artist, storyteller and therapist, studies the six words
that are the preamble to blessings.
"A simple Hebrew blessing is a powerful thing — a
deeply meditative exercise exploring the nature of the
Creative force we call God and the dynamic relation-
ship between God, human consciousness and the
unfolding universe. Far from a mindless mumble, each
word of a Hebrew blessing is crafted to touch deep
centers of awareness and receptivity within us. Each
word is a stepping-stone inviting us to explore a rich
treasury of images and associations."
Rabbi Prager's teacher and mentor, Rabbi Zalman
Schacter-Shalomi, offers these words in placing his
imprimatur on the book, "You are not merely reading
a book but studying Torah ... her work is another link
in the chain of our sacred tradition."
Rabbi Terry Bookman bases The Busy Soul: Ten- -
Minute Spiritual Workouts From Jewish Tradition
(Perigree) on the premise that most people want to
explore their spirituality but don't know where to start.
"Many of us would like an opportunity for a daily,
meaningful connection that fits into the reality of our
very busy lives," he writes. "It is to that end that the
Ten-Minute Workout was created."
Based on the Jewish calendar cycle, his book gives
readers daily prayers and meditations that people of all
faiths can use, as well as extended prayers for those
who have more time. These meditations touch on self-
esteem, luck, faith, courage, despair, aging, balance,
love, compassion, miracles and rebirth.
"I have called this a workout because it is designed
to be done at home or at the office, anytime of day, by
yourself or with others, by itself or in conjunction
with other focused activities [like exercisingi," writes
Rabbi Bookman. The senior rabbi at Temple Beth
Am, the largest Congregation in Miami, Fla., Rabbi
Bookman stresses that "regular repetition is the most
important feature. God is everywhere, always accessi-
ble to us. Ten minutes is enough time to make that
awareness and connection."
Roots of the Future by Rabbi A. Herbert Friedman
(Geffen) is a memoir of an exuberant life dedicated to
the Jewish people. Looking back on his 80 years,
Rabbi Friedman, former CEO of UJA, tells com-
pelling stories of his encounters with Jewish and world
leaders, and his efforts toward fund raising, education
and Jewish survival.
Rabbi Friedman was born in Connecticut and
studied for the rabbinate at the Jewish Institute of
Religion, a pluralistic institution founded by Rabbi
Stephen Wise, which later merged with Hebrew
UniOn College. During World War II, he left his
Denver congregation to enlist as an army chaplain and
served in Germany.
After the war, he joined the Haganah, helping
Jewish refugees in Europe get to then Palestine. He
details his efforts of smuggling arms to Palestine, lead-
ing convoys of refugees across European borders and,
later, his arrest in 1957 in Romania, charged by the
secret police with being a double spy for the Zionists
and the CIA.
Along the way, Rabbi Friedman encountered David
Ben-Gurion, Golda Meir and Yitzhak Rabin as well as
Presidents Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower and
Lyndon Johnson and Popes Pius XII and John XXII.
In 1955, he became executive vice-chairman of the
UJA, traveling all over the world, organizing missions
to European concentration camp sites, Israel, North
African countries and establishing the Young
Leadership Cabinet and National Rabbinic Cabinet.
In 1971, he and his family moved to Israel, continu-
ing his UJA work from there. He estimates that he has
raised hundreds of millions of dollars in charitable con-
tributions through personal solicitations. After 20 years
of service — the longest of any CEO in the organiza-
tion's history — he retired in 1975, taking on other
projects in Israel.
He includes chapters on the workings of the UJA,
saluting its leaders. In a final chapter looking toward
the future, "Whither American Jewry," he offers his
analysis and suggestions. He writes: "Jewish leaders, its
your call. If you go to work quickly, with vigor and
imagination, you can succeed brilliantly. Bear in mind
that eternal existence is decided anew every 40 years
with each new generation. A people 3,700 years old
must regularly renew its claim to exist. If you protect
your heritage, it will protect you."
