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The Curse of Blessings: Sometimes, the Right Story Can Change Your Life
"The Curse of Blessings" is ten jewel-like tales nestled in a larger framework, wherein an aged storyteller passes on his craft to four unlikely apprentices. It is a gift that will leave them transformed - or not - depending on what they allow themselves to hear. These are tales of utter simplicity that express life's most complex truths. They can be read in a sitting, yet stay with you forever.
96 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 3, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 22, 2021
This was one of of eight books I read to test out for an upcoming genre
"Fables, Folklore, Tales and and Myths" for the Jewish Book Club. The purpose was to find a few books having short stories written as a parables, with morals handed down through the generations. .
Many are re-written for contemporary audiences, yet some older ones stay the same. You will be able to recognizable the stories even though they have a different title.
This one fit beautifully. Short, entertaining, and makes the point.
"Fables, Folklore, Tales and and Myths" for the Jewish Book Club. The purpose was to find a few books having short stories written as a parables, with morals handed down through the generations. .
Many are re-written for contemporary audiences, yet some older ones stay the same. You will be able to recognizable the stories even though they have a different title.
This one fit beautifully. Short, entertaining, and makes the point.
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March 26, 2021This is a book of parables.
Not parables that tell you how to behave or what to do to be good, so much as parables to get at the unknown unknown: what you don't know that you don't know you don't know. The name of the book comes from the first story, in which a man has to issue a new blessing every single day of his life in order to remain alive.
I was reading along and thought I'd probably have to sit with these, as with some poetry.
Then I came to one that immediately hit the mark.
Maybe not the unknown unknown, but the known that I didn't credit until I saw it written down in a story. Noticed but not yet known until I read the story.
Although the book was short, I read the stories one at a time.
Not parables that tell you how to behave or what to do to be good, so much as parables to get at the unknown unknown: what you don't know that you don't know you don't know. The name of the book comes from the first story, in which a man has to issue a new blessing every single day of his life in order to remain alive.
I was reading along and thought I'd probably have to sit with these, as with some poetry.
Then I came to one that immediately hit the mark.
Maybe not the unknown unknown, but the known that I didn't credit until I saw it written down in a story. Noticed but not yet known until I read the story.
Although the book was short, I read the stories one at a time.
January 21, 2024
Beautiful book
Mini stories to stir up some wisdom in your mind - some reminders of what is important and what is not - what is real and what are illusions - will hopefully read again one day -
Thank you to the author!
Mini stories to stir up some wisdom in your mind - some reminders of what is important and what is not - what is real and what are illusions - will hopefully read again one day -
Thank you to the author!
January 30, 2009
I felt like I was reading The Tales of Beadle the Bard again, but that doesn't make this a bad read. In fact, almost in spite of myself, I ended up liking this book very much.
It's a compilation of parable-like tales, ten in all, that sometimes depend on religious tradition in order to give a moralistic resolution to each story. This makes sense, as Chefitz is a Jewish leader and probably tells such stories on a regular basis. I wish that more of them were his own and not simply altered tales he already is familiar with, but I guess I can't say anything since I've never heard any of them before.
This would be a nice way to tell moralistic stories to children without having to worry about blatant paternalistic, patriarchal, or misogynistic messages (although, now that I think about it, not many women were even in any of these stories...); the morals still come across loud and clear.
It's a compilation of parable-like tales, ten in all, that sometimes depend on religious tradition in order to give a moralistic resolution to each story. This makes sense, as Chefitz is a Jewish leader and probably tells such stories on a regular basis. I wish that more of them were his own and not simply altered tales he already is familiar with, but I guess I can't say anything since I've never heard any of them before.
This would be a nice way to tell moralistic stories to children without having to worry about blatant paternalistic, patriarchal, or misogynistic messages (although, now that I think about it, not many women were even in any of these stories...); the morals still come across loud and clear.
June 3, 2016
This is a short collection of short stories by a Jewish rabbi, the title refers to one of the stories. The stories are fables or allegories, and I really enjoyed them. Given some thought, each could teach you something about life. I'm not sure I gave them enough thought, and I missed the book club meeting which would have hashed them out really well, but I still got something from it.
May 3, 2008
sweet little book with a bunch of nice stories, but will it change your life? i dunno. maybe if you really really tried to read lots of meaning into the stories. maybe i'm shallow, but i think the blurb on the cover oversold this book. it ain't bad, it just isn;'t that great either.
December 6, 2015
Some thought provoking stories, but on the whole they are didactic rather than absorbing.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews