More than a decade ago, Madison Margolin crossed the Hudson River for a journalism assignment that would take her into Williamsburg in Brooklyn, a stronghold of Satmar Hasidim. Raised among California hippies, she was then a Columbia University journalism student and one of only two Jewish students in her class.
The assignment was to report on an ethnic community. Margolin chose the Hasidic community, with one personal point of entry: her grandmother lived in Williamsburg.
Her reporting later examined Haredi and Hasidic Jews who use psychedelic drugs while seeking closeness to God.
The practice sits within a wider revival of interest in substances that can temporarily change mood, thought and perceptions of reality. Many psychedelics come from plants and fungi, and have featured in traditional or religious rituals for thousands of years.
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People report taking them for interesting, healing or spiritual experiences. At certain doses, psychedelics may produce vivid visions or sensations, change a person’s sense of self, and bring feelings of insight or connection. They may also lead to dreamlike or mystical experiences, including visions or a sense of oneness with the universe.
An increasing number of people say they are using psychedelic drugs outside medical settings, for recreation, improved well-being, spiritual purposes or self-exploration.
Margolin’s account describes a specifically Jewish adaptation of one substance. She says ayahuasca has undergone a process of ‘Jewfication’ within these communities.
That work of adaptation is also visible in organised parts of Jewish psychedelic life. The Jewish Healing Society has published a newsletter since February 2025 on the Jewish psychedelic landscape and developments in psychedelic science in Israel.
Israel hosted a conference in December 2025 devoted entirely to women’s experiences in psychedelic spaces. Psychedelic healing programmes have also been offered for IDF veterans.
Margolin began with a class brief and a family address in Williamsburg. Her reporting points to a less visible part of the broader psychedelic turn: observant Jews using altered states of consciousness in a search for the divine.
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