Celebrating “The Jew in the Lotus” with Rodger Kamenetz

Thirty years ago, in 1994, poet Rodger Kamenetz published “The Jew in the Lotus: A Poet’s Rediscovery of Jewish Identity in Buddhist India,” what would become a bestselling book on a historic dialogue between a group of rabbis and the 14th Dalai Lama on how to survive in exile (based on Jewish experience) and the complex identity issues of Jews becoming Buddhists (the so-called ‘Jew-Bus’). 

At this event, Rodger Kamenetz will talk about the role Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (‘Reb Zalman,’ 1924-2014), Naropa’s former World Wisdom Chair holder played in the dialogue, and where Jewish identity is today, 30 years after the original publication of “The Jew in the Lotus.” Rodger will discuss Reb Zalman’s use of poetic imagination in his dialogue with the Dalai Lama. In communicating in a warm-hearted way across barriers of language and tradition Reb Zalman touched into the kabbalah of imagination and showed exactly how angels are real.

Tuesday, April 9, 2024, 6:30-8:00 PM, The Student Center, Wulsin Hall, Naropa University
General Admission: $10.00, Naropa Staff: $5.00, Naropa Students: Free

This program is offered by Neshama Hevrah: Contemplative Judaism Club and The Keating-Schachter Center at Naropa University.