Thursday 31st of May 2007

David-My Brother

I heard about your dying on Friday evening, late night,
 on the road, after playing a gig in Seattle, headed for
 Port Townsend, Washington, Randy called me and told 
me.   Waiting for the time when I got home. I played well.
 I did a little tribute to you  at an Arts Festival gig. I sang 
The Blues my Naughty Sweetie Gives To Me, Jug Band Music,
 and My Creole Belle, and told the about you. I didn?t lose
 it onstage, so I figured you were there to help me with that.

And now, home, off the road, done with my job for a few
 days, it is the time to let all this flow over me.

So I'm writing you a letter. 

I think it?s going to be a long letter, at least for me. 
And I'm going to send it to a message/ memories/
 condolences site  they?ve set up for you because, 
it seems like a good place to send it. I hope they 
won't mind that it's so long. I'm sensitive that way, as you know.

 But I just need to talk to you David.  Talk a little
 about how we knew each other. Bits and pieces 
from when we made a lot of music together. Stories 
I tell myself about the music we shared, about some 
of our times together. Nothing earth shaking, memories
 of a long true friend and brother. I?ll write, and cry 
and smile and laugh, and probably drink a little bit 
too much wine, and sing old songs we shared. Important,
 real songs, folk songs that helped us each on our very different ways.  

So, here goes:

Dear David,

I've known you a long time. Longer than most.  
Since 9th grade, 1961-62, in there.   I'd asked 
my Dad to teach me how to box, since he'd been
 a boxer in college, and, as  was his nature, he
 hired somebody to, once a week, teach  me and
 my brother and a few other boys how to box. That's 
where I first met you. Boxing lessons. The fact that
 you were in this "class" was even more ludicrous 
than the fact that I was in the class. I was just trying 
to get close to my dad.

Of course, our parents already had known each other
 for a few years before you and I met. Your Dad was 
my Mother's first shrink.   

I know by 61-62 I was already getting into folk
 music, Kingston Trio,
The Limelighters, pre Peter Paul and Mary stuff. 
 I assume you were too, since you had an older
 brother in college where the 60s
pre-hippie folk music thing was happening. But,
 I don't remember if we ever connected on that 
level back in our boxing days.

But,  boxing ended, and, we weren't in the same
 school circles, in LA, and then my family moved 
away, eventually ending up in New York City. 

The next time I saw you was in the fall of 1964. 
Your mom drove us from LA out to Claremont, 
California, luggage, guitars, banjos, vinyl folk 
records in hand, to be  freshman together at Pomona College. 

Well, we'd discovered we shared a love of all things
 folk, and, besides doing  college, just played music 
all the time. Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Peter Paul 
and Mary, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Jean Ritchie, on and on. 

And we had friends, fellow folkies and we played songs
 together. That was the folk scene then, a Washington 
Square mentality where everybody just banged along 
on guitars and you traded verses around and sang the 
hell out of the chorus. Randy Craig, Peter Lackner, Judy 
Corrington, other faces I still see with names I can't remember. 
Singing all night long, "And I don't give a damn about a 
Greenback Dollar", "I was born in East Virginia," "Wake up, 
wake up, Darlin' Corey", "Follow the Drinkin'' Gourd" "This
 Land Is Your Land", "Deportees", "Blowin'' in the Wind"
 "Michael Row the Boat Ashore". So many great songs.    

We were both being rebels, of course. From the establishment,
 from our families. This was pre-hippie. This is when
 the Beats were the underground for white kids from  middle class LA. 
Folk music was cool

You told me, years later, about how you knew you were
 running from Judaism and, indeed, from your Jewishness
 as something that defined you. You always laughed 
about the irony of ending up where you did. 

My Freshman year I was the junior member in a jug band,
 The Mable Shaw Bridges Memorial Skiffle Society (MSBMSS) 
at Pomona. In 1964-65, being in a jug band was very hip.
 It is with college kids again right now, but that?s another story.

Two years later , in '66, I reconstituted the band.   I'd had
 a vision of this band somewhere in the south of France, 
bombing along on a summer vacation trip with Randy  
in a '61 VW bug that had taken us on many adventures 
and was, unbeknownst to us, getting ready to throw a 
rod and cease to run somewhere in Belgium.

Anyway, in a cramped vision in the VW,  I saw the new,
 reconstituted MSBMSS. It included- 
Me: guitar, banjo, harmonica 
Randy: washboard, mandolin.
George Lindelof (also veteran of the "original" MSBMSS): Jug, washboard.
Peter Lackner: guitar.
 Mary Levy : tambourine. 
And you, David Zeller: mostly kazoo. 
All of us would sing. Except, of course, George.

When I told you that you would be playing kazoo, you 
said, quite practically, "But I don't know how to play the 
kazoo!" "That's all right," I said, "Randy doesn't know how 
to play the washboard, or the mandolin." The truth was, 
David, I gave you the kazoo chores because I never could play
 the thing myself. But, the truth is you were in the band because 
of our folk music friendship, weird family connections, and the 
warm spirit and joy you put out to people (on and off stage), and
 because you were just a beautiful, soulful singer.

And that's how the band came together. We played together 
most of our junior and senior  years at Pomona.

Now, there were a thousand moments I remember in our 
friendship. Quiet times, painful times, growing and learning
 times that we shared that fill out this picture, the everyday, 
but here are some of the more public memories I have of you,
 jug band and otherwise, from our times together back then:  

I remember a sit-in for a civil rights issue at the Federal Building 
in downtown LA, circa '64. There was a serious possibility of 
getting arrested (we didn't).  I remember us all singing "We Shall
 Not Be Moved." and I remember you and I sharing about how 
scared were afterwards.