Finally, Living Words (JFL Books) is for the reader
who would rather read a sermon than listen to one.
This book, with a foreword by Rabbi Nina Beth
Cardin, is a compilation of sixteen of the most com-
pelling High Holiday sermons of 5759, courtesy of
Slima, a leading intellectual Jewish journal.
Originally delivered by a diverse group of North
American rabbis — including Shoshana Gelfand,
Herman Asarnow, Elyse Goldstein and Aaron
Benjamin Bisno, among others — these sermons
engage difficult biblical themes such as the role of
knowledge in the Garden of Eden, the function of
perspective in the binding of Isaac and the challenges
of forgiveness and repentance during the High
Holidays.
They balance intellectual ideas with practical
advice, integrating conversations about Bill Clinton
and American Jewish pluralism with readings of
Chasidic stories and talmudic passages. One also finds
reflections on the power of language, the meaning of
death and the nature of remembrance.
"Great sermons that have been lovingly crafted and
spiritually enlivened are a form of sacred art," says
Vanessa Ochs, professor of religion at the University of
Virginia. "Should future generations evaluate the state
of Judaism at the turn of this century on the basis of
this volume alone, they will surely conclude that ours
is an age in which Jewish thinking and Jewish spiritual
wisdom flower bounteously." Fl
,..‘,‘:%,Nitm.kwonstam'ATisesmemaarturamma=anammalatimmaurknusqmspnwii‘mi
`The Extraordinary Nature
Of Ordinary Things'
An L.A. rabbi reveals the holiness lurking just beneath the surface.
SAND EE B RAWARS KY
Special to the Jewish News
s many painters of still life turn ordi-
nary objects into things of awesome
beauty and mystery, Rabbi Steven Z.
Leder captures everyday moments, ele-
vating the mundane to the sacred, the small voice
into the big idea. In his debut book, The
Extraordinary Nature of Ordinary Things (Behrman
House; $9), the Los Angeles-based rabbi shares 37
short essays about love, loss, family and Judaism,
tales of holiness lurking just beneath the surface.
Among his subjects are blood donations, a pet
frog named Lazy, kitchen conversations with con-
gregants, hospital visits, time at home with his
wife and young children, tefillin, two days at a
New Age retreat and memories of his childhood.
Open to learning from all, the 37-year old
Reform rabbi ties together his experiences and
Jewish teachings, teasing out spiritual truths. He
writes with clarity and humor, without preaching
or taking himself too seriously.
"The challenge is to be simple without being sim-
plistic, and to be accessible and intelligent," Rabbi
Leder says in a telephone interview from his office at
the Wilshire Boulevard Temple, the oldest synagogue
in Southern California, founded in 1862.
"When I speak, teach or write, I try to create
bridges between our ancestors' lives and our own.
They dealt with as much love, joy and stress as we
do, and more. My general premise in approaching
Torah is that I see it as a document about the
human condition. My starting point is that the
Torah is always about our lives, and I look for the
connections."
In his essay "A Leap of Faith," he describes
participating in an outdoor adventure with mem-
bers of his temple's men's group, where they
attempted some challenging feats. "Picture a
series of 30- to 60-foot poles, heavy cables, dan-
gling ropes and suspended platforms. Now pic-
ture 20 slightly overweight, overdressed guys star-
ing up at all that hardware trying to disguise the
fact that this whole thing scares them more than
an audit by the IRS," he writes.
As the staff person, Rabbi Leder climbs first.
After hesitating, he makes the leap and "with
Chasidic-like clarity, I realize that freedom is the
conquering of fear." He ands the essay by drawing
parallels with Moses and the challenge of entering
the Promised Land, and the choice to either "run
scared and climb down defeated or leap out and
believe."
In other pieces, he writes about loneliness, the
finite quality of time, the tragedies that strike people
and about finding God's presence in unlikely places.
ORDINARY THINGS on page R8
Qs
I
9/10
1999
Detroit Jewish News
R7