Alan Lew was an aspiring Zen Priest, author, poet, television host, activist, teacher, and conservative rabbi in Northern California. Lew served as the rabbi of Congregation Eitz Chaim in Monroe, New York and as the first chaplain of the Jacob Perlow Hospice of Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City before moving to San Francisco in 1991 to lead Congregation Beth Sholom until his retirement in 2005. Along with Zen Master Zoketsu Norman Fischer, Lew founded Maker Or, the very first Jewish meditation center attached to a synagogue. The Alan Lew papers at the CU Boulder Archives hold every episode of Lews' "Mosaic" series as well as his unpublished manuscript of his life story.
The University of Colorado Boulder Libraries will celebrate the centennial anniversary of the Archives on June 6, 2018. This is story #18 in our series: 100 Stories for 100 Years from the Archives!