I remember a gig you got the jug band.  You got it through 
some students you'd been tutoring at the high school in
 Riverside. The gig  was at the High School?s Graduation 
Prom. Everyone was dressed to the nines. The boys in 
rented tuxes, and the girls in gorgeous prom dresses.  
I still remember the looks of horror on the chaperones 
faces when my white van pulled up and out poured a scruffy 
bunch of College Students! With bright colored shirts, and
 (gasp) sideburns! Not to mention, banjos, guitars, a washtub 
bass, a jug, kazoos, washboards, and, I believe, that night, 
a tuba. But a good time was had by all. Incidentally, David,
 I don't think I ever told you that the fa?ade of that hotel, 
where we did that gig,  was later used on the cover of the 
Eagles Hotel California album.

I remember, during one antiwar (Vietnam) march that you helped organise, 
people occupied the ROTC building at Pomona and subsequently, 
for no real reason, except that it was hip to do at the time, just
 trashed the place. I remember how upset you  were by that kind
 of silly, stupid violence. As a peaceful, nonviolent man, and as
 one who acted as a leader, you were saddened and embarrassed by it.

I also remember another time, in '67 or '68, when the President 
of Pomona called you into a secret meeting before an anti Vietnam 
war rally was about to begin on campus. You were one of the 
political/ spiritual  leaders at Pomona at the time, although I never
 remember any pictures you in the paper. You worked more quietly. 

 I went along with you to the meeting. It was all very hush hush.
 It turned out that the powers that be had heard that some of
 the organizers of the rally had in mind serious disruption, 
violence, seizing the College, and confrontations with the 
police. This was not unrealistic back then. You could see the
 fear in there faces as they talked. They asked you to , please, 
help and try to stop any violence that was planned.

 The fact was, nothing like they feared was planned. Nothing like
 that was going to happen. It was going to be a peaceful event.  
We  knew that. The rumors of violence were a complete surprise
 us. But, with a seriously, Sufi trickster, straight face, you promised
 to help and said you would see what you could do. There was
 no violence, even with the cops standing there looking for a f
ight. The point of course is that, threat or no threat, it was you 
they approached, my friend. You were already on your path of real, 
effective, love. 

I was also there when you helped "liberate" a concert  at a Love-In 
at Pomona.  The Youngbloods and Eric Burden were playing. It was 
one of those '68 Love-in kind of things, and "revolutionaries" where  
going to tear down the fences and "free": the festival for the "people".
 Along with the more serious work, this sort ?Revolution? was going 
around  among college kids riding on deferments from the draft. 

Now, overrunning fences is always a messy business, and on that day,
 being the spokesman for the people,  talking with Jesse Colin Young 
and figuring something out, as silly as the event may sound now, on 
that day, by your actions, you probably did actually avoid bloodshed 
and useless pain.

I remember you coming to a Halloween party as Bilbo Baggins, with Spock
 ears and hair glued on your bare feet. I hadn't read the book, and 
had no idea what a Hobbit was. 

You made a bumper sticker once, when you were at The School of 
Transpersonal Psychology. It said, "Put the Elf  back in Self."

And then there was the day you brought your teacher, Rabbi 
Schlomo  to Pomona. Such a day. We were a mixed bag of 
spiritual paths, there were what, it seemed like a hundred
 of us. Of course, we danced all day, and half the night,  
and Reb Schlomo talked to us, and we ended up at a huge 
bonfire out in the campus wild lands they called The Wash, 
crying and laughing and dancing, and being one with each 
other and the universe.   I've always wanted to thank, especially, 
for that day.

The summer after college. I started street singing and traveling
 the west coast, and you were, I believe, Alan Watt's chauffer/ 
secretary. In the next few years we went our ways, always 
staying in touch, connecting when we could. Once, in '71 or so, 
you called me and asked me if I wanted to hitch from Israel to 
India with you playing music to make our way. I have always 
regretted that I didn't take you up on that.

So you went to India. Passing through Woody Guthrie and Zen
 to Hinduism, and so much more on your way back to Judaism, 
to Israel, and your home. Oh my, David, you did some beautiful
 work, created some beautiful, enduring, things, touched so 
many people, brought so much joy to this life, so much to 
the table.  Suffice it to say I will miss your laugh, your quietness, 
you smile, and that unbelievable twinkle in your eye.

But I will also miss the seriousness you had about serious matters.  

On Reb Schlomo's site (http://rebshlomo.org/) there is a wonderful 
memorial to you, and a photo of you playing backup guitar for Schlomo.
 I have no idea when it was, but it was a while ago. In that picture I 
see that seriousness I'm talking about. You are so focused. After all, 
you're the backup guitarist! That's not an easy gig. 

When I look at you in that photo,  what I see is a musician  who's 
not just looking at what chords the singer is going to play next, 
but looking at all of him, working to really be with him, in the 
moment, while he's being the song. You see it in your eyes,
 David, in the attitude of your body. You are seeing Schlomo's  guitar,
 his "presence", how the Spirit is moving through him in this particular 
song.  Your looking at his eyes and his strings,  really hearing the
 music, feeling the chords. And you are doing this work with
 concentration and passion,  feeding and enhancing the subtleties 
of the changes, the simple chords and the incredible, subtle   
rhythms that Reb Schlomo is creating with his voice and instrument. 
Being Schlomo?s sideman is  no mean feat. That concentration is
 all there, in the photo. You can see it in your eyes, David. So 
unselfishly intense. And so human, open and real.  

