What do you think?
Rate this book
Letters to a Buddhist Jew
Cultural Writing. Letters. Jewish studies. Buddhist studies. LETTERS TO A BUDDHIST JEW is a collection of letters between a Jew drawn to Buddhism and an Orthodox rabbi. "In this extraordinary exchange, David Gottlieb, speaking from a Zen perspective, pinpoints the critical questions modern Jews are moved to ask of their tradition, and Akiva Tatz, with kindness, patience and consummate skill, answers with the voice of a fully developed spiritual Judaism. This is a fascinating book: the most serious contribution in this field to date"-Zoketsu Norman Fischer, founder of the Everyday Zen Foundation. According to Jonathan Rosenblum, a columnist for the Jerusalem Post, this book is "a 'must read' for any searching Jew." Gottlieb is an award-winning fiction writer and Rabbi Dr. Tatz is a physician and the founder and director of the Jerusalem Medical Ethics Forum.
302 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2005
7 people are currently reading
158 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 27, 2010
This book opens with the claim that it's not an argument between Judaism and Buddhism, but it totally is. And judging from the religious Jewish publisher on the spine, you can probably guess who wins.
It follows the email correspondences between a Jewish practitioner of Zen Buddhism in Chicago and a rabbi (David and Akiva, respectively). The correspondences are not well-edited (Good job as always, Feldheim!) and contain some material about other events and correspondences that don't matter, but it's mostly a long argument that Rabbi Akiva wins.
David starts because his wife is bothered that he is a practicing Buddhist. He opens with 15 questions, which are really refutations of Judaism as he sees it. He begins by explaining the superior Buddhist philosophy as it relates to Judaism. Akiva, in a traditional Talmud fashion, questions this by taking each sentence of David's paragraph and dissecting it over several pages, asking David to clarify on apparently self-contradictory points he has made, and bringing sources in to clarify how the rabbi feels and why he feels this way, beginning with the existence of G-d and how G-d might be important.
David is unable to answer the key questions. His replies fall back on explaining Buddhist precepts that don't address the questions themselves, as if Akiva is more unfamiliar with Buddhism than he actually is, and eventually falls to Koans, or Buddhist statements that have no answer, like "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" Good to meditate on, but not so good when the rabbi has spent 10 pages discussing the nature of man's understanding of G-d and how it relates to Buddha nature.
David brings up more points (mostly unrelated to previous ones) and Akiva asks more questions, and keeps circling back because he never got the answers to his original questions and only has more. David becomes more and more reliant on stories of Buddhist masters outsmarting other people, and his idealized version of Buddhism as it's practiced as a religion.
Eventually, Akiva goes on offensive and David drops the pretense of taking the Buddhist position and begins attacking Judaism with the same questions any non-religious Jew who had a bad experience growing up has - Where is G-d? How do I know He's real? Could Sinai really have happened? Why are so many Jews I know hypocrites? Why weren't my Hebrew school teachers more inspiring? Akiva answers all of the questions, and at great length, asking David to seek out good Jewish teachers just as he sought out the best Buddhist teachers to learn meditation 20 years before. Eventually, David outright accuses Akiva of trying to convert him back to Judaism, which Akiva doesn't deny (in one of his weaker letters). Then David says he blew 20 years of his life and goes to study Torah.
This book is not an argument between a great rabbi and a great Buddhist teacher. There are other books about such conversations, and these religious figures tend to look more for similarities than differences (an excellent example is "The Jew in the Lotus" by Roger Kamenetz). This is a book where a confused Jew comes to a rabbi looking to refute him with what he's learned by practicing Buddhism, and is refuted by the rabbi.
I wouldn't really recommend it for non-Jews. It's certainly understandable, but it has a specific agenda and audience, even if it's a true story. It will enhance your understanding of Judaism if you have little, but it will not enhance your understanding of Zen Buddhism, for which David is a poor example of a practitioner. He is not equipped to defend his newfound faith.
Postscript: David is now a rabbi.
It follows the email correspondences between a Jewish practitioner of Zen Buddhism in Chicago and a rabbi (David and Akiva, respectively). The correspondences are not well-edited (Good job as always, Feldheim!) and contain some material about other events and correspondences that don't matter, but it's mostly a long argument that Rabbi Akiva wins.
David starts because his wife is bothered that he is a practicing Buddhist. He opens with 15 questions, which are really refutations of Judaism as he sees it. He begins by explaining the superior Buddhist philosophy as it relates to Judaism. Akiva, in a traditional Talmud fashion, questions this by taking each sentence of David's paragraph and dissecting it over several pages, asking David to clarify on apparently self-contradictory points he has made, and bringing sources in to clarify how the rabbi feels and why he feels this way, beginning with the existence of G-d and how G-d might be important.
