Wrestling with Angels

Few stories resonate through our collective consciousness like the stories from the Book of Genesis: Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden; Noah and the flood; Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Isaac; Jacob wrestling with an angel; the stories of Rachel, Leah and Joseph. Even the most biblically illiterate among us can usually recount their basic elements, including all the passions of lust, greed, deceit, power, sibling rivalry, parental love and neglect and, ultimately, faith and faithfulness that are at play in them. It is to these fundamental stories that Rosenblatt returns as she acts as a guide to an exploration of Genesis from an utterly contemporary perspective. Rosenblatt, a practicing psychotherapist born and raised in Israel, has taught Bible classes for 20 years; for the past four, she has led weekly Bible study groups in Washington, D.C., that are attended by a grand variety of people, including senators and news personalities as well as ordinary working folk (Horwitz, her co-writer, has been a student since 1978). Here, her observations on the Bible are notable for two qualities: a remarkable understanding of human endeavor and an intimate knowledge of the lands of the Bible. She treats the people of Genesis as universal figures who are, nevertheless, of a particular time and place. She advances no particular religious agenda; instead, she asks that we reacquaint ourselves with those profiled in Genesis, the people who dreamed and struggled, triumphed and failed, just as we do today, and that we seek to understand, rather than to prove. Throughout, Rosenblatt skillfully interweaves her own insights with the wisdom of a variety of writers and thinkers, from Abraham Heschel and Paul Tillich to M. Scott Peck. It is as if she has orchestrated the sweetest of family reunions, one where we are reintroduced to the people that have shaped our lives, only to discover that, as adults, we more clearly understand their strengths and flaws, because we now recognize the same in ourselves. It is a recognition, Rosenblatt posits, that provides us with comfort and hope and also challenges us to change and grow. BOMC, QPB, Jewish Book Club selections; 15-city author tour. (Oct.)