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Title: Be Still and Get Going: A Jewish Meditation Practice for Real Life
ISBN: 0316739103
Author:
Alan Lew
Publicate Date: 2005-08-30
Publish: 2005-08-30
List Price: $14.95
Average Customer Rating: 4.0
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $5.53
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $5.52
Amazon Merchant Price: $11.21
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Keen insight - advice for those who meditate
This book came highly recommended by a friend. It has helped him and me through difficult times. It is an important book for the important matters of life. It includes significant and useful advice on meditation. I've purchased the book for other family members.
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2: Amazing the authour can be so ignorant in Jewish Meditation
... to the extent he declares it non-existent and tries to inject in the buddhist practices...
If you interested in genuine Jewish Meditation,
check out "Jewish Meditation: A Practical Guide Jewish Meditation: A Practical Guide or The Art of Amazement by Alexander SeinfeldThe Art of Amazement.
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3: Be Still and Get Going: A Jewish Meditation Practice for Real Life
Very thought-provoking! Good specifics on how to accomplish a positive meditation regimen and what results/benefits to expect. An easy read; not overly technical.
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4: A bit ahead of it's time
Houston Smith and Philip Novak describe Siddharta Gautama, the first Buddha, in their book about Buddhism. "Perhaps the most striking thing about him was his combination of a cool head and a warm heart, a combination that shielded him from sentimentality on one hand, and indifference , on the other... Every problem that came in his way, was subjected to cool, dispassionate analysis. He was a master of dialogue and dialectic, and calmly confident. The remarkable fact was the way this objective critical component of his character was balanced by a ... tenderness so strong, as to have had his message to be subtitled "a religion of infinite compassion." "
Alan Lew fits exactly the same description, He prefers to meditate daily - in lotus position -, with a Pentateuch in front of him, and each word of the Torah gains new meanings. When Jacob returns to Esau from exile in Haran, he sends a message "im Lavan garti". ( I have sojourned with Lavan). The word "garti" intrigued him. He looked up all the commentators, including the greatest Jewish classical commentator, Rashi, who lived in twelfth century in France . Rashi "pointed out that the word, "tariag" is an inversion of the letters of "garti:". (Gemaria is the medieval and later Kabbalistic permutation of letters to discover new meanings) . "Tariag" stands for the number 613, There are 613 divine commadements inspired from the Torah. Rashi implied that Jacob, although he lived with the "evil" Laban, he retained his piety and respected the Torah's commandments.
There is problem, writes Lew: the Torah was given to the people some four hundred years after Jacob's death, The 613 commandments would not exist until one thousand years later.
And Lew continues to shock the orthodox readers when he writes that Abraham did eat milk and meat ( a Kosher taboo), as the laws of Kashrut appeared some five hundred years after his death.
Lew needed to shatter illogical statements that a Buddhist needs as a pre-requisite to reach equanimity and compassion as a Rabbi. The story of Joseph is where the God - the God of a Rabbi who meditates glitters from the book of Torah:
"When Joseph told his family about his dreams of dominance and majesty - all the planets and even the sun and the moon bowed down to him; he bound a great sheaf of wheat and all his brothers' sheaves of wheat bowed down to his - his siblings resented them terribly, says the Torah. - "but his father remembered the thing." His father, Jacob, felt an intense energy in these dreams, and as a result he knew they were significant, that he would someday recognize them in life. When we pay close attention, we find that there are moments like this in the Torah and moments like this in life - moments that glint at us as if with light - and when we connect them, something extraordinary will
often result."
There is sincerity, courage and belief in every word Alan Lew writes in his book. We learn about his life, his struggles, his family. He married his wife thirteen days after he met her. He sees a parallel with the life of the Zen Buddhist master, Bobo Roshi. Yet the wedding -with very little Jewish education at the time - began his journey to embrace Judaism all the way to become a Rabbi.
Alan Lew thinks meditation should be studied. It never existed really in the Jewish Tradition. "Contemporary teachers of Kabbalah.. are often engaged in speculative attempts to reinvent the Kabbalah with meditative practices learned elsewhere.. particularly from Tibet and Vipassana Buddhism."
This book is written a bit ahead of its' time. Alan Lew describes a prophetic Judaism that will come, keeping intact it's essence. A Judaism that will be influenced by this book, not founded by it.. It started already at Makor Or, the meditation center which happens to be in the same building with a synagogue, and where the author is the founder.
Miha Ahronovitz
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5: A Beautiful Book to Savour
Alan Lew once again offers us a book full of wisdom, combining his years of experience as a Rabbi and as a student of meditation. He communicates his deep insights regarding the Bible, the Talmud, and life in general in everyday language. His chapter on the meaning of suffering is a jewel. This book has enriched my connection with traditional Jewish teaching, while at the same time inspiring me to continue with my meditation practice. I recommend this book with all my heart.
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