“These
unpretentious but powerful reflections provide a refreshing reprieve from the
cynicism and distrust so pervasive today. No bromides or buzzwords here,
this book relies on bluntly real, clear-eyed observation over a professional
lifetime. They speak to the truth and force of love— the caring and
compassion of a mensch through action not mere words. Rabbi
Hammerman’s wit and wisdom are no surprise to me; he is my rabbi. But the full
tableau of his personal experiences and insights is extraordinary. His stories
about his relationship with his brother, who is developmentally challenged, are
especially moving. Each reader will find individual meaning and message that
hits home. In Mensch·Marks, Joshua
Hammerman has provided a prescription for ways to live a more human and
humane life.” – United
States Senator Richard Blumenthal (CT)
“Mensch·Marks. The
title alone gets it off to a good start. And throughout, we find a graceful
writer, lucid thinker, and wise and gentle soul.” - Bob Costas,
legendary, Hall of Fame broadcaster and multiple Emmy Award winner
“Using
wisdom from Hillel to Winnie the Pooh, Rabbi Hammerman has written a book that
will make this world a kinder, gentler place. I’ll be recommending it to both
my nice friends and the cranky ones too.”– A.J. Jacobs, New York
Times bestselling author, The Year of Living Biblically: One
Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible
"It’s
rare to find a rabbi willing to put his foibles and faith on the page with as
much honesty and fervor as Rabbi Joshua Hammerman offers in this addictive
volume. Each chapter is its own gem, and every story becomes a reader’s
personal challenge — to look at how we move through the world, especially in
this divisive moment. Kudos to Rabbi Hammerman for reminding us what to
strive for, and doing it with a deft pen and a great sense of humor and
humility. – Abigail
Pogrebin, author of My Jewish Year: 18 Holidays, One Wondering Jew
“A
beautiful, warm, intimate book about the daily struggle to be a good human
being”—Peter Beinart,
author, The Crisis of Zionism
“In
this age, when leadership and morality often seem to have nothing in common,
Rabbi Joshua Hammerman offers us a window into a deeply-lived life. From a
genuine mensch, we learn what it is to live a life measured by moral growth and
devotion to people and causes beyond us. Reading Mensch•Marks is
bound to leave us all determined to live better lives and be better people.” – Daniel Gordis, author
of ISRAEL: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn
"If
I could recommend just one book to every rabbi and politician in America, this
would be it. A master-class in what it means to be a mensch from one of
the nation's most gifted rabbi-writers."– Jonathan D. Sarna, University
Professor and Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish
History, Brandeis University.
“What
a read! If a rabbi’s job is to shake, rattle & roll, Rabbi
Hammerman is doing it. What he says is powerful and often profound, but
how he says it is delightful, funny, clever, often poetic, always
interesting. It’s a life guide you should buy for someone who
doesn’t think he or she needs it. Then buy one for yourself. If everyone
read Mensch•Marks the
world would be a much kinder, saner, better place. If Rabbi
Hammerman were not a father, husband, philosopher, psychologist, journalist,
world traveler, life guide, humorist, humanist, traditionalist, rebel,
Talmudist, mohel and mensch, he could not have written this book. I can’t
wait for the movie!” – Alan Kalter, renowned television announcer, voice
of Late Night With David Letterman
“Perhaps the most important characteristic of leaders—especially religious leaders—is a deep awareness of their own humanity. Mensch•Marks, written with verve and even chutzpah, depicts the pursuit of wisdom amidst the daily challenges and grace notes of life. Rabbi Joshua Hammerman engages readers with honesty and humor, allowing us to look more deeply at our own lives.” – Sr. Mary C. Boys, Vice-President of Academic Affairs and Dean, Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York
"You read Rabbi Joshua Hammerman's essays for the pure pleasure of his company, for the surprising connections he draws, for the deftness and humor with which he applies ancient teachings to 21st-century dilemmas. Rabbi Hammerman doesn't preach from on high. He speaks with the wisdom of a scholar and the generosity of a friend. You will be comforted and inspired by his example, enlightened and enriched by his words." – Lauren Redniss, McArthur Foundation “Genius Grant” fellow, National Book Award finalist, Pulitzer Prize nominee, and author of Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie, A Tale of Love and Fallout
“This
is an eloquent story of one rabbi’s determination to learn lessons from text
and from life and to share that knowledge while wrestling with faith, with loss
and with change. Rarely are people so honest, personal and
straightforward, sharing their thoughts and, even more rarely, speaking openly
of their failures. Rabbi Hammerman puts values front and center. He
is a mensch, and this book gives that word new meaning, making it clear that we
