Stalking Elijah: Adventures with Today's Jewish Mystical Master

Kamenetz, who, in The Jew in the Lotus, recorded his impressions of a historic meeting between rabbis and the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, India, here continues his quest for a more tangible and immediate experience of Jewish meditation practices. Using short vignettes and meditations, Kamenetz mines the gold from the teachings of Jewish mystical masters. The Dalai Lama and Rabbi Zalman Schachter provide the starting point for Kamenetz's quest. The guiding stars of his quest are Jewish mystics like Rabbi Shefa Gold, leader of a spiritual retreat center in Rose Mountain, N. Mex.; Rabbi Jonathan Omer-Man; and Judith Halevy, who teaches classes in meditation and Jewish mysticism in Omer-Man's ""school of Jewish wisdom"" in Beverly Hills, Calif.; and Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, the author of She Who Dwells Within: A Feminist Vision of a Renewed Judaism (HSF, 1995) and rabbi for Congregation Nahalat Shalom in Albuquerque, N. Mex. Kamenetz encounters this array of spiritual teachers both through personal meetings and through their written works. The book is completed by a helpful glossary of the vocabulary of the various mystical traditions Kamenetz draws from, as well as a bibliography of ""Books to Read and Places to Go"" on the mystical quest. With a fresh and energetic voice, Kamenetz offers readers an enthusiastic introduction to the thought and practice of some very intriguing contemporary Jewish mystics. (Nov.)