When Oceans Merge: The Contemporary Sufi and Hasidic Teachings of Pir Vilayat Khan and Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

In-depth exploration of the cross-currents between Jewish and Islamic mysticism, exemplified in the teachings of and relationship between two renowned teachers.

This is a book about the intersection of Sufi and Hasidic wisdom as gleaned from the lives and teachings of Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, the founder of the Jewish Renewal Movement and Pir Vilayat Khan, the head and spiritual director of the Sufi Order of the West. The foreword is by Netanel Miles-Yepez who is one of the founders of the Adam Kadmon Book imprint as well as a Pir and founder of a Jewish-Sufi lineage which was blessed and inspired by Reb Zalman and Pir Vilayat. Reb Zalman and Pir Vilayat knew and held each other in the highest regard while still living. Indeed they were initiated into each other’s spiritual community. More than anything, this book shows how a deep spirituality can be developed that is rooted in religious tradition but transcends it.