Rabbi on The Ganges: A Jewish Hindu Encounter

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Rabbi Dr. Alan Brill

Professor Alan Brill recently spent a sabbatical in India teaching about the little-known encounters that Judaism has with Hinduism from within the Brahmin world. He notes that Indian works on religion typically reference Judaism through the lens of the practices of Leviticus, especially with regard to animal sacrifice.  Judaism, on the other hand, tends to understand Eastern religions using the Talmudic categories of idolatry. Neither side understands much about the other one and their respective living reality.

Exploring the commonalities of ideas on priestly rituals, purity, meditation, and text study, this lecture looks at how what is first seen as completely foreign and different, can be appreciated on its own terms through asking the proper questions and finding an appropriate lens. Thus, space is created for a shared spiritual language of understanding.

Rabbi Alan Brill is the Cooperman/Ross Endowed Chair for Jewish-Christian Studies at Seton Hall University, where he teaches Jewish studies in the graduate program. Brill is the author of Thinking God: The Mysticism of Rabbi Zadok of Lublin (2002), Judaism and Other Religions: Models Of Understanding (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010) and Judaism and World Religions (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012). Dr. Brill received his BA, MA, and Rabbinical Ordination from Yeshiva University and his Ph.D from Fordham University. He was a Fulbright Senior Scholar awardee to research and teach at Banares Hindu University in Varanasi, India. Brill just completed a book tentatively entitled “Rabbi on The Ganges: A Jewish Hindu Encounter.” Brill is active in the Jewish interfaith encounter with Catholics, Muslims, and Hindus.