The Bridge to Forgiveness: Stories and Prayers for Finding God and Restoring Wholeness

by Karyn D. Kedar

Overview

Embrace forgiveness as a spiritual principle and discover a new closeness with the Divine.

Forgiveness is a spiritual path that you embark on with intention and vision, purposefully seeking to bridge the gap between your hurt and suffering and your sense of wholeness and resilient inner light—the light of God.

This inspiring guide for healing and wholeness supplies you with a map to help you along your forgiveness journey. Deeply personal stories, comforting prayers and intimate meditations gently lead you through the steps that allow for the evolution of forgiving—loss, anger, acceptance, learning, forgiveness and restoration. Tapping both ancient and contemporary sources for the nourishment and strength needed as you seek to rekindle inner peace, this book tenderly whispers encouragement as you are brought to—and realize you are able to cross—your own bridge to forgiveness.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781580234511
Publisher:	TURNER PUB CO
Publication date:	06/01/2011
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

Rabbi Karyn D. Kedar teaches matters of the spirit to groups throughout the U.S. She is senior rabbi at Congregation B'nai Jehoshua Beth Elohim in the Chicago area, and the inspiring author of The Bridge to Forgiveness: Stories and Prayers for Finding God and Restoring Wholeness; Our Dance with God: Finding Prayer, Perspective and Meaning in the Stories of Our Lives and God Whispers: Stories of the Soul, Lessons of the Heart and contributed to May God Remember: Memory and Memorializing in Judaism—Yizkor; Who by Fire, Who by Water—Un'taneh Tokef and All These Vows—Kol Nidre (all Jewish Lights).

Read an Excerpt

THE BRIDGE TO FORGIVENESS

stories and prayers for finding God and restoring wholeness

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By KARYN D. KEDAR

JEWISH LIGHTS Publishing

Copyright © 2007 Karyn D. Kedar
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-58023-324-8

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Chapter One

The Bridge

Forgiveness is a path to be walked.
There are steps along the way:
loss, anger, acceptance, learning,
forgiveness, restoration.

And along the way, you will come upon a bridge.
When you step upon it, it will carry you,
support you, connect you to another side of life,
a side waiting to be discovered.

Forgiveness is a perpetual journey.
There are many bridge crossings.
Each restores a bit more of what you have lost.

Begin.

The Stepping-Stones

Forgiveness is a like a bridge. It carries you over an expanse to the side of life that is softer, kinder, easier to bear. It is a shift of perspective, a new way of seeing our world, a different way of experiencing our inner life. If life is really a journey, then forgiveness is a main avenue, a path to life renewed. And along the way, there are stepping-stones to carry you through: loss, anger, acceptance, forgiveness, learning, and restoration. With each step, a new perspective is gained.

Forgiveness is often understood as an act of unselfish, unconditional love, an act in which we learn to "forgive and forget," maybe even to "turn the other cheek." That is not what is described in this book. After bearing witness to evil such as the Holocaust, genocide, and other acts of terror, we search for a new paradigm. There should be no forgetting of evil acts, no condoning of offense, sin, hatred. To forget is to run the risk of allowing these evils to happen again. Yet at the same time, to hold within us the horror and pain of every offense diminishes our lives. Resentment, anger, and fear must be released from within us so that we may restore our inner light, regain a sense of life's purpose, and reinvigorate our energy and optimism, so we can live with goodness and love.

I have come to understand that this journey, this path, this way of being in the world has many stages. They are steppingstones in a journey that is perpetual and unending. Each step restores a bit more of what we have lost. Each step leads to greater wisdom and understanding, to a deeper sense of life's meaning and purpose. We do not forget. Rather, we take what we have experienced and learn to live a different way. We do not turn the other cheek; we take the pain of an assault and understand that to live a loving life we must release the anger. We do not condone; we accept our lives and search for ways to restore the light within us that has been diminished.

Every offense leads to a sense of loss. A bit of wholeness is cracked or chipped or shattered. We lose a bit of trust, security, or faith. Or some of our sense of wonder. Every pain inflicted upon us may cause us to lose our way, to forget the meaning and purpose of our lives. But mostly with every hurt, the light that is within us is darkened or dimmed.

