Zen and Hasidism

by Harold Heifetz

Zen and Hasidism presents a comparative study of Zen and Hasidism, and suggests ways in which Jewish spiritual life can be enriched by a knowledge of Zen meditation practices - while remaining Jewish. In this quest, the author, a well-known author and playwright, has collected sources on Zen and Judaism, both Hasidic and non-Hasidic, dividing them into four sections: "The Monastery and the Yeshivot", "The Virtue of Sitting" on Meditation, "Can a Jew Practice Zen and/or Buddhism and Still Remain a Jew?", with an overview. Among the contributors are such noted Jewish scholars as Louis Ginzberg, Jiri Langer, Hyman G. Enelow, Rivka Schatz-Uffenheimer, Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and others. Jiri Langer's account of his life in a Belzer yeshiva, coupled with John Blofeld's Life in a Zen Monastery, Rivka Schatz's study of The State of Nothingness and Contemplative Prayer, coupled with Self-Extinction in Zen and Hasidism, by Jacob Yuroh Teshima, along with two dozen other selections, provide a w