The Receiving

January 27, 2003
The astonishing stories of seven remarkable but almost unknown Jewish women form the centerpiece of this treatise on feminine spirituality. Mystics, sages, prayer leaders and miracle workers, the women lived in the second to 20th centuries, in countries from Germany to Kurdistan. Their recorded legacies survived precisely because they bypassed feminine norms. Firestone, a rabbi and psychotherapist, chose the women based on their abilities to bring life into balance, uniting opposites (practical/spiritual; purpose/action) to achieve wholeness. Each woman's story serves further as a springboard for exploring an aspect of Kabbalah, which literally means "the receiving." Wholeness, says Firestone, is "alive" in this mystical Jewish path that "not only acknowledges the feminine aspects of life, but also the fact that neither the human world nor God can be whole without the marriage of its masculine and feminine parts." To help contemporary women apply the mystical approach to their lives today, she includes practical teachings and techniques. Firestone argues for being connected to "one's fire and sensual wisdom," claiming that the subordination of the body to the spirit has created an "unhealed schism" and a disparagement of women. She admits beginning the book in anger at the ways women have been "devalued and omitted," but as she immersed herself in the women's lives, she says, she found their "determination and positive attitude contagious." Though Firestone's plea for wholeness can become repetitious, she writes convincingly of the power of the feminine to enrich and uplift the world.

February 15, 2003
In presenting the lives of seven little-known Jewish women, Firestone (With Roots in Heaven: One Woman's Passionate Journey into the Heart of Her Faith), a psychotherapist and founding rabbi of the Jewish Renewal Congregation of Boulder, CO, explores the "feminine path" of Jewish spirituality. In her view, the subjects of these short spiritual biographies-mystics, sages, and miracle workers who include the second-century Beruriah, the 12th-century Dulcie of Worms, the 20th-century Leah Shar'abi-each represent different components of feminine wisdom. All display an approach to spirituality that, in contrast to Jewish men's concentration on study and prayer, "sees every aspect of life as an opportunity for holiness." This attempt to help women "reclaim the rich mystical legacy that is rightfully theirs" is a step in that direction. Despite the broad background and wealth of knowledge she brings to the task, Firestone demonstrates that there are no easy answers for female spiritual seekers in the Jewish tradition. Recommended for Judaica and women's studies collections.-Marcia Welsh, Dartmouth Coll., Hanover, NH

Copyright 2003 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2003
Deploring the fact that Jewish history books and encyclopedias largely ignore the role of women, Rabbi Firestone challenges this inequity. The word " receiving" is the literal translation of the Hebrew word " kabbalah," and Firestone focuses on the universal and psychological teaching within Jewish mysticism. The author has selected seven historical holy women whose chronology ranges from the second to the twentieth century. Each represents a different aspect of feminine wisdom, and each "guides us from across the ages by means of her own life story, to help modern women connect with crucial aspects of feminine spirituality." It is the author's intention to reconstruct the feminine legacy she believes has been lost. No prior knowledge of Jewish mysticism or of Jewish tradition is necessary to benefit from Firestone's incisive and thought-provoking work.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)