Customer Reviews

Stalking Elijah: Adventures with Today's Jewish Mystical Masters

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am very grateful to have read this book-- it offers me additional insights into Judaism and has enhanced my appreciation of its central tenets. The men and women visited by Rodger Kamenetz in Stalking Elijah are making great strides in reinterpeting Judaism in a more spiritual fashion. If you are looking for fresh insights into the Jewish faith, this book is for you. Of particular interest to me and perhaps to you: a stunning interpretation of the Sh'ma Yisrael, itself worth the price of the book, and an unexpected and powerful interpretation of the Passover story.

Two other five star books for readers interested in Stalking Elijah: The Jew in the Lotus by the same author and David Aaron's Endless Light.

This book is a sequel to Kammenetz's "The Jew in the Lotus" which recounts a visit of Jewish thinkers of various backgrounds and persuasions to Dharmsala, India, the home of the Tibetan Government in exile, to discuss the secret of Jewish survival in the diaspora with the Dali Lama and other Tibetan leaders. The book, and the discussions, went far beyond that topic, however, and centered upon an inter-faith dialogue between the Jewish leaders and the Tibetans on the nature of their religious beliefs and practices.

In "Stalking Elijah", Kammenetz tries to find his way back to a Jewish observance using the insights he had gleaned from his meeting with the Tibetans. In other words, he undertakes a journey from Dhramasala to Judaism. The book recounts Kammenetz's meetings with Jewish spiritual leaders, most of whom practice a form of "mystical" or contemplative Judaism in Kammenetz's attempt to recover something of Judaism for himself.

I was frustrated by the book and found it hard to write about it.
It strikes me as self-indulgent and as unduly polemical. Also, Kammenetz's discussions of his meetings with his teachers are superficial. We don't really see enough of the teachers to get a good feeling for what they have to say.

The most valuable theme of the book, for me, is given in the title of this review. This is advice given by one of the Rabbi's to whom Kammenetz turns for spiritual advice, an ex-Lubavicher Rabbi who, like Kammenetz, visited the Dali Lama. In the context of the book, the Rabbi advises the author to begin where he is in life in his search for spiritual enlightenment. Thus, Kammenetz finds he his to work within the scope of his Jewish background and learning, and follow a Jewish path to define and to realize his religious goals. The advice to "start from where you are" is wise, I think, beyond the use to which it is placed here. In every walk of life at every stage, the beginning of wisdom is to "start from where you are" rather than to try to be someone else or to be discontented with one's life. Good rabinnical advice, and good Buddhist advice too.

In addition to this component of the book, I found the final chapter describing a Passover seder in Dharamasala attended by Jews and Tibetan Buddhists well written. It can stand alone as an essay.

The book is of mixed merit but its goal and message are valuable.

Stalking Elijah has received the 1997 National Jewish Book Award in Jewish Thought. The citation reads, "Stalking Elijah is an insightful journey through new landscapes of Jewish practice. Profound and often raucously funny, Kamenetz's spiritual adventures take him from a poolside Kabbalah lesson in Beverly Hills to a Passover seder for Tibetan freedom. This book will inspire readers to delve into the rich mystical traditions of Judaism and to search for their own paths to Judaism.

This is one of the most personal books I've ever experienced. I also read "Jew in a lotus" which is an excellent work. These books touched my soul and inspired my own learning journey.

Rodger wrote "The Jew In The Lotus", an account of both his renewed interest in Judaism, and the tale of a Jewish delegation's visit to the Dalai Lama. In my review of that book, I concentrated on Rodger's renewed interest in the Jewish Renewal movement's version of Judaism.

"Stalking Elijah" is more a sequel to TJITL's Jewish story than its narrative about the meetings with the Dalai Lama. In this book, Rodger describes his visits to and discussions with the folks he considers to be Jewish Renewal's and the Reconstructionist movement's mystics. All of those folks lack a traditional Jewish practice, the key to Jewish mysticism.

