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Five Cities of Refuge: Weekly Reflections on Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy
In the ancient Jewish practice of the kavannah (a meditation designed to focus one’s heart on its spiritual goal), Lawrence Kushner and David Mamet offer their own reactions to key verses from each week’s Torah portion, opening the biblical text to new layers of understanding.
Here is a fascinating glimpse into two great minds, as each author approaches the text from his unique perspective, each seeking an understanding of the Bible’s personalities and commandments, paradoxes and ambiguities. Kushner offers his words of Torah with a conversational enthusiasm that ranges from family dynamics to the Kabbalah; Mamet challenges the reader, often beginning his comment far afield—with Freud or the American judiciary—before returning to a text now wholly reinterpreted.
In the tradition of Israel as a people who wrestle with God, Kushner and Mamet grapple with the biblical text, succumbing neither to apologetics nor parochialism, asking questions without fear of the answers they may find. Over the course of a year of weekly readings, they comment on all aspects of the its richness of theme and language, its contradictions, its commandments, and its often unfathomable demands. If you are already familiar with the Bible, this book will draw you back to the text for a deeper look. If you have not yet explored the Bible in depth, Kushner and Mamet are guides of unparalleled wisdom and discernment. Five Cities of Refuge is easily accessible yet powerfully illuminating. Each week’s comments can be read in a few minutes, but they will give you something to think about all week long.
Lawrence Kushner teaches and writes as the Emanu-El Scholar at The Congregation Emanu-El of San Francisco. He has taught at Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City and served for twenty-eight years as rabbi of Congregation Beth El in Sudbury, Massachusetts. A frequent lecturer, he is also the author of more than a dozen books on Jewish spirituality and mysticism. He lives in San Francisco.
David Mamet is a Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright. He is the author of Glengarry Glen Ross, The Cryptogram, and Boston Marriage , among other plays. He has also published three novels and many screenplays, children's books, and essay collections.
Here is a fascinating glimpse into two great minds, as each author approaches the text from his unique perspective, each seeking an understanding of the Bible’s personalities and commandments, paradoxes and ambiguities. Kushner offers his words of Torah with a conversational enthusiasm that ranges from family dynamics to the Kabbalah; Mamet challenges the reader, often beginning his comment far afield—with Freud or the American judiciary—before returning to a text now wholly reinterpreted.
In the tradition of Israel as a people who wrestle with God, Kushner and Mamet grapple with the biblical text, succumbing neither to apologetics nor parochialism, asking questions without fear of the answers they may find. Over the course of a year of weekly readings, they comment on all aspects of the its richness of theme and language, its contradictions, its commandments, and its often unfathomable demands. If you are already familiar with the Bible, this book will draw you back to the text for a deeper look. If you have not yet explored the Bible in depth, Kushner and Mamet are guides of unparalleled wisdom and discernment. Five Cities of Refuge is easily accessible yet powerfully illuminating. Each week’s comments can be read in a few minutes, but they will give you something to think about all week long.
Lawrence Kushner teaches and writes as the Emanu-El Scholar at The Congregation Emanu-El of San Francisco. He has taught at Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City and served for twenty-eight years as rabbi of Congregation Beth El in Sudbury, Massachusetts. A frequent lecturer, he is also the author of more than a dozen books on Jewish spirituality and mysticism. He lives in San Francisco.
David Mamet is a Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright. He is the author of Glengarry Glen Ross, The Cryptogram, and Boston Marriage , among other plays. He has also published three novels and many screenplays, children's books, and essay collections.
- GenresJudaism
192 pages, Hardcover
First published August 26, 2003
10 people are currently reading
45 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
February 13, 2022
It was Scott Fitzgerald that said the truest sign of intelligence is the ability to entertain two contradictory ideas simultaneously. This book was written for observant Jews who study Torah, and each parashat is followed by commentary by playwright David Mamet (think "Coffee is for closers") and Rabbi Lawrence Kushner. Their viewpoints are contradictory as Mamet focuses on literary conventions or the lack thereof such as God's messengers popping up to move the story along as plot contrivances. Meanwhile Rabbi Kushner does what you would expect and promotes Jewish ritual and psychological theory such as projection. Is the burning bush real or is it a projection of our own longing for drama? I would buy this book because it would be wonderful to read over and over again with the Torah passages each year. It's not for everyone but neither is Mamet's plays or his political opinions. Personally, I was very impressed with his knowledge of Torah.
