Jew in the Lotus Book 3

Notebook for

The Jew in the Lotus: A Poet's Rediscovery of Jewish Identity in Buddhist India (Plus)

Kamenetz, Rodger

2 Flames

Highlight (yellow) - Page 22 · Location 441

I had imagined that someone obeying God’s law would feel more joy.

Note - Page 22 · Location 441

good comment

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3 Roadblocks

Highlight (yellow) - Page 37 · Location 710

I felt how much I ignore, how often I redefine the world as my world, and suffering as the suffering of the Jews.

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Note - Page 37 · Location 711

Jews travel to confer with Dalai Lama in India

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Highlight (yellow) - Page 39 · Location 755

Maybe they wanted the Judaism they’d left behind to stay put.

Note - Page 39 · Location 755

not an unusual stance

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5 Blessings

Highlight (yellow) - Page 56 · Location 1040

As a boy I’d served time in Orthodox shuls, where the Hebrew was babbled at supersonic rates, and I spent most of my time trying to figure out what page we were on or when it was okay to sit down.

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Highlight (yellow) - Page 62 · Location 1156

Although I respected the difficulty of Rabbi Greenberg’s position and admired the deftness of his maneuvers, I feel that to have to worry so late in the twentieth century about whether a woman’s prayers count in the eyes of God is silly.

Note - Page 63 · Location 1157

our ideas and practices change

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Highlight (yellow) - Page 63 · Location 1163

Words “not fitting with reality if taken literally, should be interpreted.”

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Highlight (yellow) - Page 64 · Location 1176

For instance, the Orthodox believe it is better to pray in Hebrew without understanding than to pray in one’s own language.

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Highlight (yellow) - Page 64 · Location 1181

Words are labels, and even the Buddhist teaching, or dharma, has no ultimate reality. In fact, I have heard Buddhist scholars argue that a person who says, “I am a Buddhist,” cannot be a Buddhist, because to be a Buddhist means to have no attachment to labels.

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7 The Angel of Tibet and the Angel of the Jews

Highlight (yellow) - Page 80 · Location 1485

Reb Zalman answered, “If I would use an electrical image, I would say, the infinite needs transformers for lower levels.” He built a transformer tower with his hands