I found it a bit odd that he considered only those Jewish Renewal and Reconstructionist folks discussed in the book to be "Today's Jewish Mystical Masters." In doing so, he left out most of the true masters, including the teachers of the people he interviewed. Those folks live in the Orthodox Jewish world almost exclusively: modern, yeshivish and chassidic.

And so this book is more about popular perspectives on Jewish mysticism (i.e., Jewish Mysticism "Lite") than the real thing.

In the end, it's an easy-to-read introduction to Jewish mystical concepts, so if you want to dip your toe in those waters but not jump in feet-first, perhaps you'll enjoy this pleasant book.

The spiritual quest of Rodger Kamenetz through meeting with a series of non- conventional Jewish religious teachers is at the heart of this book. Kamenetz seeks the wisdom of teachers like Zalman Shlomi -Schacter, Jonathan Omer- Man, Art Green. He relates the stories of his encounters with these people.
Kamenetz also tells in the work the story of Paul Wolff whose religious quest was intensified when he and his wife suffered the terrible loss of their young daughter. Kamenetz and his wife had also lost an infant, and he shows understanding for Woolf.
While respecting Kamenetz for his effort to learn and understand I was slightly puzzled by the whole enterprise. Perhaps I see things too simplistically. And perhaps I have the advantage of living in Jerusalem where praying in a minyan is such a regular and ordinary experience. But I somehow do not understand why a Jewish spiritual quest does not have as central component communal prayer in a traditional way.
I believe Kamenetz's quest would have been easier and in a way more successful had he simply focused on the idea that by doing mitzvot by doing the will of God one raises oneself up spiritually closer to God.
I may be foolish but I do not understand why in religious terms it is necessary for a Jew to borrow from other faiths.
Nonetheless Kamenetz's sincerity and his desire to learn are strong virtues which help make this work interesting and authentic.

I read this book for a class on Judaism and was simply delighted. I have a background in Buddhism and Christianity, with some exposure to Judaism. I was particularly impressed with the mystical traditions and reform efforts while retaining roots in the Jewish tradition. Christianity could benefit from similar efforts!

The book is written as a story and I found it easy to follow and entertaining to read. While the differences among various Jewish belief systems was not altogether clear, many differences among and between those in the story helped to illustrate the strength of the tradition through its inclusiveness.

The seder held in Dharmasala near the end of the story must have been a rather awkward experience for Kamenetz. Still, it may have opened yet another door for peace and understanding, as well as the collaboration between two peoples in exile.

This book was fascinating from the moment I opened it until I finished it. Thought provoking and very well written.

Stalking Elijah is the follow up to Kamenetz's very successful The Jew in the Lotus. Stalking won the National Jewish Book award, and deservedly so. Kamenetz asks the same hard questions about Jewish practice and spirituality that he did in Lotus, but this time with a greater focus on the Jewish side of things (as opposed to the Buddhist side). With that said, the parts of this book that particularly shine are related to Rabbi Jonathan Omer-Man. Omer-Man's tough minded mysticism is a good counter-balance to the softness of most New Age inquiry into Jewish mysticism. Omer-Man is suspicious of easy answers and realizes that the spiritual quest is not linear in any sense. One comes out of this book with a sense of the man's personality, learning, humanity, and frailty.

The author writes well and I certainly appreciated that. However, his spiritual journey seems primarily to emphasize his lack of focus and his ability to see Judaism and Buddhism as "one-size-fits-all" spiritual companions. I felt that his analogies between the two religious philosophies were stretched rather thin and I was never entirely certain why he felt so strongly that the two must be related or joined together. I also felt that in several instances, he misrepresented Jewish theological ideas in order to make them fit more neatly into a Buddhist mold. For example, he tries to relate the Buddhist notions of reincarnation with those of Jewish Kabbalistic mystics. While there are similarities, he never makes note of the fact that reincarnation is not a particularly strong thread within any of the major denominations of Judaism. All in all, after reading this book, the phrase, "self-indulgent" keeps coming to mind. I'm sure it was important for him to write it -- I'm just not convinced that it's important for others to read.