Simple Words Thinking About What Really Matters in Life

Friends, farmily, love, God, death, faith.These are deceptively simple words that we use all the time. But do we know what we mean by these important words? Do we know what other people mean when they use them? Because we seldom pause to reflect on these words, we misunderstand others, and they misunderstand us.Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz explores some of the meanings of these powerful words that are so central to our lives. He transforms each word into a gem, turning it this way, then that, examining it to see more clearly its brilliant facets and what lies behind them. He challenges us to think deeply about the connotations of these commonplace words, and in so doing, to see that there may be other ways of looking at things we have taken for granted all our lives. Thus, our notion of "goodness" may become fluid rather than fixed; we may think ourselves not at all spiritual, yet find that we have a deeper involvement in the world of spirit than we realized; and, as Rabbi Steinsaltz explains, we may mean many different things when we use the wordlove."Questions of Faith are not philosophical, sociological, or psychological; they are intensely personal, " says Rabbi Steinsaltz. InSimple Words,Rabbi Steinsaltz summarizes a lifetime of spiritual wisdom that will enrich our lives and open us to better and deeper communication with others.Simple Wordsis a thought-provoking -- and surprising -- adventure that may change the way we think, speak, and act.

Adin Steinsaltz is internationally regarded as one of the leading scholars and rabbis of the modern era. His well-known multivolume translation and commentary to the Talmud is currently being published in Hebrew, English, and other languages. He has been a resident scholar at academic institutions in Europe and the United States, among them Yale University and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, and is a recipient of the Israel Prize.