On the Road With Rabbi Steinsaltz by Arthur Kurzweil (2006, Hardcover)

From Publishers Weekly
In this book-length love letter from a disciple to his mentor, author and editor Kurzweil traces his discovery of a "Teacher with a capital T" in Jerusalem-based Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, probably best known for his commentary on the Talmud. Fascinated and enlightened by Steinsaltz's masterpiece of Jewish theology, The Thirteen-Petalled Rose;he knows it almost by heart;Kurzweil once called the rabbi's U.S. office, volunteering to pick him up at the airport and chauffeur him around during his lecture tours. Thus began a two-decades-long journey of conversations about reincarnation, suffering, Talmud, Kabbalah, marijuana, parenting and much more. Part spiritual memoir, Kurzweil's own story is interpolated with Steinsaltz's, from his secular upbringing, experimentation with Eastern religions, immersion in magic and ultimate rediscovery of Judaism. Kurzweil faithfully transcribes the rabbi's encounters with Ted Koppel and the Lubavitcher rebbe as well as his poignant conversations with Kurzweil's own daughters about role models, love and divorce. All these interactions show the rabbi's nonjudgmental depth and wisdom. Steinsaltz's gifts as a scientist, mathematician, skeptic and man of God results in a "wholeness of vision" that helps Kurzweil transform his life and motivates him to encourage readers to mine Steinsaltz's genius for themselves. (Sept. 17)

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From Booklist
Rabbi Steinsaltz has been head of the Israel Institute for Talmudic Publications, the Yeshivah^B Makor Hayim, and the Shefa Institute of Advanced Studies in Judaism. He is the author of The Thirteen Petalled Rose (1985), The Essential Talmud (1994), and other books and has translated many volumes of the Babylonian Talmud into modern Hebrew. Kurzweil, a Jewish scholar and author, has been Steinsaltz's companion and personal driver for 25 years, picking him up at New York's Kennedy Airport when the rabbi flies in from Israel three times a year. Kurzweil discusses such topics (and Steinsaltz's understanding of them) as genealogy, Hasidism, the Torah and Talmud, kabbalah, Jews in today's society, and praying. The book is highly relevant and unflinching in its approach to these profound subjects. George Cohen