The December Project: An Extraordinary Rabbi and a Skeptical Seeker Confront Life's Greatest Mystery - Rilegato

Davidson, Sara

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0062281747 ISBN 13: 9780062281746

Casa editrice: HarperOne, 2014

Riassunto

In the tradition of Tuesdays with Morrie and The Last Lecture, New York Times bestselling author Sara Davidson met every Friday with 89-year-old Rabbi Zalman Shachter-Shalomi, the iconic founder of the Jewish Renewal movment, to discuss what he calls The December Project. "When you can feel in your cells that you're coming to the end of your tour of duty," he said, "what is the spiritual work of this time, and how do we prepare for the mystery?"

Davidson, who has a seeker's heart and a skeptic's mind, jumped at the chance to spend time with him. She'd long feared that death would be a complete annihilation, while Reb Zalman felt certain that "something continues." He said he didn't want to convince her of anything. "What I want is to loosen your mind." Through their talks, he wanted to help people "not freak out about dying," and enable them to have a more heightened and grateful life.

For two years, they met every week, and this is Davidson's memoir of what they learned and how they changed. Interspersed with their talks are sketches from Reb Zalman's extraordinary life. He barely escaped the Nazis, became an Orthodox rabbi in the US, was married four times and had eleven children, one from a sperm donation to a lesbian rabbi, and formed friendships with leaders of other faiths, such as Thomas Merton and the Dalai Lama. Breaking with the Orthodox, he founded the Jewish Renewal Movement to encourage people to have a direct experience of God.

During their time together, Davidson was nearly killed by a suicide bomb, and Reb Zalman struggled with a steep decline in health. Together they created strategies to deal with pain and memory loss, and found tools to cultivate simplicity, fearlessness, and joy—at any age. Davidson includes twelve exercises so that readers may experience what she did—a sea change in facing what we all must face: mortality.

Su questo libro

Informazioni sull?autore

Sara Davidson is the New York Times bestselling author of eight books, including: Loose Change; Three Women of the Sixties; Joan: Forty Years of Life, Loss, and Friendship with Joan Didion; and Leap: What Will We Do with the Rest of Our Lives? She has written more than 150 articles and essays published in the New York Times Magazine, Newsweek, Harper s, The Atlantic, and Rolling Stone, among other publications. She lives in Boulder, Colorado.

Dalla quarta di copertina

In 2009, New York Times bestselling author Sara Davidson was surprised by a call from Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, asking her to engage with him in what he called "The December Project." At eighty-five, Reb Zalman wanted to teach people how to navigate the December of life and to help them "not freak out about dying."

Davidson jumped at the chance. She feared that death would be a complete annihilation, while Reb Zalman felt certain that "something continues." For two years, they met every Friday to discuss this and how getting "up close with mortality" quickens our ability to relish every day.

Woven through their talks are sketches from Reb Zalman's life: escaping the Nazis; becoming an orthodox rabbi in the U.S.; landing in San Francisco during the sexual revolution; taking L.S.D. with Timothy Leary; befriending other faith leaders, including Thomas Merton and the Dalai Lama; and founding the Jewish Renewal movement.

During their time together, Davidson was nearly killed by a suicide bomb and Reb Zalman faced a steep decline in health. They created strategies to deal with pain and memory loss and found tools to cultivate fearlessness and joy—at any age. Davidson includes twelve exercises so readers can experience what she did, a sea change in facing what we all must face: mortality.

Dettagli dell'edizione

• Editore: HarperOne
• Data di pubblicazione: 2014
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 0062281747
• ISBN 13: 9780062281746
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 208
• Contatto del produttore: non disponibile
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