Understandably, loss creates anger. We are justified in our anger when we experience hurt and pain. We are certainly justified in being angry at the injustices of the world. I have come to believe that anger is a necessary step toward forgiveness; without it, there is a certain denial or repression. But anger is also dangerous. Though we must feel the anger, we must also know when to release it before it consumes us. We must learn to turn anger into motivation, lest it devour us. We long to rid the world of insanity, to rid our lives of all that is not good, of whatever does not serve the good in us. The search for God is the fight to relieve ourselves and the world of suffering. With every breath, we inhale the possibility of healing and of holiness. Loss then becomes anger, and anger can then motivate us toward change. And once we can release the anger that we have felt, we can begin to understand the need for acceptance.

To live life fully is to accept what has become of you. Acceptance is not acquiescence. It is not giving in, and it is not giving up. Acceptance is the compassionate embrace of yourself and your place in the world: without judgment, without fear, without regret. You are who you are. You are not who you are not. Every story has pain and loss and, despite all this, our life force is resilient. The soul yearns to reconcile the curses and the blessings of life by finding meaning and purpose. Everything that you have experienced has led you to this moment in time. And this moment in time has the potential to be filled with blessing and with an awareness of life's wonders and miracles.

Forgiveness is not condoning the wrong in the world or the offenses we experience in our lives. It is not forgetting. Forgiveness is a state of being. It is a bridge that carries us over the hurt we have experienced, leading us to a life of greater peace and acceptance. If you step upon it, it will carry you, support you, and connect you to another side of life, a side waiting to be discovered.

Always, there is the bridge to be crossed-an arch high above an abyss of fear and mistrust that carries you away from loss and anger and toward more acceptance, toward a life of learning. We can learn from everything that life presents to us. We learn from loss, from anger, from survival, from perseverance. Life is learning and growing.

And in the learning is an opportunity for restoration. You can restore your faith, your trust, your optimism, your sense of beauty. You do not go back to the way you were when life seemed simpler, because now you know that life is not simple. It is a complicated path of pain and joy, of disappointment and achievement, of betrayal and love. And now that you know that, and accept the impact that it has on you, you can regain a sense of wholeness and restore the light within.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from THE BRIDGE TO FORGIVENESS by KARYN D. KEDAR Copyright © 2007 by Karyn D. Kedar. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xi

Like a Strand of Hair xiii

The Bridge 1

The Stepping-Stones 3

It's a Matter of Principle 6

My Rock 8

Choosing 9

An Invitation to an Awakening 11

Love and Fear 13

The Call 15

Loss 17

Forgiveness Is Not an Emotion 19

Path in the Ice 21

The Ghost of Love 23

Moments Are Finite, Yet Forever 24

Diminished Light 26

The Darkness of the Soul 29

Anger 31

Forgiveness and Evil: A Paradigm Shift 33

The Commandment to Act 35

Memory 36

The Paradox of Fire 37

Light and Warmth 41

The Case for Anger 42

Life Defined 44

Searching for Focus 45

Amen: Saying "Yes" 48

Whispers 50

Acceptance 53

Pragmatic Spiritual Peace 55

The Truth 56

The Moon 57

Tip Toward Compassion: Concede the Moral High Ground 59

Why Is Not the Question 62

Struggling with God 65

Moving On: The New Home 66

Dance Through the Pain 69

Tenderness 72

Tug-of-War 74

Forgiveness 77

Holding On, Letting Go 79

I Know Nothing 80

The Choice to Be Sustained 82

The Gates of Repentance 84

"Esa Enai-I Lift My Eyes" 86

Looking for Light in the Shadows: Rakefet 88

In the Shadow of Your Wings 91

The Cemetery 92

From a Mother to Her Girls 94

Learning 97

Letting Go 99

With All My Being 101

God, Divine Source of Love 104

Learning from It All 105

Ambiguity and Control 107

Where Is God? 109

Learning to Yield 111

Restoration 113

Redemption: The Day Lilies 115

Rebirth 118

Wonder 119

Protection 121

Energy 123

Forgiving God 125

Dancer 127

Beaver Creek 128

Zero Visibility 132

Fear and Hope 134

The Silence Behind the Quiet 135

Quiet My Soul, O Holy One 137

Epilogue 139

The Bridge 141

Perpetual Crossings 143

Suggestions for Further Reading 145

Editorial Reviews

"Lovely ... a perfect companion on the path to forgiveness, from those very difficult first steps to the ever-lighter steps that ultimately lead to peace, joy and wholeness."
—Marcia Ford, author, The Sacred Art of Forgiveness: Forgiving Ourselves and Others through God's Grace

"Heartfelt, soulful ... her insights are gentle and piercing. [This] is not simply a book to read, it is a journey to take."
—Rabbi Rami Shapiro, author, The Sacred Art of Lovingkindness: Preparing to Practice

