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Hope Will Find You: My Search for the Wisdom to Stop Waiting and Start Living
How can I get my life off hold? When will my life really begin? We all ask ourselves the same questions when we are struggling to move forward. As a rabbi, Naomi Levy frequently offered spiritual guidance to people seeking the answers. But when a doctor told her that her young daughter, Noa, had a fatal degenerative disease, Rabbi Levy’s own insights could not prevent her whole life from unraveling.
In Hope Will Find You, Naomi Levy shares her journey and the wisdom she gained. She describes with humor and honesty how she came through a time of uncertainty and fear and learned how to stop waiting for life to begin. A natural and engaging storyteller, Levy has written a book filled with invaluable lessons for living in the present and for opening the door to an extraordinary future.
Hope Will Find You is a book that will be passed to friends when life gets confusing, a book that will rest on our bedside tables when we are searching for hope and direction.
In Hope Will Find You, Naomi Levy shares her journey and the wisdom she gained. She describes with humor and honesty how she came through a time of uncertainty and fear and learned how to stop waiting for life to begin. A natural and engaging storyteller, Levy has written a book filled with invaluable lessons for living in the present and for opening the door to an extraordinary future.
Hope Will Find You is a book that will be passed to friends when life gets confusing, a book that will rest on our bedside tables when we are searching for hope and direction.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
July 18, 2011
I won this book from a TV show contest. I never win anything. I've been struggling with a lot of things in the past year, and here comes this book in the mail. I couldn't even remember seeing the segment on the show, but I'm thinking, I like books. I'll read it and sell/trade it off at the used book store. But if hope will find you, this book found me right when I needed it. It really spoke to me. I feel like I was MEANT to have this book. It is one I will keep, treasure, and read more than once, which I rarely do any book. It is one of the best books I have ever read.
November 7, 2010
This is a LIFE-CHANGING book.
Every human being should be required to read this book at the age of 12, and to re-read it once annually.
It contains many truths we know, but hesitate to put into practice. Many of the examples are extraordinary.
It could be seen as a "self-help book for how to live life".
BUT, it's messages, and way of speaking to the reader, are more powerful than other such books.
I read a bit slowly, and it took me two nights to read the 240 pages.
Put aside two evenings.
READ THIS BOOK!
You'll be glad you did!
Every human being should be required to read this book at the age of 12, and to re-read it once annually.
It contains many truths we know, but hesitate to put into practice. Many of the examples are extraordinary.
It could be seen as a "self-help book for how to live life".
BUT, it's messages, and way of speaking to the reader, are more powerful than other such books.
I read a bit slowly, and it took me two nights to read the 240 pages.
Put aside two evenings.
READ THIS BOOK!
You'll be glad you did!
September 23, 2010
I read this amazing book in two days, I could not put it down. Rabbi Naomi Levy has written such an inspiring honest book, sharing her own experiences and journey faced with the challenge of her daughter's experiences of suffering and joy.I loved how she isn't afraid to expose her fears and question of faith in spite of being a Rabb. And importantly the explanations from biblical texts combined with her style of writing was so moving. I highly recommend this book to all.
November 29, 2010
What a lovely book. I actually bought it by 'mistake' thinking I was buying a book by a different author. Maybe when you are buying a book like this there are no mistakes? It was a surprisingly compelling read. I had gotten through half of it before I'd even realized I was actually reading it. The whole thing sort of took me by surprise. While the story encompasses the struggles a terrified mother has over the health of her fragile child, it was kind, cheerful, and generously helpful to any reader facing any slough of despond. I was depressed yesterday, and woke up humming today. Go figure.
June 26, 2011
Rabbi Levy's book is one of the most unusual faith books I have read. She was counseling with a family who had a daughter with A-T, a degenerative neurological disease. Within two years on a Sabbath Friday night, she received a phone call from her own doctor and the diagnosis of her own daughter was A-T. This book is filled with humorous situations Rabbi Levy and her husband, son, and daughter find themselves in. It is a story of how God works in many situations. There are frequent quotes from the Old Testament and Yiddish proverbs. My favorite: Man plans and God laughs. This is a book I want others to read and share with their friends, too.
January 21, 2014
Rabbi Naomi Levy has a good life. She is: the first woman admitted to a Conservative Rabbinic School, a “rising star” as a Rabbi in a local Synagogue, delightfully married to her best friend, the mother of son, Adi, and daughter, Noa. When her daughter was six, she is examined, tested, questioned, probed and prodded to determine the cause of her lack of coordination and frequent inability to walk without stumbling. Initially, she was diagnosed with Ataxia telangiectasia (A-T), a rare, neurodegenerative, inherited disease causing severe disability, “most kinds with A-T don’t make it out of their teens.” (p.5) such news would shake any parent, causing them to re-evaluate their priorities and face some very scary. For this bright, articulate, faithful woman, some of those questions continue, but she allows the reader into her heart for the seven years between Noa’s diagnosis and the time the doctors said the disease would manifest (a second opinion determined Noa suffered from an undetermined neurological ailment) if that were what she is actually suffering.
