Tatz captivates crowd with Jewish-Buddhist talk

By Paul Haist

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A central distinction that separates spiritual Judaism from Zen Buddhism is found in the enlightenment that Abraham brought to the world, and that enlightenment is not what most people might think at first.

That is according to Rabbi Akiva Tatz who addressed some aspects of common ground shared by Judaism and Zen Buddhism the evening of Aug. 4 at Congregation Kesser Israel where he was the guest both of Kesser and Congregation P’nai Or.

Tatz is a South African-born physician who is widely recognized as an expert on Jewish thought and philosophy. He is the author of five highly regarded books including “Letters to a Buddhist Jew,” which he wrote with American Buddhist Jew David Gottleib. Gottleib had put to Akiva several questions asked by many Jews today about their tradition. Those questions and Akiva’s replies comprise the book.

Tatz attracted a standing-room-only crowd to Kesser for a lively presentation that commanded the rapt attention of those present.

When Tatz asked what was the main tenet that Abraham brought to the world, more than one in the audience replied, “Monotheism.”

“That is fundamentally wrong,” said Akiva. “Way off the mark.

He elaborated, noting that Abraham lived very close to the beginning of history, that he was the 20th generation of human history.

“How can you suggest by that early generation (from Adam) that they would have forgotten about God?” he asked.

Tatz said there was a yeshiva already in Abraham’s time that was “teaching Torah … one God. These people certainly had explicit knowledge of one God.”

He didn’t deny that idolatry flourished in the time of Abraham, but, he said that idolatry does not mean forgetting about God.

“Idolatry means ascribing some power to an intermediary,” he said. “An idolater is a person who knows about God … He looks up (at the sun and the stars); he just doesn’t go all the way.”

So, if the people of Abraham’s generation knew about one God but were a little mixed up about how to deal with that God, what did Abraham do that earned him his place in history? What did he do if it was not to communicate the concept of one God?

“What makes you holy as a Jew,” said Tatz, “is the sanctification of the body. What did Abraham bring to the world? [He brought] the concept that you’ve got to bring it down into the world.”

Tatz said that Abraham is the one who unified the spirit and the body, and that concept is his legacy to the world that followed.

He pointed to mitzvot, which he described as physical actions that express the spiritual. “If you want to become spiritual, become physical,” he said.

He held up Christian and Jewish attitudes on marital intimacy to help make his point. In Christianity, he said, there is very much angst about marital intimacy, but in Judaism “there is nothing holier.”

He made the point also that Judaism and Zen Buddhism part company over Abraham’s enlightenment.

“That is one theme on which we differ with Buddhism,” he said, referring to the emphasis in Zen Buddhism on the necessity to “get away from the physical to realize the spiritual self.”

Tatz speculated that American Jews are drawn in large numbers to Zen Buddhism and leave Judaism “because they are not properly educated,” that they are unaware that their longing for spiritual expression and fulfillment can be satisfied within their own tradition.

Early in the day, Tatz discussed medical ethics during another gathering at Kesser Israel. After the evening presentation at Kesser, he visited Portland’s Moishe House, a communal living and program space for young adult Jews.