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Bashert: a novel
If your bashert is that soul mate who was always meant for you, what happens after you lose that person? Filmmaker and former rabbi Herb Freed takes us on an intoxicating journey into the deepest dimensions of the heart and spirit on one man's quest.
Would you recognize your soul’s complement in another? Beyond the bliss of actually finding your soul mate, there is a belief that the universe hinges on predetermined people finding their other half, their bashert, to maintain cosmic balance. In BASHERT the author immerses us in the heady intoxication and thunderous losses of what it really means to be bashert.
Dan Sobol and Marion Gladstone meet by chance at a screenwriter’s event in Los Angeles. He’s a rabbi turned director known for his cinematic television commercials; she’s a writer and film editor who is recovering from a tabloid-headline screaming Hollywood divorce. From the moment Marion hears Dan’s voice, she knows—and so does he. It’s bashert.
But when did the course of true love ever run smooth? Dan and Marion are soon partners in business as well as life, traveling the world to create movies. He directs, she writes and edits, and life becomes an amazing adventure—until Cancun. There, among the ruins of the Mayan civilization, Marion has an eerie premonition that has the potential to change everything.
Drawing upon his own personal experience, Freed spins a tale unflinching in its examination of life, but weaving along the edge of magical realism. From the bright lights of Hollywood to Mexico, Israel, Paris and the dreamy exhilaration of Jamaica, BASHERT is a love story about transcending life, loss and the boundaries we mistakenly place on our lives and our hearts.
Would you recognize your soul’s complement in another? Beyond the bliss of actually finding your soul mate, there is a belief that the universe hinges on predetermined people finding their other half, their bashert, to maintain cosmic balance. In BASHERT the author immerses us in the heady intoxication and thunderous losses of what it really means to be bashert.
Dan Sobol and Marion Gladstone meet by chance at a screenwriter’s event in Los Angeles. He’s a rabbi turned director known for his cinematic television commercials; she’s a writer and film editor who is recovering from a tabloid-headline screaming Hollywood divorce. From the moment Marion hears Dan’s voice, she knows—and so does he. It’s bashert.
But when did the course of true love ever run smooth? Dan and Marion are soon partners in business as well as life, traveling the world to create movies. He directs, she writes and edits, and life becomes an amazing adventure—until Cancun. There, among the ruins of the Mayan civilization, Marion has an eerie premonition that has the potential to change everything.
Drawing upon his own personal experience, Freed spins a tale unflinching in its examination of life, but weaving along the edge of magical realism. From the bright lights of Hollywood to Mexico, Israel, Paris and the dreamy exhilaration of Jamaica, BASHERT is a love story about transcending life, loss and the boundaries we mistakenly place on our lives and our hearts.
- GenresRomance
338 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 14, 2017
About the author
Herb Freed
3 books26 followersHERB FREED started his adult life as an ordained rabbi and became the spiritual leader of Temple Beth Shalom in Lake Mahopac, New York while producing and directing three shows at the Maidman Playhouse in New York City. Eventually, he resigned his pulpit to become a movie director. He has directed and produced 15 feature films most of which have had psychological, spiritual and/or social themes in spite of their commercial categories. He is best known for Graduation Day, a horror film, and Tomboy, a teenage romp, as well as the psychological drama Haunts, and CHILD2MAN, a story of survival during the Watts riots.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 17, 2017
I read the Kindle version of this book, and in this review-I give nothing away.
I loved it, and in my humble opinion only, the following is why.
I believe that Herb Freed's book is almost one of a kind;- reason being it's title first.
When I saw the word "Bashert", it conjured up the definition/description I know as "meant to be"and soulmate. In Yiddish it means destiny.
This novel speaks many definitions for Bashert , then backed up by the characters actions and their reactions through the choices they make.
The book has a broad range of appeal; and reads as a fiction novel, incorporating many topics and sub topics such as Kabbalah, empowerment of women, cultural similarities, rejection, family, judgement calls, marriage etc. Reading the bio on the author is a must do.
More intriguing for me, is the spiritual elements consistent throughout this book.
