Father of Jewish Renewal
From the early 1960s, Schachter-Shalomi addressed himself to the masses of disaffected Jews who found their own religious tradition bereft of spiritual depth in the wake of the Holocaust. Along with his friend and fellow "revolutionary," Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach (d. 1994), he set out to find Jewish youth "where they were," and to show them the depths and options within Judaism previously unavailable to them. For his currency and participation in the spirit of the times, some dubbed him the "Hippie Rabbi," just as today many call him the "Cyber Rebbe," for his technological savvy.
For the most part, his success was based in his liberal acceptance of people exploring alternate paths of spiritual awakening (from LSD to yoga) and his legitimizing of alternate possibilities within Judaism (from rabbinical ordination of women to the acceptance homosexuality), and not least on his making available to them the deepest teachings of Jewish mysticism and meditation.
Today, Jews the world over wear the "rainbow tallit" (prayer-shawl) he designed, and Jewish Renewal organizations, rabbis and teachers are at the forefront of modern Judaism and its encounter with the changing nature of society and the global-village. ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal serves as the core of Jewish Renewal communities the world over, the font of their teaching resources, and the training organization of a new generation of rabbis and leaders; OHALAH: Association of Rabbis for Jewish Renewal meets every year now in Boulder, Colorado for fellowship, learning and the ordination of new rabbis; the Shalom Center, an organization affiliated with Jewish Renewal is dedicated to the cause of social justice; and Yesod: Foundation for a Jewish Future is a major partner with Naropa University in the Reb Zalman Legacy Project, which seeks to continue his legacy through the dissemination of his life-work and teachings.