A quick word about your hands, man, one guitar player to another. 
I always thought you really had great guitar players hands. You can
 see your left hand clearly in the photo. You're playing a D chord, 
maybe an A7. You had Robert Johnson fingers, not like my meat 
hooks. And you always had, even when we were both young and 
didn't really know what we were doing, you always had the lightest 
touch when you made your chords. It was so cool. You can see that 
in the photo too.

We hardly saw each other in the last 20+ years. We were both 
performers in our way, going to do our work when others were
 not working, a lot of travel, never, it seemed to the same places
 at the same time. But we talked every so often, mostly about
 family, but also swapping lies about the jug band days, and 
laughing.

 I talked to you a week before you died. I'm glad I have the 
sound your voice still fresh in my heart. It seems to help me. 
Make this a little easier.  

The day you sent me the first e-mail about illness, I downloaded 
a photo of your beautiful self, smiling and playing the guitar, 
onto my screen saver, and I sat with you and sang old tunes we
 used to do, songs that healed hearts and eased souls and made 
spirits smile. You know something about those kinds of songs. 

And so, with me playing my old black Gibson and you, in the 
photo, playing that funky old nylon string guitar you always 
seemed to have,  I sang a Hoyt Axton song you taught me a 
long time ago, and imagined you  singing the harmony part.:


"I love to sing
I love to sing
And I sometimes wonder
Why not let go?
Why not let go?
In the early morning?
And in the evening,
Why not let go?

Oh, well, I'm crazy,
Oh, yes I'm crazy.
Yes, I'm crazy
But it's all right.
Because I love you.
Oh yes I love you
You know I love you
Why not let go?"


 
You did well, my friend. I'll miss you.
G-d bless you
Walker

Walker T Ryan
wtr@walkertryan.com

Thursday 31st of May 2007

---

Dear David: In 1976 you became my mentor, my touch stone. You guided me for two years of intensive work at the Transpersonal Institute. We sang together and cried together. When I asked you to preside over my marrige in 1984, after you became a Rabbi you said no, you could not because you had taken vows and I was not Jewish,our hearts were heavy. We took a long walk together, we cried and laughed again, talking through our circumstances. The last time I saw you was in mid 90's at a Transpersonel conference at Asilomar, we walked on the beach, cried and laughed yet again. My heart is full of love and I will always carry you close to me, as I always have. I send my condolences and love to your family whom I have never met yet death can take a life but it cannot take the relationship and for this I am eternally grateful to you David, today and for a while I will be mostly crying....Mark 

Mark. Collin
mark3600@aol.com
Sebastopol,California

Thursday 31st of May 2007

---

"......and who is this aliveness I am?.........."

I've worn out one of the cassettes in the "Tree of Life" from listening to it so much....


your spark will live in my heart

thank you

shalom

Mark Reinheimer
dununba@yahoo.com
USA

Thursday 31st of May 2007

---

Over thirty years ago I met David Zeller at a Humanistic Psychology conference in San Diego. He was manning a table with information about a new graduate school of psychology that had just opened its doors a few months earlier. I had seen David at other conferences telling mystical stories and leading the attendees in songs and chants. David's boyish, yet charismatic, character was my initial attraction to the information table, but upon viewing the material he was sharing, the concept of the school became my focus. I was ready for a new direction in my life, so I asked David where this unusual school was located. When he answered "Menlo Park, California." I was pleasantly surprised. I told him that I could easily bike to the school from my home in Palo Alto.

Three months later, I was in the basement of the Vallombrosa Center in Menlo Park helping paint the school's new dojo, classrooms and offices. I started my PhD work there two weeks later. David was co-director of the school and an inspirational teacher and spiritual leader of the school. It was my entrance into this spiritual community that helped shape my life and thought, an influence that I feel to this day.

A year later, our community hosted David's wedding to Elaine on the beautiful grounds of Vallombrosa. The ceremony was deeply moving and joyful. It was profoundly difficult to express the collective sadness that our community felt just two years later when Elaine passed on. Although David went on to become became a rabbi and an internationally-known speaker, writer and singer who taught unceasingly around the world, he must have carried an enormous burden of grief.

Two days ago, Rabbi David Zeller passed away. Today, as I listened to David singing "This Too Will Pass" and "I am Alive" on David's website and read his eulogy on Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach's website, I felt as though I had been swept back to a time in 1976, listening to David uplift the academic community at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology. This time though, the words in his song, "But who am ?" and what is "alive?" gave me even greater pause. Here I am listening to a person who had just passed away, singing "I am alive" and he, at the same time, is imploring the listener to go deep within and touch the spiritual "I" and experience the eternal "alive." Even from the grave Rabbi David Zeller was teaching. It was his calling to teach from the heart and to recognize that on earth, all things do pass, yet in the soul all things remain eternally alive. David's soul will always be very much alive.

I hope that you had the pleasure to know David or to hear him tell stories and sing. If not, you can read his words and listen to his recorded songs. He was a blessing to the universe, and I will miss him.

Gary Bacon

Thursday 31st of May 2007

---

I will always remember Reb Dovid greeting us with such lovingkindness and even joy [never despair!] at seeing us at that most terrible moment when we arrived at the airport 12 and a half years ago after riding shomer overnight from JFK with our Rebbe Reb Shlomo.  He had a schoolbus waiting for us around the back of the old main terminal to take us to the Moshav and then to the levaya [and after to yakar].  I remember feeling so strongly, probably at Reb Dovid's suggestion, how happy i was to be back in the bright morning sunshine of eretz yisrael, exactly as Shlomo wanted.  In the land of Abraham, an unforgettable lesson in hachnosos orchim and chesed shel emes on the deepest levels.

