The Special Times of the Jewish Year Can Be
a Framework for Your Life as a Couple
a Framework for Your Life as a Couple
“Through the holiday cycle we have
seen that life is a complex weave of light and darkness, bitter
and sweet, striving and surrendering. The twisted candle
reminds us that as a couple our two lives have become
intertwined as one. Two souls enter a partnership, interwoven
yet always distinct, joined by a third strand, the Divine
Presence. As we perform the ritual of Havdalah, we hold our
hands up to the flame and catch the reflection of the last
light on our fingertips. We pray that the light will continue
to shine through our words and deeds, in our homes and in the
world.”
—from Chapter 9
More than just calendar commitments, the
Jewish holidays carry with them a view of what is important in
life, a set of assumptions that can challenge and deepen the
way we think about relationships.
This inspiring and practical guidebook
helps you to understand your life as a couple in the context of
the themes of Jewish holidays (Yom
Kippur, Purim, Pesah, Sukkot, Shabbat):
• Forgiving and Growing
• Playing, Laughing and Taking Risks
• Coming Home, Finding Freedom
• Blessing Bounty, Facing
Impermanence
• Pausing to Bless What Is
…and more
Drawing from ancient and contemporary
texts, Jewish tradition and personal stories, Rabbi Nancy
Fuchs-Kreimer and Rabbi Nancy H. Wiener provide creative
exercises, rituals and guided discussions that help you make
connections to tradition, community and each other. By
experiencing the Jewish holidays as times to focus on your
relationship, you’ll find renewed meaning in these holy
celebrations and new opportunities for spiritual growth all
year long.
“For seekers of wisdom, for people
of every faith and no faith, for insiders and outsiders, for
novices and veterans. In an era of depersonalization, this is a
humanizing guide to authentic relationships.”
—Rabbi
Harold M. Schulweis, author of Godliness: Translating God
“More than theory … a guide
for growing more connected to your own spirituality and
hopefully closer to your partner in the process.”
—Gabrielle
Kaplan-Mayer, author of The Creative Jewish Wedding Book
“A marvelous invitation to growth,
both in relationship to a life partner and in connection to
Jewish tradition. Skillfully draws upon the rhythms of Jewish
life to enhance spiritual intimacy within couples.”
—Rabbi
Dayle A. Friedman, editor of Jewish Pastoral Care:
A Practical Handbook from Traditional and Contemporary Sources
A Practical Handbook from Traditional and Contemporary Sources
Rabbi Nancy H.Wiener, DMin, is part of the faculty at Hebrew Union
College–Jewish Institute of Religion, the author of Beyond Breaking the Glass, and coauthor of Meeting
at the Well:A Jewish Spiritual Guide to Being Engaged. She and her partner, Judith Tax, have been
together for almost twenty years.
Rabbi Elliot N. Dorff, PhD, is Rector and Sol and Anne Dorff Distinguished
Professor of Philosophy at the University of Judaism in Los
Angeles. He is president of Jewish Family Service of Los
Angeles and vice chair of the Conservative Movement’s
Committee on Jewish Law and Standards. He served as one of the
editors and contributors to the new Torah commentary, Etz Hayim. Winner of
the National Jewish Book Award for To
Do the Right and the Good: A Jewish Approach to Modern Social
Ethics, he has written ten
books and more than 150 articles on Jewish thought and ethics.
