God Was in This Place & I, I Did Not Know: Finding Self, Spirituality, and Ultimate Meaning

The interpretations of the Genesis (28:16) account of Jacob's dream of a ladder with ascending and descending angels by seven historical rabbis--one, Hannah Rachel Werbermacher, who lived in Poland 200 years ago--are gathered here in an arresting interplay of ideas and backgrounds. According to Massachusetts rabbi Kushner ( The Book of Letters ), this collection of views is ``actually one long midrash, that is, fiction concealed beneath the apparent text of the biblical narrative.'' This imaginative volume is filled with reverence for the Hebrew word and the tradition that transmits as well the identity of its great teachers through the centuries. With considerable flexibility in blending ancient wisdom with contemporary illuminations, Kushner makes accessible to readers the richness and attractions of mystical inquiry. (Dec.)