A Treasury of Jewish Inspirational Stories

Book excerpt: When we speak of God reaching out to humans, it is called revelation, and the human response to revelation is inspiration. A Treasury of Jewish Inspirational Stories is meant to move the head and the heart to appreciate, as author Lawrence J. Epstein writes, "the effects that divine influence and guidance have had on Jewish individuals, communities, and history". The stories he has gathered manifest the many forms of this human response. As in his previous best-selling volume, A Treasury of Jewish Anecdotes, Epstein shows us his remarkable skill of gathering tales and his talent for retelling them in a voice that speaks clearly to a contemporary audience. These are not stories of purported miracles. Nor are they always verifiable. Some of the stories are folktales, others are exaggerations. Some are biographical, others are snapshots from history. But all have a singular theme and goal: renewed faith in divine guidance or in the human capacity to do good deeds. Epstein explains in his introduction that an inspirational story can affect its listener in many ways: it can clarify religious ideas, lead to spiritual experiences, reinforce theological notions, provide peace of mind, give birth to motivation for spiritual action, and serve as a model for living. To find such stories for A Treasury of Jewish Inspirational Stories, Epstein searched every corner of Jewish experience, from the Bible to modern times. He combed the classical literature, hasidic lore, and the lives of well-known Jewish personalities - such as Hillel, Rashi, and Maimonides - as well as lesser-known figures and ordinary individuals, looking for tales that provide us with a "shock of insight into eternal mysteries".These stories, Epstein goes on to say, help us "become connected to a divine process we can only dimly comprehend, but one to which we react with awe and reverence". A Treasury of Jewish Inspirational Stories is a fine sourcebook for what the author describes as "a special kind of literature". Epstein has provided us with retellings of such stories as the Exodus from Egypt, Mount Sinai, the receiving of the Ten Commandments, the story of Esther, Judah Maccabee, Herzl and the rebirth of Israel, the fighters of the Warsaw Ghetto - over 125 "stories that move the intellect and the emotions". Epstein remarks that the original idea for writing a book of inspirational stories came after listening to a survivor of the Holocaust. It is his hope that A Treasury of Jewish Inspirational Stories will allow readers to search for the inspirational stories in their own lives.