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February 16, 2006

Judaism and Buddhism

My friend Mark just emailed me this article from the NYT: "Reform Jews Hope to Unmix Mixed Marriages."

I wrote back:

Hey - we've made some valuable converts over the years. What are Rod Carew and Sammy Davis, Jr., chopped liver? I don't know whether we should take credit for Madonna, though . . .

Seriously, this has to at least be an improvement over browbeating single Jews to only marry within the faith. Talk about being on the losing side of history. Nothing like replaying the villains' role in romances from Romeo and Juliet to Albie's Irish Rose to My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

But the more import issue for Judaism's survival must be to develop a vision of Judaism worth converting for - or staying Jewish for, for that matter. In the last few years, I've found in Buddhism a much more compelling spiritual vision than anything Westchester Reform Temple ever taught me in all those years of useless conversational Hebrew, bowdlerized Bible stories, and one-sided Israeli history lessons. And the irony is that most of my favorite Buddhist writers are "Jew-Boos" - Jack Kornfield, Mark Epstein, Shinzen Young, Alan Ginsberg, Sylvia Boorstein, the list goes on and on. Kabballah appears to be the attempt to find a synthesis of these ideas within the Jewish tradition, but actually, I have to say I'd just as soon stay a spiritual tourist in Buddhism, where I have so much less baggage.

Of course, if I had been schlepped to a "Buddhist Reform Temple" all those years in Scarsdale, I'd probably feel much the same way about Buddhism at this point. The real problem may just be organized religion, per se. I don't go to a Buddhist temple at all - I just meditate on my own, and listen to and read individual writers. I don't know that there's any way to pursue that path as a Jew today. And I don't know that I've ever been to a synagogue that's ever made me want to come back.

Probably more than you all wanted to know about the state of my spirituality, but if you're curious for more, I taught a class on Buddhism and contemporary culture last year. I recorded it, and it's online at http://www.tedfriedman.com/archives/2005/04/buddhism_and_cu.php. This semester, my media and technology class is reading the Dalai Llama's new book about science and spirituality, which I highly recommend - especially the audiobook version, read by Richard Gere. (Thankfully, he doesn't try to put on a Tibetan accent.)

Posted by tedf at February 16, 2006 10:54 PM

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