Living Emunah

In our frantic, fast paced society, we need constant guidance to remind us that we can only find the peace of mind we sorely lack by looking inward. Judaism, like many other spiritual traditions, offers a unique path to cultivating fulfillment and presence of mind. In cultivating peace of mind, we do not aim to achieve transcendence. Rather, our goal is to enter fully into whatever is occurring in our lives and meet it with full presence. But being a better Jew and a happier person are not mutually exclusive. On the contrary, they are mutually interdependent. From the moment we wake to the moment we fall asleep, biblical commandments provide us with guidelines that encourage us to be aware of the present moment. A Guide to Jewish Mindfulness provides concise and clear instructions on how to cultivate peace of mind in order to attain a life of greater commitment and inspiration for the present moment.

The Torah has been transmitted to us with extreme care and precision. The Rambam believed in it and passed it on. The Vilna Gaon believed in it and passed it on. Our grandparents believed in it and passed it on. This is called kabbalas Avos – and it alone is enough to trust and live by our mesorah. Still, substantiating emunah with one’s own thinking (known as emunas ha-seichel) offers huge advantages. It provides excitement — a passion and an enthusiasm that make the emunah alive and vibrant. It helps tailor our Torah lives to our individual minds and souls. It helps make Yiddishkeit real. No magical “leap of faith” is necessary in order to believe. All we need is clear thinking – as demonstrated in this incredible book. In this ‘refresher course’ to emunah, we will rediscover why we believe, and will be able to daven and learn with ever-increasing levels of emunah and connection to Hashem.

After Yair Berman left her and shattered all her dreams, the devastated Shlomtzion Drore escaped as far as possible from him and her intensely religious life in Jerusalem, becoming an interior designer in secular Tel-Aviv. Twenty-one years later, her daughter has become engaged to his son, and Shlomtzion is forced to visit the controversial settlement in which Yair lives, not only to plan the wedding but to confront her former love and the mistakes of her life. Set in Israel between the Six Day War and the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, If You Awaken Love is the intensely moving story of a stormy and spiritual young girl and her love-hate relationships with her childhood sweetheart, with her father, and with God. Translated by David Hazony.