Eight Lights: 8 Meditations for Chanukah

DovBer Pinson is a very accomplished proponent of the “mystical” view of Judaism, as seen though Chabad.   

This is clear in Eight Lights: 8 Meditations for Chanukah.  Pinson explains the literal and mystical meaning(s) of the holiday. His interpretations of the spinning dreidel are also clever and wise, and remind me of certain teachings of Rabbi Nachman.

But most importantly, he provides meditations for each night of Chanukah.  If you want experience, though meditation, the Oneness of HaShem, of the Oneness of All, this book it a great source.

Volcano, A Memoir of Hawaii, by Garrett Hongo

Garrett Hongo’s Volcano, A Memoir of Hawaii, is one of those rare works of art that operate on so many levels, yet still maintain a clear and steady narrative voice. In this strong work, Hongo tells a story that needs to be told,  that he is compelled to tell, and he does so in startling and unexpected ways.

Hongo was born in the town of Volcano, on the Big Island of Hawaii.  Just after he was born, his family moved to Oahu, and then Los Angeles.  Hong’s memoir is of the Japanese diaspora, of a people spread far from their homeland, wrestling with both memory and the urge to forget.  His memories are tied to one slice of that diaspora,  the general store his family owned in Volcano.  As Hongo’s life becomes broader, as he explores his poetry, as he marries and has children, and travels widely, he keeps returning, mentally, spiritually, but especially artistically, to the place of his birth.  The old family stories of the Big Island are his Ur text.

This is no ordinary memoir.  Hongo is a poet, and he deftly and carefully deploys language.   There are surprises in his narrative, bold turns of phrase, spiritual insights, and very often, humor. There is a care and exacting detail in the prose that often only poets can bring to narrative.  

This memoir is a about a small outpost in Hawaii, but issues of race, place, identity, and history, all orbit around Hong's quest for the history of his family.  Issues of identity and place haunt the book; in a world where so much is in moving, what do we call home? The author's narrative voice sets up a tone and range that can deeply explore the sadness and pain of this quest, and its unexpected joys.  

The Growth Delusion: Wealth, Poverty, and the Well-Being of Nations

Humans are only as good at measuring as the ruler they use.  The Growth Delusion: Wealth, Poverty, and the Well-Being of Nations, by David Pilling, aptly illustrates this.  Piling shows us just how arbitrary the Gross Domestic Product is as a measure of a country’s wealth.  GDP, as a ruler, is a blunt , amoral, and selective instrument.  It is predicated on continued growth.  Growth at any cost.

This is an important book.  Economists have become powerful gurus in our world, throwing around their concepts and explanatory tools as if they sprung from apriori from the head of Athena.   They did not; GDP is a construct – and as such, wide open to criticism by those who do not have a stake in keeping it sacrosanct.

A New Hasidism: Roots

A New Hasidism: Roots, edited by Rabbi Arthur Green and Ariel Evan Mayse, is a book that has come along just at the right time.  Since the late-60s, the Jewish Renewal Movement (also called Neo-Hasidism, and here called a New Hasidism) has been digging deep roots into most areas of progressive Jewish life and practice.  It is high time for a book that explores the roots of this movement itself, and there is no better person to guide us than Rabbi Green and his student, Ariel Evan Mayse.

This first volume explores the writings of Buber, Heschel, Carlebach, Reb Zalman, and Arthur Green’s early work.  These are great picks, as they show the contours of the various incarnations of what would become Neo-Hasidism and Jewish Renewal. 

The issues, broadly, are what to take from the spirit of Hasidic worship, and what to leave behind.  Following closely behind this is the question of how much of halakah, the nuts and bolts of Jewish religious practice, should accompany this new movement.  There is a spectrum of answers, and they suit the complexity of the questions.  Finding a perch in this “new” Hasidism is actually an old question for American Jews, just in a new guise.

Overall it is a thrill to watch great thinkers go over these questions over the span of many decades (although I still understand very little of Buber's works).  One of the true gifts of Judaism is its fluidity and adaptability.  This volume clearly displays these qualities.

Out of Character: Surprising Truths About the Liar, Cheat, Sinner (and Saint) Lurking in All

Out of Character: Surprising Truths About the Liar, Cheat, Sinner (and Saint) Lurking in All of Us, by David DeSteno and Piercarlo Valdesolo, is only surprising if you think that our character traits are fixed and immutable.  I do not, therefore I did not find it at all unusual that seemingly good people will make unethical choices under the right circumstances.  So, if you are like me, this book will not be earth shaking.  

I do wonder about the experimental foundation upon which most of the conclusions in this book are based.  Most of the moral/ethical decisions that have to be made in these experiments are fairly low stakes compared to real world decisions.  The subjects are typically college students (18-22).  Are these subjects really indicative of the general population?  What about a wider range of ages, ethnicity, sex, gender?  Seems like this work rests on a floppy experimental base.

Big Island Journey, by Sophia Schweitzer

Big Island Journey, by Sophia Schweitzer, is a journey through the history of the Big Island of Hawaii that is narrative, but primarily photographic.  

The history of the island, its people and places, are illuminated through incredible historical photos. We get to see how much the island has changed; of the many people’s who have settled there; and the industries (like sugar) that have come and gone.

This book is pleasant to read and the photos are mesmerizing.