Customer Reviews

Ancient Secrets:: Using the Stories of the Bible to Improve Our Everyday Lives

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In these days where fundamentalist spiritual leaders demand to accept a simple interpretation of the Bible, Rabbi Meier uses his gifts as a rabbi and a Jungian analyst to open the Bible to all of us, not as a narrow document with one solution for all, but as a series of enduring stories which offer insight into our lives today. It proves that the reason the Torah endures is that it tells stories with universal meanings, that are as fresh today, millenia after the actual events, as they were when they were first told. Rabbi Meier shows how the Bible offers insight on a variety of issues from sexuality to honesty. He explains when the Torah instructs us not to bear false witness (that is, not to lie), it also allows us to lie--so as not to infflict pain. Perhaps, most important for the contemporary reader are the insights the Torah provides us on sexuality. Sex is not merely a means of pleasure, but one of communication and understanding. The Torah tells us that sexual intimacy MUST become a means of learning about our partner, not just for sexual intimacy, but also a means to spiritual intimacy. Rabbi Meier supplements this lesson from the Torah with lessons he has learned from his clients: the main cause of infidelity is a lack of communication between the partners. It is this ability to link the stories from the Torah to the knowledge he has gained in counseling clients (people seeing psychological help and spirtual guidance) that is the real strength of this book and it's why I recommend it highly. The language can be a little too simplistic at times, but at least that makes it easy to read. It's a good book and I dare say that it is one that I will continue to turn to for many years to come.

There are three R's on the menu of Bible study...Reading, Reciting, and Remembering...but they are a mere apértif in the quenching of an enduring spiritual thirst. In this provocatively titled book, Levi Meier serves up a main course which serious Bible students, both kosher and Christian, can dig into with relish. With scholarly and insightful interpretations from the first five books of the Old Testament, Rabbi Meier sprinkles his book with such observations as, "Spiritual transformations take place more often in the gutter than in a soft bed," and "Joseph's brothers sold him into slaveryŠwe don't do thatŠwe sue." There are other tasty tidbits to savor (did you know that, in Hebrew, an angel is called an ISH?), but he is seriously informative addressing difficult subjects, such as the ambiguities of life, the significance of biblical paradox, and the usefulness of evil in the world. (His comments on page 182 about death are particularly poignant in light of the worldwide reaction to the recent loss of Princess Diana.) Can we expect a 249-page book to deliver more? This one does. In his own review, the author emphasizes his modern-day applications of Bible truths, but for me, his real-life anecdotes as a clinical psychologist and hospital chaplain were icing on the cake, not the meat-and-potatoes of his book. Through the courses of each chapter, Rabbi Meier delivers a nourishing, inspirational meal.

An incredible book, Rabbi Levi Meier captivates me with his words. There is so much "life" wisdom in these pages, it is a book I will keep forever!