In this episode of This Very Moment we are joined with Larry Mermelstein, a longtime student of Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche and a founding member of the Nalanda Translation Committee.

Born in Pennsylvania and raised in Rochester, New York, Larry recalls growing up in a Jewish household with mixed religious observance. His father, raised Orthodox with a Hasidic grandfather, described himself as a “non-observant Orthodox Jew,” while his mother came from a Reform background. Larry attended Hebrew school reluctantly but found genuine engagement in the musicality of Jewish prayer during his study for bar mitzvah. However, as he grew older and began reading the English translations of Hebrew prayers, he found the meaning uninspiring, and his interest in Judaism faded.

As a teenager Larry found refuge in a spiritualist ministe ...