B’nai Or Prayer Shawl

Zalman Schachter-Shalomi was born in Zólkiew, Galicia (present-day Zhovkva, Ukraine) and was raised in Vienna. After immigrating to New York in 1941, he embraced the Chabad movement and was ordained at its central yeshiva in 1947. After breaking with Chabad in the 1960s, he turned to an experimental, New Age approach to ritual and prayer, incorporating elements of Hasidic mysticism, meditation, and dance into his prayer services. His approach to religious practice is embodied in the B’nai Or tallit (also called the Rainbow tallit), which he designed and encouraged followers to sew for themselves.