Editing Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (section)

=== Hillel director and ecumenical work ===

From 1956 to 1975, Reb Zalman was based in [[Winnipeg|Winnipeg, Manitoba]], though he travelled extensively. In Winnipeg, he worked as the [[Hillel International|Hillel]] director and head of [https://umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/departments/judaic_studies/index.html Judaic Studies] at the [[University of Manitoba]].<ref name="CJT">{{cite news |url=https://www.cjnews.com/news/rabbi-icon-new-age-judaism |title=Rabbi was Icon of New Age Judaism |last=Shupac |first=Jodie |date=July 7, 2014 |access-date=January 16, 2020 |newspaper=The Canadian Jewish Times}}</ref> These positions allowed him to share his ideas and experiential techniques of spirituality with many Jewish and non-Jewish students, leaving lasting memories.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.colorado.edu/post-holocaustamericanjudaismcollections/winnipeg-jewish-renewal-oral-history-collection|title=Winnipeg Jewish Renewal Oral History Collection|date=February 20, 2017|website=Post-Holocaust American Judaism Collections|language=en|access-date=November 20, 2019}}</ref> While pursuing a course of study at [[Boston University]] (including a class taught by [[Howard Thurman]]), he experienced an intellectual and spiritual shift. In 1968, on sabbatical from the religion department of the University of Manitoba, he joined a group of other Jews in founding a [[havurah]] (small cooperative congregation) in [[Somerville, Massachusetts|Somerville]], Massachusetts, called ''[[Havurat Shalom]]''.<ref name="CJT" /> In 1974, Schachter hosted a month-long [[Kabbalah]] workshop in [[Berkeley, California]]; his experimental style and the inclusion of mystical and cross-cultural ideas are credited as the inspiration for the formation of the [[havurah]] there that eventually became the [[Aquarian Minyan]] congregation.<ref>{{cite web|title=History|url=http://www.aquarianminyan.org/history|website=The Aquarian Minyan|access-date=December 15, 2015}}</ref> He eventually left the Lubavitch movement altogether and founded his own organization known as ''B'nai Or'', meaning "Sons of Light," a title he took from the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]] writings. During this period he was known to his followers as the "B'nai Or Rebbe", and the rainbow prayer shawl he designed for his group was known as the "B'nai Or [[tallit]]". Both the havurah experiment and B'nai Or came to be seen as the early stirrings of the [[Jewish Renewal]] movement. The congregation later changed its name to the more gender-neutral "P'nai Or" (meaning "Faces of Light"), and it continues under this name.

In the 1980s, Schachter added "Shalomi" (based on the Hebrew word ''shalom'', or peace) to his name as a statement of his desire for peace in Israel and around the world.<ref>{{cite web|title=A Biography of Zalman Schachter-Shalomi|url=http://www.colorado.edu/schachter-shalomicollection/home/biography-zalman-schachter-shalomi|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222112640/http://www.colorado.edu/schachter-shalomicollection/home/biography-zalman-schachter-shalomi|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 22, 2015|website=Zalman M. Schachter-Shalomi Collection|publisher=University of Colorado Boulder|access-date=December 15, 2015}}</ref>