As if there wasn't enough

Now it's Zalman Schachter's turn to shine.

This week's Newsweek magazine's cover story is all about Religion and Spirituality. One of the ways to get close to G-d is through "Kabbalah", and who better to ask than ZSS.

"Born in 1924 in Poland, Schachter-Shalomi escaped to the United States in 1941, where he was ordained by the Lubavitcher Hasidim, the Orthodox sect that preserves the Judaism practiced in Russian villages 250 years ago. He became entranced by the mysticism of Hasidic practice: its meditative prayer, parables, ecstatic worship and embrace of Kabbalah. As a young rabbi in the postwar years, Schachter-Shalomi was sent to college campuses to bring Jewish students back to the fold. That led to his own spiritual search. He sought out Baptists, Roman Catholic monks, Native American elders, Sufis, psychologists, Buddhist masters and the Dalai Lama, to explore theological ideas."

Here's an interesting photo of him wearing a shtreimel (!) meeting the Dalai Lama



I say blame the Poilisher, after all that's where he was born, no?

The article continues:

"Today, based in Boulder, Colo., he and his students combine elements of Orthodox Judaism (morning prayers, strict observance of the Sabbath and a kosher diet) with a contemporary sensibility. The result is what he calls Neo-Hasidism. Like other liberal branches of Judaism, Schachter-Shalomi's Neo-Hasidism ordains women as rabbis, accepts gays and lesbians, and welcomes intermarried couples. But it goes further to embrace mysticism and the spiritual wisdom of other faiths, and it sees environmentalism as sacred."

Just plain wonderful.