Rabbi Joseph P. Schultz, Ph.D., is well known in Kansas City for a variety of reasons. He taught at the University of Missouri-Kansas City from 1973 to 1999, eventually serving as the director of the Center of Religious Studies and the Danciger Judaic Studies Program. He also edited “Mid America’s Promise: A Profile of Kansas City Jewry,” in 1982, a book widely recognized as a concise history of Kansas City and used by this writer as a reference book on many occasions.

While he was in Kansas City Dr. Schultz spent years exploring mystical traditions in Judaism and other faiths. All this study eventually led to the recent publication of not one but two books on Jewish mysticism. They are “The Kabbalistic Journey: From Religion to Spirituality to Mysticism” and “In Search of Higher Wisdom: Conversations About Religion, Spirituality and Mysticism.”

Both were self-published through Harbor Haven Press, a cooperative publishing group. The books are for sale at amazon.com and Dr. Schultz hopes to get a few on the shelves soon at Rainy Day Books.

“The Kabbalistic Journey” and “In Search of Higher Wisdom” are described as giving readers many insights into the Kabbalah — ancient Jewish mystical teachings dating back thousands of years. They are designed to take readers beyond the hype of Hollywood celebrities and show them what the Kabbalah is really all about.

Although Dr. Schultz is also an ordained rabbi, his books explore topics of interest to people of all faiths. The discussions range from spiritual healing, to individual life destiny and to the relationship between faith and the very latest discoveries in science.

Dr. Schultz will discuss both books at two local presentations. The first will take place on Oct. 21 at Congregation Beth Shalom and the second on Oct. 24 at Congregation Beth Torah.

Dr. Schultz retired from UMKC in 1999 and moved to Golden, Colo. He continued teaching in Colorado part-time at three universities — the University of Denver, Naropa University (a Buddhist-sponsored university) and the University of Colorado, both in Boulder. In 2007 the Schultzes moved back to Brookline, Mass., where he began his career.

“I was the assistant rabbi here at Congregation Kehillath Israel,” he said from his home in Brookline late last week. “We had connections here and we had some friends and we liked the Boston area very, very much so we decided to come back.”

Dr. Schultz said he decided to write two books on mysticism instead of one after two Harbor Haven editors suggested it. He explained “The Kabbalistic Journey” is a scholarly book while “In Search of Higher Wisdom” is aimed at a more mainstream audience. Both books — he now has written eight books altogether — are filled with different material.

“ ‘The Kabbalistic Journey’ is not a completely academic type of book, because it’s written very clearly and without any academic jargon,” Dr. Schultz explained. “But it does have footnotes. It does have a glossary and there are extensive discussions in it of a number of issues.”

“The editors felt there should be a popular book that goes along with it that is much more direct and doesn’t get into extensive discussions and has no notes,” he continued.

“So the popular book, called ‘In Search of Higher Wisdom,’ is actually a conversation between myself, (my son) Eric and (my daughter) Reena. They ask questions, we get into discussions.”

Eric Schultz is a local multi-media journalist at 41 Action News. When Dr. Schultz discusses his new books here in Kansas City, Eric will serve as the interviewer. Both Eric and Reena attended the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy, where their mother, Bella, served as lower school principal and director of Judaic studies. Reena Schultz lives in Brookline and designed the covers of both books.

“I had a feeling that since she was so much a part of the discussions that went into this book that she would have a far more intuitive sense of the kind of art that should go into something like this and she did,” the author and proud father said.
Both books are dedicated to the Schultzes’ late daughter, Chary. Dr. Schultz said it was a joy to work with his family on these books.

“It was a very interesting series of inputs that we had over the years. We would sit down, we would discuss these things and there would be questions. Then there would be objections and we would come back and mull it over again. It went on for a long time,” he said while chuckling.

Dr. Schultz estimates it took him eight to 10 years to complete these books.

“My treatment of the Kabbalah is in a cross-cultural and inter-disciplinary framework. That means I draw on a number of other disciplines outside of Jewish studies: psychology, history, even contemporary views of quantum physics in dealing with kabbalistic themes. The idea is we want to look at these issues from the widest possible angles. To do all of that takes a lot of time,” he explained.

He said he was able to approach his study of Kabbalah in this way because at UMKC he helped developed and taught an interdisciplinary course program on the undergraduate and graduate levels. He also learned a lot from his participation in a series of retreats run by the Menninger Foundation in Topeka. They were sponsored by Dr. Elmer Green, who Dr. Schultz described as the father of clinical bio feedback.

“These retreats were held in Council Grove, Kan. There Dr. Green brought in people from all over the world who were engaged in the research of higher consciousness, spirituality, mysticism, psychology, people working in a variety of fields … Some of the people that were working with Dr. Green were Hindu swamis and Buddhist Lamas from Tibet. It was an extremely exciting experience and it was there that I got this conception of putting the Kabbalah into the context of this higher vision of integrated studies and a larger framework,” he explained

A lot of the issues Dr. Schultz discusses in the book arose from experiences he had across the years in a variety of different settings, including UMKC and at Boston University.

“What I tried to do is make these issues concrete by explaining who the people were that were involved in these situations so that it doesn’t just appear to be theoretical discussions but dealing with live human experiences, live concrete people.”

Dr. Schultz said both books are “very, very current.”

“I think they address issues that are extremely important to many, many thinking people. I like both books very much and I think that they will be of interest to people who are looking for something like this.”

Book presentations set for Beth Shalom, Beth Torah

Rabbi Joseph P. Schultz, Ph.D., will discuss his two new books about Jewish mysticism at the Rabbi Gershon Hadas Memorial Lecture, at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 21, at Congregation Beth Shalom. The presentation will feature a dialogue between Schultz and his son, multimedia specialist Eric Schultz, of Kansas City’s 41 Action News.

This free event is open to the public. No registration necessary. For more information, contact Alan Edelman, associate director of the Jewish Federation at or 913-327-8104.

This event is sponsored by CAJE/Jewish Federation, Congregation Beth Shalom and the Jewish Community Center.

Dr. Schultz will also give a presentation at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 24, at Congregation Beth Torah. Titled “The Kabbalist Journey,” this event is also free and open to the public. For more information call Beth Torah at 913-498-2212.