Product Description

In this landmark book, esteemed Buddhist teacher Sylvia Boorstein addresses this incisive question in a warm, delightful and personal way. With the same down-to-earth charm and wit that have endeared her to her many students and readers, Boorstein shows how one can be both an observant Jew and a passionately committed Buddhist.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #127885 in Books
• Published on: 1998-02-11
• Released on: 1998-01-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

From Library Journal
Boorstein is an accomplished and respected teacher of Buddhist Insight Meditation and has also remained an observant Jew. Here she thoughtfully and clearly discusses how she resolved these two aspects of her life in a fulfilling and complementary way. (LJ 2/1/97)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
In THAT'S FUNNY, YOU DON'T LOOK BUDDHIST, Boorstein explains why she finds no conflict in embracing Judaism and Buddhism. Her twenty years of meditation have, in fact, deepened and enriched her Judaism. As in her other audio programs, Boorstein relies on a wealth of personal anecdotes to draw the listener into her story. Her presentations is pleasant and heartfelt, the voice of the kindly Jewish grandmother bodhisattva, as she's known in meditation circles. The program has the feel of kitchen table wisdom. It ends with an afterward by Stephen Mitchell, which adds little. P.B.J. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Booklist
Boorstein, author of It's Easier Than You Think: The Buddhist Way to Happiness (1995), is a wonderfully commonsensical Buddhist teacher and an observant Jew. This combination of faiths is not uncommon; in fact, so many Jews are drawn to Buddhism, it is becoming a genuine spiritual movement. Rodger Kamenetz examined this phenomena in The Jew and the Lotus (1994), and now Boorstein devotes her newest book to answering the question, "How is it possible to be both a Jew and a Buddhist?" Warm and direct, she expresses her gratitude for knowing "two vocabularies" of faith: Buddhism is her "voice of understanding," and Judaism is the voice of her heart. Uneasy, at first, about this unsought "dual citizenship," Boorstein slowly realized that she became a more observant Jew because she has a meditation practice, that meditation brought her closer to her spiritual essence, which is, by birth, Jewish. Boorstein's mindful elucidation of her balance of faiths is inspiring and enriching. When it comes to spirituality, more is more. Donna Seaman

Customer Reviews

Working Too Hard To Make Buddhism and Judaism Appear Compatible
Sylvia Boorstein was raised Jewish in a loving home, in a Jewish neighborhood, in a family that was mostly non-religious. From those roots, Dr. Boorstein tells us that she retained warm feelings for Judaism as an adult.

In this easy-reading book, she tells her story of becoming a Buddhist meditation teacher who also has a Jewish identification and practice, each religion's worldview informing the other. And while it may seem as if Dr. Boorstein has successfully integrated the two spiritual paths, in my opinion only those whose knowledge of Judaism is limited to its superficial look and feel will accept this conclusion. Someone who is familiar with its deeper content will recognize that she has failed in this, and sits primarily in the Buddhist world, tailoring her Judaism to a Buddhist worldview.

Although her personal Jewish practice has grown over the years, (at the time she wrote this book she and her husband were members of a Conservative Jewish congregation), what Dr. Boorstein teaches is Buddhist Vipassana meditation. It's not Jewish meditation nor is it meditation based in Jewish tradition or practice. It's Buddhist meditation that lives within the Buddhist world of Dharma rather than the Jewish world of Torah, with all the Buddhist cultural values and emotional connections inherent in it.

In some ways, Vipassana meditation can be consonant with Jewish practice. In some ways it can't. Much of Buddhism is not compatible with Judaism -- for example, Buddha as a supernatural god (the Vairocana "Cosmic" Buddha, as described in the Lotus Sutra) simply doesn't work within Judaism. There are many other examples.

If you want to learn to meditate as a Jew, this book will not teach you how -- you'll have to look elsewhere. If you are not Orthodox, a good start might be found at Rabbi Alan Lew and Norman Zoketsu Fischer's Makor Or center in San Francisco. (Have a look at Rabbi Lew's books here on Amazon.) If you're Orthodox, finding yourself a teacher will be a bit more challenging.

But if you (a Jew) need to meditate and have no other choice but to learn from our Buddhist brothers and sisters (including Sylvia Boorstein), first find yourself a Jewish teacher who will teach you the basics of Judaism. Without knowing about Judaism and developing well-formed Jewish convictions, it's all too easy to compromise or lose your Judaism in the process of learning Vipassana (and other) meditation practices.

Interfaith understanding appreciated
I am not a religiously observant person, but Sylvia Boorstein's negotiation of two religious paths is appreciated as a welcome example of interfaith practice. We need more of the same within and beyond the communities of faith as we make the messy, dangerous transition from tribal sectarianism and exclusivist ideology to a society based on insight, compassion, justice and dignity.

This is a well-written and inspiring book.

A very personal point of combining Buddhism and Judaism
The writer tels us in her own intimacy and personal honest way how Buddhism is intergated with her born religous - Judaism and even may sometimes strengthens each other.