“Insightful, honest, frank ... will comfort anyone, from any spiritual background, who is struggling with the issue of forgiveness and will guide them toward healing. This is a beautiful book!”
—Marci Shimoff, #1 New York Times coauthor, Chicken Soup for the Woman's Soul

“A beautiful book that will make a lasting impression on your life. Highly recommended.”
—Robert L. Veninga, author, A Gift of Hope: How We Survive Our Tragedies

“Rabbi Kedar is that longed-for neighbor or girlfriend or aunt who—through gentle poetry and the honesty of stories—tells us what we need to hear in a way we are able to truly listen.”
—Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin, author, Tears of Sorrow, Seeds of Hope: A Jewish Spiritual Companion for Infertility and Pregnancy Loss

“A profound understanding of the practice of forgiveness as a healing discipline. If you carry anger in your heart, you must read this book. Whether you seek forgiveness, preach it, teach it or are gathering the courage to offer it, you cannot afford to be without it.”
—David Gottlieb, coauthor, Letters to a Buddhist Jew

From the Publisher

Forgiveness is a spiritual path that you embark on with intention and vision, purposefully seeking to bridge the gap between your hurt and suffering and your sense of wholeness and resilient inner light—the light of God.

This inspiring guide for healing and wholeness supplies you with a map to help you along your forgiveness journey. Deeply personal stories, comforting prayers and intimate meditations gently lead you through the steps that allow for the evolution of forgiving—loss, anger, acceptance, learning, forgiveness and restoration. Tapping both ancient and contemporary sources for the nourishment and strength needed as you seek to rekindle inner peace, this book tenderly whispers encouragement as you are brought to—and realize you are able to cross—your own bridge to forgiveness.

Answering the call for new examples of how to discover forgiveness, the beautiful and soulful prose found in this book offers ways to embrace forgiveness that do not involve shame or blame but, rather, emphasize the search for peace and resolution.

With beautiful, simple language––and a keen eye for discovering divinity in something as simple as a spider's web––Karyn D. Kedar offers unique and poignant approaches to thinking about forgiveness and, in so doing, invites you to explore uncharted aspects of your heart's terrain.

Rabbi Kedar is senior rabbi of Congregation B’nai Jehoshua Beth Elohim in the Chicago area.

Jewish Media Review - Dov Peretz Elkins

It's been 386 years since grateful Pilgrims invited local Indians to join them for a three-day feast in the autumn of 1621, sowing the seeds for what we now know as Thanksgiving.

And while giving thanks may not be as fashionable now as it was then, experts say it remains a powerful force to heal and restore the human spirit.

Three new books explore how giving thanks, counting blessings and practicing forgiveness—on Thanksgiving Day and every day—can transform individuals and personal relationships.

"Thanksgiving heals our injured spirits, and when we share Thanksgiving with others it also contributes to their well-being," said Jay Marshall, dean of Earlham School of Religion in Indiana and author of Thanking & Blessing—The Sacred Art: Spiritual Vitality Through Gratefulness.

His book shows how a conscious orientation toward thankfulness reshapes how people interact with others, live their lives and influence the world around them.

"It requires that we give consideration to the people and events that intersect with our lives," he said. "We begin to notice those who inspire us and bless us, as well as those who leave us cold or irritated. In the process, we become cognizant of our most cherished values, friends and practices."

Once a person turns in that direction, there's usually the realization that positive relationships and moments comprise much of life. "At the very least, this can move us to gratitude and thanksgiving. With time, I believe it transforms our disposition," Marshall said.

Marshall advocates a Thanksgiving celebration that goes beyond a "passing nod" to the holiday's original meaning: celebrating new life in a new world. Don't let Thanksgiving degenerate into a time devoted solely to "stuffing ourselves or watching parades and football," Marshall said.

For some families, sitting around the table for Thanksgiving is filled with excitement, memories, love and abundance, notes Karyn Kedar, rabbi at Congregation B'nai Jehoshua Beth Elohim in suburban Chicago and author of The Bridge to Forgiveness: Stories and Prayers for Finding God and Restoring Wholeness.

But for other families, the Thanksgiving table is "difficult, isolating and lonely. And there are others who have no table at which to sit," Kedar said. "Taking a moment on this Thanksgiving Day to say out loud, 'Thank you,' can open our hearts in gratitude. If not for the whole day, at least for the moment.

"And," she added, "even a fleeting moment of gratitude can be powerful." Rituals of blessing and giving thanks, according to such experts, can become central forces in a person's outlook on life, and can even shape how someone approaches suffering.

