Off the Rabbi's Bookshelf

Spring/Summer 2002 Reading on Spirituality

Zalman Schacter-Shalomi, and Ellen Singer, ed., Paradigm Shift: From the Jewish Renewal Teachings of Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. Jason Aronson, 1993.

From a European Lubavitch yeshiva in the ‘40s, to Spiritual Eldering the US in the ‘90s, Reb Zalman, as he is universally known, has steeped himself in the wisdom of the world's religious traditions. This eclectic collection of articles, interviews and reflections, while not comprehensive or complete, touches on many aspects of Jewish tradition and its contemporary renewal, as well as his encounters with other faith traditions. Reb Zalman, the well-loved zayde of the Jewish renewal movement, also holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Religion and is Professor Emeritus of Psychology of Religion and Jewish Mysticism at Temple University {He also officiated at the wedding of our own members Brenda Barrie and Sid Bursten!}.

Rodger Kamenetz, The Jew in the Lotus : A Poet's Rediscovery of Jewish Identity in Buddhist India. Harper, 1995.

Rodger Kamenetz was a poet teaching at a Louisiana college, content with a luke-warm sense of his own Jewish identity, when a buddy encouraged him to come along to document the historic encounter between the Dalai Lama and a group of Jewish leaders and teachers. The record of the encounter - which includes Reb Zalman, as well as RRC graduate Rabbi Joy Levitt, among others - is fascinating enough, but Kamenetz deftly weaves it in with the unbidden changes to his own assumptions about, and relationship to, Judaism. Beautifully written and easy to read, it's a book that leaves you unable to remain distanced from the subject, just as Kamenetz himself discovered.

Sidney Schwarz, Finding a Spiritual Home: How a Generation of Jews can Transform the American Synagogue. Jossey-Bass, 2000.

This is an inspiring survey of four shuls from across the denominational spectrum, written by a passionate Reconstructionist and founding rabbi of Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation in Bethesda. Woven into the stories of how these communities are being revitalized are four personal stories, spiritual autobiographies of a sort, that capture the intersection of personal and communal journeys. Far from being a dry ethnographic study, Schwarz blends the depiction of the congregations with practical guidance for replicating their successes, along with the inherent challenge to each reader to find his/her place within a meaning-filled Jewish paradigm.

March 2002

My People's Prayer Book: Traditional Prayers, Modern Commentaries
edited by Rabbi Lawrence A Hoffman; Jewish Lights Publishing

This is an astonishingly rich and complex series that, paradoxically, makes learning about prayers and the prayer service remarkably easy.

Using a format similar to a page of Talmud, Hoffman "frames" each prayer, or discrete section of liturgy, with commentaries offered by scholars, rabbis and theologians, refracting a particular perspective, for example: Our Biblical Heritage; Medieval Wisdom; Feminist Theology; etc.

There are plans for eight volumes in the series, five of which are already available. The set divides the regular liturgy into their digestible chunks: The Sh'ma and Its Blessings; The Amidah; P'sukei D'zimrah (Morning Psalms); Seder Kriyat Hatorah (Shabbat Torah Service); Birkhot Hashhar (Morning Blessings) was just released.

Each volume begins with a helpful introduction that situates the particular section in a "building block"-type approach to the structure of the liturgy. Hoffman also touches on many of the issues evoked in discussions of prayer and prayer service taking place at conferences, in synagogues and havurot, across the denominational spectrum and in many sectors of the Jewish organizational world.

How To Be A Perfect Stranger: A Guide to Etiquette in Other People's Religious Ceremonies, edited by Stuart M. Matlins and Arthur J. Magida; Jewish Lights Publishing.

When I was a working singer and a voice student, I spent many hours in churches as a paid ringer and soloist. Not only was it the beginning of my serious education in Interfaith relations, but I was also learning the detailed differences between types and forms of Christianity.

This 2-column collection will teach you what to wear, how to behave, what to expect and - indirectly - what not to say when you visit any number of churches, sects, and religious gatherings.

Terms such as evangelism, practices like kneeling, rituals ranging from communion to sweat lodges are explained in brief yet accurate articles. You can focus on the history, find out if you can take pictures, and even figure out whether you be able to participate comfortably in some aspects of another traditions events.