In Heal­ing from Despair, Rab­bi Elie Kaplan Spitz explores the nature of despair and shows how an indi­vid­ual can move from a place of dark­ness to light. By using episodes from his own per­son­al cri­sis, which includ­ed sev­er­al hos­pi­tal­iza­tions for sui­ci­dal ideation, Rab­bi Spitz reveals how his own suf­fer­ing sur­faced and how he even­tu­al­ly tran­scend­ed it. He refers to the bib­li­cal sto­ries of Abra­ham, Job, Rachel, and Moses to pro­vide a the­o­log­i­cal basis for appre­ci­at­ing and under­stand­ing the lan­guage of despair.

Spitz offers read­ers tools for heal­ing them­selves which, he points out, can have an impact on repair of the world; that is, an indi­vid­ual try­ing to rise from the depths of despair can be a true res­cuer by per­form­ing acts of kind­ness, help­ing those in need, and fol­low­ing the tenets of the Torah. Heal­ing from Despair can help read­ers in pain move from a life of deep suf­fer­ing to one of heal­ing and pur­pose. Foot­notes, sug­ges­tions for fur­ther reading.