May 15, 1953-January 4, 2011
Jamiyya Jeanne Laner, recent president of Bet Alef Meditative Synagogue, will be remembered by her beloved Jewish and Sufi communities, former employees, family, and numerous friends for her generosity, compassion, integrity, boundless energy, and love. She was born on May 15, 1953 in Kansas City and was raised in Saratoga, Calif. from the age of nine. She died on January 4, 2011 after complications following heart surgery. She was 57.
Jamiyya worked for Washington Mutual for 22 years between 1986 and 2008, rising from main frame computer programmer to vice president of technology. While working full time she earned a Master’s degree at the University of Redlands in 1988. In 2002, she received Washington Mutual’s Star Award in recognition of her outstanding contributions to the company. After she retired, she continued to meet socially with her Washington Mutual team once a month for dinner.
“We’d worked together for so long it didn’t make sense to break ties,” said Alf Christensen, one of her employees, who called her a natural born leader. “By that time we were friends.”
According to her sister, BJ Weil of Santa Fe, “She had great intellect but was also extremely good with people. She had a wonderful ability to work with and direct and manage people. She was a great one for finding people who were overlooked and making sure they were included.”
Jamiyya reinvented herself many times throughout her life. In 1980, during her 24-year marriage to Don Laner, she converted to Judaism. Following Don’s death in 2000 she met her current husband, Madani Knowles, a practicing Sufi, at a bereavement group at Valley Beth Shalom Synagogue in Encino, Calif.
She embraced Sufism and proceeded to become a Sufi initiate in 2003. She then received the Sufi name Jamiyya, which means “The Gatherer.”
“She gathered people her entire life. She was constantly gathering hearts and souls,” Madani said.
At the time of her death she was completing an Integral Life Coaching certificate and becoming a life coach. A lover of lifelong learning, she attended numerous classes, workshops, and retreats on meditation and spirituality. Local teachers included Jamal Rahman, minister of Seattle’s Interfaith Community Church, Rabbi Ted Falcon, founding Rabbi of Bet Alef Meditative Synagogue, Rabbi Olivier BenHaim, current Bet Alef rabbi, and many others. She also studied with leading thinkers such as Joan Borysenko, Ph.D., a world-renowned expert in mind—body connection.
In 2009, she became secretary of the Seattle Sufi Order. One of her proudest moments was having the honor of hosting Pir Zia Inayat Kahn, head of the Sufi Order, in her and Madani’s home during a weekend course taught at North Seattle Community College.
Concurrently she was an active member of Bet Alef Meditative Synagogue. She and Madani joined the synagogue in Bellevue in 2004. With Rabbi Ted Falcon’s retirement in 2009 and the transition to Bet Alef’s new rabbi, Jamiyya devoted her energy to ensuring the ongoing growth and success of the organization. She joined the Bet Alef board of directors as treasurer in 2009, and rose to president in 2010. Under her leadership, the synagogue launched the Bet Alef Learning Institute, bringing luminary scholars and thinkers to the Seattle area community.
Its first event featured Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, a founder of the Jewish Renewal movement and considered a rabbinic sage, and Jay Michaelson, renowned Jewish scholar and author.
“She personally helped me bring balance between the many priorities that compete for a rabbi’s attention,” Rabbi BenHaim said. “Her highly contagious enthusiasm and dedication lifted all of our hearts. Jamiyya will be remembered as someone who could bring people from many different backgrounds to the same table. All of us will remember her smile, her passion, her unbeatable enthusiasm, her unshakable positive attitude and her ability to put everything in a more compassionate perspective.”
In November 2010, Jamiyya and Madani traveled to Israel with Rabbi BenHaim and a group from Bet Alef, a trip Madani called “a lifelong dream.” Two weeks after returning to Seattle, the couple attended a weeklong Integral Spirituality conference in Monterey, Calif. At the conference they had a chance to work with leading spiritual teachers such as Deepak Chopra and celebrated Rumi interpreter Coleman Barks.
“Every day at the conference was a peak experience,” Madani said. “We sat in the front row every day. She didn’t want to miss a thing. When Coleman Barks read from Rumi, Jamiyya mouthed along, caught his eye, and he kept looking at us. It was like getting a private reading — she was so proud of that.”
Jamiyya suffered a number of chronic health conditions throughout her life, stemming from childhood diabetes. On the way back to Seattle she became short of breath, and underwent emergency heart bypass surgery the next day.
“She was at the top of her game,” Madani said. “She went out on top, radiantly happy.”
A memorial service was held for Jamiyya at Bet Alef Meditative Synagogue on January 9. A tribute fund at Bet Alef has been set up in her name to support programs of special interest to her. Send donations to Bet Alef Meditative Synagogue, P.O. Box 50201, Bellevue, WA 98015, noting the Jamiyya Laner Memorial Fund, or online at http://www.betalef.org.
— Karen Franklin