BOOK BITE
JEWISH SPIRITUALITY: Brief Introduction for Christians, by Rabbi Lawrence Kushner. Woodstock, VT: Jewish Lights Publishing. 2001. Pp. 103. (BM723.K874)
Rabbi Kushner leaves no doubt about his strong Jewish faith. And, he is open to learning from other faiths. He dedicated his book to am Episcopal priest, a Roman Catholic monk and to an ecumenical leader. By their examples he says he learned so much about Jesus. Benedictine Joan D. Chittister reads Rabbi Kushner to understand her own roots better.
The author invites us to explore with him the rich and varied expressions of the Jewish spiritual imagination. “Jewish spirituality invites us to wake up and open our eyes to the myriad beautiful, mysterious, and holy things happening all around us every day.” (P. 21).
JEWISH SPIRITUALITY is a window into the Jewish soul that people of all faiths can understand. “From the Talmud and Torah, to “repentance” (teshuva) and “repairing the world” (tikkun olam), Kushner shows all of us how we can use the fundamentals of Jewish spirituality to enrich our own lives.” (Publisher).
In Jewish spirituality, perhaps the most important task in life is to find what is broken in our world and to repair it. The commandments in the Torah instruct us not only how to live as Jews but in so doing, how to mend creation.” - not solely the job of Adam and Eve. (P. 60). Does this suggest revisions in our calendars, which are already considerably full?
The Library Committee