Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
American rabbi, founder of Jewish Renewal, and interfaith pioneer
Meshullam Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, known widely as Reb Zalman, was an American rabbi, writer, and activist who helped establish the Jewish Renewal movement and advanced interfaith dialogue. Born in Poland in 1924, he was raised in an Orthodox Jewish home, moving frequently across Europe to escape rising antisemitism. While detained in a Vichy France internment camp awaiting a US visa, he met Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the future seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe. Ordained as a Chabad rabbi in 1947, Schachter-Shalomi developed a strong interest in the spiritual practices of other religions and became involved in the 1960s counterculture. His experimentation with LSD, provided by Timothy Leary, and his exposure to Christian mysticism led to his departure from Chabad in 1962. He later founded his own organization, which evolved into the Jewish Renewal movement, pioneering new forms of Jewish worship that included chanting prayers in English while preserving traditional Hebrew melodies and structures, engaging congregants in theological discussion, and leading meditation during services.
For many years, Schachter-Shalomi worked as a Hillel director and taught Judaic studies at the University of Manitoba, where he shared his experiential spirituality with students. He later pursued studies at Boston University, including a class with Howard Thurman, which prompted an intellectual and spiritual transformation. In the 1980s, he added “Shalomi” to his name to express his commitment to peace. In the 1990s, he was among four rabbis who traveled to Dharamsala, India, to advise the Dalai Lama on preserving religious traditions in exile. Schachter-Shalomi held academic positions at Naropa Institute and Temple University, co-founded ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal, and wrote extensively on Hasidism, ecstatic prayer, contemplative spirituality, environmental consciousness, and spiritual direction. His book *Davening: A Guide to Meaningful Jewish Prayer* won a National Jewish Book Award in 2012. He died in 2014 at age 89, survived by four wives and eleven children.
- born
- August 17, 1924, Żółkiew, Second Polish Republic (now Zhovkva, Ukraine)
- died
- July 3, 2014, Boulder, Colorado, United States
- field
- Rabbi, writer, activist, academic
- nationality
- American
- known_for
- Founding the Jewish Renewal movement; pioneering ecumenical dialogue; innovations in Jewish prayer
Lore & Background
Born in Poland, Schachter-Shalomi was raised an Orthodox Jew in a variety of countries as his family repeatedly moved to evade increasing antisemitism in 1930s Europe. While awaiting a visa to the United States in an internment camp in Vichy France, Schachter-Shalomi met Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who later became the seventh Chabad Rebbe. Becoming a Chabad rabbi in 1947, Schachter-Shalomi took a deep interest in the spiritual practices of other faiths and immersed himself in the counter-culture of the 1960s. Eventually expelled from Chabad, he founded his own organization, B'Nai Or (later P'Nai Or), and his attempts to innovate in Jewish prayer helped pioneer what became the chavurah and Jewish Renewal movements. Employed as an academic in his later years, Schachter-Shalomi continued to work in interfaith dialogue and spreading hasidut, and in the 1990s was part of a group of four rabbis who travelled to Dharamsala, India, to advise the Dalai Lama on how to retain religious traditions in exile and prevent assimilation. A prolific author, Schachter-Shalomi published dozens of books on many topics, including hasidut, ecstatic prayer, contemplative spirituality, environmental consciousness, and spiritual direction. Schachter-Shalomi died in 2014 and is buried in Boulder, Colorado. He was married four times and had eleven children.
Reader's Guide
Schachter-Shalomi was born in 1924 in Żółkiew, Second Polish Republic (now Zhovkva, Ukraine). He spent his early years in Vienna, Austria. His father was a liberal Belzer hasid and had him educated at both a Zionist high school and an Orthodox yeshiva. He and his family fled Austria after Nazi Germany annexed it in 1938 and later were interned in a detention camp under the Nazi's puppet government in Vichy France before moving to the United States in 1941. In 1947 he was ordained as a rabbi by the Chabad hasidic movement. In 1948, along with Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, Schachter was sent out to speak on college campuses by the now Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson as one of the first shluḥim. In 1958, Schachter privately published what may have been the first English book on Jewish meditation. Schachter left the Lubavitcher movement in 1962 after experimenting with LSD, which he was given by Timothy Leary. From 1956 to 1975 he was based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, working as the Hillel director and head of the Judaic studies program at the University of Manitoba. In 1968, on sabbatical, he joined a group of other Jews in founding a ḥavurah in Somerville, Massachusetts, called Havurat Shalom. In the 1980s, Schachter added 'Shalomi' to his name as a statement of his desire for peace. In his later years, he held the World Wisdom Chair at The Naropa Institute; he was professor emeritus at both Naropa and Temple University. He also served on the faculty of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. He was co-founder, with Rabbi Arthur Waskow, of ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal. Schachter-Shalomi died of complications from pneumonia in 2014 at the age of 89.
Did You Know?
- Schachter-Shalomi was recognized as a shaikh in the Sufi Order of Pir Vilayat Khan in the United States and in the Holy Land.
- In 2012 his book 'Davening: A Guide to Meaningful Jewish Prayer' won the National Jewish Book Award in Contemporary Jewish Life and Practice.
- He was committed to the Gaia hypothesis, to feminism, and to full inclusion of LGBT people within Judaism.
- His major academic work, 'Spiritual Intimacy: A Study of Counseling in Hasidism', was the result of his doctoral research into spiritual direction in Chabad Hasidism.
Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)
"Meshullam Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, commonly called Reb Zalman (28 August 1924 – 3 July 2014), was one of the founders of the Jewish Renewal movement and an innovator in ecumenical dialogue." — Zalman Schachter-Shalomi "The First Step: A Guide for the New Jewish Spirit, with Donald Gropman (New York: Bantam Books, 1983), p. 74." — Zalman Schachter-Shalomi "I realized that all forms of religion are masks that the divine wears to communicate with us. Behind all religions there’s a reality, and this reality wears whatever clothes it needs to speak to a particular people." — Zalman Schachter-Shalomi "The December Project: An Extraordinary Rabbi and a Skeptical Seeker Confront Life’s Greatest Mystery, with Sara Davidson." — Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
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