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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Goldstein Chooses and Uses Religion to Make Meaining in Life, August 23, 2000
Many will view Niles Goldstein's, "God at the Edge" as a personal narrative of man's journey to becoming a rabbi. Some may see Goldstein's work as an instructional religious text written in a personal and conversational style. Others might find "God at the Edge" an historical text about individuals who deviate from religious norms, with Goldstein as a modern day example. However, none of these distinguish "God at the Edge" for what it truly is: a text about a young man's decision to "choose" religion and his second decision to "use" religion to make meaning in his life. Goldstein's decisions come during an era when most people blindly accept, or mindlessly reject, their parents' religion; when nary a soul turns to religion for comfort and solace, let alone as a process, through which to grow and develop emotionally. Goldstein's way of looking at religion comes at a time when religion is not popular. Yet, "God at the Edge" might just change that. Within this text, Goldstein illustrates how religion can be intentionally exciting. Through a series of adventures, Goldstein puts himself in situations many would not. By going into the wild, traveling without proper documents in foreign lands, walking into the wilderness without food, he sets himself up to over and over again, confront fear -- sometimes in the face of a grizzly, sometimes in the face of a woman, sometimes in the face of his father. This determination to confront fear is perhaps best explained in Goldstein's prior work, "Forests of the Night" where he talks of Hassidic mystics and their belief that fear is necessary to approaching God. What Goldstein seems to have done is attempt to carry out what mystics touted as necessary for knowing God. The funny part about Goldstein's decision is that Goldstein is an Ivy League graduate, who travels the world, who lives a life filled with privilege and opportunity: Fear is something that Goldstein must intentionally create. As he introduces both Jewish and Christian religious figures, who, over three thousand years, dared to deviate from religious norms, he simultaneously shares turning points in his life. As he weaves his tale filled with literary and religious texts, historical figures who seriously considered religion or made religion their lives -- some who lost their lives because of their choices -- he explains how he uses religion to turn himself inside out. Goldstein's "God at the Edge" is a good read. While "moderns" apathetically reject thousand-year-old religious practices and Canonical religious texts, Goldstein, an imperfect man, who shares that he was once arrested for ripping out a toilet in a Manhattan bar, processes his life in a religious context. "God at the Edge" contrasts stereotypical ideas of religion -- children sleeping through Sunday school, young adults running from religious education, adults rolling their eyes sighing "religion is for the older generation" -- and offers an exciting way to live a religious life in a modern world.
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Talk about your inner demons!, November 13, 2000
By A Customer
So let's see. A guy, in a psychotic fit, concludes "We're all going to die!" and then rips the urinal out of the wall of a nightclub bathroom. He spends one (1) night in a New York City jail and receives a suspended sentence. He then finds God and compares his experience to those of many persecuted and imprisoned figures from Biblical and medieval times. Meet Rabbi Goldstein, your spiritual guide for the next 200 pages. In another chapter he wanders into the White Mountains of New Hampshire to stay there for a few days without food or provisions. Elsewhere, he is spotted by a bear, runs, finds safety in his car, and feels the power of God. OK, maybe I am too harsh, too cynical. But rather than feeling inspired by these tales, I found myself feeling sorry for the Rabbi. The impulsive, desperate actions and risks he takes seem more a cry for psychiatric help than a spiritual quest. What is missing from these tales is some badly needed humor and self-awareness. Despite his alleged abject humility in all of these encounters with God's power, the author takes himself awfully seriously. After summarizing a bizarre adventure, he'll compare his experience to that of some Hassidic luminary or medieval monk or abbott or literary figure. Indeed, each chapter seems to be structured that way -- a few pages on "the crazy thing I did" followed by a humorless sermon on its connection to history and a reiteration of the message that God is everywhere. There is something strained about the whole exercise. It's more interesting and scholarly than many mushy spiritual books, but that's not saying much. It's also much less entertaining than it could have been considering all the experiences to which the author insanely subjected himself.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Finding god in messy places without a list of 5 or 7 steps, August 20, 2000
There are many alternate paths to god, and god is present in the darkness as well as the light. Many people find god in pretty parks, humble houses of worship, massive mountaintops, and serene meadows. Others find spirituality in foxholes, in the muck and mire, in degradation, or in prison. In the bible, Avraham Avinu smashed the idols in his father's retail idol outlet. Rabbi Goldstein did not smash an idol, he just smashed a urinal in a fit of mortal rage and anger at a Manhattan bar two weeks prior to graduating college. He was promptly arrrested, and he spent a night in the Manhattan's Tombs Prison with accused murderers and transvestite prostitutes. But didn't Joseph spend time in jail, as did Shneur Zalman? Didn't Jonah have to go down to Jaffa, down to the hold of the ship, and down into a fish to turn around? These events led to spiritual awakenings and eventual leadership. A restless Rabbi Goldstein, 33, is seeking authenticity, meaning, wholeness, and rest. He is a police chaplain and DEA advisor, and a founding rabbi of the New Shul which met at HUC-JIR in Greenwich Village/Manhattan (now meets at Judson on Wash Sq). He is also a specialist in the Fear of God, as author of "Forests in the Night. Fear of God in Early Hasidic Thought." His book is part travelogue and part spiritual search. For example, on a trip to Nepal and Katmandu, he and his father attend a weekly animal sacrifice in Dakshinkali. As a goat's head is severed, and his father hugs him, Niles is reminded of the Akedah. When discussing the fine line between the spiritual and sacrilegious, he is reminded of Nadav and Avihu and the Golem of Prague. His trip `into the wilderness' of Alaska and meeting with a hungry grizzly bear brings on thoughts of the Rambam's discourse on fear and the awareness of one's meagerness in comparison to god. He has the ability to find God while dog-sledding in the Arctic Circle, while counseling police officers in the Bronx, getting dumped by a young girlfriend in Princeton, and while on additional excursions in Asia, Alaska, Boston, Africa, and the wilds of New Hampshire. Finding god isnt easy, isn't succinct and it doesnt happen in five steps, but Goldstein shows how a prepared mind can find spirituality in some of the grossest or most fearsome places.
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