God Was in This Place & I, i Did Not Know: Finding Self, Spirituality and Ultimate Meaning - Hardcover

Kushner, Rabbi Lawrence

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1879045052 ISBN 13: 9781879045057

Publisher: Jewish Lights, 1991

Synopsis

Selected as a Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC)
“Significant Jewish Book”

Jacob was running away from home. One night he lay down in the wilderness to sleep and had one of the great mystical experiences of Western religion. He dreamed there was a ladder, with angels ascending and descending, stretched between heaven and earth. For thousands of years, people have tried to overhear what the messengers came down to tell Jacob, and us.

Now in a daring blend of scholarship and imagination, psychology and history, Lawrence Kushner gathers an inspiring range of interpretations of Genesis 28:16 given by sages, from Shmuel bar Nachmani in third-century Palestine to Hannah Rachel Werbermacher of Ludomir who lived in Poland two hundred years ago. Through a fascinating new literary genre and Kushner’s creative reconstruction of the teachers’ lives and times, we enter the study halls and sit at the feet of these spiritual masters to learn what each discovered about God’s Self and ourselves as they ascend and descend Jacob’s ladder.

In this illuminating journey, our spiritual guides ask and answer the fundamental questions of human experience: Who am I? Who is God? What is God’s role in history? What is the nature of evil? How should I relate to God and other people? Could the universe really have a self?

Rabbi Lawrence Kushner brilliantly reclaims a millennium of Jewish spirituality for contemporary seekers of all faiths and backgrounds. God Was in This Place & I, i Did Not Know is about God and about you; it is about discovering God’s place in the universe, and yours.

About this title

Review:

God Was in This Place & I, I Did Not Know is about seven different ways to read the Bible verse quoted in its title (Genesis 28:16). The titular verse is Jacob's exclamation upon awakening from his vision of angels ascending and descending a ladder to heaven. For centuries, readers have tried to imagine what the angels were trying to tell Jacob; Rabbi Lawrence Kushner has now surveyed some of the most illuminating reflections on that question. The book's sources range from Shmuel bar Nachmnani in third-century Palestine, to Hannah Rachel Werbermacher of Ludomir, who lived in 18th-century Poland. Kushner blends these rabbinic interpretations with his own reflections on Jacob's vision in a strong, impassioned style. God Was in This Place is not only about the Jacob story, however; it is, most importantly, a brilliant book about the way that Scripture offers meaning: "Biblical words shatter and rearrange themselves before our sustained gaze," Kushner writes. "As we read in Jeremiah, 'My word is like fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer that shatters the rock.'" --Michael Joseph Gross

About the Author:

Lawrence Kushner, author, lecturer and spiritual leader, is regarded as one of the most creative religious thinkers and writers in America. A commentator on National Public Radio's All Things Considered, he has focused us on spiritual renewal with wisdom and humor. Through his books and lectures, people of every faith and background have found inspiration and new strength for spiritual search and growth. It has been said that some spiritual leaders blend religion and psychology to help us walk better on the ground, but Lawrence Kushner draws on the wisdom of the mystics to help us dance better on the ceiling.

Kushner's acclaimed books include I’m God; You’re Not: Observations on Organized Religion & Other Disguises of the Ego; Honey from the Rock: An Easy Introduction to Jewish Mysticism; Invisible Lines of Connection: Sacred Stories of the Ordinary; The Book of Letters: A Mystical Hebrew Alphabet; Jewish Spirituality: A Brief Introduction for Christians; and In God’s Hands, an inspiring fable for children, with Gary Schmidt (all Jewish Lights).

Kushner served as rabbi at Congregation Beth El in Sudbury, Massachusetts, for almost thirty years; he is currently the Emanu-El scholar at Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco, and an adjunct faculty member at Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion. He is fascinated by graphic design and computers (designing most of his Jewish Lights books). He enjoys Mozart, hanging around sailboats, and making his granddaughters giggle.

About this edition

• Publisher: Jewish Lights
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 1879045052
• ISBN 13: 9781879045057
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192