May all his family, loved ones and chevra be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem!

Daniel Goldschmidt
amshinov@yahoo.com
United States of America

Wednesday 30th of May 2007

---

(This is a selected quote from an e-mail sent yesterday to some friends describing the Shiva at the Zeller's home...I had also brought a copy of Reb Dovid's recent book: THE SOUL OF THE STORY, which he had autographed for me at his last public appearance where he received the award for being the "RoehShepherd" for the nascent Spiritual Care Movement in Israel)

A few days ago,(Monday, May 29.'07), I made a shiva call to the beautiful home of the Zellers in Efrat...About 20 of us sat out/side with the family in their garden telling stories about the life of this lovely man of G-d...I decided it was appropriate to throw out the idea of a memorial to Reb Dovid at this time, and, while sitting next to his wife (I dare any/one to call her his widow) I mentioned my idea:

I also recalled that he was described at the recent Spiritual Care Conference held out/side Jerusalem as being the "Roeh/Shepherd" of the Spiritual Care Movement in Israel...

I suggested as a possible vehicle to honor and remember her husband that we gather funds together and create what I called:  THE DAVID ZELLER ROEH SPIRITUAL CARE CENTER OF HERZOG HOSPITAL.

While this idea clearly found favor in her eyes (she smiled at the thought of it), she mentioned the obvious fact that the family needed to sit down and discuss what their own wishes were to memorialize their Pater Familias...I, of course, agreed...

(If there is any other feed/bakc please contact Rabbi Moshe Ya'akov Scholnick at mscholnick@yahoo.com

Rabbi Moshe Scholnick
mscholnick@yahoo.com
Jerusalem/Israel/ Florida/USA

Wednesday 30th of May 2007

---

It´s with a great sorrow and saddness that we hear abbout R. Zeller last journey.
We hav studied some of his teachings and meditating with his wonderfull niguunim in a group of Jewish Meditation in Brazil.
Even if having being so distant (in geografic way), we will keep working to mantain His melodies, teachings and light within us as always.
In His light we see light.
may his family, friends, students and special ones receive our condolences.

rachel reichhardt
rachel@shalom.org.br
Brazil

Wednesday 30th of May 2007

---

Since learning of the passing of my friend, teacher, Rebbe, spiritual guide and amazing soul, I weep for all of us who have lost a magnificent soul who gave us so much more than we could ever have given him. A light of hope and joy has been dimmed but never forgotten for Rabbi David Zeller's light is with each of us who knew him: Rabbi Zeller has left his soul print on our soul. Over the past 10 years Rabbi Zeller has brought me spiritual healing and the soul sound of his singing. May his dear family know no more sorrow and may we continue to bask in the light that Rabbi Zeller has bestowed on each one of us. Blessing and Love

Yocheved Koplowitz
yochekop@bellsouth.net
Atlanta GA USA

Wednesday 30th of May 2007

---

I remember meeting Rabbi Zeller when he taught a workshop at the Sufi bookstore in Tribeca, NY, about 8 years ago.  He brought his guitar and we sang with him and learned from his gentle wisdom.  The crowd was pretty eclectic but we all felt connected because of Rabbi Zeller's way of uniting people through song and sharing in one another's journey.  This was the only time I spent with him yet I remember it so well to this day because when you meet someone 'real' as Shlomo Carlebach would say, you never forget them.  
I send my heartfelt condolences to Rabbi Zeller's family and friends. May his life continue to shine bright in the world.

chana

USA

Wednesday 30th of May 2007

---

I am shocked and saddened to hear of the untimely death of an old friend, David Zeller.  I met him many years ago, just after he and Etty, his first wife, were married.  I can still see them in my mind's eye, just before neilah, both dressed in white, flowing clothes for the purity of Yom Kippur, crossing the field at the old JCC in Palo Alto, looking like angels.  

May he find shelter under the wings of the Abeishter and may his family be comforted among the other mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.  

May we all be reunited soon with our loved ones, in this world, and forever.

Sheindel Shapiro
simoneshapiro@hotmail.com

Wednesday 30th of May 2007

---

Dovid was a gentle and sweet man, touching and bringing understanding and joy, without judgment, but with encouragement.  First meeting Dovid in the 60's in California I’ve seen his brightness and compassion.  Indeed a precious soul.  Blessings and our condolences

Donna A. Maimes
Ellen M. Lacroix
Natan Bahir Maimes
Ora Sundara Maimes

Donna A Maimes
damaimes@gmail.com
USA

Tuesday 29th of May 2007

---

I am so saddened upon hearing of the loss of Reb Dovid Zeller.  I met him a few times over the past 20 years and always felt as if I knew him as my close friend even though he didn't really know me.  But when I contacted him about 2 years ago to ask him if he would be interested in coming to do a Mentor in Residence tour through the newly formed Spiritual JERNE, he immediately said yes, without hesitation.  We became friends over the next few months during the planning his trip for which I will be forever grateful.  Whenever we spoke, it was as if we had always been close friends.   He was received enthusiastically in Montpelier and Burlington Vermont and in Greenfield and Amherst Massachusetts .  One person that met him spontaneously decided to drive Reb Dovid all the way from Montpelier to Amherst and back to Burlington, staying overnight, (a 4 hour trip each way) just to be in his presence.  

