A spiritual getaway

The Negev’s Zorba the Buddha Festival turns 10.

By ELIEZER SHERMAN
Zorba the Buddha Festival 521 (photo credit: Courtesy)
Zorba the Buddha Festival 521
(photo credit: Courtesy)
This Passover, it is possible to celebrate the Jewish holiday of redemption deep in the heart of the Negev while diving into the depths of your own spirituality to the tunes of some of the country’s most influential world musicians.
From April 10 to 14, Ashram Bamidbar (the Desert Ashram) will hold its 10th Zorba the Buddha festival, and the event’s organizers are proud to say that this festival has become the largest New Age spiritual gathering here.
With at least 2,000 attendees from all over the country and worldwide, “there is a place for everyone” at Zorba, festival organizer Mahha Devi Anurati tells me in Tel Aviv.
The concept of the festival – created by the ashram’s owners Deva Shradha and Annad Utsav – evolves around Zorba the Buddha, a concept for a “new man” created by the Indian mystic Osho, she explains. This “new man” seeks to fulfill a lifestyle that combines the spirituality of Buddha with the zest of life discovered by the protagonist in Greek author Nikos Kazantzakis’s 1946 novel Zorba the Greek.
Anurati, who goes by the name Anu for short, describes the festival’s intention simply: Combining the physical with the spiritual.
This philosophy is easily connected to Passover, during which Jews worldwide celebrate the liberation of our people from slavery. Three days after the Seder, Zorba the Buddha begins.
At the festival, revelers are invited to “retire from your old life and take a new life for yourself – taking the path of meditation and celebration,” Anu explains. The 30-year-old Karmiel native moved to the desert ashram – a permanent religious retreat in the Negev – nearly three years ago and became involved in planning the epic event a year and a half later. While the ashram itself provides weekly courses, meditation retreats and another gathering at Succot, the Passover festival is the desert enclave’s largest event. Zorba the Buddha offers 15 stations, called “worlds,” where participants can join one of 400 workshops taught over the course of five days.
These worlds, Anu says, include the Zorba Buddha World, the Movement World, Therapy World, Galactic World, Intimacy World, Yoga World, Reality Creation World, the Theater World, Ecological World, the Ayurveda World and the Kids’ World.
In addition, there is music throughout the day, including shows on the ashram’s central stage. The festival’s biggest musical act, Tomer Yosef, of the internationally renowned Israeli group Balkan Beat Box, will play on the first day.
“There are people coming just to see [Yosef],” Anu grins.
Other acts include Estas Tonne, a Gypsy musician visiting from the United Kingdom, the Israeli oriental band Zaman Quartet and the Easterntinged and also Israeli-based J’ali.
Still, it is clear that the festival attracts participants who are interested not just in the music and nightly parties, though Anu says that they are integral to the creation of Zorba’s atmosphere.
Instead, she says, Israelis and foreigners arrive at the desert ashram, near Kibbutz Neot Smadar, to practice “selfdevelopment, self-inquiry, the joy of life” and getting in touch with the inner self.
This is done by connecting with dozens of instructors who specialize in practices including yoga, breathing sessions, deep meditation, Tantra therapy and Osho’s own special brand of sacred thought.
One festival-goer, software developer and Tel Aviv resident Marc Green, describes an experience he had at Zorba as a complete cleanse.
He tells me about a dynamic meditation course he took at 2011’s festival, in which the meditator goes through four 15-minute cycles of physically taxing meditative work. The exercise begins with quick spasms of deep breathing, followed by intense movement with the whole body, which is then clinched by 15 minutes of a frozen pose and then finally relieved by a relaxing quarter- hour rest on the floor.
Another participant, Erez Jacob Ofer, who is a 27-year-old graduate student of Tel Aviv University’s Crisis and Trauma Studies program, tells me about another, more rhythmic meditative practice he took part in at the festival.
It’s called Tribal Dance and entails hundreds of people gathering under one of the festival’s several awnings to dance, eyes closed, to the thumping beats of live jungle grooves. Passersby are often pulled into the session, he says, while others stand around the perimeter, becoming spectators of the alternative sport.
THE EVENT has grown in its 10 years to become Israel’s largest such gathering, Anu tells me, dismissing any notions of competition with other festivals that focus on alternative paths to greater spirituality.
The festival attracts people of all ages, including young people, families and even the elderly, she says.
Zorba the Buddha also employs a network of volunteers who attend the festival for free in exchange for six hours of daily work. Many of the volunteers come from abroad, including participants from Finland, Germany, Australia and the United Kingdom. Anu adds that their presence is essential for English speakers, who she says should feel completely welcome at the event.
While most courses are taught in Hebrew, some are taught in English and most, she says, are not really dependent on language whatsoever.
While the ashram offers accommodation, simple rooms on the community grounds, most people who attend the happening choose to camp out under the glittering desert skies. The ashram is located near the vast Ramon Crater, and Anu tells me that oftentimes festival-goers venture off during the day to explore the golden surroundings.
The outdoor element to the festival is a major part of its attraction. When asked what five essentials every festival- goer should bring, Anu smiles and says: “a towel, spending money, a toothbrush, a tent and a smile – so that you can relate to someone.”
When asked what they should leave at home: “Leave everything at home,” she says, eyes wide. “Leave your problems, the way you perceive yourself, your work, your conditioning and self-judgement. Come and allow yourself to fly, dance and meditate, and meet other people genuinely. Allow yourself to be authentic and natural; it is a space that gives you that opportunity to dance and be sexy, but also spiritual and have a deep understanding of life. It allows many people to make a difference in their lives. They can have a big transformation.”