Simon co-founded Rising Researchers in Psychedelic Science (RRPS), a dedicated forum for M.A., PhD, MD/PhD, Post-docs, and medical residents actively researching psychoactive substances in Israel.
Rabbi Aura Ahuvia is writing a book currently titled Psychedelic Rabbi: A Memoir of C-PTSD and Healing weaving together psychedelic healing and trauma recovery.
Sheri Perlman, a neuroscience-based occupational therapist and trauma-trained social worker, made Aliyah to launch Mercaz Tali — a nature-based healing center in Israel offering science-backed transpersonal group healing modalities.
Marissa Feinberg‘s PSYCA newsletter is at the intersection of psychedelics, climate, and culture.
Sinai Oren and Pinni Baumol led a seminar at Shaare Zedek Hospital.
Omer Golan founded What If? aims at empowering individuals suffering from trauma or depression to reclaim hope, purpose, and agency through innovative, personalized interventions and a supportive community, offering free, evidence-based tools for healing and resilience. They are developing a trauma-informed mental health platform that enables users to reimagine their lives through advanced narrative tools and AI-driven simulations.
Books & Media
Long out of print, Fragments of a Future Scroll — the first book by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (1924–2014), father of Jewish Renewal — was republished by Ayin Press. It gathers Reb Zalman’s early attempts at articulating a ‘Hasidism for the Aquarian Age’ and Judaism’s role in an emergent planetary consciousness. Deeply resonant for anyone at the intersection of Jewish mysticism and psychedelics.
Charley Wininger’s article Turning On the Culture is out via Lucid News.
Check out the podcast Embodied Judaism by Jessie Duke Gerzon of Shefa.
Author and podcaster Mark Gober shared a raw account of his ibogaine experience at Beond, the retreat founded by Talia Eisenberg. What unfolded was not psychedelic glamour but a brutal, compassionate reckoning with the architecture of the psyche — and I deeply appreciated the poetic restraint of his account (something rare).
Group ketamine-assisted psychotherapy was explored in a beautiful piece by Jessica Klein in The Other, founded by Peter Shafran, and captured how healing interpersonal trauma sometimes requires other people in the room.
Former therapist Tami Sasson published the essay I Thought Ayahuasca Would Save Me. I was very, very, wrong.and I’m so glad for it.
The Economist’s Weekend Intelligence podcast ran an episode titled “The Red-State Psychedelic: Meet the Man Trying to Cure the Opioid Crisis, One Trip at a Time,” an interview with W. Bryan Hubbard of Americans for Ibogaine where he described the dinner party I hosted in New York in December 2022. AFI is lead by Aaron Buzzali.
Steven Levine, Chief Patient Officer of Compass Pathways, was interviewed by Tricycle Day and shared: “My priority is broad and equitable access, not just commercial success.”
Job Opportunities
Compass Pathways is hiring a national sales director.
Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research is seeking a full-time therapist.
NYGreen Economy Law Professional Corporation, a Toronto-based boutique firm specializing in psychedelics, sustainability, and housing, founded by Marc Z. Goldgrub, is seeking a NY-licensed lawyer (part-time or of-counsel) based in or near New York City. Mostly remote. $50–80K annually. Some background in both corporate law and litigation preferred. Send resume and cover letter to mg@greeneconomylaw.com and mention JHS.
Ask Dig
I recently attended an event about antisemitism and AI at YIVO. It was strange being in the same auditorium where I spoke about Jews and cannabis during the opening night of Am Israel High, now considering the perils of new technologies quickly taking over our daily lives.
Dig, a new Israeli start-up, stood out for be for its “social listening” abilities. I wanted to share what it found across Instagram, Tik Tok and other social media platforms when I entered the prompt below. If you are interested in hospice and end-of-life care, check out this article and connect with Robert Ansin.
