The BuJews

The first centuries of Judaism were defined by survival. The Jews built a civilization around a Temple, priests, sacrifice, and a covenant with God. Then, in 70 CE, the Romans destroyed the Second Temple.

Most civilizations would have disappeared. Instead, Judaism reinvented itself. Deprived of a physical temple, the Jews made the human mind their portable sanctuary.

Turning inward, study replaced sacrifice. Inquiry replaced certainty. Learning became worship. For nearly two thousand years, Jews maintained their civilization not in stone buildings, but in memory, books, and conversation.

In 1948, Jews reestablished sovereignty in their ancestral homeland and went on to build one of the world’s most innovative and resilient societies. Having become masters of adaptation, many began asking a different question: how do we live well?

Perhaps this helps explain the rise of the BuJew—the Jew who seeks to unite Jewish resilience with Buddhist awareness. I consider Bob Dylan the original BuJew.

In 1963, the twenty-two-year-old Dylan was scheduled to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show, which launched the careers of Elvis, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones. At the last minute, CBS executives asked him to replace his satirical song, “Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues,” fearing controversy and possible legal trouble.

It was the biggest break of his career.

Dylan walked away.

When his furious agent asked why he would throw away such an opportunity, Dylan replied, “I am a folk singer, not a performer.”

Choosing conviction over exposure, Dylan declined an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show and instead performed later that summer at the March on Washington, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his now-iconic “I Have a Dream” speech. The decision made him one of the most influential artists of his generation and, decades later, a Nobel laureate in Literature.

As we build Highland Institute, we are reminded that meaningful work requires both tenacity and surrender: the courage to hold fast to what matters and the wisdom to release what does not.

The Jews teach us how to persist. The Buddhists teach us how to let go. The BuJew walks the line between the two.

— Sina.