Reb. Moshe Waldoks, spiritual leader of Temple Beth Zion in Brookline, Mass., and founder of a center for Jewish-Muslim Relations in Boston, is the 2012 Saint Michael's College Rabbi Max B. Wall Lecturer. Reb Waldoks will speak on “The Art of Dialogue: The Jewish-Tibetan Buddhist Encounter” on Tuesday, April 17, at 4:30 p.m. in the Hoehl Welcome Center. The lecture is free and open to the public.
Reb Moshe is a story-teller and stand-up comedian (he is co-editor of The Big Book of Jewish Humor), who has used humor to animate a once-diminished congregation, "I'm a real advocate of joy." He taught at Wellesley, Hebrew College, and Brandeis before being ordained. He has a doctorate in Jewish intellectual history. He founded in 2005 Nishmat Hayyim: The Breath of Life Jewish Meditation Community.
A landmark trip with a Polish clergy to Auschwitz led to Reb Moshe's ongoing Jewish-Catholic and Jewish-Christian dialogue. He also created a center for Jewish-Muslim Relations in Boston. In 2008, Reb Moshe was chosen by Newsweek as one of the top 25 pulpit Rabbis in the U.S. He is a much-sought lecturer on evolving Jewish culture and spiritual renewal.