Product Description

“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 k’davara, or in magician’s 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 Introduction With creativity and poetry (and occasional heresy) Kushner dusts off thirty classical Hebrew words, shakes them free of the effects of generations of overuse, “re-translates” them, and liberates their ancient holy power. The result is a contemporary spiritual guide for your personal religious life. According to the Hebrew Bible, God made the world with words. God just spoke and the world came into being. Words therefore are not merely sounds signifying something else; they are instruments of creation, primary reality itself. They need only to be read, spoken, and interpreted. And to know them is to know reality itself. Kushner has designed the book himself, seamlessly blending graphics and content. In doing so he evokes the aesthetics of an ancient manuscript and a vision of our power to shape the future. Each finely crafted chapter begins with a Hebrew word and Kushner’s provocative English translation. At the bottom of the page is a transliteration of the Hebrew along with its more customary English rendering. In addition to his own intriguing definition, he includes a biblical citation anchoring the word, along with a more recent text showing the word’s evolution. Finally, we are offered a personal, meditative exercise designed to enable you to “live in the word.”Rabbi Lawrence Kushner, one of the most widely read authors on Jewish spiritual life, is the Emanu-El Scholar at San Francisco’s Congregation Emanu-El and visiting professor of Jewish spirituality at the Graduate Theological Union. He is the bestselling author of such books for adults as Filling Words with Light: Hasidic and Mystical Reflections on Jewish Prayer; Honey from the Rock: An Introduction to Jewish Mysticism; The Book of Letters: A Mystical Hebrew Alphabet; and The Way Into Jewish Mystical Tradition (all Jewish Lights), among many others. His children’s books include Because Nothing Looks Like God (with Karen Kushner) and In God’s Hands(with Gary Schmidt) (both Jewish Lights), among many others.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #989157 in Books
• Published on: 1998-10-01
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .1 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

From Amazon.com
The Book of Words: Talking Spiritual Life, Living Spiritual Talk collects Rabbi Lawrence Kushner's inspiring, entertaining, unconventional definitions of 30 Hebrew words. "According to the Hebrew Bible, God made the world with words," Kushner writes. "Not only are words the instrument of creation, in Judaism they are the primary reality itself." According to this belief, Kushner proceeds to meditate and play with spiritually charged words such as "Love," "Water," and some surprising choices such as "Garbage." Each short essay ends with a kavanah, or meditative exercise, designed to "help the reader 'live in the word.'" This book is among Kushner's best and is an excellent companion to Arthur Green's These Are The Words or to Kushner's own The Book of Letters. --Michael Joseph Gross

From Library Journal
Rabbi and rabbinic professor Kushner has written, designed, and illustrated this revitalization of Hebrew/English holy words, words full of re-creative power such as secrecy and faith , terror and life , and vision , and truth . Kushner's meditative reflections, supplemented by Biblical and Talmudic wisdom, reveal hidden power and contemporary relevance, as well as humor. Many of Kushner's thoughts may delight non-Jews as well as Jews with the enthusiasm for life and profound sense of the sacred, e.g., when he elaborates on the sacredness of laughter and finds Purim important especially because "it makes us laugh at ourselves." Recommended for public and seminary libraries.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Ingram
In the incomparable manner of his award-winning "The Book of Letters: A Mystical Alphabet", Kushner now lifts up and shakes the dust off 30 primary religious words used to describe the spiritual dimension of our lives.