The Passage to India: The Quest for Spirituality

I t is impossible today to consider the attraction that India holds for Israelis and Jews without referring to the term “spirituality.” It may well be argued that this term holds the key to the encounter and to its importance. For Indian spiritual teachers this is indeed the message that India has to offer the world. Swami Vivekananda has famously contrasted the material West to spiritual India. 1 India is thus constructed as a beacon of spirituality, emanating into a world caught up in materialism. Clearly this juxtaposition may be relevant for many seekers, including Jewish seekers, who find in the religious forms they encounter in India an alternative to the materialism of the culture that surrounds them. Nevertheless, it would be a gross oversimplification to portray Judaism’s encounter with Hinduism simply as an encounter with spirituality and an opportunity to redress imbalances in another religion or culture.