Reb Dovid....Your uniquely sweet voice... the way you smiled with your whole being with such deep love for each person... your crinkly eyes when you smiled... your humble and beautiful way of being so present as you gave over Torah as if your soul was touching our soul .... the way I knew immediately that you were my friend forever from the first moment we met ... 
It is hard to imagine that you will not be singing your song with your whole being in this world, but as we continue to sing your songs and greet everyone with our whole being, with loving, smiling and crinkly eyes, you will continue to be here with us.

May Chana Sara and your children be comforted among the other mourners in Zion and Yerushalayim.

Rabbanit Tobie Weisman
Director, Spiritual JERNE
Founding Director, Yearning for Learning Center
Montpelier, Vermont

Tobie Weisman

USA

Tuesday 29th of May 2007

---

In the latest issue of New Age Retailer magazine there was a beautiful interview with Reb David. Here is the link to that article. How amazing that just before his precious soul splashed into the clear pool of Gan Eden, this interview was distributed to thousands of businesses around the country. http://www.newageretailer.com/uploads/pdfs/Articles/EXP07_Zeller.pdf

Rabbi Chaim Mahgel-Friedman
rchaim@gmail.com
Berkeley

Tuesday 29th of May 2007

---

Dear Chana Sara, children and friends,

It is with a heart filled with grief and gratitude that I post this today.
I grieve for all of us losing Reb David, my Rabbi, friend, teacher, confidant and inspiration for over 30 years. I am grateful for having known one of the kindest and most insightful human beings ever  - truly "the sweetest of the sweet".

When I met Reb Dovid, around 1980-81, I was a recent refugee from a guru group. 
I was filled with contradictions. I hated that I had given myself so wholeheartedly to a man and movement that proved to be false, shallow and venal.
Yet I wondered at being able to give myself so completely and to dive so deeply within that I felt close to God. Throughout my six years living in that web of falsity I would often bump into a deep part of myself that I knew to be Jewish, and that I knew couldn't die. I knew it couldn't die because I was living  a spirituality that trained me to try to kill it. I now believe that that was my 
pintele Yid, nekuda pnimius, that kept be from drowning.

Newly freed, and new to the Bay area, who could I talk to to make sense of my life and spirit. When I met Reb Dovid, I felt a great weight lift from my shoulders. Finally, someone who could not only understand, but could guide me to
a new place, a true home in Torah and Jewish spirituality.

Dovid and Elaine opened their home to me often and it was there that I was truly introduced to Shabbos, and Jewish marriage. And when Hashem blessed me to find my bashert, it was Dovid that not only only married us, but guided me step by step to becoming the man I wanted to be when I stood under the chuppah.

At our bedeken, when Dovid guided me towards my wife, Karen, there was a moment of exquisite sweetness. Apparently Dovid didn't know that Karen was awaiting a friend of hers to arrive any moment. Dovid led me and the men into the room singing the Moshiach niggun -- and then we just stopped. In a timeless niggun we just gazed across the room from each other and waited.Dovid then said that there's a teaching that at moment the souls of the children that will be born from this union come down to be present at the bedeken. Today, B'H there are four children ages 22-4, raised in a Torah home, largely because of the gifts that Reb Dovid gave us.

I was present during the time of Elaine/Ilana's illness, and was deeply affected by the presience and sensitivity that both showed during that time.
We have a drawing that Ilana gave us of the Ribnitzer Rebbe, at the birth or bris of our first child, Gavi.

I remember visiting Dovid when they first moved to Efrat and he pointed to a valley and said that he could imagine a Jewish/Palestinian Silicon Valley growing there. May his peaceful visions be for a blessing, even in these less than peaceful times.

I remember when Dovid and Chana Sara were wed in Brooklyn and Reb Shlomo zt'l giving David a bracha to learn all the Slonimer and Sochatchov Torahs. Dovid made it possible for us to get closer to Reb Shlomo and introduced me to much of the Chassidic seforim that have become my spiritual sustenance. After we moved to Baltimore in 1987, we had the zchus to host Dovid several times.

When times were hard in our marriage and family life, Dovid was very there for us. We felt that his commitment in being our mesader Kiddushin was a commitment to support us in our lifetime of marriage.

Last year I came across Dovid's book "The Soul of the Story" in the library, and am so thankful that I was inspired by it to reinitiate contact. Little could I imagine that those would be our last words together.

Friend, Rebbe, Sweet Singer, I'll miss you like crazy, and hope to honor you with our lives.

My wife and I would like to host an East Coast gathering in Dovid's memory, perhaps around the shloshim? Contact us if you would like to be included.

Hillel & Karen Zeitlin
Baltimore, MD
410-358-7316
office: 6118 Park Heights Avenue
Baltimore, Maryland   21215
410-358-1381 

Hillel Zeitlin
HZeitlin@aol.com
USA

Tuesday 29th of May 2007

---

Reb David was a shining light.  His sweet voice is forever imprinted in my heart.  I miss him so much.

Sam Glaser
sam@samglaser.com

Tuesday 29th of May 2007

---

David's life was a gift to Jewish people of every Movement and a blessing that helped so many people find new meaning and relevance in Judaism.  My life was enriched through knowing and working with him.  We were honored to be his publisher.  Stuart Matlins, Publisher and Editor in Chief, Jewish Lights Publishing www.jewishlights.com

Stuart M. Matlins
smat101873@aol.com
USA

Tuesday 29th of May 2007

---

It is with shock and sadness that I heard of Reb Dovid's petirah.  He was one of my first Torah teachers on my path of embracing yiddishkeit over 18 years ago. He was teaching at Isralight  and his sweet,gentle melodic voice pierced parts of my neshama I never knew existed.  The greatest avodah one can do in this world is bring people close to Hashem.  This is his legacy and I hope that this will give comfort to his dear family.

