The Teshuvah of Leaving Buddhism

On October 7th, in the place of the massacre, there were Jewish people who were murdered while they were around a Buddha statue. Now to understand why Jews would be associating with Buddhist things on a Shabbat that was also a holiday, it would be important to understand the trends that have risen and fallen in the nation of Israel.

Before the Holocaust, a small number of explorers, including the British and Nazi Germans, had started to have direct contact with the Dharmic religions – the different practices based on the spiritual ideas of Dharma which are influenced the founding of most Indian religions as well as some of the faiths in the nations north of the Indian Sub-Continent.

Eventually, this influenced Jewish people especially when American Jews came into contact with such religious practices in Japan (Post-War) and in South Korea and Vietnam. Some of these things were brought to the US. During the Hippie era, there was the rise of New Age Movement of Theosophy which promotes learning different teachings from other religions. Many people were drawn into a “spiritual but not religious” interpretation of Dharmic religions such as Buddhism.

Later in history, secular Israelis started visiting countries in India and South-East Asia where Buddhism was readily available.

Eventually, there was the accepted trend among many secular Israelis associate with Buddhist-related imagery as part of their Hippie-passing culture which contributes to the EDM culture found among many modern Jews.

Now, what happened on October 7th? Well, on that day or the next day, many Jews started doing Teshuvah. Many Jews started re-connecting with their Jewish roots and have thus been more accepting towards Judaism.

So while the recent massacre on October 7th was the worst attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust, it is also important to note that since October 7th, there have been many Jews who can see how clear it is that their Jewish identity is something that is worth valuing.