Free Downloads Waiting For Rain: Reflections At The Turning Of The Year
In Israel, the High Holiday cycle marks the transition from summer to the rainy season. In Waiting for Rain, the acclaimed teacher Bryna Levy offers a compelling collection of meditations that examine the biblical and liturgical readings associated with the High Holidays, from Rosh Hashanah to Simhat Torah. Based on a series of lectures given in Jerusalem at Matan - the Women’s Institute for Torah Studies, and known as “The Hoshana Rabbah Lectures,” Levy’s readings of the traditional texts echo the natural and spiritual tenor of this season. Waiting for Rain joins the field of biblical interpretation known as parshanut ha-mikrah. It offers fresh insights into traditional rabbinic interpretation, together with the author’s perspective as a modern Orthodox woman bible scholar. Levy explores the psyches of the biblical characters and addresses issues such as our connectedness to others, the tragedy of wasted opportunity, confronting evil, the denial of death, faith and doubt, personal and communal responsibility, universalism versus particularism, the challenge of leadership, sin and atonement, and the efficacy of prayer. The result is a highly personal approach to the meaning of the High Holidays that resonates with our own modern lives. Stories about heroes and heroines, love, faith, hope, and dreams make this book a moving and engaging source for study and reflection as well as an excellent companion to the traditional High Holiday prayer services. To read more about Bryna Jocheved Levy and her work, visit her website.
Hardcover: 300 pages
Publisher: The Jewish Publication Society (April 14, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0827608411
ISBN-13: 978-0827608412
Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 0.9 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #764,431 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #127 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Judaism > Prayerbooks #128 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Judaism > Holidays #143 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Judaism > Sacred Writings > Torah
Ms. Levy emigrated to Israel nearly three decades ago, and she is a pioneer in the field of Jewish education. A founder of VisionsVoices.org, this book is a compilation of many of her High Holiday lectures, lectures that occur in Israel as the rainy season beings, and Jews pray for rain, culminating with Simchat Torah and Shemini Atzeret. Five essays focus on Rosh Hashanah (Somewhere Over The Rainbow; Tears from Heaven; A Voice On High; The Symphony of Return; From the Fathomless Depths to the Windows of Heaven), one on Aseret Temei Teshuvah (The Last Psalm), two on Yom Kippur (Shattered Tablets, Broken Hearts; and Eleh Ezkerah), one for Hashana Rabbah (Pouring Out Our Hearts), 1 for Shemini Azteret (Through Fire and Rain), and one for Simhat Torah (Standing on Holy Ground). Like Leibowitz, she mixes stories of bible and prayer and psychology, with wonders, the environment, and emotions, with new and traditional commentaries. She discusses Noah as a test case of man being judged. She studies 1 Chronicles 29, or David's Last Psalm as a template for the ten days of Repentence. Did you ever wonder how Yom Kippur relates to the story of Joseph and his brothers? Or Samuel at Mizpah and its relation to Hashana Rabbah? Like a cleansing rain, this book will refresh the reader with new insights into the holidays
Dr. Levy is a very powerful writer. She knows how to get to the heart of the matter and writes in an easy- to-understand manner which keeps the reader engaged.
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