Sara Kraina Nadler

Los Angeles

Tuesday 29th of May 2007

---

I first heard Rabbi David's music over 15 years ago when I was reforming a deep connection to Judaism.  Music has always been a direct path to spirit for me, and David's sweet music touched my heart deeply, and was an integral part of nurturing  my increasing love for Judaism.  I am so glad that I had the opportunity to meet him when he was in NYC.  He touched me deeply, and remains in my heart.

To David's family.  May Hashem bring you comfort in your time of loss.

Yaakov Weintraub
yaakovw@gmail.com
USA

Tuesday 29th of May 2007

---

A voice from the heavens sang on this earth. The sweetest sounds filled the air. David, so many hearts have opened through you. Thank you for the brief visit. Your music is forever. Love, Paula

dr paula bromberg
drpaula@bellsouth.net
usa

Tuesday 29th of May 2007

---

I am writing to express my deep sorrow and sympathy for Rabbi Zeller's family.  I know how difficult it is to grapple with the death of a parent, to face that sense of loss (even theft), and to try and pick up and serve Hashem in joy despite one's personal sorrow.  Just looking at the face of this holy Jew brings me to understand what the world has lost.  I know Mordechai, Rabbi's son, and know that he will continue to shine the light that I see in that face, and that in this way, he will continue to live.

May Hashem comfort you among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.

Malkah Fleisher
malkah@israelnationalradio.com
Israel

Tuesday 29th of May 2007

---

I first met David at a CAJE conference at Hofstra.  I immediately felt his joy his deep presences.  We became fast friends, sitting at the cafeteria  sharing organic bread, laughing.  I bought his CD, learned the niguns and as a storyteller I listened to his insightful stories on tape.  Again I saw him last year at CAJE in North Carolina, he told stories at the cabaret and I remember thinking he is truley a Rebbe.  I will miss him dearly, he was very loved.

carla vogel
carlachai@yahoo.com
usa

Monday 28th of May 2007

---

David was a wonderful teacher. I loved his singing and his class. May his memory always be a blessing...

Larry Uman
luman@gmu.edu
USA

Monday 28th of May 2007

---

I have learned and received so much from David over the years. His work and collaboration with us in Living Tao Foundation was always deep and filled with the essence of an expanded Judaism. His teachings and person have been a good guidance to us and we miss the opportunity to share with him in song and blessing. 

From the time I first met him more than 20 years ago, his contact has always lightened our home and work.

We now light a candle in honor of his life and his life's work - may the work of his soul be light and may it forever shine and help others.

We wish all members of his family our condolences and share the knowledge that his work and life "paid forward" for future generations to benefit from. We are sincerely thankful!
Love
Jay Goldfarb, Ursula de Almeida Goldfarb and family, Basel, Switzerland

James Goldfarb
jay@livingtao.com
Switzerland

Monday 28th of May 2007

---

I found Rabbi David's music many years ago and the beauty of his voice and words stay with me to this very day. I read his book and became even more inspired by the many blessings of this most gifted man. I pray that his family is wrapped in the warm embrace of people all over the world that this gentle soul touched.

With Love, 

Larry Snider
ld.snider@yahoo.com
USA

Monday 28th of May 2007

---

On one trip to Israel I attended a panel discussion at a synagogue in Jerusalem on the issue of conversion to Judaism. This was in January 1998 right after the Neeman Report had come out.  The panel included prominent rabbinic representatives of maionstream Orthodox (Rabbi Shlomo Riskin), ultra-Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform (Rabbi Levi Wolf-Kelman).  David Zeller was the moderator, a role that he played literally.  The room was packed with Israelis from many backgrounds and feelings were running high.  Rabbi Zeller began by announcing that this was not a debate but a forum for learning the responses of these rabbis to the Neeman Report.  There was to be no cheering or applause and also no booing.  He successfully held both the panel and the audience to that standard.  If that isn't a mark of great spiritual charisma, I don't know what is.  The Jewish people needs more like him.  We have lost a great spirit but perhaps others will be inspired to follow his example.

Rabbi Philip J Bentley
PBENTLEY@AGUDASISRAELSYNAGOGUE.ORG
USA

Monday 28th of May 2007

---

I knew Rabbi Zeller when he was still David Zeller, at the California Institute of Transpersonal Psychology when I was there in 1978-1980. I remember David as a bridge builder and connector through song and story. He brought life to the perennial wisdom and his deep heart to everyone. I can still hear his voice.

Kathlyn Hendricks
katieh@hendricks.com
U.S.A.

Monday 28th of May 2007

---

I'm glad to see people are using this forum. It is one small way I hope I can give back to you (David's family) some of what David has given to so many. As was said when we had the farewell for him at Yakar, he has planted many seeds around the world and those who he helped to nuture have in turn spread his teachings to many more.You will never know how many lives he has touched.

Though I started as his webmaster, he and I became each other's teachers and friends.David helped me to unify Judaism and spirituality in the Oneness he taught with an open heart and mind. In turn, it is an approach not only to Judaism, but to life that I am continually working on and passing to my children, family, friends and community.

I will miss his guidance, teachings, stories and songs. Mostly I will miss the way he smiled knowingly with his eyes.

