KUSHNER, Harold. To Life! – A Celebration of Jewish Being and Thinking. Little, Brown & Company. 1993
Rabbi Kushner
brings some personal insights on Jewish Traditions, Worship and History. One of my favorite chapters in this book is Why you need to be Jewish, where he summarizes his ideas about Judaism being a way to save your life from ”being wasted, from being spent on the trivial”. It’s not in a simplistic way, though, that he makes this statement. This is actually the last chapter of the book, so by the time you reach the end of it, he already had explained the Jewish views on sacred deeds, calendars, God, people, pray, Israel, hatred and
understanding of Christian world. To Life! is a good book for Jews and non-Jews who want to have a better understanding of Judaism and its different paths. It’s fascinating! One featured passage:
(…) Remember, Jewish tradition imagines God as a teacher, not as an accountant. The issue is not how many
mitzvoth you fulfill, but whether you are learning the elusive art of sanctifying the ordinary moments of your day and week. p. 302.
It’s a light and pleasuring reading for the summer, fall, winter and spring!
KOLMAN, Grace A. July, 2008.