The Jewish sages taught that when we study the Torah we should continuously turn it and turn it, like a gem with countless facets, looking for new and deeper meanings. In this volume of essays on each weekly Torah portion, Rabbi Jonathan Kligler shares choice insights from his decades of study and teaching. Drawing on both ancient and modern sources, and weaving scholarship and personal stories, Kligler invites the reader to investigate the countless layers of insight and inspiration that vibrant Torah study can provide.
Jonathan Kligler is a gifted teacher of Jewish wisdom and an inspiring and transformative leader. His experiential teaching style reveals that Judaism can be a heart-opening and joyful spiritual path, without sacrificing the precious Jewish attributes of intellectual depth and inquiry. Kligler was ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and since 1988 has served as the spiritual leader of the Woodstock Jewish Congregation in Woodstock, N.Y. He is the author of Hineni: Essays and Torah Commentaries from Twenty-Five Years on the Bimah (2013) and is an accomplished musician and recording artist.
“Rabbi Jonathan Kligler’s reading into the stories, verses, words, and images of the Torah creates a special work of wonderfully deep personal insights woven with teachings from the wealth of Jewish tradition. Imbued with a spiritual demand to find meaning to Torah in our real lived experience, these teachings do not shun from engaging the readers with difficult and perplexing passages. I find it educating, humorous, and moving.”
—Melila Hellner-Eshed, Professor of Jewish Mysticism and Zohar, Hebrew University, Jerusalem; author of And a River Flows from Eden: On the Language of Mystical Experience in the Zohar
“Jonathan Kligler has mastered the immersive practice of midrash. He plunges into the ocean of the Torah; he identifies the ancient rivers that fed into its vast extent; he registers awe before the geysers emerging from its depths. To this classic approach, Rabbi Kligler adds a talent for encapsulation, focus, and intelligent summary. Profound and succinct at the same time, Turn It and Turn It brings the reader into the confidence of a mature explorer whose originality serves a life-long quest for the fulfilling truth of the Torah.”
—Bruce Chilton, Professor of Philosophy and Religion, Bard College; author of Rabbi Jesus
“Whether analyzing a biblical text, or a comment of Rashi, or a talmudic meditation on a biblical verse, Rabbi Jonathan Kligler, a superb teacher, makes it clear again, again, and yet again, why Torah study makes a person deeper in every sense: more intellectually accomplished, more empathetic, and, in the final analysis, not just a smarter person, but—and this is what really counts—a finer person.”
—Joseph Telushkin, author of Rebbe and Words that Hurt, Words that Heal
“Imagine fifty-four readily accessible steps on the road to a richer spiritual life—each rooted in Scripture and informed by their author’s years of deep reading and reflection—and you get this very special book by Rabbi Jonathan Kligler, which not only generously offers its own wise answers, but will inspire you to find your own.”
—Brad Hirschfield, President, National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership; author of You Don’t Have to Be Wrong for Me to Be Right: Finding Faith Without Fanaticism
“In this lovely and moving exploration of a year’s worth of Torah portions, Rabbi Jonathan Kligler weaves together traditional approaches with contemporary insights from both the academic world and his own experience to illustrate the open-ended and transformative possibilities of Torah study.”
—Deborah Waxman, President, Reconstructing Judaism
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