Jewish Stories from Heaven and Earth: Inspiring Tales to Nourish the Heart and Soul - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1580233635 ISBN 13: 9781580233637

Publisher: Jewish Lights, 2008

Synopsis

The Glory and Grief, Humor and Pride of the Human Experience―Inspiration from a Jewish Perspective

From exile to rebirth, from degradation to renaissance, the Jewish People has undergone every human experience and emotion that God created. In this inspiring collection of stories, award-winning anthologist Dov Peretz Elkins captures the best and worst of Jewish experience in these spine-tingling tales of courage, devotion, passion and extraordinary achievement.

Elkins taps the famous and the not-so-famous, world-renowned figures and the little-known "person next door," for stories that illustrate the wonder, meaning, and purpose of life as viewed through the lens of Judaism's core values. Though drawn from the Jewish tradition, these universal stories of kindness, hope, faith and discovery will intrigue the minds and warm the hearts of people from all walks of life.

About this title

About the Author

Rabbi Dov Peretz Elkins, award-winning anthologist, lecturer, educator and author, is coeditor of the best-selling Chicken Soup for the Jewish Soul. Widely published in the Jewish and general press, he is author of The Wisdom of Judaism: An Introduction to the Values of the Talmud (Jewish Lights), and is editor of Yom Kippur Readings: Inspiration, Information and Contemplation; Rosh Hashanah Readings: Inspiration, Information and Contemplation; and Jewish Stories from Heaven and Earth: Inspiring Tales to Nourish the Heart and Soul (all Jewish Lights). He is rabbi emeritus of The Jewish Center of Princeton, New Jersey, and a former member of the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Rabbinical Assembly and the Council for Jewish Education. Visit his websites―www.wisdomofjudaism.org and www.eco-judaism.org―for more information.

Rabbi Dov Peretz Elkins is available to speak on the following topics:

• A Taste of Eco-Judaism
• Chicken Soup for the Jewish Soul
• Shabbat: A Day for the Rest of Your Life
• Hasidic Wisdom and Modern Psychology
• A Tale of Two Cities―Jerusalem and Washington DC: The Jewish People's Love Affair with the Holy City

Reviews

This potpourri of Jewish short stories and essays was diligently amassed for many years by Rabbi Elkins, author and anthologist. He begins his presentation with the mistaken claim that Jews are the original storytelling people, ignoring that in all societies, a significant way of transmitting culture from one generation to the next is through stories. The 69 stories presented represent Elkins's passion for uplifting stories. They come from a variety of sources, including books, newspaper articles and journals. The authors are, for the most part, rabbis, doctors, writers and teachers. Their work is sorted by Elkins into nine topical sections, each containing from five to nine stories as well as an introduction by him. Two sections deal with the Holocaust, while the others explore timeless virtues like goodness, hope, endurance, tradition and providence. A final section addresses Israel as a land of miracles. Although they are uneven in quality, the simply written stories testify eloquently to the Jewish capacity for survival despite the long litany of suffering that has dogged the tearful history of Jews through the ages. (Oct.)
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Edition details

• Publisher: Jewish Lights
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1580233635
• ISBN 13: 9781580233637
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304
• Editor: Elkins Rabbi Dov Peretz