In her training as a Rabbi, as in all good religious training, Rabbi Levy was confronted with The Questions of one’s soul: How come some parents have to bury their children? How come some people outlive their family, friends, and capabilities but cannot find the blessed relief of death? What is the difference between what is valuable and what is costly? I got the feeling, however, it was not until her daughter was threatened by an unnamed ailment that she was able to actually ask those (and like) questions for the first time. The “answers” that she found served as some comfort but they did not resolve the questions - they offered strength, direction, some semblance of order. She “was having trouble figuring out Who I was praying to and what I was praying for.” While “(she) longed to talk to God, but (she) was too angry to being the conversation,” she found “Noa and God were best of friends, always chatting and whispering secrets” (pp. 55 & 56). She gained the understanding that it is our job to open our hearts to God, not God’s (p. 105) and that, like Israel just out of Egypt, we are only trapped when we only pray, refusing to “start walking” (133). These are only a few of the nuggets offered within the pages of this work.
The seven years between diagnosis and the book’s end were painful, enlightening, instructive, defining and “blessed” for Rabbi Levy. In this superbly written memoir, one is allowed to experience the moments of anguish of such poignancy so as to be stunned to silence; moments of such unexpected brightness it is like looking into the sun; instances of Divine Presence that I felt the need to remove my shoes and occasions of awaking to the miracle of “everyday” that it is Zen-like in its purity. I will offer this book to those who are wrestling with similar questions, who are wondering if God is and if so, where God is, to those who hunger for a new moment of Spiritual truth. I would offer them my copy, but it is far too marked up to depart from my hands, at least for a while.
In her training as a Rabbi, as in all good religious training, Rabbi Levy was confronted with The Questions of one’s soul: How come some parents have to bury their children? How come some people outlive their family, friends, and capabilities but cannot find the blessed relief of death? What is the difference between what is valuable and what is costly? I got the feeling, however, it was not until her daughter was threatened by an unnamed ailment that she was able to actually ask those (and like) questions for the first time. The “answers” that she found served as some comfort but they did not resolve the questions - they offered strength, direction, some semblance of order. She “was having trouble figuring out Who I was praying to and what I was praying for.” While “(she) longed to talk to God, but (she) was too angry to being the conversation,” she found “Noa and God were best of friends, always chatting and whispering secrets” (pp. 55 & 56). She gained the understanding that it is our job to open our hearts to God, not God’s (p. 105) and that, like Israel just out of Egypt, we are only trapped when we only pray, refusing to “start walking” (133). These are only a few of the nuggets offered within the pages of this work.
The seven years between diagnosis and the book’s end were painful, enlightening, instructive, defining and “blessed” for Rabbi Levy. In this superbly written memoir, one is allowed to experience the moments of anguish of such poignancy so as to be stunned to silence; moments of such unexpected brightness it is like looking into the sun; instances of Divine Presence that I felt the need to remove my shoes and occasions of awaking to the miracle of “everyday” that it is Zen-like in its purity. I will offer this book to those who are wrestling with similar questions, who are wondering if God is and if so, where God is, to those who hunger for a new moment of Spiritual truth. I would offer them my copy, but it is far too marked up to depart from my hands, at least for a while.
January 22, 2012
An interesting voyage of spiritual doubt and re-awakening, Levy shares her frustrations and doubts in the face of a faith-challenging event: the (possible) diagnosis of a degenerative disease for her daughter. We should all have such supportive family and community. I am impressed, inspired and/or envious of the (multi-)faith connections, from chevrutah to building share. For those of us without Talmud and rabbinic wisdom at our fingertips, is this book a tale of hope for us in our time of need, that we too will get through whatever difficulties we face, or is it too particular and less universal?
April 19, 2011
I'm not very religious, but I thought she did a good job of expressing the torment that an individual feels when an important part of their lives goes awry. The torment, the search for answers, the search for fixes. Putting one's life on hold until the situation is "fixed." This was a powerful book, and Rabbi Naomi Levy is a courageous woman.
June 13, 2011
I enjoy Naomi Levy's books and her perspective very much. She's honest and thoughtful and I would recommend this book to anyone struggling with hard realities.
November 3, 2014
This book was just what I needed. It spoke eloquently and powerfully to all the various situations in my life.
November 10, 2014
I wanted this book to change my life.
That isn't so much to ask, is it?
SPOILER ALERT!
It didn't.
Not even close.
To be fair, I was only going off of a handful of Goodreads reviews. To be fair, this is not a genre I venture into. To be fair, this book does not hide that God will be mentioned a lot (it is written by a Rabbi), and my faith in a higher power is somewhat...lacking.
