To You I Call: Psalms Through­out Our Lives by Rab­bi Jade Sank Ross sorts sev­en­ty-two chap­ters of the Book of Psalms into six dif­fer­ent cat­e­gories: antic­i­pa­tion, com­mem­o­ra­tion, despair, grat­i­tude, pain, and relief. These six cat­e­gories cap­ture moments in one’s life when one seeks spir­i­tu­al guid­ance. Rab­bi Richard N. Levy’s mod­ern trans­la­tion of the psalms makes the ancient words acces­si­ble to all read­ers, both those who are famil­iar with the text and those who are read­ing it for the first time. Above each psalm, a Hebrew verse is pre­sent­ed, and Rab­bi Sank Ross intro­duces the psalm.

The major­i­ty of the book is com­posed of Rab­bi Richard N. Levy’s trans­la­tion of the psalms; one won­ders why his name does not appear on the cov­er. His trans­la­tion won­der­ful­ly mod­ern­izes the words of the psalmist. Rab­bi Sank Ross’s expla­na­tions of the psalms can be applied to any trans­la­tion of the Book of Psalms (or the orig­i­nal Hebrew text).

Rab­bi Sank Ross shows that the psalms can be used for per­son­al sit­u­a­tions, such as mak­ing life-chang­ing deci­sions (Psalm 1) as well as nation­al sit­u­a­tions, such as before an elec­tion (Psalm 111). Psalm 37 prays for the growth of an embryo, and Psalm 27, which is tra­di­tion­al­ly read at funer­als, can be ref­er­enced when choos­ing to end a preg­nan­cy. There are many times when indi­vid­u­als and com­mu­ni­ties alike may seek heal­ing words from Jew­ish tradition.

Although the full trans­la­tion is not includ­ed in this vol­ume, Rab­bi Sank Ross sug­gests oth­er chap­ters of psalms that also relate to the sit­u­a­tion at hand. To You I Call can be read many times, and each time a read­er will find new mean­ings, inter­pre­ta­tions, and con­nec­tions in the words of the psalms and Rab­bi Sank Ross’s commentary.