Nine Essential Things I've Learned About Life

Practical, illuminating reflections on what it means to live a good life, from the beloved bestselling author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People.

A congregational rabbi for half a century and the bestselling author of more than a dozen books on faith, ethics, and how to apply the lessons of religious thought to everyday challenges, Rabbi Harold S. Kushner has demonstrated time and again his understanding of the human spirit. Now, in Nine Essential Things I?ve Learned About Life, he distills the wisdom of an extraordinary career into nine essential takeaways, offering readers a lifetime?s worth of spiritual food for thought, pragmatic advice, and strength for trying times. In this compassionate and deeply personal work, Kushner relates how his time as a twenty-first-century rabbi has shaped his senses of religion and morality, offering fresh, vital insight into belief (?there is no commandment in Judaism to believe in God?), conscience (the Garden of Eden story as you?ve never heard it), mercy (forgiveness is ?a favor you do yourself, not an undeserved gesture to the person who hurt you?), and more. Grounded in Kushner?s brilliant readings of scripture, history, and popular culture, Nine Essential Things I?ve Learned About Life is compulsory reading from one of our foremost sages.

Publication History: Knopf HC, September 2015