Charlie Kalech
j-town@j-town.co.il
Israel

Sunday 27th of May 2007

---

The news of David's passing is now reuniting old college friends - it is so sad that it sometimes takes a tragic loss to make others realize how precious communicating with one another is, and how fleeting the moments of opportunity to be in touch with those one knows and loves.  And in this regard I will remember David as one who brought people together at a time when modern life led us into increasing isolation. His gifts to mankind were the most precious  that one can share - awareness of the proper priorities in life, human connectedness, love and joy.

May his family and friends now be strong and find even more strength in the aura of his memory.

Peter Lackner
Pomona College classmate, fellow musician and performing artist

Peter Lackner
peterlackner@mac.com
United States

Sunday 27th of May 2007

---

Goodbye and hello, David. We lose you in the world, but keep finding you in our hearts.  Of your great gifts, the greatest has been Love.  May your love spread out like ripples through all of us who have experienced it.

Rayna Holtz
raynaholtz@aol.com
USA

Sunday 27th of May 2007

---

In Genesis 37:13ff Jacob sends Joseph out from the valley of Hebron to meet his brothers who are tending the flock in Shechem.  Along the way Joseph encounters a man wandering in the fields; "and the man asked him, saying, What do you seek?  And he said, I seek my brothers; tell me, I beg you, where they feed their flocks.  And the man said, They have departed from here; for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan."

So Joseph follows this mysterious man's travel directions, and meets up with his brothers in Dothan, only to encounter his fate that day of being thrown into the pit; later sold to the Ishamelites, and then brought to Egypt; imprisoned; redeemed; eventually becoming Pharaoh's trusted advisor, who saves the country from famine, and later reunites with his brothers and father.

In his bibliodrama work, Peter Pitzele notes how this unnamed man represents meetings with remarkable, or unremarkable, people who unknowingly (or knowingly) point us in a direction which catalyzes a sequence of circumstances that unfold and reveal the unique destiny of our lives.

If that man had not encountered Joseph on the road to Shechem, would he have ever ended up in the pit, sold into slavery, only to become the Egyptian political leader he was to become? That mysterious man was there, in the right place, at the right time, to ultimately reveal a destiny that made Joseph the unique spiritual being he was called to be.

We all meet men or women like that in our lives who, acting as messengers of the divine, point a profound finger of fate in the direction we are destined to follow.

Rabbi David Zeller, z"l was such a person for me.

I was living in Montreal in early 1976 when I heard that there was a workshop on "Transpersonal Psychology" being held in Burlington, Vermont, taught by David Zeller, of the California Institute of Transpersonal Psychology (CITP as it was known as then). I was curious - transpersonal psychology was relatively new, almost unheard of on the east coast in those years - and so I arranged to attend with a friend of mine.

I recall only traces of the workshop content, but I will always remember the conversation I had with David Zeller that day. "Why don't you come to California and study transpersonal psychology?" he asked, pointing in a direction I had not ever considered. 

Inspired by the possibility of linking psyche and spirit, Jewish mysticism and psychotherapy, I chose to follow the pointing finger of fate. On a visit to the Bay Area later that year, I met up with David Zeller, in Palo Alto, and began seriously exploring doing doctoral work in transpersonal psychology.

Though (for a variety of reasons) I ended up at the California Institute of Integral Studies (then it was still the California Institute of Asian Studies) David Zeller remained a guiding mentor for me. I heard the call, and moved to San Francisco in September 1977 to begin graduate school. Within the first month after arriving, I recall having a yontif meal with David and his first wife Elaine, in their Palo Alto home.

On my own journey, one event led to the next:  in the Bay Area I connected with the Aquarian Minyan, and would see Reb David when he would teach at Minyan. Following that finger of fate, I wrote a transpersonal psychology doctoral dissertation on death and Judaism, with Reb Zalman one of my committee members; from the Aquarian Minyan I made my way to Philadelphia and B'nai Or; my dissertation was re-written and published as Jewish Views of the Afterlife; and much of my work over the past two decades has grown out of that fateful encounter with Reb David, who always remained a special mentor to me. As he was for others as well.

I recall a few years later I met David when he was teaching at the Sivananda Yoga Ashram in Val Morin, Quebec. He again pointed the finger of fate, this time for my friend Reb Sholom Brodt, when he said to Sholom "talk to Simcha about Reb Zalman" which he did, and I encouraged Sholom to come to a B'nai Or retreat at Fellowship House Farm. Sholom showed up one month later, and there he met the Judy Tibor, who became his wife...

Reb David was truly a sweet soul, a minstrel of bhakti devotion, a wonderful teacher of Torah and Hasidut.  True to the legacy of his father Max Zeller, a Jungian analyst who had studied with Carl Jung, David was one of the pioneers of transpersonal psychology. And he was one of the first people in the renewal movement to talk about Judaism as a path of consciousness, and inspired many others to do the same.  I know there were many people along the way for whom Rabbi David Zeller pointed the holy finger of fateful inspiration.

Published in 2005, David's spiritual autobiography, The Soul of the Story: Meetings with Remarkable People, chronicles his journey through India, Israel and America in which he met up with and was touched by a number of remarkable people, and gifted teachers.

In my life, and in our community, Rabbi David Zeller was one of the those remarkable people, and a truly gifted teacher. I will be forever grateful to him for his caring, wise guidance when I was 25 years old, and wandering along a road, not sure where it was heading.

Our community is bereft of a great teacher, a wonderful man, and a holy guide.

May his family be consoled in their loss, and comforted among the mourners of Zion and Israel. 