can each develop this capacity over time."- Ruth Messinger, Global
Ambassador and former President, American Jewish World Service
“For
the ‘hassled masses’ here is an invaluable guide written with clarity, wit and
humility. Whatever path you are on, Rabbi Hammerman has been there
and will point to the sites and stumbling blocks.”– Rabbi David Wolpe, author
of David: The Divided Heart
"In
what feels like a time of darkening in the world, Rabbi Hammerman brings light
and wisdom. He is both a mensch and a very fine writer, and whatever your
religious background, you'll find much in this book to learn from and to be
inspired by.” ―Nigel Savage, President, Hazon [The Jewish Lab for
Sustainability]
“This
is a deeply moving book. It is a kind of last will and testament of a
Rabbi which communicates the meaning of life and the covenantal chain of
family, idealism and role in world repair which is Jewry’s core. Miraculously
Hammerman has managed to maintain his decency, genuine concern for people,
embrace of life - and a grounding sense of humor - through decades of an
exhausting career with inexhaustible demands that empties all too many
practitioners of their humanity. He portrays his life story in 42
vignettes and meditations (corresponding to the 42 stages and stops the
children of Israel made on the way from the house of bondage and slavery to
homeland and freedom.) These include a valentine love letter to a father whose
unexpected and untimely death by heart attack left him devastated and deprived
for a lifetime. Still his father’s message “to be/become a mensch” lifted him
and guided him for a lifetime.
The
book contains a potpourri of life experiences and personal insights. My
favorites include: a remarkable presentation of a mentally disabled brother
(and a model of how to treat the disabled with pitch perfect emotional
connection and to uphold their dignity without a trace of condescension); and a
treatment of his greatest failure (and a model of how to deal with failure by
owning it and doing true repentance by living in light of it.) Among other
outstanding chapters are a eulogy for the beloved Mel Allen, the great baseball
radio announcer - which amounts to a celebration of baseball as the sacred
pastime of Americans; learning how to live from the endangered lions of South
Africa; a charming and funny account of a rabbinic bout of flu which turns into
an exploration of the parallelism between ancient ritual purity laws and
contemporary germophobic culture; going on a march for gun control on Shabbat
for the sake of pikuach
nefesh (lifesaving), and so many more.
One section of the book is titled: the
nobility of normalcy. This whole book is a testament to the nobility of a
normal (albeit high level) rabbinic life career and to the nobility in people
living normal lives - practicing monogamy, visiting the sick, traveling
outdoors through nature in wonder, suffering pain with dignity, shopping,
exhibiting their Jewishness proudly, setting boundaries that protect their
personal standards, balancing work and family. Hopefully this book will
inspire many to aspire to become menschen. At the
least, reading this book will give you an unforgettable model of how to be a
mensch which many a reader will summon to inspire his or her own journey to menschlichkeit.” – Rabbi Dr. Irving (Yitz)
Greenberg, Founding Director of the President’s Commission on the Holocaust and
Chair of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, founding President of the Jewish
Life Network
I am not sure I ever read a book like this. I know the
author for more than three decades (actually for close to six decades as we
played together when we were young children as our fathers of blessed memories
were friends and colleagues) so for a long time now, I have experienced his
spacious heart, open mind, and evolved spirit. I am not surprised by the
depth, insight, decency, accessibility, wisdom, honesty and humility of Mensch•Marks:
Life Lessons of a Human Rabbi and yet as I read this beautiful
testimony to an examined life and a life worth examining, I laughed, cried,
sighed, smiled, gasped, breathed and realized, understood, and appreciated life
in its ordinary extraordinariness, in its mystical normalcy, and its sacred
messiness.
If you simply want to become a better person, have a better
life, make the world a touch better read this book.
Mensch•Marks: Life Lessons of a Human Rabbi is
a beautiful book - a magical alchemy of life experience, deep study, years of
teaching and serving, and the gifts of a seeing eye and the ability to
communicate. All of life is a source of wisdom for Joshua - popular
culture, personal biography, ancient texts and traditions, baseball, parenting,
family, nature, shopping…not esoteric complex, jargoned wisdom but practical
wisdom that will inspire you, as it has inspired me, to really try to be more
compassionate, resilient, truthful, moral, humble, faithful,
intimate, and maybe most powerfully kind. You will read each of the 42 eloquent
reflections in this book and feel the generosity of the writer in sharing his
life for one purpose only: to help us become more deeply human.