David is unable to answer the key questions. His replies fall back on explaining Buddhist precepts that don't address the questions themselves, as if Akiva is more unfamiliar with Buddhism than he actually is, and eventually falls to Koans, or Buddhist statements that have no answer, like "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" Good to meditate on, but not so good when the rabbi has spent 10 pages discussing the nature of man's understanding of G-d and how it relates to Buddha nature.
David brings up more points (mostly unrelated to previous ones) and Akiva asks more questions, and keeps circling back because he never got the answers to his original questions and only has more. David becomes more and more reliant on stories of Buddhist masters outsmarting other people, and his idealized version of Buddhism as it's practiced as a religion.
Eventually, Akiva goes on offensive and David drops the pretense of taking the Buddhist position and begins attacking Judaism with the same questions any non-religious Jew who had a bad experience growing up has - Where is G-d? How do I know He's real? Could Sinai really have happened? Why are so many Jews I know hypocrites? Why weren't my Hebrew school teachers more inspiring? Akiva answers all of the questions, and at great length, asking David to seek out good Jewish teachers just as he sought out the best Buddhist teachers to learn meditation 20 years before. Eventually, David outright accuses Akiva of trying to convert him back to Judaism, which Akiva doesn't deny (in one of his weaker letters). Then David says he blew 20 years of his life and goes to study Torah.
This book is not an argument between a great rabbi and a great Buddhist teacher. There are other books about such conversations, and these religious figures tend to look more for similarities than differences (an excellent example is "The Jew in the Lotus" by Roger Kamenetz). This is a book where a confused Jew comes to a rabbi looking to refute him with what he's learned by practicing Buddhism, and is refuted by the rabbi.
I wouldn't really recommend it for non-Jews. It's certainly understandable, but it has a specific agenda and audience, even if it's a true story. It will enhance your understanding of Judaism if you have little, but it will not enhance your understanding of Zen Buddhism, for which David is a poor example of a practitioner. He is not equipped to defend his newfound faith.
Postscript: David is now a rabbi.
December 28, 2011
I read this because my brother gave it to me. He is an Orthodox Jew and I am an atheist who practices Buddhist meditation (or is planning on doing so when I commit the time). I found it one sided and would have liked to have heard a discussion between a Rabbi and a Buddhist expert, rather than a layperson who was raised Jewish anyway. The Rabbi went on tangents, didn't have direct answers and, honestly, I felt like he was trying to instill guilt as well. Both were very intelligent people and the arguments were interesting to read but it didn't sway me to Judaism as I think my brother thought it might. If anything, it made me more committed to get my meditation time in and read more about Buddhism.
December 10, 2019
I found this work to be overall unsatisfactory, and didn’t appreciate his constant need to trash Buddhism without seeming to have much of a grasp on it. But I did find some nice gems, it seems like he was just trying to pack in as many good saying as he could, some of them were actually quite nice and left an impression on me.
If you like books like this you'll love my project:
http://youtube.com/c/seekersofunity?s...
If you like books like this you'll love my project:
http://youtube.com/c/seekersofunity?s...
November 10, 2024
Orthodox Jewish propaganda. Rabbi Tatz, arrogantly oblivious and uninterested in the possibility that he might have anything to learn from Buddhism, turns on the firehouse of unfounded gobbledygook traditional Jewish dogmas, many of which have now been seriously called into question, if not outright refuted by archaeology, ancient near East history and textual criticism, not to mention common sense.
August 29, 2019
This was an eye opener in so many ways. As a Jew, as a person, as someone with the freedom and liberty to choose my faith and spiritual practice.
I really enjoyed this book and plan to read again in the near future.
I really enjoyed this book and plan to read again in the near future.
January 1, 2023
If you're a Jew looking for ways back into your heritage, a way to get the spiritual nourishment that many Jews are seeking from outside their roots, these letters provide a fountain of soul refreshment.
October 15, 2008
This is the clearest description of Judaism I've come across in my haphazard search that speaks to me and is not another history. I've been looking for what they believe and I usually just get history books on Judiasm. This was good if you can deal with the jewish-harshness of the language.
January 22, 2013
Loved the back and forth. Good for understanding both sides and seeing the good in each. Opened my husband's eyes a bit.
March 12, 2013
A little dense but lots of interesting ideas.
April 17, 2016
Save page 31, left off on page 45, very interesting concept- not my cup of tea exactly.
Read
July 31, 2018This book was full of wonderful Jewish ideas and a glimpse of kaballah and how it relates to God and the world. I was frustrated however that there were no sources to any of the information. All in all, I enjoyed the read :)
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews