Living A Joyous Life: The True Spirit of Jewish Practice

Secular and religious Jews alike will find wisdom and inspiration in Rabbi David Aaron’s new book in which he reveals the joy that living a Jewish life can bring. With his characteristic humor and enthusiasm, Rabbi Aaron looks at key, and often misunderstood, aspects of Jewish practice—our relationship with God, Torah study, prayer, living the commandments, celebrating the Sabbath and keeping kosher — and shows us how they enable us to access and express the godliness within us.

Celebrating Shabbat, for example, reminds us that we are created in the image of God, empowered with free choice and intention; studying the Torah releases our chen, or inner beauty and grace, and observing kosher laws helps keep us in touch with our human sensitivity. Rabbi Aaron clarifies why many Jews today feel disconnected from their heritage. He invites readers who have lost touch with their Jewish roots to "unpack their spiritual baggage" and discover the true spirit of Judaism.

Rabbi Aaron is one of the most dynamic and accessible teachers of Kabbalah and Jewish wisdom today, and this book is a warm invitation to anyone struggling to find fresh meaning in Jewish practice.

“With his trademark common sense and extraordinary range of poignant and telling anecdotes, Rabbi David Aaron presents a Jewish vision that can guide one to a life of holiness and joy.”
—Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, author ofA Code of Jewish Ethics and Jewish Literacy
"In Living a Joyous Life we discover that understanding the depths of Judaism and Jewish tradition empowers each of us to achieve our fullest potential, opening the unique divine force we all harbor; in essence, to become godlike. Ultimately, we - as God's partners - attain the potential to complete God's creation, the perfection of the world. Now that's empowerment!"
—Dr. Gerald Schroeder, author of Genesis and the Big Bang, The Science of God, and The Hidden Face of God

Book Review
By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

Rabbi David Aaron is founder and dean of Isralight, an international organization with programs throughout North America, South Africa, and Israel. He lives in Jerusalem with his wife, their seven children, and three grandchildren. In his sixth book, he proclaims that Judaism is animated by deep spiritual meanings and a joy that keeps on growing.

Many Jews have abandoned their religious roots due to distorted images, misunderstandings, and erroneous definitions of God, Judaism, Torah, prayer, the commandments, the Sabbath, and keeping kosher. For these individuals, Jewish practice was joyless and based on fear, oppression, and guilt rather than on the expression of an abiding and expansive love of God. Aaron puts the emphasis on another approach: "Judaism clarifies the essential beliefs that inspire and enable us to live a purposeful, passionate, and pleasurable life soaring to the greatest heights of vitality, meaning, and joy."

The great eighteenth century Hasidic teacher the Baal Shem Tov taught that human beings are partners with God in all that they do, say, and think. Aaron expands on that premise:

"We are simply not happy with who we are, because we don't really trust and believe that every one of us is a unique divine being, a holy note in the divine symphony. I'm a C-minor, you're a B, and she's a D-sharp. That's why we make such beautiful music together. If everyone were a C-minor, there would be no symphony, just monotony.

"When you understand this, you cannot but honor and respect the vast differences among human beings, and you never want to be anyone other than you are.

"This is the goal of Judaism: to be who you are, a godly being."

To serve God is to emulate and model ourselves on what God has revealed to us about what it means to be human. So each day, we practice love, kindness, compassion, and justice. Staying connected to God and to our neighbor is a path of liberation and transformation. Wrongful actions, according to the author, stem from our counterfeit approaches to being god-like — when we try to dominate others or always put ourselves ahead of them. Aaron sees the Torah as a guiding light for Jews: "it articulates the universal principles of spiritual and ethical life and empowers you to be who you really are." The Torah also draws out our inner beauty and grace.

Prayer, Aaron states, is not about trying to change God's will but is about trying to channel God's will. In his discussion of Shabbat, he challenges all Jews to stop in the name of love with all activity on this day of rest.

In his own distinctive way, he writes:

"Maybe during the week my face was a briefcase. Maybe during the week my face was a pen, or a computer monitor. But on Shabbat, I get a whole new Shabbat face, a face that reflects the transcendent. On Shabbat, I get a face that reflects God. On Shabbat, I am beaming with the likeness of God. And no feeling in the world can compare to that."

Rabbi Aaron makes a good case for living a joyous life through Jewish practice. He takes these ancient traditions and makes them relevant to modern life while respecting that they are filled with mystery. It is evident that he loves being Jewish, and in this capacious volume that enthusiasm shows through on every page.

Living a Joyous Life: The True Spirit of Jewish Practice
ISBN: 978-1-59030-395-5
$21.95 Hardcover
Trumpeter Books/Shambhala Publications
Distributed by Random House, Inc.
Publicity date: August 15, 2007

Review: Publishers Weekly

Aaron's mission, to offer uncommon answers to common questions that people ask about Jewish identity, faith, and daily Jewish practices begins with an unpacking of negative spiritual baggage. He encourages readers to take a deep look at the oppressive, distorted images of Judaism that hold them back from true delight in the tradition. Many Jews don't love being Jewish because they don't understand who they are or why they would want to live what Judaism teaches, asserts Aaron, a mystic and teacher (Inviting God In). In an analogy from the Zohar, the mystical classic, he compares those who do not know the whys of Judaism to a cow that chews its cud mindlessly. To go from the oy to the joy he provides accessible, readable chapters on God, Torah, prayer, Shabbat and kashrut. Each chapter asks a complex theological question (Who is God? Why pray?), then proceeds to answer it simply and clearly, with personal anecdotes, analogies and teachings from Jewish sources. Because Aaron himself grew up without a strong religious background, his empathic insights strike a note resonant enough to reawaken the spiritual taste buds. (Aug. 15)