At the end of the day, by learning how to accomplish total faith in your soul and beliefs in your heart..... will you recognize your Bashert when you get there???
They did.
*** caveat - If this review is disappointing in it's lack of character and plot content as well as written poorly; please know I am not an editor, publisher, writer, nor author. Just simply an avid reader who read a fabulous book with content I love.
I loved it, and in my humble opinion only, the following is why.
I believe that Herb Freed's book is almost one of a kind;- reason being it's title first.
When I saw the word "Bashert", it conjured up the definition/description I know as "meant to be"and soulmate. In Yiddish it means destiny.
This novel speaks many definitions for Bashert , then backed up by the characters actions and their reactions through the choices they make.
The book has a broad range of appeal; and reads as a fiction novel, incorporating many topics and sub topics such as Kabbalah, empowerment of women, cultural similarities, rejection, family, judgement calls, marriage etc. Reading the bio on the author is a must do.
More intriguing for me, is the spiritual elements consistent throughout this book.
At the end of the day, by learning how to accomplish total faith in your soul and beliefs in your heart..... will you recognize your Bashert when you get there???
They did.
*** caveat - If this review is disappointing in it's lack of character and plot content as well as written poorly; please know I am not an editor, publisher, writer, nor author. Just simply an avid reader who read a fabulous book with content I love.
May 5, 2017
A love story that goes beyond this world and into the next.
The second that Dan Sobol and Marion Gladstone meet, they know they are meant to be together. Dan is an ex-rabbi that has made his way into the film industry. Marion is a writer and film editor who is getting over a divorce that has made her an outcast in the industry. Together, they travel the world making movies and enjoying their time together until it all comes to an end far too soon.
Finding true love is something seen in movies and rarely experienced in real life. Herb Freed takes the reader on an adventure in love that goes beyond this world. While the premise of the story is very intriguing, I had a hard time sticking with it. There were points that I felt could have been skipped completely because they closed the story off from flowing. However, other parts of the story kept me reading quickly to find out what was going to happen. The writing flows at times and stalls at others. Even so, this is a story that will make the reader believe in true love and want to achieve what Marion and Dan did. It also makes you want to avoid the qualities of some of the other characters, as well as others we are around every day. Overall it was a decent read, but not one I will likely pick up again.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.
The second that Dan Sobol and Marion Gladstone meet, they know they are meant to be together. Dan is an ex-rabbi that has made his way into the film industry. Marion is a writer and film editor who is getting over a divorce that has made her an outcast in the industry. Together, they travel the world making movies and enjoying their time together until it all comes to an end far too soon.
Finding true love is something seen in movies and rarely experienced in real life. Herb Freed takes the reader on an adventure in love that goes beyond this world. While the premise of the story is very intriguing, I had a hard time sticking with it. There were points that I felt could have been skipped completely because they closed the story off from flowing. However, other parts of the story kept me reading quickly to find out what was going to happen. The writing flows at times and stalls at others. Even so, this is a story that will make the reader believe in true love and want to achieve what Marion and Dan did. It also makes you want to avoid the qualities of some of the other characters, as well as others we are around every day. Overall it was a decent read, but not one I will likely pick up again.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.
December 24, 2021
I’m sorry to say I was mostly disappointed by this. :/ I’m an easy grader, and props, I guess, for an innovative story?
The back cover introduces us to the LA film industry couple, Dan and Marion, who are bashert, or Yiddish for beloved. It continues that they live a happy life until Marion receives a premonition while accompanying Dan for a film in Mayan ruins. This doesn’t seem to be an accurate summary of the plot to me at all. The summary is that a few years after Marion’s death, Dan is invited to Jamaica by his long-lost foster daughter, Molly, who claims the bashert can be reunited at Jubilation Day.
That’s the general crux of the present-day plot. Dan travels to Jamaica, has enigmatic meetings with Molly, Molly’s fiancé Rocky, and some Jamaican locals who hue closely to the Magical Negro trope, if not fall head first into it. :/ They spend a lot of time stuck in traffic (though Freed’s depictions of Jubilation Day festivities is probably the strongest writing in the book) and then Dan takes us on several chapters of flashbacks as the present-day interactions reference them.
