Testimonial letter from Joseph H Gelberman

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This letter is one of a remarkable series of over 2650 letters amassed in 1983 to support Osho's attempt to get permanent resident status in the US at the time of the Oregon ranch. The image is reproduced here with the kind permission of The Oregon Historical Society. Information about their collection of these letters and other supporting material -- the "Jeffrey Noles Rajneesh Collection", named for Osho's immigration lawyer Jeffrey Noles, who compiled them in 1983 and donated them to the OHS -- can be found at this page. The wiki is grateful to the OHS for making access available for these documents. For more information and links to all the letters, see Testimonial letters.

This letter is from Joseph H Gelberman. It is "Exhibit A-8" in the Noles collection.

The text version below has been created by optical character recognition (OCR), from the images supplied by OHS. It has not been checked for errors but this process usually results in over 99% correct transcription. Most apparent "errors" are correct transcriptions of typos already in the original. The image on the right in the text box links to a pdf file of the original letter, it has one page.

THE TREE OF LIFE SYNAGOGUE
serving the unaffiliated with
a new-age approach to religion

Rabbi Joseph H. Gelberman
7 West 96th Street New York. NY 10025
(212) 866-3795

July 26, 1983

MA-ANAND SHEELA
EXECUTIVE SECRETARY
P. O. BOX 5
RAJNEESH, PURAM, OREGON 97741

To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing this letter on behalf of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh in support of his request to be permitted to continue to stay in this country as a Spiritual Leader.

I am a rabbi who serves two congregations, one in New York City and one in Washington, New Jersey. I am also the founder and president of the New Seminary where we train Interfaith Ministers. My background is ultra-Orthodox Hassidic.

Shree Rajneesh reminds me of my Hassidic masters who would often go into silence for long periods of time which simply meant that they chose a different method of instruction, i.e., through the act of silence. I have not met Bhagwan in person and yet I think I know him and I certainly respect him highly as I consider him one of the great Lights of this generation. I have read all his books and felt enriched tremendously by his philosophy of life, his great understanding and tolerance of all religions. One definitely feels God’s words coming through him.

I feel and humbly suggest, not only should we permit Bhagwan to settle in this country, even more, we should invite him as a special guest of all people so that he may share with us his love, his wisdom, his joy, and his blessings.

With God’s love,
[signed]
Rabbi Joseph H. Gelberman


(Please note: We assume that the above letter is still copyrighted, but we regard its historical interest to constitute a Fair Use exception for publication in this wiki.)