THE RAINBOW SWASTIKA - Scattered Seed Ministries

above). Katz: "One idea was being overlooked, I offered, the belief that G-d's providence
ensured Jewish survival." He writes that Schachter-Shalomi did not respond directly, except
to mention a need to answer "how" the Jews survived (origin) as well as "why" they did
(purpose). [This non-answer was apparently to pacify Katz rather than to enlighten the
Buddhist leader, who never did hear about G-d's role in Jewish survival. Nathan writes three
days later: "Listening to the Dalai Lama talk about us, one gets the impression that we Jews
survived by an act of will."] Another astute observation was the dilemma posed by the Dalai
Lama's customary title, "Your Holiness", which Katz feels can "imply that he is divinity, an
idea which would compromise an observant Jew." Katz, recognized as a "scholar of South
Asian religions including Tibetan Buddhism", was drawing on a well-informed background.
He notes that a "discussion" of this issue took place, but although he records the Greenbergs'
apprehension over how to keep kashrut (dietary laws) in such a venue, no worry on their part
is mentioned over possibly idolatrous titles. Witnessing the spectacle of orthodox Jewish
intercourse with a foreign religion brought Katz to muse: "This sort of dialog must raise
issues of avodah zarah", a term meaning worship forbidden in the Torah - although Katz only
knows it as "a derogatory term meaning 'other people's worship'". Katz knows that this is
"something to be avoided by observant Jews. Is Tibetan Buddhism avodah zarah, or is it
another name of G-d?" This was properly a question for the Greenbergs to grapple with, but
apparently Katz was the only one troubled by the possibility. In fact, even Hinduism posed
no conflict for the "observant Jews" in the group; a Jew turned Hindu guru completed their
minyan (minimum quorum) for synagogue prayers.
The only real confrontation came over the great numbers of Jews leaving Judaism to join
Tibetan Buddhism. But again, the one who spoke up was not the orthodox rabbi or rebbetzin,
but the academic expert Katz. And, speaking "on behalf of us all", his complaint was not that
Jews were being compromised in their covenant with their own G-d, but that "we suffer from
a brain drain on a community level." It was the Dalai Lama who returned the issue to a
spiritual level, where it belonged. His response began with a recommendation for Judaism to
imitate Buddhism, but he ended with a challenge to basic Torah Judaism to prove itself: "If
you have these spiritual values [as we do], then there is no reason to fear; if you have no such
values, then there is no reason to hold on." In other words, if Judaism is spiritually satisfying,
Jews should feel no need to tack on pieces of another religion. If not, then it would be better
just to abandon Judaism for a more satisfying religion. Then, with keen insight into the fatal
flaw of Jewish Renewal, he added: "If you cannot provide spiritual satisfaction to others and
at the same time insist on holding on to them, then that is foolishness." If Judaism is not
adequate as itself, all attempts to "renew" it as a way to keep Jews at home will fail. Why
hold people to something that has failed them? Why not let them move on to pure Buddhism?
[According to Bailey's spirit guide, Buddhism is indeed scheduled to replace Judaism, and
even become aggressive in supplanting other religions.]
"CLAL - The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership": This organization was
founded by Yitz Greenberg in 1974, ostensibly to reach out to marginal Jews and bring them
into a Jewish framework. In reality, CLAL is busy doing the opposite: breaking down the
historical Jewish framework in order to include the NA spirituality which the marginal Jews
have accepted. The key question would be: Is CLAL engaged in naive compromise to appeal
to all tastes, or deliberate efforts to undermine traditional Judaism? We have a pointed
answer from CLAL, set apart in its own paragraph for added emphasis: "Transformation has
always been integral to CLAL's mission." (CLAL Update, Fall 1997) [Watch as we run into
some of the most popular "blinds", or code words used in NA. By repeating terms like
"transformation", "higher wisdom", "new era" and "new paradigm" - terms foreign to Jewish
thought but basic to NA teaching - the "change agents" are signaling their presence to other