A welcome reintroduction to the psalms for 21st-century Jews.
A rabbi offers commentary on ancient psalms for a contemporary audience.
“Life is joyful, tragic, visionary, mired in muck,” writes Rabbi Elyse Frishman. Reflective of the range of human experiences and interactions with the divine, the Bible’s Book of Psalms explores topics that range from expressions of gratitude for God’s gifts during personal triumphs to accusations against God’s seeming desertion amid heartbreaks. While psalms are relevant to contemporary society, their traditional biblical arrangement often makes them inaccessible to those unfamiliar with them. Seeking to pair “traditional psalms with different moments of our contemporary lives,” Sank Ross offers readers 72 psalms rearranged thematically into six categories (anticipation, commemoration, despair, gratitude, pain, and relief). The first section, “Psalms for Anticipation,” suggests pairing specific psalms for periods of anxious waiting, such as before a surgery, before traveling, or during a pregnancy. Additional sections provide similar matchings of psalms to real-life experiences through topics that include celebrating anniversaries, mourning death, moving on after divorce, and experiencing antisemitism. Given its goal of connecting with modern readers, the book utilizes Richard Levy’s 2018 translation of psalms, Songs Ascending. Each psalm is accompanied by a stylized Hebrew heading and a brief introduction by Sank Ross, who provides guidance on how to incorporate the psalm into one’s prayer practices. Many entries contain footnotes that refer readers to similar psalms that are found in different sections of the guide. An associate rabbi at the Community Synagogue in Port Washington, New York, Sank Ross excels at making her editorial comments meaningful to a general audience, from those who attend temple weekly to those who haven’t been in decades. The book opens with a fascinating introduction that draws on Sank Ross’ academic background in anthropology; she provides a brief historiography of psalters and introduces readers to the literary nature of the psalms as metaphorical poetry. “The beauty of metaphors,” she notes, “is that they can be redefined.” Guided by an impressive editorial advisory committee of eleven rabbis and Jewish scholars, this book is both profound and refreshingly simple.
A welcome reintroduction to the psalms for 21st-century Jews.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9780881236453
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Central Conference of American Rabbis Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 5, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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