It’s often been said that poetry and prayer are intimately related to each other, that they are, indeed, analogous. Both are forms of consecrated speech, language intensified, shaped, and offered up. The disciplines of mind and heart needed to progress in these two forms of expression are also analogous: both require a deeper appreciation of the relationship between sound and silence, between statement and mystery. And yet they are not the same. No one understands the resonance between poetry and prayer better than Rodger Kamenetz, who has not only written outstanding poetry but has also penned some of the most compelling explorations of Jewish and Buddhist spirituality in our time. Just as he refuses to equate poetry and prayer, he refrains from syncretism, the collapsing of one religious tradition into another. Rather, he is attuned to the resonances set up when two traditions are placed in proximity to one another. What he hears he then translates into luminous poetry and prose so that we can hear too. Join us on Wednesday, September 7, 2022, at 12:30 PM PDT/3:30 PM EDT for a CSP conversation with Rodger Kamenetz about his newest book of poetry – The Missing Jew: Poems 1976-2022 (available for pre-order now at this LINK).

Rodger Kamenetz – poet, essayist, and religious thinker—is the author of 12 books (7 poetry and 5 non-fiction) including The Jew in the Lotus and The Missing Jew: Poems 1976-2022, The History of Last Night’s Dream (2007, Harper) – featured on Oprah Winfrey’s “Soul Series” – and Burnt Books: Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav and Franz Kafka (2010) in the Jewish Encounters Series (Nextbook/Schocken). He has been called “one of the most formidable of the Jewish-American poets.” His poems are widely anthologized and he is a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in literature. Stalking Elijah: Adventures with Today’s Jewish Mystical Masters describes his spiritual journey through encounters with contemporary teachers of kabbalah and Jewish meditation. It was awarded the National Jewish Book Award for 1997 in the category of Jewish Thought. Rodger is internationally known for his work on Jewish-Buddhist dialogue, and lectures frequently on contemporary religion. His articles and essays on religion have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Moment, and Reform Judaism. In 1996, he organized a national campaign of Passover Seders for Tibet, in cooperation with the International Campaign for Tibet, and helped organized a special seder for Tibet in Washington D.C. with the Dalai Lama. A PBS documentary film inspired by The Jew in the Lotus and Stalking Elijah and featuring Rodger Kamenetz is in release. Kamenetz is a professor of English and of religious studies at Louisiana State University, where he teaches in the graduate creative writing program and directs the Jewish Studies minor. He lives in New Orleans with his wife and two daughters.

CSP Partners: Beth Israel (San Diego, CA), Brotherhood Synagogue (Gramercy Park, NYC), Congregation Beth Shalom (Seattle, WA), Congregation B’nai Tzedek (Fountain Valley, CA), Congregation B’nai Israel (Tustin, CA), Jewish Collaborative of Orange County, CA, Shomrei Torah Synagogue (San Fernando Valley, CA), Temple Bat Yahm (Newport Beach, CA), Temple Beth El of South Orange County (Aliso Viejo, CA), Temple Beth Emet (Anaheim, CA), Temple Beth Ohr (La Mirada, CA), Temple Beth Tikvah (Fullerton, CA), Temple Beth Shalom (Needham, MA), Temple Beth Sholom (Santa Ana, CA), Temple Emanuel (Newton, MA), Town & Village Synagogue (NYC, NY), University Synagogue (Irvine, CA), Valley Beth Shalom (Encino, CA) & Walnut Street Synagogue (Chelsea, MA)