First Steps to a New Jewish Spirit: Reb Zalman's Guide to Recapturing the Intimacy and Ecstasy in your Relationship with God

by Rabbi Zalman M. Schachter-Shalomi, Donald Gropman

A personal guide to the life-giving treasures of the Jewish spiritual tradition. The classic born-again experience is a sudden, discontinuous event. For a person growing with God in daily practice, there is likely to be less drama. The experience will be more gentle, natural, and easier on your immediate family…. If you stay with this work, you have every reason to trust the adage, “When the pupil is ready, the teacher appears.”
―from First Steps to a New Jewish Spirit This extraordinary spiritual handbook is a compassionate call to reconnect with your spiritual roots and nourish your relationship with God. Breaking free from ways of Jewish worship that no longer inspire, Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi―one of the most important Jewish spiritual teachers since Abraham Joshua Heschel―guides you through practical exercises for enriching the most important aspects of everyday life―physical health, work, marriage, family, prayer―and empowers you with contemporary ways to satisfy your modern spiritual hunger. Whether refreshing your soul with a midday mini-Sabbath or improving your relationships by refining your awareness, Reb Zalman will introduce you to new models of practicing Judaism. In doing so, he will challenge you to embrace your faith as both spiritually and emotionally enriching, and will awaken you to innovative, inspiring ways for leading a meaningful Jewish life.

Genres: Judaism, Nonfiction, Judaica

136 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

Reviews

[Cherry Rasnic]

Well reb zalman seems like a sweet man with some nice ideas. A true neochasid who just wants to help you out and put you on.

[Kelly Kron · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book as part of the Discovering Judaism class I am taking. I found it very interesting and alot of it was very yogaish--if that is even a word. It talked about ways to create a yoga practice and I thought had some very inspiring ideas and thoughts. It may have been the first "jewish" book that I really felt that "hey I can see myself doing that" or "yeah I totally agree". The end of the book got a little choppy and I felt like they had a 100 page deadline and had to wrap things up real quick. It also had a whole chapter about circumcision. It seems to me that Jews could talk forever on circumsiion--what is with that. But overall an enjoyable read.

[Nymphcompute6547 · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is a great book for jewish and non jewish alike :)