May the soul of Reb David be welcomed back to the Source of Life, tzror ha-hayyim, that he may continue to inspire and guide us from that world beyond the veil between life and death.

Tehei Nishmato Tzrurah B'zror HaHayyim


Reb Simcha Raphael
Rabbinic Pastor & Transpersonal Psychotherapist
www.simcharaphael.com

Simcha Raphael
drsimcha@verizon.net
United States

Sunday 27th of May 2007

---

Dear Hannah Sara,
I don't know if you remember me, but a few years ago you came to the Inbal hotel and did Jewish yoga with my daughter and I.  ( around Chanukkah time)I am so saddend to hear of your husband's passing.  I understand he was a great man, a wonderful teacher and I'm sure loving husband. May you and your family have strength to endure this painful time.  Next time I'm in Israel, I will look you up.

Sincerely,
Susan Roth  

Susan Roth
susan-roth@cogeco.ca
Canada

Sunday 27th of May 2007

---

Reb David was an amazing teacher and singer.  I felt truly moved by his spirit whenever I was in his presence.  I feel there is a void in the world since his passing.  May his family, friends, and students worldwide feel the blessing of his gifts to us as we pass thru this time of transition.

Araya Sol
alepharaya@comcast.net
USA

Sunday 27th of May 2007

---

Reb David was an amazing teacher and singer.  I felt truly moved by his spirit whenever I was in his presence.  I feel there is a void in the world since his passing.  May his family, friends, and students worldwide feel the blessing of his gifts to us as we pass thru this time of transition.

Araya Sol

Sunday 27th of May 2007

---

 As we were browsing through a Judiaca shop in Brookline, MA, we heard a most beautiful, melodious voice being piped over the speaker system. I asked who was singing so wonderfully and the man showed us the CD cover of Ruach by Rabbi David Zeller. We bought it and brought it home and then shared it with our home Torah study group. From there, a few of us purchased Rabbi Zeller's The Tree of Life meditation series and other CD's . What a sweet brother, with words that heal and music that calms the soul. All thanks to HASHEM for introducing us to him. May his memory be for a blessing to many souls in the days ahead.
With love,
Bill and Miriam Spitz
Norwell, MA

Bill and Miriam Spitz
mspits7@aol.com
USA

Sunday 27th of May 2007

---

baruch dayan haemet 
she nishma besorot tovot 

Yehuda Glantz
glantz_y@netvision.net.il
Israel

Sunday 27th of May 2007

---

Dovid was a precious soul, one who brought joy & gentle kindness to all who knew him. 
We wish to extend our deepest, deepest condolences to his family & friends in Israel.

Rabbi Neal & Carol Rose

Sunday 27th of May 2007

---

Rabbi David was such a sweet soul. I was privy to stay at Chana Sara and his home for shabbos about 12 years ago, during my time at the Isralight Program. I learned so much from the Zellers in that one Shabbat. We were lucky enough to have David visit with us at our home for Shabbat in Los Angeles in the past year or two.

To his family: May Hashem Bless you with comfort during this difficult time of loss.

All the Best, Metuka Nechama Daisy Lawrence Cohn

Metuka Nechama Daisy Lawrence Cohn
Metukan2@aol.com
USA

Sunday 27th of May 2007

---

It is impossible to believe that the world will continue without Dovid's smile, his crinkly eyes, his face lit up with joy....I cherish the hug from him at our last meeting in Palo Alto when he was in town to promote his book; he was so complete and so at home with himself. It is just so incomprehensible that he has left so soon---way too soon---and we send our deepest condolences to Hana Sarah and the children (and grandchildren.)  May his memory be for a blessing and may his stories and invisible presence fill the hearts of all who knew him.

HaMakom yinachem etchem b'tochh sha'ar eylay Tzion v'Yerushalayim.

Nechama and Howie Tamler
htamler@acm.org

Sunday 27th of May 2007

---

I am writing not only for myself and my family who knew and loved David (it is David's beautiful voice with which we usually enter Shabbat), but I write for the large community of Jewish educators of North America who came to know David through his teaching and singing at many summer conferences of the Coalition for the Advancement of Jewish Education. An angel's voice has been silenced, but his spirit will continue to guide and motivate us.

David Frank
dfrank@caje.org
US

Sunday 27th of May 2007

---

When I attended the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, David was an important part of our community life. He led us in singing and chanting every day, which was a very rich experience. The songs continue to be sung, especially when there is a gathering of friends who shared that experience. I remember David fondly. His spirit and songs live on.

Ed Graham

Sunday 27th of May 2007

---

David has touched my heart profoundly. Every night I sing to my children one of his niggunim.

Olivier

Switzerland

Sunday 27th of May 2007

---

---

.

Purchase Music

Purchase Teachings

Purchase the Book, "Soul of the Story"

Donate

If you'd like to make a donation by charge card, you can use the following button.

Please notice:

1. Paypal adds 5$ for each payment, as "Shipping & Handling" fee. The actual sum is calculated on the bottom line - "Total Amount"
2. If you'd like to make a tax-deductible donation, you can send a check to

David Zeller c/o Goldstein
10 Brook Road
Sharon, MA 02067

Please make it payabale to Ruach HaMidbar, and specify it's for David Zeller ($50 - minimum, to ease the non-profit organization's bookkeeping, please).

3. If you wish to acknowledge this donation in the Aliveness CD booklet to be printed in the near future, please mention it and include the Hebrew names of you and your parents etc.

---

Donated compliments of J-Town Productions Ltd. Web Design