Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, better known as “Reb Zalman”, was the founder of the influential Jewish Renewal movement and a pioneer in ecumenical dialogue. Born August 17, 1924, in Zhalkiew, Poland, he was raised in Vienna, Austria, until his family was forced to flee the Nazis in 1938. After living almost three years as refugees, the Schachter family finally landed in New York City in 1941.  They settled in Brooklyn, where Zalman enrolled in the yeshiva of the Lubavitcher Hasidim.

Ordained a rabbi by Lubavitch in 1947, he later received his Master of Arts degree in pastoral psychology from Boston University in 1956 and a Doctorate of Hebrew Letters from Hebrew Union College in 1968. From 1956 to 1975, Rabbi Zalman taught at the University of Manitoba in Canada, before taking up a post as professor of Jewish mysticism and psychology of religion at Temple University in Philadelphia, from which he retired in 1987. In 1995, he accepted the World Wisdom Chair at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, from which he retired in 2004. 

Throughout his long career, Reb Zalman was at the forefront of religious and spiritual change. As one of the world’s foremost authorities on Hasidism and Kabbalah, he inspired the Jewish Renewal Movement, which recognized the need for a renewed acquaintance with the spiritual depths of Judaism, as well as new possibilities of worship and inclusion. At the same time, he was equally committed to ecumenical dialogue with practitioners of other spiritual paths, from Tibetan monks to Sufi sheiks, leading to significant friendships with many of the world’s great spiritual teachers, including Thomas Merton and the Dalai Lama.

At the time of his passing on July 3, 2014, in Boulder, Colorado, he was acclaimed as one of the most beloved and important spiritual leaders in the world. He is buried in Green Mountain Cemetery. 

Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
Giclee of an Original Charcoal Drawing
2007

Netanel Miles-Yepez
American (1972)