A thoughtful, spiritual approach to grappling with and sharing momentous occasions.
Geller and Lieberman offer a guide to commemorating late-in-life milestones aimed at Jewish readers.
The authors state in their introduction, “this book is written for active adults who want to mark an important moment of transition.” Such moments of transition include events like finalizing the end of a marriage, moving to a new community, and sending children off into the world to make their own marks. Geller and Lieberman detail rituals that one can perform to mark these times of change, including a special way in which one might celebrate a significant birthday: Their suggestions include gathering friends and family, providing four cups for each participant, and, after blessings, taking a drink from each cup; the participants can also recite the traditional Jewish birthday blessing of Ad mei-ah v’esrim (“may you live to be 120”). The text also provides “Words of Wisdom,” with firsthand accounts from people who have gone through important life events and guidance for clergy. The authors are thoughtful in their approach; they suggest that readers desiring a public ceremony to demonstrate that they are starting a new relationship ask, “What are you signaling to other people if your ceremony is public?” The book offers novel takes on situations that can be notably uncomfortable. A chapter titled “Coming Out with Memory Loss” details a ceremony designed to inform others that one has been diagnosed with a memory disorder—the diagnosed individual can pray to the “God of compassion” to “soothe [their] spirit” whenever confusion takes hold. They may also ask God to “Accompany my loved ones as they walk in the shadow of my illness.” This openness about difficult life stages gives the work its appeal; Geller and Lieberman offer comfort and hope in places where such things are often lacking.
A thoughtful, spiritual approach to grappling with and sharing momentous occasions.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2025
ISBN: 9780881236644
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Central Conference of American Rabbis Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 11, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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