In anticipation for the Dalai Lama's visit to the University, Rutgers Hillel invited Rodger Kamenetz - who has already come face-to-face with the Dalai Lama - to speak about his experiences.
In 1990, the Dalai Lama invited eight Jewish delegates to meet with him in Dharamsala, India.
China had occupied Tibet. As the spiritual and political leader of Tibet, the Dalai Lama wanted to ensure that his people would not lose their religious identity, Kamenetz said.
Therefore, he decided to meet with another people who had been through a great deal of oppression over the years, namely the Jews, in order learn about spiritual survival in exile, he said.
"The Dalai Lama thought of the Jews as a success story," Kamenetz said, who was chosen to be a delegate.
The Dalai Lama asked for the secret of spiritual survival and how the Jews managed to reclaim Israel.
"That's a tremendous question for us Jews," Kamenetz said. "It opened the hearts of those who came to speak with him."
Kamenetz recounted how the Dalai Lama compared the Jews to the Tibetans in many aspects.
Kamenetz said about 1.2 million Tibetans died in the Chinese occupation - a complete catastrophe like the Jewish Holocaust, he said, where 6 million Jews were murdered.
Tibetan Buddhists flowed into India, where they assimiliated, much like the Jews in America, Kamenetz said.
While monasteries were destroyed in Tibet, so did Jews had synagogues destroyed. The Buddhists, like the Jews, have a strong connection to spirituality, and it makes sense for the two groups to discuss their beliefs, Kamenetz said.
Kamenetz focused on the dialogue between the Dalai Lama and the delegates.
He quoted Rabbi Irving Greenberg, a fellow delegate, who said, "It's important to hold yourself open to the beauty of other traditions while affirming your own."
And that is precisely what the two cultures did.
Naomi Gold, a Rutgers College student who attended Kamenetz's lecture, said she was impressed that the Dalai Lama was so interested in the Jewish perspective.
"It shows that even though we have different beliefs and lifestyles, there's something in all of us that's the same," Gold said.
The Dalai Lama expressed his feelings of affection toward Judaism. He was the first public visitor to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.
Additionally, after his discussion with the delegates, Kamenetz said the Dalai Lama grinned and asked them, "Can I have a little hat?"
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