Israel-A Spiritual Travel Guide: A Companion for the Modern Jewish Pilgrim [Paperback]

Lawrence A. Hoffman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1998

Fodor and Frommer tell you how to get there. This guide tells how to make it a spiritual experience.The plane tickets to Israel are bought, the itinerary is planned, and the suitcases are finally packed....Journeys take preparation; but being ready is one thing-being spiritually prepared is another.Now, in time for the 50th anniversary of the State of Israel, here's a Jewish spiritual travel guide to Israel. It combines, in quick reference format, ancient blessings, medieval prayers, biblical references, and modern poetry, to help today's pilgrim tap into the deep spiritual meaning of the ancient-and modern-sites of the Holy Land.For each of 25 major tourist destinations (from the Western Wall to Masada to a kibbutz in the Galilee), arranged by geographic regions, it gives guidance in sharply-focused three-step sections:* Anticipation: To read in advance. Facts to help orient you in the site's historical context.* Approach: To read on the way there. Readings from varied sources to orient you in the site's spiritual context.* Acknowledgment: To read at the site. A prayer or blessing to integrate the experience into your spiritual consciousness, as well as a journaling space for writing your thoughts and reactions.The only travel book that helps readers to prepare spiritually for the occasion, Israel-A Spiritual Travel Guide is more than a guidebook: It is a spiritual map.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Israel: A Spiritual Travel Guide: A Companion for Modern Jewish Pilgrims by Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman is slender enough to slip in your backpack and big enough to change your life. On his first visit to Israel, the American Rabbi Hoffman was disappointed that his reactions to the holy sites seemed to stop with "Wow." His subsequent trips have been more fulfilling, because he's developed a system of preparation and approach involving reading, prayer, and journaling that is summarized in Israel: A Spiritual Travel Guide. Look to Lonely Planet to help you find cheap eats and soft beds; and keep this guide handy for maps, time lines, and blessings (in both Hebrew and English) appropriate to most destinations that draw pilgrims--ranging from the Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem to the mystical center Safed. Rabbi Hoffman's writing describes pilgrimages with an appealing blend of gravity and levity; his guide can help shape your memories of pilgrimage into your own distinctive "contribution to the memory of this people that has never suffered from amnesia." --Michael Joseph Gross

From Publishers Weekly

To celebrate Israel's 50th birthday, many Jews may find themselves boarding a plane to visit the country's holy sites. For modern Jews making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Hoffman (What Is a Jew?) provides a travel guide intended to prepare them for the spiritual as well as the physical dimension of their travels. In the book's first section, Hoffman offers 18 short meditations to be read before leaving on the journey. Topics included in this section range from meditations on a "Jewish map of Jewish Space and Time" to "Jerusalem: The Center of the World." Sections two and three focus, respectively, on "what to say on the eve of leaving" and "how to prepare while on the way." Section four, the centerpiece of the book, contains brief reflections on 25 specific destinations in Israel, ranging from the Western Wall to Masada and Bethlehem. Each of these chapters contains four sections?"Anticipation," a brief historical overview to read before arriving at the destination; "Approach," excerpts from a variety of Jewish writings to teach the traveler about the locations' spiritual context; "Acknowledgment," prayers or blessings; and "Afterthought," a blank space for writing journal entries. Hoffman's book is such an invaluable resource for incorporating Jewish spirituality into Jewish history that both non-Jews and Jews will benefit from it.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Jewish Lights Publishing (May 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1879045567
• ISBN-13: 978-1879045569
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 4.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,859,212 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Use Fodors for the hotel & body, and this for the spirit, February 7, 2000

By 

Larry Mark "editor of MyJewishBooks.com" (nyc) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Israel-A Spiritual Travel Guide: A Companion for the Modern Jewish Pilgrim (Paperback)

It is the must companion for any traveler to Israel. The blurb says it best, "the other travel books tell you how to get there, Hoffman tells you why to go and what to do when you're there." Hoffman, a Professor of Liturgy at HUC-JIR, is best known for his book, "What Is A Jew?" His travel guide is in four sections. The first contains eighteen (chai) meditations to be read before embarking on one's trip to Israel. The second section is on preparations for "the eve before the trip." Section three focuses on "How to prepare while on the way." And Section four is filled with 25 specific pilgrimage destinations for the traveler. For each site, such as The Kotel or a Kibbutz, Professor Hoffman provides THE FOUR A's -- four sections on "Anticipation," "Approach," "Acknowledgment," and "Afterthought." In Anticipation, one reads an overview of the sight; Approach contains biblical, rabbinic and other writings about the site; Acknowledgment is filled with prayers or readings for you to recite at your destination; and Afterthought provides a blank space in which you may record your feelings, emotions, or just plain journal entries that you can keep forever. This is an excellent companion for a trip to Israel.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Adds an ever deeper spritual dimension to travel to Israel, July 9, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (San Francisco, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Israel-A Spiritual Travel Guide: A Companion for the Modern Jewish Pilgrim (Paperback)

Hoffman has given all travelers to Israel a great gift with this innovative new volume. Forget dry recitations of dates and so forth (though the essentials are here.) This guide explain WHY you are there and opens the door of understanding to what you might feel inside.

Rather than describe the way things are, Hoffman gives you the tools to discover what these places really are and what they can mean to you as an individual.

Highly, highly recommended. And if you ever have a chance to hear Hoffman lecture, do that also.

Dan Lavin

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Guide for a Sacred Journey, July 18, 2006

By 

catreader (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Israel: A Spiritual Travel Guide: A Companion For The Modern Jewish Pilgrim (Paperback)

As a first time traveler to Israel, I found this book to be an extremely helpful guide for both mind and soul. It is well organized and it provides a great framework to prepare you spirtually for the trip as well as each remarkable location when you are there. I felt connected to the places I visited, to the people who have come before me, and to God. I was able to reflect on how the experiences affected me each day. This book helped me to organize my thoughts and memories that I will cherish forever. I am grateful to the author for his hard work in creating this well written book.