Longing: Jewish Meditations on a Hidden God by Justin David, is a far ranging and engaging book. David combines his early estrangement with his father, with the distance he/we feel from God.
In the process, he tells his own story, and also the story of human encounters with God through a Jewish lens. He employs numerous sources: the Elijah/Elisha cycle of stories in second Kings, the kabbalah, Chasidic religious philosophy and practice, particularly Bratslav and Chabad.
David’s book has a message, but he takes some time to get there. He loops back on the central trauma of his life, and works at placing it in the perspective of the dire problem of the “missing” God we sense in our life and world.
He comes down on the side of the monist position that ‘all is God’ found in many early Chabad works. Of course, that is my position, so I have no beef with where David lands!
Overall, this is a useful book for the 'searcher' who is burned out with the search. David shows that we don’t have to look far to get what we need. It is inside and all around us.
In the process, he tells his own story, and also the story of human encounters with God through a Jewish lens. He employs numerous sources: the Elijah/Elisha cycle of stories in second Kings, the kabbalah, Chasidic religious philosophy and practice, particularly Bratslav and Chabad.
David’s book has a message, but he takes some time to get there. He loops back on the central trauma of his life, and works at placing it in the perspective of the dire problem of the “missing” God we sense in our life and world.
He comes down on the side of the monist position that ‘all is God’ found in many early Chabad works. Of course, that is my position, so I have no beef with where David lands!
Overall, this is a useful book for the 'searcher' who is burned out with the search. David shows that we don’t have to look far to get what we need. It is inside and all around us.
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