Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
Audiobook4 hours
Nine Essential Things I've Learned About Life
Written by Harold S. Kushner
Narrated by Harold S. Kushner
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
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About this audiobook
From the beloved author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People, deeply moving and illuminating reflections on what it means to live a good life.
As a congregational rabbi for half a century and the best-selling author of twelve books on faith, ethics, and how to apply the timeless wisdom of religious thought to everyday challenges, Rabbi Harold S. Kushner has demonstrated time and again his understanding of the human spirit. In this compassionate new work, his most personal since When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Kushner relates how his time as a twenty-first-century rabbi has shaped his senses of religion and morality. He elicits nine essential lessons from the sum of his teaching, study, and experience, offering a lifetime’s worth of spiritual food for thought, pragmatic advice, inspiration for a more fulfilling life, and strength for trying times.
With fresh, vital insight into belief (“there is no commandment in Judaism to believe in God”), conscience (the Garden of Eden story as you’ve never heard it), and mercy (forgiveness is “a favor you do yourself, not an undeserved gesture to the person who hurt you”), grounded in Kushner's brilliant readings of Scripture, history, and popular culture, Nine Essential Things I’ve Learned About Life is compulsory reading from one of modern Judaism’s foremost sages.
Distilling the wisdom of an extraordinary career, this profoundly inspiring yet practical guide to well-being is truly the capstone to Kushner’s luminous oeuvre.
As a congregational rabbi for half a century and the best-selling author of twelve books on faith, ethics, and how to apply the timeless wisdom of religious thought to everyday challenges, Rabbi Harold S. Kushner has demonstrated time and again his understanding of the human spirit. In this compassionate new work, his most personal since When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Kushner relates how his time as a twenty-first-century rabbi has shaped his senses of religion and morality. He elicits nine essential lessons from the sum of his teaching, study, and experience, offering a lifetime’s worth of spiritual food for thought, pragmatic advice, inspiration for a more fulfilling life, and strength for trying times.
With fresh, vital insight into belief (“there is no commandment in Judaism to believe in God”), conscience (the Garden of Eden story as you’ve never heard it), and mercy (forgiveness is “a favor you do yourself, not an undeserved gesture to the person who hurt you”), grounded in Kushner's brilliant readings of Scripture, history, and popular culture, Nine Essential Things I’ve Learned About Life is compulsory reading from one of modern Judaism’s foremost sages.
Distilling the wisdom of an extraordinary career, this profoundly inspiring yet practical guide to well-being is truly the capstone to Kushner’s luminous oeuvre.
LanguageEnglish
PublisherPenguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
Release dateSep 1, 2015
ISBN9781101924440
Author
Harold S. Kushner
Harold Samuel Kushner is a prominent American rabbi. Born in Brooklyn, he was educated at Columbia University, the Jewish Theological Seminary and also studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is the author of the remarkable When Bad Things Happen to Good People - which deals with the problem of evil, in the light of the loss of his young son Aaron to the premature aging disease progeria. He is also the author of several other books on popular theology, including Living a Life that Matters and When All You've Ever Wanted Isn't Enough.
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Reviews for Nine Essential Things I've Learned About Life
Rating: 4.115384461538461 out of 5 stars
4/5
13 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Apr 18, 2020
The art book of Harold Kushner I ever read made me an avid fan and led me to reading them all. His thinking, insights, tolerance, compassion and wisdom have helped guide me in my own spiritual development, leading me to greater depths of thought and re-assuring me when many of my own ideas and thoughts coin inside with his.
This, his latest book, continued that tradition. He addresses beautifully the statement made by so many, I am not religious, but I am spiritual," by clarifying what that means and implies. He asserts that to have no religion leaves a person without the support thy need, not only in times of trouble, but also in encountering the everyday beauty of life as we live it.
His definition of the concept of "God' is especially strong and clear. God is not the magic Santa Claus who exists outside of us both judging us and answering our prayers. Instead, Good is the great unknown that is with us always, strengthening us through difficulties and giving us the tools to find meaning and enjoyment in life. We are all parts of the divinity of God and our spiritual experience is the discovery of the gold presence within us.
In chapter 6, Kushner quotes another spiritual thinker, Rabbi David Wolpe, who said, "Spirituality is what you feel, theology is what you believe, religion is hat you do." Kushner's book is a wonderful exposition on the fullest meaning of this word.