PAUL KOHN S
La Difference
his two marriages,
and his journey, with
his second wife, back
to Judaism.
Hospitalized with
Ten years of doing intense meditation,
a serious illness, he
was visited by a
10 years of developing focus on my
Jewish chaplain who
breath and my posture, finally illuminat-
balked when Lew
mentioned he was
ed my own unconscious material for me.
studying to become
I was very familiar with precisely what
a rabbi. "What?
it was that kept rising up and carrying
You're too old to be
a rabbinical stu-
my consciousness away from the present
dent," the chaplain
moment of my life. I had been watching
told him. Lew dis-
missed the chaplain's
this happen for 10 years, and what
skepticism, remem-
amazed me in the end was how Jewish
bering Rabbi Akiva,
who became a rabbi
so much of this unconscious material
at age 40.
was
how much of my unconscious
At the Jewish
Theological
was absorbed with the Jewishness I had
Seminary, Lew flour-
held at such distance for so long.
ished; the study
came naturally to
And the more I became aware of this
him and he graduat-
unconscious material, the more it
ed in 1988. Before
moving to San
became apparent to me that I had to
Francisco, he led a
turn toward it, that it was significant,
congregation in
Monroe, N.Y.
that it was neither random nor inciden-
In the past few
tal, but rather, the key to my soul, the
years, many Jews
have been drawn to
map to the path I had to travel next.
exploring Buddhism.
What's distinctive
about Rabbi Lew is that he is some-
social activism "flows directly from a
thing of a pioneer in bringing to
sense of connectedness I get from
Judaism the influences of a Buddhist
meditation, combined with a clarion
meditation practice.
call for justice that Judaism enunci-
),
Now, he's one of the leaders in the
ates so clearly.
Jewish meditation movement. He's
About his pastoral work, he says,
also decidedly Jewish — not both
"The most important thing is being
Jewish and Buddhist as some
present with people in hospitals,
"JewBu's" describe themselves.
deeply listening. That's when I feel
He explains that Zen meditation
the most benefit from my meditation
has "opened me to the great richness
training."
of ordinary Jewish prayer, a richness
Meditation is increasingly a part
that was no longer apparent to most
of his congregation's life. The San
Jews. The work we've been doing is
Francisco synagogue sponsors four
an experiment in how to be a reli-
meditation groups every week,
gious person in this new age of total
including two before the morning
instant communication we live in.
minyan.
"McLuhan is outdated. We no
With the help of a major grant to
longer live in a global village. We live
be announced shortly, the congrega-
in a global apartment house and the
tion is planning to open the first
walls are very thin. The idea of her-
meditation center connected to a
metically sealed religious traditions is
synagogue. Housed in a building
impossible," he says, adding that
adjacent to Beth Sholom, it will be
Judaism has a long tradition of tak-
an urban meditation center, with
ing on influences of other cultures.
daily meditation groups and Torah
Rabbi Lew spends much time
study.
tending to the needs of his congre-
"This is about daily practice," says
gants, visiting the sick, conducting
Rabbi Lew. "That's the most essential
funerals, and is also committed to
element I brought from Buddhism to
helping the city's homeless. His
Judaism." fl
An Excerpt •••
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