There are so many books about the meaning of life but this
is a book that with grace and fierceness, with courage and humor, and with
humility and sagacity teaches us about the meaning IN life. Joshua’s
father z’l is surely smiling as his son has written a book that will help every
one of its readers become the kind of person God wants us to be: a mensch.
- Rabbi Irwin Kula, Co-President of
Clal–The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, author of Yearnings:
Embracing the Sacred Messiness of Life
Review of Mensch•Marks by Rabbi Jack Riemer
I think that every student who graduates rabbinical school
should be given this book---and should be asked to read it twice.
Why twice?
Because the first time they read it, they won’t really
believe it is true, or that it applies to them. They will think that the
practice of turning the rabbi into some kind of a superman or some kind of a
divine messenger ended in the Middle Ages, and that their rational and liberal
congregants won’t do that to them …but they will. Just yesterday, I wished one
of my congregants a happy birthday, and he replied: “Thank you. May your wish
go directly from your mouth to God’s ears. After all, for you it is a local
call, isn’t it?” I just smiled. What else can you do?
But to say that this is a book meant for rabbis is to limit
it unjustly. It is meant for all those who want to lead a purposeful life and
have not yet found the way to do so. It is meant for all those who have
experienced love beyond their deserving and who want to share it with others
without appearing vain---or even worse---‘religious’. It is meant for all those
who know how cruel this world can sometimes be, and yet want to do what they
can to seek out and to explore the love that is within it.
I read this book twice: once as a rabbi looking for sermonic
material, and one as a human being who hopes to become a mensch.
The first time I marked many passages for future reading,
for Joshua Hammerman is not only a rabbi; he is also a journalist, and so he
knows how to write with imagination and skill. There are a great many examples
of creative writing in this book that will make the sermons of his colleagues
much better if they study it. But that is not the main purpose of this
book---far from it. The purpose of the book is to tell the story of how one
human being gradually came to understand the role of compassion and love and
mentshlichkeit in his own life, and how he gradually learned how to share these
insights with his people—both in words and by example.
The most moving chapter of the book, at least for me, was
the one in which he talked about his own failure. He watched the football
player, Tim Tebow, winning game after game, and he saw an almost messianic
fervor take hold among his fans. Tebow was a devout evangelist, and he and his
fans began proclaiming that his victories were the work of God. Hammerman was
so disturbed by this phenomenon that he sat down and dashed off a blog blasting
fundamentalism, evangelicalism, and all such faiths as superstition.
And then came the reaction!
He got hate mail by the hundreds on his computer. He got
editorials condemning him for his bigotry in newspapers from coast to coast.
Even some of his congregants turned against him for having offended their
Christian neighbors. And he realized that they were right. He had written a
hasty and a foolish blog, in which he had labeled whole communities, that he
really knew little about, as backward and as potentially dangerous, and there
was no way that he could make amends for it. He realized that the more he
talked about it, the worse it would be.
Eventually, the affair blew over, and people went on with
their lives. But he decided to speak on the following Yom Kippur about what he
had learned from the mistake. He spoke about it, not in order to defend himself
and to justify what he had done. He spoke about it in order to tell his people
what he had learned from experiencing failure, and so that he could tell them
that they, too, would be better off if, instead of gloating over their
successes, they faced up to their failures. He brought examples from Silicon
Valley and from inventors and from business people who had learned from their
mistakes, but he focused primarily on his own—and on theirs. And his people
came away that night with two important spiritual lessons. The first was that
their rabbi was human and could make mistakes. And the second lesson that they
learned that night was that they, too, were fallible, and that their
task---especially on Yom Kippur--was not to deny their faults and not to cover
up their shortcomings, but to learn from them.
And is that not a powerful lesson that all of us need to
learn?
I know some powerful and successful executives and I know
some powerful and successful rabbis who have not yet learned this lesson---but
we should---and therefore, I urge all those of us who have ever failed---in
other words—all of us---to read this book and to learn this and some of the
otherwise lessons that it contains.
Jack Riemer is the author of two new books: Finding God
in Unexpected Places and The Day I Met Father Isaac at the Supermarket. They
are available from Amazon.com