I had a lot of trouble with the backstory. Is it fair to say it was too unfocused? I get that all of it had to do with the emotional relationship between Dan and Marion. Highlights included Dan’s, mostly, career; Marion’s battle with Lupus; and the way that Molly entered their lives (spoiler alert: there’s not just one, but two one-dimensionally evil birth mothers in this book.) But I never got a sense of time passing. This didn’t feel like a long, well-established relationship as much as it felt like a bunch of drama told in hyperbolic exposition. (Same could be said for much of the present-day action, too.)
Despite the supernatural elements, I’m pretty sure this is auto-fiction. Freed’s career hues close to Dan’s—in fact, they directed some of the same movies! :P There’s an interesting backstory here, from the rabbinical pulpit to the director’s chair. Also, Freed’s wife’s named Marion, and one of her quotes starts the book.
Moving on, there's some threads about Judaism pairing with other forms of mysticism. It reminded me of reading THE DECEMBER PROJECT by Sara Davidson; Reb Zalman never turned to the moving pictures, but I’d reckon his relationship with spirituality is far more interesting than Rabbi/Director Dan’s. Plus, the Reb has a far more healthy idea of death, imho.
I read page 112 for one of my tag videos, and it feels like a misdirection! One could assume from that page that this was a quieter novel about a couple in middle age working out some frays in their relationship, particularly as Dan’s mother is ailing. There were some truly subtle character moments on that page that were largely absent from the rest of the book. Alas! The larger-than-life (no pun intended) plot just doesn’t hold much interest for me without a more authentically written cast.
Still, for a self-published book in LA, this apparently found itself for sale at the Strand Bookstore in New York! :o That’s where my mother picked it up on a whim for me. I suppose Freed has his fans, so kudos to him. But I wish my mother would stop trying to surprise me, and stick to buying from my already mountainous TBR. :P
The back cover introduces us to the LA film industry couple, Dan and Marion, who are bashert, or Yiddish for beloved. It continues that they live a happy life until Marion receives a premonition while accompanying Dan for a film in Mayan ruins. This doesn’t seem to be an accurate summary of the plot to me at all. The summary is that a few years after Marion’s death, Dan is invited to Jamaica by his long-lost foster daughter, Molly, who claims the bashert can be reunited at Jubilation Day.
That’s the general crux of the present-day plot. Dan travels to Jamaica, has enigmatic meetings with Molly, Molly’s fiancé Rocky, and some Jamaican locals who hue closely to the Magical Negro trope, if not fall head first into it. :/ They spend a lot of time stuck in traffic (though Freed’s depictions of Jubilation Day festivities is probably the strongest writing in the book) and then Dan takes us on several chapters of flashbacks as the present-day interactions reference them.
I had a lot of trouble with the backstory. Is it fair to say it was too unfocused? I get that all of it had to do with the emotional relationship between Dan and Marion. Highlights included Dan’s, mostly, career; Marion’s battle with Lupus; and the way that Molly entered their lives (spoiler alert: there’s not just one, but two one-dimensionally evil birth mothers in this book.) But I never got a sense of time passing. This didn’t feel like a long, well-established relationship as much as it felt like a bunch of drama told in hyperbolic exposition. (Same could be said for much of the present-day action, too.)
Despite the supernatural elements, I’m pretty sure this is auto-fiction. Freed’s career hues close to Dan’s—in fact, they directed some of the same movies! :P There’s an interesting backstory here, from the rabbinical pulpit to the director’s chair. Also, Freed’s wife’s named Marion, and one of her quotes starts the book.
Moving on, there's some threads about Judaism pairing with other forms of mysticism. It reminded me of reading THE DECEMBER PROJECT by Sara Davidson; Reb Zalman never turned to the moving pictures, but I’d reckon his relationship with spirituality is far more interesting than Rabbi/Director Dan’s. Plus, the Reb has a far more healthy idea of death, imho.
