Why God sent the Jews to Buddhism

Cross-posted on Jews By Choice

On Saturday night, I went to B’nai Joshua/Beth Elohim (BJBE) in nearby Glenview to attend a concert/performance of Soul on Fire. It’s a musical and narrative piece written and fronted by Danny Maseng, an inspired teacher and musician, and a cast of several others, including BJBE’s cantor, Jennifer Frost.

Danny was for years a committed practitioner of Zen, as was I. And, like me, he felt he was opened anew to Judaism by the practice of Zen. Part of Soul on Fire maps that journey.

Danny told a remarkable part of this story during the concert:

“After one of my concerts,” he said, “this wild-eyed Chasid came up to me. He had the tzitzit and the payis and all the accoutrements of a pious Jew. And he said to me: ‘Do you know why you went to Zen?’

“I just stared at him. I didn’t know what to say, didn’t know what he was going to say. And he said again, ‘Do you know why you went to Zen, why so many Jews went over to the practice of Zen?’ And I said, ‘No, I would love to know why.’

“And he said the most extraordinary thing: ‘Because,’ he said, 'after the Holocaust, the hearts of the people and their teachers were filled with so much bitterness, weighed down by such feelings of betrayal, that Hashem, in His infinite mercy, sent teachers to Zen so that they could learn once again to love God, and be inspired again to teach Judaism with the love and the sweetness and the compassion that it merits.’”

--T.A.

Comments

[amba]

Omigod, that must have blown you away. Here, Reb Tatz, take that!

[Mom]

Beautiful! I have wondered about how a soul can accomodate what our brothers and sisters in Europe had to live--and die--through.

[Steve Yastrow]

I loved the Soul on Fire concert too. For the first half of the concert I was in a bad place personally, and was detached, despite the great music. This story started to wake me up, and from then on I was into it. What a shame I was so thought-obsessed at such an inopportune time.

What TA didn't mention is that he and I had the opportunity to make music with Danny the previous night, as part of a Shabbat service.

[Ellen Klowden]

Would you mind if I quote that?
I'm from Skokie, btw. Niles Township Jewish Congregation Nursery School, B'nai Emunah Bat Mitzvah...just finished reading The Jew in the the Lotus tonight...and spending Pesach at my first Dzogchen Retreat....

[David]

Ellen: Feel free to quote it (but attribute it to Danny Maseng, not to me).

Any matzot at that retreat?! ;)