BUT THOSE OTHER REVIEWS, MAN. I REALLY TRUSTED THEM.
So (quickly) here is what I liked:
1. The little Yiddish proverbs that started each chapter.
No one knows whose shoe pinches.
2. The smaller stories within the book. For example, she (the author, Naomi) speaks of a couple who went to see a psychic that told them there was a divorce in their future. This made the wife too scared to even have a baby. Naomi makes them close their eyes and writes on their palms. Then I asked them to open their eyes and read their palms. This is what I had written: "Your future isn't written on your hands, your future is in your hands."
3. That the author isn't a bonehead.
And it is number three that makes me feel so damn guilty for being agitated by this book because I recognize her knowledge, kindness, and good intentions. But I have to be honest, right?
Here is what I didn't like:
1. The rest of the book. Ha. Ha. I kid. Or do I?
This book could have been about twenty pages long. Instead, it is filled with so much repetition that my eyes started to glaze over. I am a mother, and I do understand that unconditional love for a child but FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. I couldn't hear one more thing about her daughter and what it all may have "meant." Which leads me to number 2.
2. I am NOT a fan of thoughts of what God "might" be trying to tell someone. If you want to think that everything means something, that is just fine with me. But it doesn't need to plaster every third page of a book just to fill pages. I just felt like that was what was being done - a meandering ramble to fill pages.
Honestly, I am holding back a lot in this review because I don't want to come across as completely insensitive. Honestly, I just didn't think the material was there to write a book. I understand her daughter is an inspiration to her and perhaps her congregation for being strong and having a positive attitude despite her disease, but I just didn't think it was enough for a whole book.
March 9, 2015
What a beautiful book. A story of fear, tragedy, faith and, above all, hope. Naomi Levy has written a wonderful and inspirational book based on her own struggles with faith. At the age of six her daughter is tentatively diagnosed with a rare degenerative disease that could be fatal, but she is told that they won't know for certain until she is in her early teens. Imagine having to wait seven years to find out if you will lose your only daughter. Not surprisingly, Levy's life is thrown into turmoil and, despite her rabbinic training, she struggles with questions of faith.
Her underlying theme is that life is about moving forward, about taking positive action even when in the face of tragedy it is easier to become immobilized. It is in many ways a traditional Jewish theme wrapped in modern language. In one midrash (rabbinic story) she says "When the Children of Israel were escaping from Egypt, they came upon the Red Sea and then they looked behind them and saw the Egyptians approaching. They were trapped. They cried to Moses, so he cried to God. And God shot back, 'Why are you crying to Me? Tell the people to start walking.' It was only after the people walked into the water that the sea parted before them."
And again, "The power of vision is the power to believe we will find our way when the road before us is foggy and uncertain. It's the power to believe even in the midst of sadness, pain, exhaustion, and fear that you will have cause to celebrate again."
Levy's struggles are like the struggles that each of us have in life. Although her powers of hope and faith are perhaps beyond what most of us can conjure up, I believe in her message that hope can carry us through the darkest hour. As one Yiddish Proverb says, "You can't control the wind, but you can adjust your sails."
Her underlying theme is that life is about moving forward, about taking positive action even when in the face of tragedy it is easier to become immobilized. It is in many ways a traditional Jewish theme wrapped in modern language. In one midrash (rabbinic story) she says "When the Children of Israel were escaping from Egypt, they came upon the Red Sea and then they looked behind them and saw the Egyptians approaching. They were trapped. They cried to Moses, so he cried to God. And God shot back, 'Why are you crying to Me? Tell the people to start walking.' It was only after the people walked into the water that the sea parted before them."
And again, "The power of vision is the power to believe we will find our way when the road before us is foggy and uncertain. It's the power to believe even in the midst of sadness, pain, exhaustion, and fear that you will have cause to celebrate again."
Levy's struggles are like the struggles that each of us have in life. Although her powers of hope and faith are perhaps beyond what most of us can conjure up, I believe in her message that hope can carry us through the darkest hour. As one Yiddish Proverb says, "You can't control the wind, but you can adjust your sails."
September 20, 2011
There is a lot of wisdom in this book. It is about a female rabbi who finds that her daughter has a genetic condition that may or may not be terminal. How she copes is so familiar to those who have experienced a similar situation. It is helpful to those who haven't to understand and empathize with those who have, and to those who have, you know your reactions are not unusual. Her background as a brilliant rabbi informs much of what she deals with, spiritually. I only give 5 stars to amazing books. This is a well-written, engaging book.