"Every ritual is an outward expression, and a dance, of our innermost yearning. There is enormous power in the rituals that we observe involving blessing and gratitude," said Kedar. In her book, she uses soulful prose to offer new approaches to embracing forgiveness—ways that emphasize peace and resolution over shame or blame.

In fact, failure to feel and express gratitude is a dereliction in spirituality, said Rabbi Abraham Twerski, a psychiatrist and author of Happiness and the Human Spirit: The Spirituality of Becoming the Best You Can Be.

Because feeling thankful and expressing it are uniquely human traits, neglecting them means neglecting the spirit, and could lead to a spiritual deficiency, he said.

People who are not thankful and lack happiness may resort "to various maneuvers that they think may give them happiness," Twerski said. Some people seek power and control, others turn to destructive behavior. Some feel threatened by being thankful since acknowledging another's kindness can make one feel obligated. The best course, Twerski said, is to seek internal happiness, not happiness from external things or accomplishments.

To Twerski, daily gratitude, as well as on Thanksgiving, drives this truth home. He scoffs at the slogan: "Give diamonds. Diamonds are forever."

"Diamonds can be lost. Memories are forever. We can relive pleasant moments of our lives.... 'Remember when?' may be followed by laughter, and all family members may share in adding to the memories," Twerski said.

District Chronicles - Cecile S. Holmes/Religion News Service

"Forgiveness is like a bridge. It carries you over an expanse to the other side of life that is softer, kinder, easier to bear. It is a shift of perspective, a new way of seeing our world, a different way of experiencing our inner life. If life is really a journey, then forgiveness is a main avenue, a path to life renewed. And along the way there are stepping-stones to carry you through."

This helpful view of forgiveness comes from Karyn D. Kedar, senior rabbi at Congregation B'nai Jehoshua Beth Elohim in the Chicago area and author of Dance of the Dolphin: Finding Prayer, Perspective and Meaning in the Stories of Our Lives. Through a mix of stories, prayers and poems, she sheds light on the process of forgiveness as a path to finding God and wholeness. Chapters cover moving through loss, anger, acceptance, learning and restoration. This journey begins with choice and ends with perpetual crossings: there is no end to new discoveries.

Here are some of the ways in which Kedar describes forgiveness:

• It is the choice of love over fear.
• It is like the mysterious call of the night—a call to awaken that which sleeps deep in your soul.
• It is light restored.
• It is not to condone or forget. It is the message that goodness can triumph over evil.
• It demands a shift of attention.
• It says "yes" to living.
• It is the intricate dance through pain and anger and loss. Let hope be your partner. Let joy take the lead.
• It is learning to come to terms with the story of your life and releasing the pain of the past.
• It lives in the soul that wonders.
• It is to see the difference between protection and isolation.
• It offers you stillness. It is the silence behind the quiet.

Spirituality & Practice - Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

Every Passover, Shiela Steinman Wallace instructs her Seder guests to bring a non-food item that they can share with others. One year, her father brought the shirt her grandfather wore on his 1912 voyage from Ukraine to the United States. Another year, her son brought the rod used to fix his broken leg, while another guest brought the book that inspired him to become a photographer.

"Not only does this make for a more haimish Seder, but you discover that most of the time there's a story behind everything that people bring," says Wallace, the editor of the Jewish newspaper Community in Louisville, Ky.

As she searched for ways to make her Passover Seder both livelier and more meaningful, Wallace discovered a powerful tool: storytelling. Arguably the oldest art form in the world, storytelling has always played an integral role in Jewish life.

"We are passionate about stories," writes University of Judaism literature professor Miriyam Glazer in her book Dancing On The Edge Of The World: Jewish Stories Of Faith, Inspiration And Love (Lowell House). “Through the ages, we have told stories to fathom the intensities of our own collective history, to express our faith and our fears, to grasp the complexities of our religious tradition, to cast light on the mysteries of life.”

“The Torah doesn't begin with Leviticus and the laws, it begins with stories,” says Cherie Karo Schwartz, a prominent Jewish storyteller based in Denver, Colo. “And why stories? Because stories are the mirror and memory of who and what we are. Stories are what make us human.”

And out of all the holidays on the Jewish calendar, Passover just might be the most storytelling-friendly occasion of them all and not just because of the mitzvah to tell your children the story of Exodus. “When you think about it, Passover is historical and religious but it’s also a holiday of the home and for the family to come together,” says Peninnah Schram, a seminal figure in the field of Jewish storytelling. “It’s an incredible opportunity to not only ask questions about the Haggadah, but to tell family stories and folk tales.”

