MAGAZINES 
Rabbi Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
World-famous teacher built bridges between religions & generations
‘Tradition is a marker we leave behind us in previous life cycles so that when we come back, we have some notion of where we left off. We need to look at tradition not as a relic of the past, but as a catalyst for the future.’
—Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
Before the mandate “Think globally, act locally” was the watchword of today’s culture, Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, better known as Reb Zalman, was living this credo.
Reb Zalman was among the first teachers in the mid-20th century to facilitate global religious dialogue and interfaith enrichment. (“Reb” is short for rebbe or rabbi, which means teacher in Hebrew.) He helped jump-start the spiritual lives of thousands of people who sought new ways to revitalize orthodox religious traditions with contemporary meaning, soulfulness and joy.
Jude Blitz, a Boulder-based family systems therapist and aikido instructor at Naropa University, met Reb Zalman in 1965 when she was a student at the University of Missouri. “The quality of light that came into the room, and the timbre of his voice, quieted my noise and rested my soul,” she recalls about her first meeting with him. “His every word and melody kept transporting us to the whole world of all the souls.”
Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, India, in 1997.
WORLD WISDOM
Many Boulderites got to know Reb Zalman when he held the World Wisdom Chair at Naropa from 1995 to 2004. Widely considered an authority on Jewish mysticism, he may be best known throughout the world as the father of Jewish Renewal, a transdenominational movement grounded in Judaism’s prophetic and mystical traditions. It incorporates contemporary views such as feminism, environmentalism and pacifism.
Reb Zalman is also the founder of the Spiritual Eldering movement, which supports a focus in later life on spiritual development, interpersonal relationships, service, and communication of the wisdom of elders. He has been a lifelong participant in ecumenical dialogues throughout the world, including his widely influential dialogue with the Dalai Lama in 1990. They were eager to compare and learn from each other’s experiences of spiritual exile: the Dalai Lama’s from Tibet and Reb Zalman’s from Poland.
Born in Zholkiew, Poland, in 1924 and raised in Vienna, Austria, Reb Zalman and his family were interned in detention camps under the Vichy French, who collaborated with the Nazis. They fled the Nazis in 1938 and ultimately settled in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1941. He enrolled in a seminary for Lubavitch rabbinical students—an Eastern European orthodox, mystical sect of Hasidic Judaism. But after his ordination in 1947, he was drawn to explore a more secular approach to contemporary religion.
He completed his master of arts degree in the psychology of religion in 1956 at Boston University, where he studied with Howard Thurman, a renowned Christian theologian and civil rights activist. Reb Zalman received his doctorate from Hebrew Union College in 1968. Following a teacher’s exhortation to “go out and reach a new generation” that was vulnerable to consumerism, rumors of “God’s death,” and religious practices that lacked relevance, he went to San Francisco. He found himself in the vanguard of the spiritual revolution of the ’60s, and met a wide array of teachers who represented the world’s great religious traditions.
Reb Zalman with Ram Dass (formerly Dr. Richard Alpert), spiritual teacher, LSD pioneer with Timothy Leary, and author of Be Here Now.
DRUGS’ SPIRITUAL POTENTIAL
And he met many people who experimented with hallucinogens. Reb Zalman was inspired by the insights of Aldous Huxley’s sacred experiences with mescaline as described in The Doors of Perception, and he had used LSD himself in 1959 under the guidance of Timothy Leary. (That led to a break with his former orthodox sect.) Reb Zalman realized that “the mystical claims of our religions could be corroborated by a responsible way of getting into the psychedelic experience.” LSD, he says, helped him and others “see beyond the outlines of our own traditions to larger views of all the great religions.
“Once we saw Earth from outer space,” he explains, “all religions had to, whether they wanted to or not, give up their beliefs that any one particular religion would triumph over the other religions in the world.” Reb Zalman views every religious tradition “like a vital organ of the planet,” and thinks it’s foolish to suppose that any one tradition should have to supply all the functions. “We need one another very much,” he says.
Similarly, he considers anyone today who has “a vital religious experience—other than fundamentalism—to be in some way ‘hyphenated.’” For example, he says, “one can be Catholic-Zen, Christian-yogi, or Buddhist-Jew. It no longer makes any sense to make one tradition hermetically sealed without contact with the other.”
Reb Zalman kissing his wife, Eve Ilsen, a therapist, storyteller, singer and teacher, c. 1998.
TODAY’S TOP COMMANDMENT
Before moving to Boulder with his wife, Eve Ilsen, more than 15 years ago, Reb Zalman taught religious studies at the University of Manitoba, Canada, from 1956 to 1975, and then was professor of Jewish mysticism and psychology of religion at Temple University, in Philadelphia, until 1987. At 87, he remains active writing, working on his archives, mentoring his many students around the world and traveling to interfaith conferences. In just the last six months, he has published five books on contemporary spirituality and Judaism, including All Breathing Life Adores Your Name, a book of prayers composed as poetry and intended to rouse the heart.
Reb Zalman says he is “happy for the variety of spirituality in Boulder,” but suggests that the “longing for greater and higher light” often fades behind the “entertainment” and celebrity aspects of contemporary spiritual movements. “The waves of consciousness are a lot more grounded now, with a great deal of emphasis on meditation,” he says. “The most important religious, spiritual commandment today is to help our mother, the planet Earth, heal.”
Spoken like a true Boulderite.
Bonnie Schwab (lavidavoca.com) is a Boulder communications consultant and writer. She first met Reb Zalman at a 1973 CU workshop called “Finding Your Spiritual Path.”
TO LEARN MORE about the life and work of Reb Zalman, visit The Reb Zalman Legacy Project (www.rzlp.org). It is a collaborative effort of the Yesod Foundation and Naropa University to preserve, develop and disseminate his teachings. The extensive online archives include information about his career, his numerous books, articles, videos, interviews, music, Web courses, photographs and blog. Reb Zalman’s latest book on Jewish mysticism is A Hidden Light: Stories and Teachings of Early HaBaD and Bratzlav Hasidism, co-authored with fellow Boulder resident Netanel Miles-Yepez. The teachings and tales of two branches of early Hasidic spirituality are enhanced by contemporary insights, interpretations and personal reflections.
—B.S.
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