Synopsis
In this spiritual memoir, writer and publisher Arthur Kurzweil writes of his unique two-decade experience as a kind of Boswell to the Talmudic scholar Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, a relationship that resulted from an offer from Kurzweil to become Steinsaltz’s volunteer driver. As Kurzweil accompanies Rabbi Steinsaltz on his many road trips, he is present at the rabbi's public appearances and encounters with both scholars and celebrities. More importantly, Rabbi Steinsaltz and Kurzweil find plenty of opportunities for extended and relaxed discussions about life and religion. What comes through is Steinsaltz’s great learning and spirituality, along with Kurzweil's enthusiasm for experience.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 2006-09-01 |
| Size | | Length: | 290 pages | | Height: | 8.5 in | | Width: | 5.8 in | | Thickness: | 1.5 in | | Weight: | 14.4 oz |
Publisher's Note
Adin Steinsaltz is widely acclaimed as the greatest rabbi of our time. His most fervent disciple in this country is Arthur Kurzweil who has accompanied him on his regular travels throughout the US for 23 years, shepharding him to hundreds of speaking events, learning seminars, special appearances on national media, at the US Senate, universities, think tanks, secondary schools, synagogues, colleges, graduate seminars, and countless encounters with journalists, politicians, religious and spiritual leaders, public figures, and various celebrities. In this book, Arthur will present stories about this wise and holy man as he has never been seen before, personal, humorous, inspiring tales of the great Rabbi as he gives Talmud classes to Senator Pat Moynihan, Yitzhak Perlman and Justice Antony Scalia, lectures Ministers of the Chinese Government, and appears on major media with Ted Koppel. In this unprecedented and intimate view of his guru, Kurzweil writes about Rabbi's Steinsaltz views on Jewish identity and role in modern society, on parenting, marriage and divorce, the Rabbi's background growing up in a secular, socialist home, his views on Madonna and the popularization of Kabbalah, on smoking marijuana, non-kosher food, and dozen of other topics never mentioned in his previously published books. Filtered through Kurzweil's story-telling, Rabbi Steinsaltz comes alive in a much less academic and scholarly than in his previous books, including Simple Words (a philosophical discussion of death, love, goodness), Simon and Schuster, 40,000 copies sold) and our recent publication We Jews (a collection of essays by the Rabbi, just published, with 6,628 to date), and previously Opening the Tanya (8,577) These more difficult titles are filled with ambiguity, nuance, and unanswered questions. That's why this new book -- the first deliberate package of anecdotes, stories and quotations -- is a really original version of Rabbi Steinsaltz's life and work that can break through the more traditional, observant Steinsaltz market and reach a much broader audience. In this delightful, inspiriting, and entertaining book, Kurzweil will talk about his personal experience with the Rabbi, very much like Tuesdays with Morrie. In all a revealing, entertaining, inspiring, easy to understand version of this holy man's wisdom in a package that will appeal far beyond his traditional market.
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