March 31, 2016
Rabbi Lawrence Kushner and playwright David Mamet approach the weekly parashot with two dicta in mind: 1) Either the Torah "is stupid or you are" (i.e., it merits serious attention before anything can be ruled out) and 2) Torah stories can't be about what they purport to be about, otherwise they wouldn't be divine...since we could theoretically write better stories. From there on, it's difficult to generalize. Kushner and Mamet sometimes pursue different lines of interpretation, and they're definitely different in style: Kushner is a mystic and psychologist; Mamet is world-weary, incisive, and haunted by antisemitism. I perceive three main themes from their reflections:
1. Humility: As moderns, we idealize ourselves as autonomous and forward looking individuals. The Torah reminds us that there are limits to our power. We learn the lessons of the past with more certainty than we can predict the future: e.g., Joseph's clairvoyance doesn't so much empower him as it seals his fate. Sometimes, counter-intuitively, the best course of action is to take a risk: Abraham's near sacrifice of his son conveys the anxiety older generations feel about the new, but they must ultimately stand aside. And the first step toward wisdom is to recognize our propensity to make mistakes: After his theophany, Jacob anoints a mere stone.
2. Integration: Kushner interprets the Torah as harmonizing conflicting opinions and extreme cases. The Temple was built on Moriah, where Abraham nearly sacrificed his son: So holiness is the equilibrium point when parents have the faith to allow their children to be autonomous and children have the maturity to appreciate their elders. Jacob wrestles the angel between sleep and waking, just as a life of holiness attempts to bring spirit into the material world.
3. The End of Sacrifice: This is more Mamet, even though he contradicts himself once or twice. Vulnerability causes anxiety, and people respond with magic: They make sacrifices to attract the attention of the gods, and the bigger the sacrifice, the more confident they are to obtain divine notice. But there are limits to this primordial strategy, and it must be abandoned to reach a higher evolutionary stage. The Jews now employ deeds, i.e., the mitzvot, to harmonize with the universe, and have thereby obtained a unique wisdom and perspective: this is symbolized by how the calculating Jacob bested his naive brother, Esau. But the advance has come at the expense of experiencing more anxiety and of standing noticeably out as different from others.
1. Humility: As moderns, we idealize ourselves as autonomous and forward looking individuals. The Torah reminds us that there are limits to our power. We learn the lessons of the past with more certainty than we can predict the future: e.g., Joseph's clairvoyance doesn't so much empower him as it seals his fate. Sometimes, counter-intuitively, the best course of action is to take a risk: Abraham's near sacrifice of his son conveys the anxiety older generations feel about the new, but they must ultimately stand aside. And the first step toward wisdom is to recognize our propensity to make mistakes: After his theophany, Jacob anoints a mere stone.
2. Integration: Kushner interprets the Torah as harmonizing conflicting opinions and extreme cases. The Temple was built on Moriah, where Abraham nearly sacrificed his son: So holiness is the equilibrium point when parents have the faith to allow their children to be autonomous and children have the maturity to appreciate their elders. Jacob wrestles the angel between sleep and waking, just as a life of holiness attempts to bring spirit into the material world.
3. The End of Sacrifice: This is more Mamet, even though he contradicts himself once or twice. Vulnerability causes anxiety, and people respond with magic: They make sacrifices to attract the attention of the gods, and the bigger the sacrifice, the more confident they are to obtain divine notice. But there are limits to this primordial strategy, and it must be abandoned to reach a higher evolutionary stage. The Jews now employ deeds, i.e., the mitzvot, to harmonize with the universe, and have thereby obtained a unique wisdom and perspective: this is symbolized by how the calculating Jacob bested his naive brother, Esau. But the advance has come at the expense of experiencing more anxiety and of standing noticeably out as different from others.
March 14, 2016
This collection of dual-meditations / commentaries on key passages from the Torah offers lots of rabbinic insights, old and new, from Kushner (a scholar, author, and rabbi) and then more of a layperson's perspective on the text from Mamet (a Pulitzer Prize winning playwright). Most of their reflections offer a deep wrangling and wrestling with the meaning of the text and its application. Some of the reflections seemed tangential and didn't seem to actually offer any engagement with the chosen text for the day. Overall, I enjoyed these reflections. They may be a bit scholarly in some aspects, but on the whole this book offers a companion to keep on hand when reading the Torah. In it, you will find many points of reflection for your own personal wrestling with the first five books of the Bible.
The word TORAH comes from the verbal root YAH-RAH, which means literally to "toss, throw" and that is what rabbis do. They "toss out" and "throw" their teaching to their pupils. Those who "hear" the word then "catch" what is being "tossed" their way. To not heed the teachings of the Torah is thus, metaphorically speaking, to "drop" or "let fall to the ground" these important teachings, commandments, narrative stories, etc.
The word TORAH comes from the verbal root YAH-RAH, which means literally to "toss, throw" and that is what rabbis do. They "toss out" and "throw" their teaching to their pupils. Those who "hear" the word then "catch" what is being "tossed" their way. To not heed the teachings of the Torah is thus, metaphorically speaking, to "drop" or "let fall to the ground" these important teachings, commandments, narrative stories, etc.
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September 14, 2009Five Cities of Refuge: Weekly Reflections on Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy by Lawrence Kushner (2003)
November 6, 2011
I really wish this included the entire text of each parsha.
February 6, 2016
Beautiful summaries and reflections on each weekly reading from the Torah.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews