Non­fic­tion

Wait­ing for Rain: Reflec­tions at the Turn­ing of the Year

Bry­na Jocheved Levy
  • Review
By – January 27, 2012

Wait­ing for Rain is an ele­gant­ly writ­ten guide to the litur­gi­cal themes for the High Holy Days. The first part of the book address­es the major themes of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kip­pur, giv­ing us the his­to­ry and ratio­nale for many of the major prayers and Torah read­ings. The sec­ond part details the litur­gy for the post Yom Kip­pur days of Hoshana Rab­bah, Shem­i­ni Atzeret, and Simhat Torah.

Each chap­ter devot­ed to these hol­i­days con­tains Rab­binic com­men­tary and Bib­li­cal schol­ar­ship by both tra­di­tion­al and mod­ern authors. The themes of repen­tance, for­give­ness, com­mu­ni­ty, and our rela­tion­ship to each oth­er are treat­ed with seri­ous schol­ar­ship and grace­ful obser­va­tions. This is a book not only for the High Holy Days, but also for appre­ci­at­ing the beau­ty and poet­ry of Jew­ish liturgy. 
Bar­bara Andrews holds a Mas­ters in Jew­ish Stud­ies from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Chica­go, has been an adult Jew­ish edu­ca­tion instruc­tor, and works in the cor­po­rate world as a pro­fes­sion­al adult educator.

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