The suffering that brings you to despair
and even desperation can—with healing—become a
source of hope, purpose and blessing.
Are you:
Feeling anxious?
Feeling depressed because of the loss of
health, a relationship or a job?
Grieving the loss of a loved one?
Grieving loss by a suicide?
Feeling hopeless?
Concerned about a friend who has suicidal
thoughts?
This wise and helpful guide explores the
nature of personal suffering and brokenness and the potential
for personal crisis as a source of strength and renewal instead
of despair and death. Examining the personal journeys of
biblical and historical figures such as Moses, Maimonides,
Abraham Lincoln and Martin Buber—as well as the
author’s own personal experience with despair—it
looks at brokenness as an inescapable element of the human
condition. It traces the path of suffering from despair to
depression to desperation to the turning
point—healing—when first-hand knowledge of
suffering can be transformed into blessing.
“A deft blend of the personal and
the theological, a book to lift souls and even to save
lives.”
—Rabbi
Harold Kushner, author, When Bad Things Happen to Good People
“Wisdom of the heart and of the
head…. A book for those who struggle with depression, and
for those who live with those who struggle with depression. In
short, for many, many of us.”
—Rabbi
Joseph Telushkin, author, A Code of Jewish Ethics and
Jewish Literacy
“Rich with honesty and
wisdom…. Gets to the heart of the human experience of
prolonged despair and the possibilities for healing. Gentle,
learned and insightful … provides kind and solid company
for anyone seeking guidance, perspective and hope when the
world comes crashing in.”
—Rabbi
Nancy Flam, co-founder, National
Center for Jewish Healing;
co-director, Programs, Institute
for Jewish Spirituality
Rabbi Elie Kaplan Spitz is the author of Does the
Soul Survive? A Jewish Journey to Belief in Afterlife, Past
Lives & Living with Purpose (Jewish
Lights). A spiritual leader and scholar specializing in topics
of spirituality and Judaism, he teaches, writes, and speaks to
a wide range of audiences. He has served as the rabbi of
Congregation B’nai Israel in Tustin, California, for more
than a decade and is a member of the Rabbinical Assembly
Committee of Law and Standards.
Erica Shapiro Taylor is a volunteer with Tarbut V’Torah Day
School and a court appointed special advocate.
