I've been busy with some wonderful travels...to San Francisco for the CCAR Convention and to Florida for a gathering with my oldest childhood friends.
Now, as we prepare for seder, I want to resume reflecting on some of the things I've been reading about. I recently finished an intriguing book called The Year of Living Biblically by AJ Jacobs.
The book is mostly entertaining and is not written to be a scholarly work on the Bible. I don't want to overanalyze the book or overwhelm the premise withe my own tastes.
The author's project was to spend a year following the instructions of the Bible as literally as possible...by his own direct reading of the bible, not by living as an Orthodox Jew or a fundamentalist Christian or within any of the other orthodox established religious communities. Jacobs doesn't want to follow the Talmud's definitions of the Bible, he hopes to follow the Bible by itself.
There is an obvious difficulty when it comes to this approach. I, as a Reform Jew, will be the first one that says it is difficult and perhaps impossible to follow the biblical teachings literally. We need to interpret the verses in order to extract their importance. Following the verses literally can sometimes be silly and can sometimes ignore the context in which the bible was written.
In addition, there's another bias that I brought to reading this book. I love the Talmud and the Midrash, the classic works of the first rabbis. I lvoe them not because they provide me with definitive guidance...I often depart from what is taught in those texts. However, they are the very best effort to give definition to the Bible. We shouldn't wipe out their work in our own study of the Bible.
The joy of Talmud study is that we wrestle with the personalities of those great sages. We wrestle with the meaning and intent of the Bible in its own context and also with the meaning and intent of the rabbis who first read the Bible .
The book is a quick read with some entertaining parts. I enjoyed reading about the author's different "site visits", to the Orthodox, to the Amish, and to other communities. I also appreciated the author's attempts to understand the ethical importance of the Bible.
Most of all, I would encourage you to read this book both for entertainment but also because it forces us to ask an important question: where do we find guidance and inspiration?
Enjoy! I look forward to hearing any thoughts you have about the book.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Three beautiful books
I recently finished three books that complement each other in fascinating ways. I want to chat about each of them.
The first book is Harold S. Kushner's Conquering Fear, subtitled Living Boldly in an Uncertain World. As in his other books, Rabbi Kushner writes a beautiful, accessible book that is inspirational and educational. In 9 chapters, he writes about living with fear, including small things that are more personal to the big, scary things about this day and age.
One example that I appreciated in the book was the section where Kushner is remembering being in San Francisco when the major earthquake of 1989 struck. As he reflects about that natural tendency to say "Thank God I'm OK", he arrives at this point "I can give you the answer in six words: God is moral, Nature is not. Nature is blind, uncaring, incapable of distinguishing between good people and bad ones, between the deserving and the undeserving...." He goes on to this point "When God created the natural world, He withheld from it one blessing that He shared only with you and me: the ability to know the difference between good and bad, between morally right and morally wrong."
And so, for me, when I hear about the earthquake in Haiti, I don't worry too much about why God made it happen. I worry about what we can do to help the people who are suffering and what we can do to stop the massive poverty that creates infrastructures that aren't capable of surviving an earthquake.
The second book is Mitch Albom's Have a Little Faith. He writes about Rabbi Albert Lewis and Reverend Henry Covington, and their very different lives. He does a great job of weaving together the two stories to teach us about different paths to faith. It is a quick and easy read, but a book that stays with you after you finish. It prompts lots of questions about how we learn to do the right thing and how we can dedicate ourselves to doing acts of lovingkindness.
The third book is Andy Andrew's The Noticer. It's another small book that is a quick read, but with images that stick. The story is of a somewhat mysterious older man who appears in different people's lives at critical moments to teach and rescue them. From my perspective, I would describe it as a modern day Elijah story. It gives a lot of lessons that center around having or changing perspective. It's a book that would make for a good Seder discussion, as we sing about Elijah and talk about "next year in Jerusalem". Let me know if you decide to pick it up!
Happy reading everyone!
The first book is Harold S. Kushner's Conquering Fear, subtitled Living Boldly in an Uncertain World. As in his other books, Rabbi Kushner writes a beautiful, accessible book that is inspirational and educational. In 9 chapters, he writes about living with fear, including small things that are more personal to the big, scary things about this day and age.
One example that I appreciated in the book was the section where Kushner is remembering being in San Francisco when the major earthquake of 1989 struck. As he reflects about that natural tendency to say "Thank God I'm OK", he arrives at this point "I can give you the answer in six words: God is moral, Nature is not. Nature is blind, uncaring, incapable of distinguishing between good people and bad ones, between the deserving and the undeserving...." He goes on to this point "When God created the natural world, He withheld from it one blessing that He shared only with you and me: the ability to know the difference between good and bad, between morally right and morally wrong."
And so, for me, when I hear about the earthquake in Haiti, I don't worry too much about why God made it happen. I worry about what we can do to help the people who are suffering and what we can do to stop the massive poverty that creates infrastructures that aren't capable of surviving an earthquake.
The second book is Mitch Albom's Have a Little Faith. He writes about Rabbi Albert Lewis and Reverend Henry Covington, and their very different lives. He does a great job of weaving together the two stories to teach us about different paths to faith. It is a quick and easy read, but a book that stays with you after you finish. It prompts lots of questions about how we learn to do the right thing and how we can dedicate ourselves to doing acts of lovingkindness.