April 25, 2013
Wow! A friend recommended this book written by a rabbi about how to "stop waiting and start living" and it is wonderful! Each little chapter (2-3 pages) starts with a brief quote from the bible or a Yiddish proverb (example: God gave burden, also shoulders), the chapters were perfect for reading when I only had a few minutes, but then I didn't want to put the book down. The author dealt with her father's untimely death and her daughter's serious illness. She describes the situations and also how she got through the tough times.
I really enjoyed this book and found it very inspiring!
I really enjoyed this book and found it very inspiring!
March 14, 2014
I first found Rabbi Levy's writing in Talking to God, a series of prayers and passages that the Rabbi wrote for all manner of situations. This came into play at a period of my life when prayer was introduced to me.
Hope will find you is a journey through a dark period of the Rabbi's life; this is a personal tale told in short chapters, with much anguish and periods of just bright, bright observations.
I had put the book down halfway through for no reason. Picking it up again, the truth of what she wrote made a very deep connection with me.
I hope it does with you as well.
Hope will find you is a journey through a dark period of the Rabbi's life; this is a personal tale told in short chapters, with much anguish and periods of just bright, bright observations.
I had put the book down halfway through for no reason. Picking it up again, the truth of what she wrote made a very deep connection with me.
I hope it does with you as well.
March 28, 2011
i usually have a problem with memoirs - just don't believe it all happened like this - but this one had some good points. i thought the old yiddish quotes were the best part of many of the chapters. and i could have used less reminding of how this woman had been a "rising star" in her field. but that said, she seemed like a great mom, and a great rabbi and the book was a nice journey. plus if she can lose hope, i don't feel so bad that i have too.
January 28, 2015
I read this book in two days. I am still waiting for hope to find me after a year of grueling loss. My husband was killed, my dog died, I was forced into early retirement and I had to move. I am sure the doors are there just at the end of a really long hallway. I am at the point where I do not know what I want or what to hope for. I have Naomi Levy's two other books which I keep nearby. ..this will join them. Maybe at some point hope will find me.
January 14, 2013
This book was suggested to me a few years ago when my son was going through a medical crisis. Reading it now had the strange effect of bringing me back to that horrible time of fear and anger. Though by the time I finished a few days later it was great to have the perspective that today's crap is just that, nothing compared to those horrible times.
January 27, 2014
This book is by a Jewish Rabbi, but even though I do not know about the traditions and information about this faith I was able to get slot out of this book. It really spoke about things that our mind may see as obstacles are truly there to help us become the people we are meant to be in Gods eyes. It was a very uplifting story that makes one think and appreciate all that life has to offer.
May 27, 2016
A feel-good, lightly spiritual book about living in the midst of uncertainty. The book centers around the unknown diagnosis of her daughter who has a developmental delay and I read quickly to find the end conclusion. However, I did enjoy the author's insights on her family's struggle from her modern Jewish point of view.
September 21, 2017
Uplifting
This book by Rabbi Levy is scary, sad, thought-provoking and ultimately hopeful and uplifting. It was a quick read for me. I felt that she provided just the right level of detail, anecdote, and religious questioning. Her daughter Noa is clearly an unusual and insightful young woman who is lucky also to have such a special family. Recommended reading.
This book by Rabbi Levy is scary, sad, thought-provoking and ultimately hopeful and uplifting. It was a quick read for me. I felt that she provided just the right level of detail, anecdote, and religious questioning. Her daughter Noa is clearly an unusual and insightful young woman who is lucky also to have such a special family. Recommended reading.
August 2, 2018
I appreciated the author’s honesty in her struggle with God through her daughter’s illness. Theirs is an inspiring story of courage and strong family love. Although the author is Jewish and talks about God, I would class this more as a self-help book than a resource for spiritual growth. The author seems to ultimately find hope more in herself and her community than in God.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 25, 2010
This book touched my heart. I could relate to so many situations as they relate to my own life as a mother with a disabled child. I loved the process she went through to understand her own actions and emotions. This is a great story.
January 24, 2011
One of the best books I have ever read - full of inspiration and meaning. I appreciate the author's creative style of writing and her unique knack for gleaning personal meaning from Jewish/Biblical concepts.
May 13, 2011
This book is simply inspirational. I love turning every single page. I actually feel like a better person after reading this book. I don't know if that was what I was supposed to get out of this, but there it is....wink!
August 8, 2011
this is about a Jewish rabbi (woman) who has a daughter diagnosed at age 5 with a fatal neurological disease. it is a 7 year journey in their lives and has a lot of inspirational tidbits and alot of reality and challenging experiences i definately recommend this book
July 27, 2013
I'm enjoying it. Easy to read, message is coming across.
February 5, 2011
I'm giving this a "5" because I heard her speak in person. It meant even more hearing her than reading the book (which felt a bit choppy at times, though good points were made).
May 5, 2011
Inspirational.
Currently Reading
August 26, 2011this book is very intriguing and i am enjoying it very much.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews