Food and Spirituality 1
Title
Food and Spirituality 1
Creator
Innovations in Jewish Life Collections
Date
2023
Contributor
Gregg Drinkwater, Hilary Kalisman, Samira Mehta, Maggie Rosenau
Rights
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Format
Portable Document Format
Language
English
Text
Food nourishes the body, but religious thinkers have long also highlighted the ways in which food, drink, and connection to nature nourishes the soul. Within Judaism, as in other religious communities, food and eating has long been assigned metaphoric and spiritual meaning and significance. In the Jewish Renewal community, with its deep roots in environ-mentalism and countercultural practices, such links between food and spirit flourished.
In one of the earliest examples of such bridging of food, religious practice, and the spirit found in CU Boulder’s IJL archives, Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, a key figure linked to Jewish Renewal who also trans-formed the liturgy and practices for a wide spectrum of American and global Jewry, offered regular reflections on the role of food and wine within Jewish life.
In the 1960s, Carlebach founded a new countercultural synagogue called the House of Love and Prayer, based in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, then the epicenter for hippies in American culture. There, he and the “holy hippies” connected with Carlebach’s community re-envisioned American Judaism for the psychedelic age.
After his death in 1994, an article in Lilith, a Jewish feminist magazine, detailed multiple accusations of sexual assault, unwanted touching, and sexually inappropriate behavior by Carlebach toward women and teen girls. The article sparked a debate throughout the Jewish world about Carlebach’s legacy, patterns of silence over sexual assault, and the ethics of highlighting such charges after someone’s death (although it later became clear that these issues had surfaced multiple times during Carlebach’s life and he had admitted to some of the accusations).
In one of the earliest examples of such bridging of food, religious practice, and the spirit found in CU Boulder’s IJL archives, Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, a key figure linked to Jewish Renewal who also trans-formed the liturgy and practices for a wide spectrum of American and global Jewry, offered regular reflections on the role of food and wine within Jewish life.
In the 1960s, Carlebach founded a new countercultural synagogue called the House of Love and Prayer, based in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, then the epicenter for hippies in American culture. There, he and the “holy hippies” connected with Carlebach’s community re-envisioned American Judaism for the psychedelic age.
After his death in 1994, an article in Lilith, a Jewish feminist magazine, detailed multiple accusations of sexual assault, unwanted touching, and sexually inappropriate behavior by Carlebach toward women and teen girls. The article sparked a debate throughout the Jewish world about Carlebach’s legacy, patterns of silence over sexual assault, and the ethics of highlighting such charges after someone’s death (although it later became clear that these issues had surfaced multiple times during Carlebach’s life and he had admitted to some of the accusations).
Files
Citation
Innovations in Jewish Life Collections, “Food and Spirituality 1,” IJL Digital Exhibits, accessed April 30, 2024, https://embodiedjudaism.omeka.net/items/show/128.