Breathe New Life into Your Prayer with the Wisdom of Kabbalah and the Hasidic MastersJewish mystics teach that every word a person utters in prayer should radiate light. Even the letters of the words of prayer carry sparks of the Divine that yearn to join together in holiness.In this inspiring spiritual companion, Reform rabbi Lawrence Kushner and Orthodox rabbi Nehemia Polen join together to provide a window into the liturgy for people of all backgrounds by offering fresh ins...

According to the Hebrew Bible, God made the world with words. God just spoke and the world became reality. (The Aramaic for I create as I speak is avara kdavara, or in magicians language, abracadabra.) . . . This does not protect words from the numbing effects of overuse in any religious tradition. . . . We need to dust off the words, shake away the accretions, wonder again about what they originally might have meant and enable ourselves to live in the word.from the IntroductionWi...

This is an invitation to wade into a deeper spiritual consciousness. Taking us step by step, Kushner helps us to allow “the river of light”—the deepest currents of consciousness—to rise to the surface and animate our lives. Imaginative, philosophical and intellectual, this book explores the meeting point of ancient journeys, current psychological theory and the practicalities of modern life to guide you on your own journey into deeper spiritual awareness.

In a daring blend of scholarship, imagination, psychology and history, Lawrence Kushner gathers an inspiring range of interpretations of Genesis 28:16 given by sages, what each discovered about God's Self and what we can learn about ourselves as we ascend and descend Jacob's ladder. A 25th anniversary edition with a new preface from the author.

An accessible introduction to the concepts of Jewish mysticism, their religious and spiritual significance, and how they relate to our lives.The Way Into Jewish Mystical Tradition allows us to experience and understand mysticisms inexpressible reverence before the awe and mystery of creation, and celebrate this rich traditions quest to transform our ordinary reality into holiness.Rabbi Lawrence Kushner, one of the most widely read authors on Jewish spiritual life, is th...

Flashes of insightsurprising, entertaining, inspiringfrom one of the most creative spiritual thinkers in America. The goal of all spiritual life is to get your ego out of the wayoutwit the sucker; dissolve it; shoot it; kill it. Silence the incessant planning, organizing, running, manipulating, possessing, and processing that are the ineluctable redoubts of the ego. Not because these activities are bad or wrong or even narcissistic … but because they preclude awareness of the Divine. ...

Selected as a Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC)“Significant Jewish Book”Jacob was running away from home. One night he lay down in the wilderness to sleep and had one of the great mystical experiences of Western religion. He dreamed there was a ladder, with angels ascending and descending, stretched between heaven and earth. For thousands of years, people have tried to overhear what the messengers came down to tell Jacob, and us.Now in a ...

Suppose there is something going on in the universe which is to ordinary, everyday reality as our unconcious is to our daily lives? Softly, but unmistakably guiding it. Most of the time, we are unaware of it. Yet, every now and then, on account of some fluke, we are startled by the results of its presence. We realize we have been part of something with neither consciousness nor consent. It is so sweetand then it is gone. You say, But I dont believe in God. And I ask, What makes you think it m...

In the ancient Jewish practice of the kavannah (a meditation designed to focus one’s heart on its spiritual goal), Lawrence Kushner and David Mamet offer their own reactions to key verses from each week’s Torah portion, opening the biblical text to new layers of understanding.Here is a fascinating glimpse into two great minds, as each author approaches the text from his unique perspective, each seeking an understanding of the Bible’s personalities and commandments, paradoxes and am...

Flashes of insight—surprising, entertaining, inspiring—from one of the most creative spiritual thinkers in America."The goal of all spiritual life is to get your ego out of the way—outwit the sucker; dissolve it; shoot it; kill it. Silence the incessant planning, organizing, running, manipulating, possessing, and processing that are the ineluctable redoubts of the ego. Not because these activities are bad or wrong or even narcissistic … but because they preclude aw...

A window into the Jewish soul—written especially for Christians.“I invite you to explore with me some of the rich and varied expressions of the Jewish spiritual imagination. It is a tradition that may at times, for Christians, feel strangely familiar and will, for Christians and Jews, always challenge you to see yourself and your world through a new lens.”—from the IntroductionJewish spirituality is an approach to life that encourages us to become aw...

Sometime, somewhere, someone is searching for answers . . .. . . in a thirteenth-century castle. . . on a train to a concentration camp. . . in a New York city apartmentHidden within the binding of an ancient text that has been passed down through the ages lies the answer to one of the heart’s eternal questions. When the text falls into the hands of Rabbi Kalman Stern, he has no idea that his lonely life of intellectual pursuits is about to change once...