Chronology of the Life of Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
1924 Meshullam Zalman born on Sunday, August 17th (17 Av) in Zholkiew, Poland to Hayyah Gittel and Shlomo HaKohen Schachter. Visited his father's grandparents in Oszwieziw (Auschwitz), near Lvov (Lemberg, Austria).
1925 The Schachter family moves to Vienna, Austria.
1927 Begins attending Spiel Schule.
1929 Begins the first grade in public school in the Fall.
1933 Dolfuss takes over in Austria after the Socialists are put down.
1934 Begins gymnasium at Brit Bilu Agudah and yeshiva at Yesod HaTorah.
1938 Anschluss in March of that year. In December the family flees to Belgium in order to avoid Nazi oppression.
1939 In Antwerp, meets HaBaD Hasidim of the Nezhin branch and apprentices as a furrier and diamond polisher.
1940 In April, the Nazis start the "Blitz." From April to September the family is interned in a village near Mont Lucon Department Allier in a prison/labor camp by the Vichy French government. In September, they are freed and arrive in Marseilles.
1941 On 15 Sh'vat, meets the future Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson for the first time. In January, they leave Marseilles, France. Arrive in the United States of America via St. Thomas, V.I., two days before Passover. First meeting with the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzhak Schneersohn. Enters Central Yeshiva Tomchei T'mimim, Brooklyn, New York City.
1943 A year of heavy Messianic yearnings in Lubavitch after the Rebbe, the leader of the Lubavitch hasidic movement, issues several statements on the Messiah.
1946 Begins supervised teaching in New Haven, Connecticut.
1947 Receives Rabbinic Ordination from Central Yeshivah Tomchei T'mimim (Lubavitch Yeshiva) Brooklyn, New York City, and from his mentors, Rabbis Eliya Simpson and Yisoyel Jacobson. Still teaching in New Haven, Connecticut.
1948 Teaching at Yeshivah Achei T'mimim (Lubavitch Yeshiva), Rochester, New York (1948-1949).
1949 Begins to travel to college campuses with Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach upon the direction of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Congregational Rabbi and Principal at Agudat Achim, Fall River, Massachussetts (1949-1952).
1950 The sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzhak Schneersohn dies on 10 Sh'vat.
1951 Medium, Agnes Taylor "hosts" the Lubavitcher Rebbe during an interview with Schachter.
1952 Congregational Rabbi and Principal, Congregation Ahavas Achim, New Bedford, Massachusetts (1952-1956).
1953 Joins the Ministerial Association.
1954 Begins chaplaincy training.
1955 Begins M.A. work at Boston University. Meets Reverend Howard Thurman.
1956 Receives his Master of Arts from Boston University in Psychology of Religion. Obtains a post teaching in the Department of Religion, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada (associate and assistant professor)(1956-1969). Also takes up the directorship of the B'nai Brith Hillel at the university (1956-1967). First meeting with Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel.
1957 Starts teaching pastoral counseling at United College (later called University of Winnipeg).
1958 Self-publishes his first book on Jewish meditation with the help of David Jackson, called, The First Step: A Primer of a Jew's Spiritual Life.
1959 First trip to Israel. Meets Dr. Shmuel Hugo Bergman, Dr. Gershom Scholem, Dr. Erich Neumann and the Roth Hasidim. Begins teaching at Maimonides College, Winnipeg, Canada (1959-1964).
1960 Founds language lab at University of Manitoba. Meets Elie Wiesel and Father Thomas Merton.
1961 Teaching as a "Religious Environmentalist" at Camp Ramah. Candidating at Jewish Theological Seminary: second meeting with Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel.
1962 Experiments with LSD for the first time with Dr. Timothy Leary at the Vedanta Centre in Cohasset, Massachusetts.
1963 Begins Doctorate in Hebrew Letters work at Hebrew Union College.
1964 First visit to Lama Foundation.
1966 Published article on the condition of Jewish Belief in Commentary in August, commenting on psychedelics and game theory, leading to his "graduation" from Lubavitch.
1968 Earns Doctorate of Hebrew Letters from Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati. Teaching at Brandeis University, Boston, Massachusetts (1968-1969). Doing a post-doctoral year at Brandeis University, Near Eastern Languages and Literature (1968-1969) and teaching a course there in Psychology of Religion, with labs, inspiring the first Jewish Catalog
1969 Founds B'nai Or Religious Fellowship (now ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal). Promoted to full professor in the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at the University of Manitoba (1969-1975).
1972 Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel dies on December 23rd.
1973 Begins to meet with the Sufis, especially Pir Moineddin Jablonski. Finishes Human, God's Ineffable Name, an English rendering of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel's book of poetry in Yiddish, Der Shem Ham'forash Mentsch.
1974 Gives his first smikhah (ordination) on March 24th (1 Nissan) to Rabbi Daniel Siegel. Teaching at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Stanford, CA (1974-1975). Meets Sufi, Pir Vilayat Inayat-Khan. Does a program at Glide Memorial Church with the Sufi Choir. Helps to found the Aquarian Minyan of Berkley, California.
1975 Publishes Fragments of a Future Scroll
1976 Begins adjunct teaching at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College.
1980 Meets and is initiated by Sufi Sheikh Muzaffer Ozak of the Halveti-Jerrahi Order. Gives smikhah (ordination) to Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb.
1983 Publishes The First Step
1984 Sabbatical Year from Temple University. Half the year as Fulbright Guest Professor in Tubingen and Berne. Second half of the year in Israel. Meets Rabbi Gedaliah Kenig.
1985 Takes a 40 day retreat at Lama Foundation, New Mexico, after which, he sheds Hasidic exterior (long beard and side-locks) and envisions the Spiritual Eldering work.
1986 Publishes The Dream Assembly
1987 Retires and is named Professor Emeritus at Temple University. Teaching full-time at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, Philadelphia, PA (1987-1990). Teaching at the Academy of Jewish Studies, New York City, NY (1987-1988).
1988 Publishes Fragmentos De Um Futuro Pergaminho, a translation of Fragments of a Future Scroll
1989 Founds and becomes president of the Spiritual Eldering Institute, Philadelphia, PA. The Dream Assembly
1990 Meeting with the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso in October, in Dharamsala, India. Publishes O Primeiro Degrau, translation of The First Step
1991 Publishes Spiritual Intimacy: A Study of Counseling in Hasidism
1993 Publishes Gate to the Heart
1994 Marries Eve Ilsen on Wednesday, February 5th. Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, 7th Lubavitcher Rebbe dies on June 12th and Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach on 16 Mar-Heshvan.
1995 Publishes From Age-ing to Sage-ing
2001 Takes permanent faculty teaching post at Naropa University.
2002 In February, turns over World Wisdom Chair to Zen Master, Kobun Chino Roshi. Decides to leave his archive to Naropa University and the Reb Zalman Legacy Project is begun in partnership with the Yesod Foundation.
2003 Publishes Wrapped in a Holy Flame: Teachings and Tales of the Hasidic Masters
2004 Retires from Naropa University. Co-founds the Sufi-Hasidic, Inayati-Maimuniyya Tariqat with Netanel Miles-Yepez.
2005 Publishes Jewish with Feeling: A Guide to Meaningful Jewish Practice
2006 Makes a month-long speaking and teaching tour of Australia and New Zealand, meeting old and new colleagues and meditating on the problem of adapting the Jewish calendar to the Southern Hemisphere.
2007 Publishes Intergral Halakhah: Transcending and Including
2008 Gives his final address to the OHALAH: Association of Rabbis for Jewish Renewal conference in Boulder, Colorado.
