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 awareness of the Divine. To paraphrase the Talmud, God says, 'There ain't room enough in this here world for your ego and Me. You pick.’"
—from the Introduction

Tapping the experiences and wisdom of his career as a spiritual leader, Lawrence Kushner delights, surprises, challenges and inspires us. With his signature candor, wit and compassion, he helps us reconnect with the why and how of our spiritual lives. He encourages us to find new perspectives on the “life-stuff” that shapes them, and gently reminds us of the Source of it All.

These inspiring—often startling—insights will warm you during the dark times of your own doubts even as they brighten your quest for meaning, faith, identity, community—and holiness.

Introduction ⁄ ix
1. Rabbi
Who Am I? ⁄ 3
We'll Wait Back Here ⁄ 8
The Calling ⁄ 15
My Other Father Died ⁄ 18
The Tent Peg Business ⁄ 22
The Human Pyramid ⁄ 30
The Rabbi Business ⁄ 38
Being Somebody Else ⁄ 47
The Last Gift ⁄ 49

2. Judaism
Why I'm a Jew ⁄ 55
Filene’s Basement ⁄ 59
Intermarriage ⁄ 61
Getting More Jews ⁄ 67
Customs as Sacred Text ⁄ 69
Two Jewish Mothers ⁄ 73
(Re)Thinking Shabbat ⁄ 75
Kosher ⁄ 78
The Life of Torah ⁄ 84

3. Family
Visiting Your Children ⁄ 89
Understanding Your Parents ⁄ 91
Telling Kids the Truth ⁄ 99
Boompa ⁄ 101
And Unto Us a Child Is Given ⁄ 103
Babushka ⁄ 107
Turkey Shoot ⁄ 109
Generations ⁄ 111

4. World
What Israel Means to Me ⁄ 115
My Lunch with Jesus ⁄ 117
Cardboard Sukkah ⁄ 120
Bill Novak’s Questions ⁄ 122
NYPD Blue ⁄ 143
Resurrection of Flowers ⁄ 145

5. Mysticism
What Is Kabbalah? ⁄ 149
Reading Music ⁄ 156
Bosque del Apache ⁄ 159
Physician of Tsefat ⁄ 162
Spell-Checker ⁄ 170
Midrash as Hypertext ⁄ 174
A Kabbalah Lexicon ⁄ 175

6. Holiness
Open My Lips ⁄ 189
Spiritual Greed ⁄ 191
Silent Prayer ⁄ 193
A Blessing for the Czar ⁄ 195
Biking with Pelicans ⁄ 197
The Zen of Airline Tickets ⁄ 199
Memory and Redemption ⁄ 201
Death without Dying ⁄ 210
The Band on the Titanic ⁄ 214

Afterword: "Our Town" ⁄ 217
Sources ⁄ 224

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 awareness of the Divine. To paraphrase the Talmud, God says, 'There ain't room enough in this here world for your ego and Me. You pick.’"
—from the Introduction

Tapping the experiences and wisdom of his career as a spiritual leader, Lawrence Kushner delights, surprises, challenges and inspires us. With his signature candor, wit and compassion, he helps us reconnect with the why and how of our spiritual lives. He encourages us to find new perspectives on the “life-stuff” that shapes them, and gently reminds us of the Source of it All.

These inspiring—often startling—insights will warm you during the dark times of your own doubts even as they brighten your quest for meaning, faith, identity, community—and holiness.