Multifaith meditation

LORNE MALLIN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN

A weekend-long multifaith meditation retreat in Vancouver was treated to presentations from the Dalai Lama and Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. Compared to the large-scale events of the much-heralded visit, it was like getting a personal audience with the renowned spiritual leaders for the 276 participants, about 10 per cent of whom were Jewish.

On Saturday afternoon, April 17, at Shaughnessy Heights United Church, the Dalai Lama spoke briefly about practising compassion and forgiveness and led a 20-minute meditation. He slipped out with his security detail after saying he'd been up since 3:30 in the morning and was tired.

The next day, Reb Zalman was warmly welcomed as keynote speaker for the retreat called Inner Peace – Active Love, presented by the Multifaith Action Society of British Columbia. He was introduced by a fellow Jew, Joan Borysenko, moderator of the retreat and a former Harvard medical scientist and psychologist, who called him a "living treasure."

Reb Zalman touched on themes that he elaborated on at the April 20 roundtable.
"Bring down blessings on each other," he said. "It will attune us to a higher vibration. There are beings hovering over us ready to bless us."

Before speaking, he privately gave a healing blessing to Dodie Katzenstein, 54, of Vancouver, who was diagnosed three years ago with advanced breast cancer.

"He held my hand and did a mishebeirach. It was lovely and it meant a lot to me," she said.

Four local rabbis played leadership roles in the two and a half day event, which attracted Christians, Buddhists, Sikhs, Hindus, Jews, Sufis, followers of First Nations spiritual traditions and others. Beth Israel Rabbi Charles Feinberg spoke on Saturday as president of the Multifaith Action Society.

"Insights of one tradition can illuminate what may be hidden from us in our own tradition," said Feinberg, while urging participants to be rooted in their own spiritual discipline. "The spiritual treasures of another faith can help us reach a greater degree of enlightenment and commitment."

Also on Saturday, during a series of presentations by different traditions, Rabbi Shmuel Birnham spoke about the Jewish contemplative dimension of Shabbat. He explored that idea further on Sunday when he led a workshop on Jewish meditation and chanting. Rabbi Itzchak Marmorstein led a session on Ophanim, Kabbalistic Yoga of Abraham, which he teaches at Or Shalom. Dr. Alan Morinis of Vancouver led a workshop on the ancient Jewish spiritual tradition of mussar. And Rabbi David Mivasair of Ahavat Olam shared with 30-40 mostly non-Jewish spiritual seekers and followers of other religions an experiential exploration of the value of Jewish liturgical prayer.

"At least two Jewish people who had been involved for years in other religions came up to me afterward and told me they 'came home' during that hour and want to learn and do more," Mivasair said.

Among the Jewish participants moved by the weekend was Mark Weintraub, incoming president of the Pacific Region of the Canadian Jewish Congress, who attended on a personal basis. "What I was most taken with was the emphasis on embracing seemingly new and yet obviously timeless paradigms for healing the planet and intra-community conflict by drawing upon each tradition's greatest wisdom teachings of our essential unity."

There was further Jewish involvement in the entertaining musical tribute to the Dalai Lama April 20 at the Orpheum Theatre. Mordehai Wosk blew the shofar to welcome the Tibetan leader and Moshe Denburg closed out the evening conducting the Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra, members of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the Laudate Singers in a performance of his composition, "Ani Ma-amin" ("I Believe").

Lorne Mallin is an editor in the entertainment section of the Province.

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