Minyan: Ten Principles for Living a Life of Integrity

Rabbi Rami Shapiro's Minyan is a well written account of how to practice "non-dual" Judaism. This idea is that God is "not something or someone living somewhere out there in time and space... God is the One who manifests as all things in time and space. God is not something you pray to, but rather the greater reality to which you awake."Shapiro's book is quite specific about the pathway that may be right for the seeker of this type of Jewish mystical and philosophical view, life and practice. There is a mix of practical suggestions and theological speculation that compliment each other well. The book is deeply Jewish and concentrates on a type of non-kabbalistic mysticism we find in Abraham Abulafia as well as a healthy dose of Chabad inspired thought. There is an emphasis on meditation, practice and community commitment.Minyan is a excellent guide book for anyone seeking to find a new pathway in Judaism that respects the old; as well as anyone who seeks the old in the garb of the new.

I found it a little difficult to get into at first, but the more I read, the more I was drawn in to Rami Shapiro's inspirational and and reasonable prescriptions for living a worthwhile life. I liked his re-statement of the 10 Commandments into the 10 Vows.

This is an extremely interesting meditation on by a man who is passionately committed to living a life which is both solidly grounded in Jewish thought and tradition, and at the same time approaches the transcendent through mysticism. Fortunately, Judaism has had threads of mystical tradition for centuries, and this book provides detailed instructions on how to incorporate these techniques into your life.However, this is not primarily a how-to book, but rather is the nearly poetic expression of deep comtemplation and experience of an encounter with the transcendent through the medium of Jewish prayer, ethics and ritual.The prose clearly reflects the passion Rabbi Shapiro brings to his subject, so the book is an appealing reading experience. It is also a book which nearly cries out for rereading and serious thought. You do not have to be Jewish, or agree with everything the author says in order to find great value in this book. If nothing else, it is a case study in making traditional religion meaningful for contemporary people.

Worth reading and rereading. Powerful and practical concepts for developing one's spiritual life. Rami Shapiro writes with clarity and eloquence.

Shapiro is a Jewish liberal Rabbi and an award winning poet/essayist...Shapiro holds to the belief that anyone can become spiritually enlightened and in order to assist an individual to reach this goal he has developed a ten-fold method called Minyan. But his is not the traditonal Minyan from Rabbinic law, a quorum of ten Jews, the minimum necessary for the performance of any religious service. His Minyan refers to the practice of meditation, repetition, inspirational reading, attention, generosity, kindness, dream interpretation, ethical consumption, self-perfection, and Sabbath. The maim of Minyuan is to attain d'vekut, oneness with God, seeing both Being and Emptiness as expressions of God, of becomming conscious of both the relative and the absolute. The key to spiritual awakening is "Chabad," the temporary annihilation of your sense of separateness.Although Shapiro's method hinges on the esoteric and breaks away from conventional Jewish thought, the underlying value of his message is one of universal application, with no embedded dogmatism, a source of inspiration for people of all faiths.

Rabbi Rami Shapiro is one of the most informed and responsible liberal-Jewish rabbis writing today. He is always worth a read, and this book is no exception even though I disagree with large portions of it.His opening chapters in particular are excellent; he presents what he calls "The Teaching" (a carefully nuanced version of quasi-Hasidic panentheism) succinctly and intelligibly. From there, he builds to a list of ten practices adapted from Jewish tradition and designed to increase one's awareness of Rabbi Shapiro's panentheistic G-d.I won't detail my agreements and disagreements here; let it suffice to say that I have some significant ones of each (particularly regarding what I see as important errors in the ethical and economic foundations of "eco-kashrut"). But Rabbi Shapiro's graceful prose and thoughtful ruminations will provoke you to explorations of your own whether you end up agreeing with him or not. What Rabbi Shapiro is clearly _most_ concerned about is that Jews care about being Jews. His stimulating work will undoubtedly promote that aim.

I have bought this twice and have reread parts of it several times. Excellent gems of wisdom.

This book by Rabbi Shapiro is exactly what it says it is, 10 principles for living. 10 powerful principles.I liked it, I refer to it every once in a while. It has a certain beauty to it.