A Merciful God: Stories and Teachings of the Holy Rebbe, Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev

Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (1924-2014) was one of the most creative and influential Jewish spiritual teachers in the late twentieth-century. Reb Zalman (as he is known) made several distinctive and lasting contributions to Jewish and interreligious life in North America and beyond. Originally trained as a Hasidic rabbi within the Chabad-Lubavitch community, he became one of the great teachers and translators of Jewish mystical tradition. Weaving together strands of Hasidism and Kabbalah with teachings from a wide range of other religious and wisdom traditions, including Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, psychology, history, and the sciences, he created the Jewish Renewal Movement, which seeks to infuse contemporary Jewish life with greater spiritual depth through increased attention to contemplative and embodied practice along with joyous service to God, the Jewish people, and the world as a whole.

Netanel Miles-Yépez, founder of Albion Andalus Books, is an artist, philosopher, religion scholar, and spiritual teacher. He is the current head of the Inayati-Maimuni lineage of Sufism, and is considered a leading thinker in the Interspiritual and New Monasticism movements. Netanel studied History of Religions at Michigan State University and Contemplative Religion at the Naropa Institute, before pursuing traditional studies with such spiritual luminaries as Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, founder of the Jewish Renewal movement, and Father Thomas Keating, founder of Contemplative Outreach. Currently, Netanel lives in Boulder, Colorado, where he serves on the faculty of Naropa University as Chair of Religious Studies and Director of the Keating-Schachter Center for Interspirituality (a project of Charis Foundation: charisinterspirituality.org).