The quest to enliven and imbue the Passover Seder with additional commentary and contemporary meaning has ample precedent. In 1975, for example, a group of women in Israel held the first feminist Seder, a watershed event that inspired thousands of other such Seders, as well as people incorporating new rituals at family Seders. Today, hundreds of different Haggadahs can be found in the marketplace, along with a slew of how-to books like David Arnow’s Creating Lively Passover Seders (Jewish Lights) or Ron Wolfson’s Passover: The Family Guide to Spiritual Celebration (Jewish Lights).

But out of all the innovative suggestions for enhancing the holiday, telling stories perhaps remains one of the simplest and most effective antidotes to the didactic and boring Seder, where the Haggadah is read by rote and everyone’s looking at their watches, impatient for the food to be served.

For Schram, who’s also a speech and drama professor at Stern College in New York, Passover is the time to recite from I Never Saw Another Butterfly, the famous book of poems and drawings by children who passed through the Terezin concentration camp. It’s also the time to remember her father, a cantor who always led her family’s Seder, to reminisce about the way her mother used to chop apples for the charoset and to tell stories about Elijah the Prophet.

“Elijah is the master of miracle and the bringer of hope and there are such wonderful Elijah stories,” says Schram, author of Tales of Elijah the Prophet (Jason Aronson). She suggests that the Seder table is a great place to discuss “the times when you met an Elijah in your life or when you were an Elijah for someone else, or why Elijah has remained such an important figure for thousands of years.”

Amichai Lau-Lavie, an Israeli-born mythologist and storyteller, also finds inspiration in Elijah. The founder of Storahtelling, a New York City-based iconoclastic organization dedicated to Jewish teachings through a mix of storytelling, ritual theater and performance art, Lau-Lavie recently created “The Elijah Brigade.” Upon request, two “Storahtellers” playing different aspects of the prophet show up at a family’s Seder and interact with the guests. Lau-Lavie also writes Passover plays tailored for individual families and has held an interactive Seder on the second night of Passover for the past three years.

The Haggadah “was never meant to just be read from cover to cover,” says Lau-Lavie. “The rabbis of long ago had envisioned interactive opportunities and there are so many ways to make the story come alive for families.”

When it comes to the Passover Seder, “you have to know your audience,” says Bonnie Greenberg, a Boston-based storyteller and speech pathologist. “If you’re going to have a mix of ages, it’s great to tell stories that can be enjoyed on a variety of different levels. And above all, you want your Seder to be fun.”

At Greenberg’s family Seders, stories arise from a collective ritual of pouring increments of wine into Elijah’s cup until it’s full. “People will pour wine from their cup into Elijah’s, then talk about what they wish for the coming year,” she says. “One year, we talked about who are the women that we honor.”

Schwartz recommends that people view the stains in their Haggadahs as primary source storytelling material. “Let’s say there’s a stain on page 37 because that’s where your bubbe spilled wine and it’s that wine stain that holds the story of your bubbe,” she says. “Then, questions like, who in the family made the best kneidlach crop up and boom, you’re suddenly telling stories about your Aunt Rose.”

At her Seders, Schwartz, who coauthored The Kids’ Catalog of Passover (Jewish Publication Society) with Barbara Rush, also loves to tell stories about how Jews from different parts of the world celebrate Passover, and each year prepares food from different traditions such as a Sephardic dish of artichokes with lemon and honey. Passover is also a time to talk about the women given short shrift in the Haggadah—Miriam, Yocheved, Moses’s mother, and the midwives, Shifrah and Puah, she says. “And this can lead into the family stories, into who have been the strong women in your life.”

Noa Baum, a storyteller and actress from Silver Spring, MD., observes that the key to a meaningful and enjoyable Seder is “to find your own way to tell the story of leaving Egypt. There are so many versions of this story and one of the challenges for every storyteller is to find a way to be original and creative while staying connected with your ancestors,” she says. “But storytelling is something we can all do.”

Storytelling as an art form began to enjoy a renaissance in the 1970s. Schram points to books like Bruno Bettelheim’s Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales and Alex Haley’s Roots, both published in 1976, that contributed to “a storytelling revival.” Annual events like the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tenn., began to crop up and attract thousands of people.

“There was a re-awakening of interest in how stories answer the major questions of life,” says Schram. “Who are my people? How did they live? What values did they transmit? What values do I transmit to my children?”

