BOOKS AVI KATZ Near misses with the divine After his spiritual quest, Eric Weiner ends up being as wracked by doubt as he was at the outset Tibor Krausz

S ELUSIVE QUESTS GO, swer is so vague as to be meaningless. None in Washington, DC embarks on a spiritual the one in search of God has of them achieve much in the way of en- quest that takes him from Istanbul to Las been a hardy perennial. Ever lightening less esoterically inclined fellows Vegas. Asince Gilgamesh set out to be- about the nature of God other than through His latest quest comes on the heels of an come immortal like the Sume- the suggestive power of obscurantism by earlier one, which was detailed in his 2008 rian gods, countless seekers have followed hinting at some Gnostic wisdom only initi- bestseller, The Geography of Bliss, an edi- close behind in hopes of divinely inspired ates can fathom. fying romp through the global landscape of wisdom, grace and fortitude. Eric Weiner is certainly no such initiate. happiness quotients from which we learned Invariably, such spiritual quests have The author, who bills himself “a gastro- that the world’s most persistently unhappy yielded the same three time-honored in- nomical Jew” (one with a taste for kosher people are the Moldovans. That came as a sights (or a combination thereof): 1. The holiday feasts but not so much for daily bit of a surprise to this reviewer, who would ways of God are mysterious and He’s be- observance), is an agnostic who professes have wagered on Hungarians, that long suf- yond knowing; 2. The divine is in the eye of ignorance in the face of one of life’s es- fering nation of gloomy pessimists whose the beholder as it manifests itself in myriad sential questions: Is there a God? After a national anthem has the rousing ebullience ways; 3. We’re all one with the Universe. health scare that reminds him of his mortal- of a funeral dirge and includes the verse: You’re free to take your pick, as each an- ity, Weiner, who is in his late 40s and lives “Long beset by misfortune... this people

40 THE JERUSALEM REPORT MAY 21, 2012 has already suffered for [both] the past and meets the great man himself, garbed all in Chopra-esque aphorisms, wherein banality future.” white with thinning hair pulled back into a often masquerades as wisdom. Studies have shown that the religious tend snazzy topknot, through which Raël claims “First steps are often last steps,” a to be happier and more optimistic than the to receive telepathic messages from his ex- Buddhist teacher opines. non-religious, so one presumes Moldova is traterrestrial friends. “I have a question for “The fear of the Void is the beginning of a nation of diehard atheists prone to long you,” Weiner recalls him inquiring “with a ZLVGRP´D6X¿PDVWHUH[SODLQV bouts of brooding spiritual nihilism. Sadly, heavy Inspector Clouseau accent.” “Are you “Die without dying, and you’ll endure for- Weiner doesn’t return to that ex-Soviet state appy?” Raël’s modus operandi is “Shut up ever,” a Taoist sage counsels. RIGHVSRQGHQWVRXOVWR¿QGRXW and be happy, feeling sad is crappy.” There may be some profound insights there, but it’s hard to know what they are. Equal Opportunity As a rule of thumb, the more counterintui- A former correspondent for National Public A religious way of tive, paradoxical or self-evident an adage is, Radio who did stints in Jerusalem, Tokyo the wiser it is taken to be. and New Delhi, Weiner is an equal-oppor- thought can teach us Weiner doesn’t bite, either. “For me,” he tunity seeker. He is willing to give each faith valuable lessons: to slow acknowledges, “spiritual insights are about KHH[SORUHVWKHEHQH¿WRIWKHGRXEW±PRUH down; to live in the now; as sturdy as soap bubbles.” Yet he still be- or less. lieves that reason unadulterated by a sense A professed neurotic with a melancholic to appreciate the world’s of wonder at the possibility of the divine is temperament and self-deprecating wit (“I small pleasures; wanting. have opinions about my opinions, and opin- ions about those too”), he has few illusions to count our blessings Borderline about religions in general. “I’m the guy,” he As he navigates the borderline between confesses, “standing near the exit of the syn- Yet titter derisively as we might at the sacred and the profane, Weiner rubs up agogue or the meditation hall, plotting his Raëlians, whose symbol is a Star of David against some memorable fellow seekers. escape in case things get dull, or strange.” intertwined with a Hindu swastika, they Meet Wayne, an aging hippie of Jewish ex- In other words: a kindred spirit. can muster as much factual evidence for the traction from New York who is a permanent Still, he prefers to play it safe. Rather than empirical validity of their beliefs in their ¿[WXUHLQ.DWKPDQGX+HFRPPXQLFDWHV stumble head-on into the world of zealots, supreme alien deities as believers of more in riddles and email haikus, and agrees to he cherry-picks among the more benign QRUPDWLYHIDLWKVFDQGRIRUWKHLUV±ZKLFK school the author in the ways of meditation manifestations of religious devotion. He is to say, none. on the roof of his abode. He also teaches twirls with dervishes in the Turkish city of 5DsOLDQVVHYHUDORIZKRP:HLQHU¿QGVWR Weiner how to massage himself with the Konya; meditates (reluctantly) with gurus be reasonably well-adjusted professionals, SRZHURIWKRXJKW±DQH[HUFLVHWKDWZRUNV in Kathmandu; observes the Shabbat with understand this well enough. “Christians Kabbalists in Safed; has his chi unblocked don’t demand proof of the Virgin Birth; in Wuhan; roughs it out with Franciscans at Muslims don’t demand proof of Muham- a homeless shelter in New York (where he mad’s revelations at the Cave of Hira,” ÀLUWVZLWKD&DWKROLFFRQIHVVLRQEXWHYHQWX- one points out. “Look,” adds another, “this ally bows out). philosophy enriches my life.” He also steers clear of the more exotic “One person’s insanity is another’s manifestations of the 10,000 or so faiths theology,” Weiner rightly concurs. Should practiced around the world, apart from Raëlians stick around for a while longer, a closer look at shamanism, Wicca, and their faith may well become as accepted as, 5DsOLVP 7KH ODWWHU LV D ZDFN\ VFL¿ FXOW say, Mormonism, another patently make- of lascivious UFO enthusiasts whose potty believe creed. “Time has a way of trans- theology makes the faux-mythology of forming wild tales into received wisdom, the Star Wars movies seem profound by madmen into sages,” Weiner notes. comparison. The author endorses the late Christian phi- Raëlians believe we were created by a losopher Paul Tillich’s view that religious master race of alien beings called the Elo- faith in all its forms is the embrace of an him, whose earthly messenger is Claude “in spite of” attitude: belief in God in spite Vorilhon, a French race-car driver turned of any demonstrable evidence and hope in extraterrestrial ambassador who calls him- an afterlife again in spite of any evidence. Man Seeks God: self Raël and claims to be following in the “’In spite of’ makes a mockery of common My Flirtations with the Divine footsteps of earlier prophets like Moses and sense,” Weiner writes. “That is precisely By Eric Weiner Jesus. He hopes to build a Raëlian embassy why we need it.” Twelve in Jerusalem for aliens. As is usually the case with self-proclaimed At a Raëlian gathering in Las Ve- guardians of esoterica, Weiner’s learned 368 pages; $26.99 gas, whose highlight is a cross-dressing LQWHUORFXWRUV IURP 6X¿V WR .DEEDOLVWV WR “gender-switching workshop,” Weiner Buddhists, express themselves in Deepak