The third book is Andy Andrew's The Noticer. It's another small book that is a quick read, but with images that stick. The story is of a somewhat mysterious older man who appears in different people's lives at critical moments to teach and rescue them. From my perspective, I would describe it as a modern day Elijah story. It gives a lot of lessons that center around having or changing perspective. It's a book that would make for a good Seder discussion, as we sing about Elijah and talk about "next year in Jerusalem". Let me know if you decide to pick it up!
Happy reading everyone!
Thursday, January 21, 2010
All Other Nights
Dara Horn is a young novelist who has now published her third book. I've loved them all. The first two are In the Image and The World to Come. The new book, which I recently finished, is entitled All Other Nights. It is historical fiction with strong Jewish content, like the other books.
This book is set during the Civil War and follows a young Jewish man from the North who ends up serving as a spy in the South. The title comes from the Passover Haggada because of the opening scene in the book.
The story is entertaining, with a nice mix of suspense, romance, and historical detail. It paints a vivid picture of that time and place, especially describing the mixed feelings within the Jewish community. I particularly liked the scene set in Philadelphia...without giving away too much of the plot, this is a scene where the main character is finally working to be true to himself. It is a turning point in the story, and definitely poses lots of "What would I do" questions. The description of what the city looked and felt like at that time was great, especially reading about the difficulties a disabled person faced in getting around town.
All of Horn's books are very readable, with a nice mix of entertainment and historical learning for the reader. Enjoy!
Peter Stein
This book is set during the Civil War and follows a young Jewish man from the North who ends up serving as a spy in the South. The title comes from the Passover Haggada because of the opening scene in the book.
The story is entertaining, with a nice mix of suspense, romance, and historical detail. It paints a vivid picture of that time and place, especially describing the mixed feelings within the Jewish community. I particularly liked the scene set in Philadelphia...without giving away too much of the plot, this is a scene where the main character is finally working to be true to himself. It is a turning point in the story, and definitely poses lots of "What would I do" questions. The description of what the city looked and felt like at that time was great, especially reading about the difficulties a disabled person faced in getting around town.
All of Horn's books are very readable, with a nice mix of entertainment and historical learning for the reader. Enjoy!
Peter Stein
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Book # 1
I recently finished First Class Citizenship, which is a collection of the letters of Jackie Robinson. The book is edited by Michael G. Long and is published by Times Books.
I knew the obvious facts of Jackie Robinson's life...that he broke the color barrier in baseball and that he conducted himself with great dignity. What I enjoyed in the book was seeing how far his reach was. The book covers letters that Robinson exchanged with a wide variety of public figures, from the time when he began playing baseball through to the end of his life.
One section I particularly enjoyed was the set of letters from 1958, which have been grouped together under the title "Against Patience". Robinson writes to Chester Bowles, the former governor of Connecticut. Robinson writes "This battle for civil rights is taking a definite turn. It's due to the many Chester Bowleses we have around that are not afraid of what the future holds. If we can lick this fear, I am certain we can lick the problem of racial tension."
To me, this is a great and important statement...we can't be afraid of what the future holds. Fear paralyzes us, and fear stops us from changing the world. There's a great teaching by the Chasidic rabbi Nachman of Bratslav, who said that:
The whole world is a very narrow bridge,
a very narrow bridge,
a very narrow bridge.
The whole world is a very narrow bridge - A very narrow bridge.
And the main thing to recall - is not to be afraid - not to be afraid at all.
And the main thing to recall - is not to be afraid at all.
We need to wake up each day impatient enough and brave enough that we say "Today is a day when we can make the world a better place." Make today such a day!
I knew the obvious facts of Jackie Robinson's life...that he broke the color barrier in baseball and that he conducted himself with great dignity. What I enjoyed in the book was seeing how far his reach was. The book covers letters that Robinson exchanged with a wide variety of public figures, from the time when he began playing baseball through to the end of his life.
One section I particularly enjoyed was the set of letters from 1958, which have been grouped together under the title "Against Patience". Robinson writes to Chester Bowles, the former governor of Connecticut. Robinson writes "This battle for civil rights is taking a definite turn. It's due to the many Chester Bowleses we have around that are not afraid of what the future holds. If we can lick this fear, I am certain we can lick the problem of racial tension."
To me, this is a great and important statement...we can't be afraid of what the future holds. Fear paralyzes us, and fear stops us from changing the world. There's a great teaching by the Chasidic rabbi Nachman of Bratslav, who said that:
The whole world is a very narrow bridge,
a very narrow bridge,
a very narrow bridge.
The whole world is a very narrow bridge - A very narrow bridge.
And the main thing to recall - is not to be afraid - not to be afraid at all.
And the main thing to recall - is not to be afraid at all.
We need to wake up each day impatient enough and brave enough that we say "Today is a day when we can make the world a better place." Make today such a day!
My bookshelf
I've always been a booklover. I love to read, I love to talk about what I'm reading, and I love to hear about good books from others. I'm hoping to use this blog to share some thoughts about books and articles that I've read, along with some more general reflections. I intend to include a variety of books and I welcome suggestions for books for me to include.
Happy reading!
Happy reading!
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