Save Olam Qatan, Jerusalem’s Spiritual Bookstore

Fundraising campaign by Yaqub Ibn Yusuf
  • US$7,474.00
    raised of $36,000.00 goal goal
20% Funded
106 Donors
Raised offline: $1,000.00
Total: $8,474.00
Help this ongoing fundraising campaign by making a donation and spreading the word.
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This year we've all been hit by the Covid-19 crisis. I closed in March, but since May I've continued to run my bookstall, on-and-off, at Jerusalem's "First Station". The good news is that a young Israeli friend spent the lock-down translating into Hebrew, the many poems in Ladinsky's collection 'The Gift' based on poems of Hafiz. He turned to me. and we're almost ready to go to print with this radically cheerful book! The bad news is that I haven't been selling much, and despite getting some social security, I'm now deeply in debt, even beyond the debts I accumulated from keeping a brick-and-mortar bookstore going all those years. Stepping back a bit, here's the larger picture:

I first opened Olam Qatan back in the Spring of 1997. It now continues as Jerusalem’s last surviving spiritual bookstore. From the beginning, I made it a place where all kinds of seekers – secular and religious, Jews and non-Jews – can find books in Hebrew and in English, and music CDs, relating to Jewish spirituality and Sufism, Buddhism, Yoga, Christianity… New Age and holistic health. The name of my bookstore comes from Rabbi Yitzhaq of Acre, a 14th Century Kabbalist who lived in Israel and was friendly with Muslim Sufis. He said, “Everyone is a micro-cosm (olam qatan) and the world as a whole is a macro-human being (adam gadol).”

Over the years, we've published some books at Olam Qatan. Last year we collaborated with another publisher, and launched a new edition of our first book, a translation (from Persian into Hebrew) of poems from Rumi’s ‘Diwan’. We've published translations, both in Hebrew and in English, of the Turkish poetry of ‘Dervish Yunus Emre’. We also published ‘Lev HaKabbalah’, my friend Daniel Matt's 'Essential Kabbalah' in Hebrew.

Yet even with publishing books, it's been hard to stay afloat in this era of big book-chains and the internet. Trying desperately, over the years, to keep my store open, I went deeper and deeper into debt. In the Fall of 2017 I was about to close Olam Qatan… when, by the grace of God, I was offered a space at Jerusalem’s touristic “First Station”, the site of the old Ottoman railway station. I first set up shop in a bar, and for more than two years I’ve maintained Olam Qatan inside and outside an enclosed booth there, besides the bicycle path. Not so many people come by, and in the winter I have to close on days that are cold and rainy. But all kinds of people, new friends and old, make their way to my shop and discover books that touch their hearts, be it Sufi poetry, or maybe a book on meditation or Kabbalah. Nearby there are lots of colorful restaurants, and stalls that feature handmade jewelry and crafts. And it seems to me that in the holy city of Jerusalem, there should be at least one place where all kinds of spiritual seekers can find food for the soul.

The problem is that along with current expenses, I’m still carrying accumulated debts from the past of about $30,000 ($6,000 less than a year ago). Once again I'm on the verge of bankruptcy. The money I raised last year kept me going, but it didn't eliminate most of my debt. And, once again, I’d hate to see the authorities cart off these precious books and CDs... cancel my credit cards, grab my computer and cut me off from the internet, where I run a very active Facebook group for seekers interested in Judaism and Sufism!

And all these concerns about financial survival distract me from my book projects. I’m happy to sell good books by other people, but as it says in The Song of Songs, “My own vineyard, I've neglected.” I have books in English to complete and publish (via print-on-demand) and promote internationally. Here in Israel, I published and sold-out a local first run of my English translations of ‘Dervish Yunus Emre: the Sufi poet who came after Rumi’, which I prepared with the help of Refik Algan in Istanbul. I've been polishing a revised edition... and when I get some money I'll be able launch it internationally! I’ve long neglected ‘Rebbe Nahman's Universe’, my own translations of the teachings I first discovered when I was studying with Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi in the early 1970’s. Back then I discovered this universal vision, in Jewish language, which has inspired me ever since. I then researched and wrote an M.A. thesis on “The Archetype of the Tzaddiq”, tracing the earlier Jewish origins of Reb Nahman's idea of the spiritual master as an archetype to be found both in certain people and within ourselves. I want to make my thesis into a readable book. Then there are the new English versions I’ve been preparing (with help from friends) of the Yiddish poetry of the young Abraham Joshua Heschel, which are in some ways more radical than the dervish poetry I love! And there is my own spiritual autobiography, which I might simply call ‘Tales of a Jewish Sufi’. I want to relate what I've discovered on the path – which led me to Reb Zalman in Winnipeg, to a Buddhist meditation retreat in rural Canada, to the Islamic Sufi Sidi Sheikh Muhammad on the Mount of Olives, and on to the more secular world of Turkish Sufism, which pointed me back towards Murat Yagan in Canada. It was Murat who first introduced me to the Turkish poet Yunus Emre. (I edited and compiled Murat’s oral teachings in a book I called ‘The Essence of Sufism in the Light of Kebzeh, the Tradition of the Caucasus Mountains’, published by the Kebzeh Foundation in 2009.) Since I first met Murat in 1984, I've been leading "Essential Sufi" groups, first in Winnipeg and since 1990, here in Jerusalem. And for the last four years I’ve also been leading a Facebook group called “Judaism & Sufism – a Spiritual Conversation” which now has some 3300 members! The group allows me to communicate as I do in my bookstore, but with spiritual seekers from all over the world. You can join us on Facebook if you like!

I’ve been doing what I do without any kind of institutional support, as I function “outside the box” of both organized religion and formal academia . At this point I need serious help. Another $30,000 would clear away my bank and personal debts, and give me the money I need to start launching these books. So please, see what you can do to help this poor Jewish dervish continue to hold open doors for all kinds of seekers... here in Jerusalem, and all over the world.

Organizer

  • Yaqub Ibn Yusuf
  •  
  • Campaign Owner

Donors

Amount Hidden
  • Haim Watzman
  • Donated on Feb 26, 2021
  • חג פורים שמח!

$18.00
  • Yuval Shiloah
  • Donated on Feb 25, 2021
  • God bless you

$20.00

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Donors & Comments

106 donors
Amount Hidden
  • Haim Watzman
  • Donated on Feb 26, 2021
  • חג פורים שמח!

$18.00
  • Yuval Shiloah
  • Donated on Feb 25, 2021
  • God bless you

$20.00
$100.00
  • Rabbi Jeff Foust
  • Donated on Feb 24, 2021
  • For good healing and to be able to continue all your good work.

$10.00
  • Anonymous
  • Donated on Feb 24, 2021
$180.00
$52.00
  • Anonymous
  • Donated on Feb 24, 2021
  • A happy Purim to you Yakub, refuah shelema, and also thanks for the vibe with our friend Rivka :)

$100.00
  • Adam Teramel
  • Donated on Feb 24, 2021
  • החלמה מהירה ורפואה שלמה

$50.00
  • Haim Watzman
  • Donated on Feb 24, 2021
  • רפואה שלמה!

$36.00
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Followers

33 followers
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US$7,474.00
raised of $36,000.00 goal
20% Funded
106 Donors
Raised offline: $1,000.00
Total: $8,474.00

Help this ongoing fundraising campaign by making a donation and spreading the word.

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