THE JERUSALEM REPORT MAY 21, 2012 41 BOOKS rather less well for the author, as he soon discovers, than actual massage by a trained practitioner. Understanding Then there’s Father Louis, a hirsute Fran- ciscan who was once a muscle-bound wom- anizer and Wall Street hotshot before he decided to heed the call of Jesus. He now Christianity does good works for the needy in the South Bronx, where he calls his brethren “bro.” The friar saves Weiner the embarrassment of making “a theological ass of myself” when the Jewish man mistakenly joins the line for Holy Communion during Catholic mass. Rinpoche And let’s not forget the dour Tibetan lama, a Rinpoche (“precious teacher”) no less, who holds court in the style of a revered rebbe. During invitation-only sessions he dispenses wise counsel to his star-struck foreign students on such solemn matters as to whether it’s prudent to start a business on a Tuesday or fly on a Friday. (Weiner doesn’t tell us the Rinpoche’s answers to these great mysteries.) Yet despite their disparate religious goals, the seekers Weiner encounters seem genu- vi Katz vi inely earnest in their search for a more A meaningful life. While you may not share their enthusiasm for their individual brands A Jewish theological and literary of spirituality or want to follow their reli- gious prescriptions, you can’t help but ad- commentary to the Christian Bible mire their dedication and discipline. A religious way of thought, Weiner finds, Ralph Amelan can teach us valuable lessons: to slow down; to live in the now; to appreciate the world’s e will eat on the underpinned with essays sketching the Jew- small pleasures; to count our blessings. Even seventh of Passover the ‘Mes- ish political and religious milieu in which Raëlians, it turns out, do good works, like “Wsiah Feast,’ intended to infuse Jesus lived. raising funds for reconstructive surgery for the faith in the messiah’s coming into our Their aims are ecumenical rather than the victims of female genital mutilation in blood and flesh, like a meal that becomes contentious. “Ideally, it will serve to in- Africa. our blood and flesh.” crease our knowledge of both our common Weiner winds up his journey in Safed, the This sentence got its author, Chabad ground zero of Kabbala, thereby coming spokesman Rabbi Menachem Brod, into full circle, as it were, back to his roots. He trouble. According to a recent Haaretz sto- The New Testament pores over tracts from the Zohar. He puzzles ry, he was criticized in Internet forums for gives a snapshot of over seemingly nonsensical Kabbalistic no- importing the Christian symbolism of the tions. He dabbles in Jewish numerology. But Eucharist, where bread and wine are likened a vital and vigorous spiritual knowledge continues to elude him. to the flesh and blood of Jesus, into a Jewish pre-Talmudic Judaism He ends up being as wracked by doubt as he ceremony. Brod denied it: the accusations was at the outset. were “wild associations that say more about Ironically, it’s the Raëlians’ comical rites the forum’s participants, who are apparently histories, and the reasons why we came to of libidinous hippie-style bonhomie that immersed in Christian ideology. I, happily, separate,” state editors Amy-Jill Levine, throw the benefits of spirituality into the don’t have such associations.” a professor of New Testament and Jewish sharpest relief. “The Raëlian movement, Should he be happy? The scholarly editors Studies at Vanderbilt University in Nash- like all faiths,” Weiner writes, “provides its and contributors to The Jewish Annotated ville, Tennessee, and Marc Zvi Brettler, a followers [with] a sense of community, of New Testament beg to differ. They provide Biblical Studies professor at Brandeis Uni- belonging, of human grace. Their beliefs are theological and literary commentary to the versity in Waltham, Massachusetts, in their almost irrelevant.” • Christian Bible from a Jewish standpoint, preface.

42 The Jerusalem Report may 21, 2012