When Buddhist vipassanā travels to Jewish West Bank settlements: openness without cosmopolitanism
Ethnic and Racial Studies May 27, 2020 Ori Mautner, Nissim Mizrachi
A study of a Jewish Vipassanā meditation retreat held in a West Bank settlement found that participants often redefined the Buddhist practice of insight meditation as essentially Jewish. To justify their adoption of vipassanā, meditators first affirmed their exclusive commitment to orthodox Judaism. They culturally appropriated the practice by stripping it of Buddhist religious elements and claiming it as their own. While this involved openness to Eastern meditation expertise, it did not reflect cosmopolitan attitudes. Instead, openness depended on and deepened belief in the superiority of national-religious Judaism, suggesting that cosmopolitanism may preclude openness in contexts emphasizing exclusive commitment to a single tradition.