Several years ago, the dean of the school called our Department of Multifaith Studies seeking a professor who could teach homiletics to her seminary students, Koreans newly arrived in this country. Her goal was for them to learn how to deliver sermons in the style that their American congregants would find congenial.

Fortunately, Rabbi Goldie Milgram was able to fit this assignment into her already busy schedule.  Goldie and the Won students preparing for ordination have both been thrilled to connect and  learn from one another.

Not only is Goldie helping them with public speaking skills tailored to a religious setting, she recently invited this year’s class to her home for a Shabbat dinner.

In between the Jewish rituals, the students were able to practice offering impromptu blessings before and after a  meal, invocations and toasts.

Thanks to Goldie for continuing this interfaith adventure, and thanks to Hubbatzin Barry Bub for taking pictures.

For Michaelson, Jewish nondualism is not better or worse than other nondual traditions, and he freely uses examples from other traditions: Zen, TibetanBuddhism, Vedanta. He does not make the mistake, however, of blending them  together as if to make them all say precisely the same thing. In fact, he does a nice job of showing how the Jewish tradition of nondualism is both similar and different from other traditions, and indeed, points outs some of the tensions between different Jewish versions of nondualism.  He also does a wonderful job of setting the Jewish tradition within the larger picture of Jewish religious thought, including its contemporary manifestations.

Of the many stories Michaelson tells, one of my favorites comes from the Sufi tradition:

There was once a prisoner who yearned for freedom. One day, the prophet Muhammad appeared to thim, gave him a set of keys to his cell, saying, “Allah has set you free.” The prisoner took the keys, mounted them on the wall, and prayed to them five times a day.

The book grapples with the question of what it means to share fundamental beliefs with other traditions and yet love ones own path. Even for nondualists,  particular communities and practices can be the triggers(Michaelson’s word) that “bring us closer to what matters most.”  He loves the Jewish path and the powerful ways it leads him in his spiritual life.  He says, “I don’t want to fetishize the trigger, but I do want to pull it.”

That said, our 21st century reality is that those pulling the trigger most passionately, at least in the Abrahamic  traditions often (although by no means always) are the ones most inclined to support pulling triggers of another kind as well. Michaelson grapples with this situation and with the increasingly complex identities, dual and even more,  that we find among seekers. Why is it so  important that insist on  our particularities, especially in light of their shadow side of ethnocentricity? Has the value of maintaining those boundaries run its course, and would not people who see ultimate reality as nondualist be among the first to advocate less divisions and more synergy?

I especially appreciated Michaelson’s pragmatist streak because it corresponds with my own. He believes, as I do, that  “by their fruits you shall know them.” And this is where I run into trouble with nondualism. He writes, “When the spiritual work is being done, the good heart emerges on its own,”  and “the contemplative practice of seeing clearly…leads effortlessly to more justice and more peace.”

That is, indeed, the final test of any religious system. In this case, I am more drawn to traditions within Judaism that speak to the power of the evil impulse; I read claims like those above with a jaundiced eye.  But I would be more than happy to be proved wrong. I do believe  Michaelson’s testimony that meditation and other practices of nondualist Judaism have led him to live, as he puts it “gently and justly.” This is a moving and powerful  personal testimony, as well as an excellent introduction to an important dimension of contemporary Jewish thought.

Bokin Kim

The Won Institute  is located in Glenside, Pa, just minutes from  the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. When the academic dean, Reverend Dr. Bokin Kim called to ask for help in locating a  homiletics instructor for their Buddhist Studies Program, we were happy  to recommend one of our graduates, Rabbi Goldie Milgram(RRC, 1993),the director of  Reclaiming Judaism.org & Bmitzvah.org

Won Buddhism, a twentieth century religious movement that began in Korea, calls itself  “reformed Buddhism.” It claims 1.5 million followers worldwide. In addition to many courses in meditiation, spirituality and healing arts  for the general community, the Won Institute offers a two year program for Won Buddhist candidates for the ministry.  These individuals have already had four years of training in Korea; in Glenside they complete their studies and learn how  to work in the English speaking world.

Here is Rabbi Milgram’s report:

Goldie Milgram

The invite was to teach homiletics at the Won Institute in their program that  prepares  students to become Won Buddhist ministers(kyomu). Teaching is my love, experiential, student-empowering teaching – all world-cultures and religions are important and fascinating to me. But I knew little about Buddhism, so this didn’t seem a likely match.

Nancy Fuchs-Kreimer and  Bokin Kim both explained that the students, recent arrivals from Korea,  know plenty about Buddhism.  It’s public speaking and preaching in America that they need help with. So we commenced what has proven to be  an important and delightful relationship.

At 5 feet tall, I confess I was pleased to have most of my students at eye-level instead of  my always craning upward. That was the first major difference. Next was the incredibly respectful behavior throughout the building and class time, never an errant turn of phrase.

Most astonishing, however, was that the practices I’d learned in exploring medieval Jewish meditation correlated  strongly with the talks the students were writing  on Buddhist practices.  We quickly understood each other. The school had assigned Reverand Insun Park to team teach with me; the two of us easily aligned on how to support the students’ development.

At first the students were very very formal and stiff in their talks. Eventually,  the joyful, empowering methods of our classroom brought them  fully to life. We were often quite giggly. They came to my home for Shabbat dinner and reciprocated with invitations to meals and to speak at their services.  My Hubbatzin (husband of a woman rabbi term I made up in the 1990′s) Barry and I feel our lives are ever so enriched.

A highlight was my opportunity to give a dharma talk on teshuvah(repentence) This spring, I will again be teaching for the Institute.

Rabbi Goldie Milgram