Our lives as Torah
Subtitle: finding God in our own stories
By: Carol Ochs ; foreword by Lawrence Kushner.
Publisher: Jossey-Bass
Published: 2001
Place of publication: San Francisco
Language: eng
Number of pages: 224
Subjects: Spiritual life -- Judaism.; Jewish way of life.; Jewish way of life -- Anecdotes.
Genres: Anecdotes.
Description: "In this book, Carol Ochs shows us how to develop a personal theology by examining our life stories, learning to recognize God at work in them, and bringing them into conversation with Torah. Using timeless biblical texts as lenses to see the present, she helps us understand who we are and who God is for us by exploring the tightly interwoven basic elements of our lives - our love, suffering, work, bodies, prayer, community, and experiences of death.".

"In our quest for meaning, we seek answers to life's central questions: "Who am I?" "Why am I?" "Who is God and how do we relate to the holy?" The answers to these questions define our own personal convictions. While the theology we received from our tradition and Hebrew scriptures may give us the building blocks, the language, and even the questions to be addressed, it cannot provide the answers.

Only we can create a belief system out of our life experiences, adding to what we received and reshaping it as we live our lives. All our stories, holidays, and practices are means to an end - our relationship and deepening intimacy with God.".

"Through the process of seeing our experiences in relation to Biblical stories, we begin to recognize our lives as part of the ongoing story of the Jewish people - as Torah. This insight allows us to see these experiences as meaningful, not accidental, and opens us to recognizing God's power in and through all that happens to us. Rather than a collection of random events, our lives are part of the Jewish people's ongoing adventure.

And armed with our personally shaped theology, we can face this adventure of living in the vanguard of history with awareness and confidence."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 213-215) and index.