Accessible and thought-provoking, clearly written and notable for Morinis’s ability to soft-pedal his own struggles, even...
One man’s search for enlightenment through “Mussar,” a Jewish spiritual movement that focuses on mindfulness and ethics in everyday life.
Walloped by a midlife crisis brought on by a failure of both his business and personal ethics, Morinis turned to his roots. Before writing his dissertation on Hindu pilgrimage, before studying with the Dalai Lama, before traveling to Oxford as a Rhodes scholar, he had been—and still was—“the little Jewish kid from the suburbs of Toronto.” Looking for answers in a book on Jewish thought and practice through the ages, Morinis happened upon a section on Mussar, and was captivated by its seeming contrariness to the spiritual wisdom he’d absorbed over years of study: Mussar eschews the pursuit of calm and tranquility in favor of an involved approach toward employing ethics and mindfulness “in the midst of the bustling marketplace” of life. A few years of intense study, first alone, and then with Rabbi Yechiel Yitchok Perr, led Morinis into this attempt to distill the lessons of Mussar in ten lessons. In chapters with headings like “The Gate of Growing,” “The Gate of Holiness,” “The Gate of Good and Evil,” and “The Gate of Working in the World,” he addresses the very broad concepts of the philosophy, mostly by relating how Rabbi Perr addressed the author’s questions about such issues. Each chapter is followed by an extremely simple exercise that can help the reader explore Mussar in daily life.
Accessible and thought-provoking, clearly written and notable for Morinis’s ability to soft-pedal his own struggles, even though his work—part self-help, part memoir, part religious study—is still mere lagniappe for those hungry to gain a deeper understanding of this strain of Jewish spirituality.Pub Date: March 12, 2002
ISBN: 0-7679-0645-4
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Broadway
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2001
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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