I read page 112 for one of my tag videos, and it feels like a misdirection! One could assume from that page that this was a quieter novel about a couple in middle age working out some frays in their relationship, particularly as Dan’s mother is ailing. There were some truly subtle character moments on that page that were largely absent from the rest of the book. Alas! The larger-than-life (no pun intended) plot just doesn’t hold much interest for me without a more authentically written cast.
Still, for a self-published book in LA, this apparently found itself for sale at the Strand Bookstore in New York! :o That’s where my mother picked it up on a whim for me. I suppose Freed has his fans, so kudos to him. But I wish my mother would stop trying to surprise me, and stick to buying from my already mountainous TBR. :P
June 19, 2018
Bashert is a very well-written and heartwarming story. Not being of the Jewish faith, I learned quite a bit about their beliefs and philosophy. I loved Dan and Marion’s story and was very pleased that their faith didn’t turn them into buttoned-up, prim and proper shadows of themselves. While there is sadness scattered throughout Freed’s novel, it’s always offset by laughter and love. Freed is a masterful story teller and sure hope he continues to write. I will be recommending Bashert to all my friends.
October 22, 2017
Thank you NetGalley and Bellrock Press for the copy of Bashert, a novel by Herb Freed. This is an unusual love story spanning through life as well the afterlife, for a special couple which are "bashert", destined, or meant to be together for all eternity. A heartfelt and creative story, with much depth and devotion to finding each other, believing, and maintaining being two parts of a whole in unexpected ways.
February 27, 2019
I was provided an ARC through NetGalley for an honest opinion
Unfortunately, I was not able to follow along with this story. I appreciate the opportunity to review it, but it just wasn't one I could get into at this time. Therefore, I was not able to finish it.
Unfortunately, I was not able to follow along with this story. I appreciate the opportunity to review it, but it just wasn't one I could get into at this time. Therefore, I was not able to finish it.
July 30, 2017
Wow!!!!
This was an all consuming story filled with love, laughter and tears. It certainly was different from any other book I've read--and I've read a lot. I highly recommend it if you want a totally new concept of an emotional up and down love story.
This was an all consuming story filled with love, laughter and tears. It certainly was different from any other book I've read--and I've read a lot. I highly recommend it if you want a totally new concept of an emotional up and down love story.
August 26, 2017
didnt finish it. Lost interest.
March 9, 2017
An Experience in the Sacredness of Love
I could not put this book down. I burned dinner, walked slower on my treadmill as I read, and totally blew off a conference call because I was so consumed by the honest, blissful, joyfully passionate entwining of the souls who are the characters in this book. We all hope/question: Is he/she my soulmate? Is it possible to love unconditionally? Will I experience an exalted love with another? Yes, Yes and Yes. Based on his life experiences, Herb Freed, through the written word, exquisitely creates imagery evoking all the feelings that embrace everything that is Bashert. A novel that teaches, enlightens and opens the heart as it speaks so well to the sacredness of love. You will learn, you will see, you will FEEL, as all of your senses are awakened to the story that honors life, loss and love. Beautiful, mystical, magical, sacred, enthralling, devoted – there really is no word that precisely describes the depths your own soul will reach as you read this book, the feelings are ineffable. Enjoy this book, relish the read, cherish the message, you will be changed and quite honored to have had the opportunity to share in the journey. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
I could not put this book down. I burned dinner, walked slower on my treadmill as I read, and totally blew off a conference call because I was so consumed by the honest, blissful, joyfully passionate entwining of the souls who are the characters in this book. We all hope/question: Is he/she my soulmate? Is it possible to love unconditionally? Will I experience an exalted love with another? Yes, Yes and Yes. Based on his life experiences, Herb Freed, through the written word, exquisitely creates imagery evoking all the feelings that embrace everything that is Bashert. A novel that teaches, enlightens and opens the heart as it speaks so well to the sacredness of love. You will learn, you will see, you will FEEL, as all of your senses are awakened to the story that honors life, loss and love. Beautiful, mystical, magical, sacred, enthralling, devoted – there really is no word that precisely describes the depths your own soul will reach as you read this book, the feelings are ineffable. Enjoy this book, relish the read, cherish the message, you will be changed and quite honored to have had the opportunity to share in the journey. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews