Description: This companion in sorrow offers compassionate guidance for putting the insights of Judaism into practice and finding new strength in ancient traditions. Beloved and respected spiritual leaders from across the Jewish denominational spectrum share insights from their experience, Jewish tradition and their personal encounters with grief and healing.
Brief description: Stuart M. Matlins is founder, editor-in-chief and publisher of Jewish Lights Publishing and SkyLight Paths Publishing. Both imprints focus on religion and spirituality from a broad non-denominational perspective. He is author or editor of several books, including the best-selling How to Be a Perfect Stranger: The Essential Religious Etiquette Handbook (SkyLight Paths); The Jewish Lights Spirituality Handbook: A Guide to Understanding, Exploring & Living a Spiritual Life (Jewish Lights); The Perfect Stranger's Guide to Wedding Ceremonies: A Guide to Etiquette in Other People's Religious Ceremonies; and The Perfect Stranger's Guide to Funerals and Grieving Practices: A Guide to Etiquette in Other People's Religious Ceremonies (both SkyLight Paths).
Stuart was the 2014 recipient of the Abraham Geiger Medal, an award recognizing outstanding service to religious pluralism, and the 2006 recipient of the American Jewish Distinguished Service Award, an annual presentation of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. He was a member of the First Catholic/Jewish Lay Conference at the Vatican in October 2007, an event under the auspices of the Interreligious Information Center.Among his many speaking appearances, Stuart has been the scholar-in-residence or guest lecturer at the National Funeral Director's Association convention, Temple Isaiah (Palm Springs, CA), The Jewish Center of the Hamptons (East Hampton, NY), Temple Sholom (Plainfield, NJ), Israel Congregation (Manchester, NH) and at the annual gatherings of the Jewish Community Centers Association and the Jewish Outreach Institute. He also has been a featured speaker or panel member at many Book Expo America conventions, and at the biennial Festival of Faith and Writing at Calvin College, as well as at churches and other conferences.Before publishing took over his life, he was a management consultant for over thirty years as a managing partner with Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc. and then heading his own consulting firm.He is the cofounder of an innovative synagogue in Woodstock, Vermont, with his wife, Antoinette Matlins, and served as lay spiritual leader for nineteen of its twenty-one years. He has served for over twenty years on the Board of Governors of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, and was chair of the Board of Overseers of its New York School. He is widely recognized as a leader in the spiritual transformation of Judaism in our time.Stuart is listed in Who's Who in America.Review Quotes:
The death of a loved one ranks high on the scale of life's traumatic events. Yet those left behind often
feel-or are made to feel-that it is best to move on as quickly as possible. The Jewish faith has distincttraditions about how to mourn, though today those traditions are often ignored. This book reaches out to aJewish audience to explain the value of the mourning tradition, but it also goes much further. More than 25rabbis write on topics that range from praying in hard times to letting go of self-accusation, questioningfaith, dealing with lingering grief, and restoring your life. One powerful essay addresses the problem offeeling abandoned by God, making the surprising but strong case that, until God reappears, the memory ofHis warmth can carry us through. While the focus is Judeocentric, there is much here that is universal andwill touch readers of any faith and help guide them through this most difficult time.