A Brief Biography of Velvel "Wally" Spiegler

I close each of the articles I write wih this biographical endpiece:
"Velvel "Wally" Spiegler lives in Massachusetts. He is a Certified Polarity Therapist, registered with advanced standing in the American Polarity Therapy Association; a student and teacher of Jewish Mysticism whose primary interest is in Jewish approaches to the healing of mind, body, and spirit".

My interest in Jewish spirituality began in the spring of 1974 when I met Zalman Schacter who appeared as a Shabbat scholar-in-residence at Temple Emanuel in Providence, RI. His warmth, his charisma and his innovative approach to Judaism immediately charmed me. A year later, I met Zalman again at a Ruach retreat in the Berkshires where he introduced me to Dovid Din, a genuine twentieth century Jewish mystic who I eventually adopted as my rebbe and spiritual mentor.
In as much as we lived nearly two hundred miles from one another, I studied Kabbalah with him, for a number of years, via phone conversations, audiotapes and frequent trips to Brooklyn.  Around that period, my family and I belonged to an orthodox congregation where I received a thorough grounding in Jewish tradition along with years of Talmudic learning. I tell many stories about my association with orthodoxy, including a particular one that recaps my 1984 visit with Zalman in Jerusalem.
In 1986, I was certified as a Polarity therapist (an energy healer) by the Polarity Wellness Center in Boston, and two years later the American Polarity Therapy Association endorsed me as an RPP, a Registered Polarity Practitioner. My involvement with Polarity grew out of the recognition that the principles of energy healing were perfectly in accord with the teachings of Kabbalah.

About that time, I also began to teach classes in Jewish mysticism in the Providence area. My teaching experience includes adult education classes at several synagogues in the area, at Brown University Hillel, at a community learning center and at a local learning havurah.
For the last six hears I have been submitting bimonthly articles on Jewish spirituality and healing to the Rhode Island Jewish Herald and other Jewish publications.

In 1998, my teaching and writing led me to adapt my Polarity practice to a totally Jewish context, as I became increasingly more convinced of the practicality of therapeutic Jewish healing.
In 1999 the PC entered my life and in November 2000, I launched JewishLink, a web site totally devoted to promoting Jewish healing and spirituality.