Judaism's Life-Changing Ideas
A Weekly Reading of the Jewish Bible
What is Judaism? A religion? A faith? A way of life? A set of beliefs? A collection of commands? A culture? A civilization? It is all these, but it is emphatically something more. It is a way of thinking about life, a constellation of ideas: a way of understanding the world and our place within it.
Too few people today think about Judaism in these terms. We know the Torah contains 613 commands. We know that our faith has beliefs. But these are not all that Judaism is, nor are they what is most distinctive about it.
One might think that the ideas Judaism introduced into the world have become part of the common intellectual heritage of humankind, at least of the West. Yet this is not the case. Some of them have been lost over time; others the West never fully understood. Yet these ideas remain as important as ever before, and perhaps even more so.
In this inspiring work, Rabbi Sacks introduces his readers to one Life-Changing Idea from each of the weekly parashot. If we change the way we think, he argues, we can change the way we feel, which changes the way we act, which changes the people we become. Ideas change lives, and great ideas help us attain courage, happiness, and lives filled with blessing.
