Mon., March 23rd, 7:30 pm
Congregation Netivot Shalom
Join a conversation with Rabbi Ellie Spitz, author of "Healing from Despair: Choosing Wholeness in a Broken World. (Jewish Lights, 2009)" This new book, which will be available for purchase and signing at the event, 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.
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.
