Toward an “Order of B’nai Or”: A Program for a Jewish Liturgical Brotherhood

Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

1964

Nature of the Brotherhood

We are basically dissatisfied with “the world.” Our dissatisfaction stems mainly from the fact that as well-adjusted members of it we would have to live as ardent consumers of goods which we do not really need but which in fact inhibit our best possible functioning in terms of shlemuth ha’avoda. We have to isolate…

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Creator Bio

Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

1924–2014

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.

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Prayer shawl woven with bands of vibrant colors.
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The idea for a multicolored prayer shawl (tallit) came to Zalman Schachter-Shalomi when he was meditating on a midrash about God creating the world while wrapped in a robe of light. Schachter-Shalomi…
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This day is our war, my sister, So I am far away from here. Please keep our rendez-vous In our tiny kitchen Before my usual chair Fill a glass of wine And treat it as if I am Sitting across from…
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A song of ascents. When the Lord restores the fortunes of Zion —we see it as in a dream— our mouths shall be filled with laughter, our tongues, with songs of joy. Then shall they say among the…
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