In Jewish history, Schram credits Chasidim, “the flower children” of 18th century Eastern Europe, for first “bringing back the love of story to the Jewish people.” Some two centuries later, individuals like Schram found themselves yearning to share the stories of their own tradition. In 1984, Schram created the Jewish Storytelling Center, now based at the 92nd Street Y in New York, while organizations like The Coalition for the Advancement of Jewish Education (CAJE) began playing an active role in supporting the work of Jewish storytellers at annual conferences.

“We’re all products of CAJE,” says Schwartz, who also lauds Schram for “single-handedly bringing storytelling into the forefront of Jewish life. Storytelling was not something people took seriously, but Peninnah really helped people to see that storytelling should be pervasive in all aspects of Jewish education, that it’s for all ages and can be used by rabbis, teachers, and really, everyone.”

Rabbi Karyn Kedar, spiritual leader of Congregation B’nai Jehoshua Beth Elohim in Glenview, Ill., and author of the newly released The Bridge to Forgiveness: Stories and Prayers for Finding God and Restoring Wholeness (Jewish Lights), takes that message seriously. “All of my teaching and sermons involve some element of storytelling,” she says.

“Even my counseling involves storytelling because stories, when they’re at their best, touch a part of us that is both personal and universal. So when we hear a good story, we feel that the story is being told just to us but we also know it’s about the human condition.”

In addition to performing as a storyteller, Greenberg also uses storytelling techniques as a speech pathologist helping children with language and communication skills. “The brain is hard-wired for story,” she says. “It always amazes me when I work with kids who have conditions like autism, how my telling them a story gets through to them and I know that they’re painting a picture in their heads with my words and body language.”

Greenberg and others describe storytelling as a calling. “A storyteller should never hang up a shingle and think, 'I can make a few bucks from this,’ advises Schram. “The initial intention has to be 'because I must share this story.’’’

Baum agrees. “Storytelling is all about the authentic interaction with another human being. It is the act of imaginative sharing,” she says. “The best compliment I can get after telling a story is when someone says, ‘It felt like I was there.’ ’’

In an age of rapidly changing technology and digital media, Baum believes that the traditional art form of storytelling “is more necessary than ever. Everyone calls everything storytelling these days but storytelling is really about the interaction between human beings and nothing can replace this interaction,” she says.

Lau-Lavie, however, feels that both tradition and technology suit his definition of storytelling. Recently, he has started a Storahtelling blog and says he’s “considering” branching out to other digital mediums. “With Storahtelling, we’re trying to reclaim the primary place of story in our emotional and intellectual lives and reclaim the ways we tell those stories,” he observes. “This can take the form of a ritualized Torah ceremony or as a performance event in someone’s home or on a blog.”

No one, however, disputes the notion that there should be even more awareness and recognition for storytellers in Jewish life. “I get asked all the time, ‘Excuse me, but what is a storyteller?’ I would love it if storytelling could be honored just as much as any other art form,” says Schwartz, “and if this art can be honored more in religious schools, synagogues and everywhere else.”

Including the Seder table. “If only Jews could share more stories with other Jews,” says Schram. “The more stories we can share, the more we see how we all have the same dreams, hopes, fears and desires. If we tell each other more stories, we can bring more peace to the world.”

Jewish Women International - Susan Josephs

Rabbi Karyn D. Kedar believes that in order to find emotional fulfillment and inner peace, one must accept, learn and grow using past experiences. Her new book, The Bridge to Forgiveness, was written to help spiritual communities remember and forgive enormous past pain.

"Forgiveness is often understood as an act of unselfish, unconditional love," says Rabbi Kedar, spiritual leader of B'nai Jehoshua Beth Elohim in Glenview, "an act in which we learn to forgive and forget or maybe even turn the other cheek. That is not what is described in this book. There should be no forgetting evil acts, no condoning offense, sin or hatred. To forget is to run the risk of allowing these evils to happen again. Resentment, anger and fear must be released from within us so that we may restore our inner light, regain a sense of life's purpose and reinvigorate our energy and optimism, so we can live with goodness and love."

The Bridge to Forgiveness is a compilation of stories, poems and prayers aimed at soothing anyone from any spiritual or religious background who is faced with emotional turmoil, especially during times of loss and grieving.

David Gottlieb, coauthor of Letters to a Buddhist Jew, calls Rabbi Kedar's book "a profound understanding of the practice of forgiveness.... If you carry anger in your heart, you must read this book."

The Bridge to Forgiveness is available at local and online bookstores.

The Chicago Jewish News - CJN staff