Sacred Therapy: Jewish Spiritual Teachings on Emotional Healing and Inner Wholeness [Hardcover]

Estelle Frankel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 20, 2004

In Sacred Therapy, Estelle Frankel takes a fresh look at the central myths, metaphors, and spiritual practices of the Jewish tradition, explaining how people of any faith can draw upon this rich body of teachings to gain wisdom, clarity, and a deeper sense of meaning in the midst of modern life. In an engaging, accessible, and compassionate style, Frankel brings together tales and teachings from the Bible, the Talmud, Kabbalah, and the Hasidic tradition as well as evocative case studies and guided meditations to create an original, inspirational guide to emotional healing and spiritual growth. Frankel demonstrates the universal applicability and wisdom that is hidden in Jewish sources, and she also presents a way to incorporate these spiritual insights into the practice of psychotherapy. Showing us how to skillfully weave together personal and sacred narrative, she reveals how we can transform our vulnerabilities into strengths and restore a sense of coherence in our lives even when things seem broken or shattered. The ultimate goal of both psychotherapy and spiritual practice, she says, is to open our hearts fully to life—to the raw and painful as well as to the beautiful, joyous, and sacred dimensions of existence—for wholeness is reached only when we can embrace and integrate the contradictory and often fragmented aspects of our being. At a time when so many people are searching for ways to bring greater spiritual depth and meaning to their lives, Frankel offers a powerful and authentic vision of how to do just that.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"There is nothing more whole than a broken heart," taught Hasidic master Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotsk. Frankel cites that paradoxical wisdom as well as other biblical, Hasidic, Talmudic and kabbalistic traditions to shape her thesis: healing begins with brokenness and leads to transformation, wholeheartedness and renewal. As a psychotherapist and teacher of Jewish mysticism, Frankel integrates the psyche and spirit so they "flow as two currents in a single stream, creating a synergistic healing power." She uses the kabbalistic myth of the shattered vessels to mirror the inevitability of brokenness in our lives, the broken tablets at Sinai as a metaphor for imperfection, the Exodus from Egypt as a reflection of change and self-liberation and the process of teshuvah (repentance) and the High Holiday cycle as paradigms for healing. "Locating ourselves in Jewish myth and metaphor," she says, can lessen the sense of isolation in suffering, as well as enlarge our identities through spiritual awareness. The book is divided into three parts: kabbalistic cosmology and healing; healing and birthing the self; and wholeness and integration. Client case studies and reflections on her own life focus on common psychological complaints: a broken heart, transition, loss, depression and illness. Suggestions for guided meditations and spiritual rituals give readers practical ways to be "healed by, or in spite of, whatever illnesses and difficulties we face in our lives." Those familiar with the concept of tikkun olam-repairing the world-will discover here its more personal and interconnected form-tikkun nefesh: healing our own souls.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Her background knowledge is extensive and she readily quotes from an impressive variety of sources to illustrate her points. . . . Therapists who include a spiritual perspective in their work would likely benefit from the many moving metaphors and images Frankel illuminates."—Library Journal

"Frankel has done an impressive job of blending ancient Jewish wisdom with modern psychology to fashion a powerful force for healing." —Harold Kushner, author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People



"Frankel deftly harvests the pearls of her own deep-sea dive into the intimate world of spiritual counseling. Filled with usable stories, quotes, and concepts, this book is a must-read for rabbis, therapists, Jewish educators, and other professionals who take to heart the transformative power of the spiritual journey."—Rabbi Tirzah Firestone, author of The Receiving: Reclaiming Jewish Women's Wisdom



"Sacred Therapy integrates profound Hasidic and Kabbalistic teachings with psychotherapeutic insight, revealing to readers how to shift from ordinary self-centeredness to a more spacious, 'spirit-centered' perspective. I highly recommend this compelling book to readers from all backgrounds, for its wisdom is rich and universal."—David A. Cooper, author of God Is a Verb



"Estelle Frankel is a masterful, seasoned spiritual helper whose writing opens awareness, offers valuable tools for inner work, and awakens the hope that makes for sustained effort."—Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Professor of Religion at Naropa University and Rabbinic Chair of Aleph, Alliance for Jewish Renewal



"For years people have talked about the need for an integration of spiritual insights into therapy—Estelle Frankel actually does it, and does it in a way that avoids simplistic New Agey nonsense and pop-psychology and instead provides a new vision of what spiritually informed psychology could be."—Rabbi Michael Lerner, Editor of Tikkun magazine and author of Jewish Renewal: A Path to Healing and Transformation and Healing Israel/ Palestine.



"In a world of pain and, too often, despair, Estelle Frankel opens up the stunning light of Kabbalistic consciousness to the Western reader. She is loving, profound, original, and brilliant. If you seek wholeness and healing—if you seek yourself—then Frankel is a must read!"—Marc Gafni, author of Soul Prints and The Mystery of Love

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Shambhala; 1 edition (January 20, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570629978
• ISBN-13: 978-1570629976
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,332,750 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Information about Estelle Frankel, her counseling practice and teaching schedule can be found at www.sacredtherapy.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A transformative read, June 30, 2004

By 

Lisa A. Kully, Marriage and Family Therapist (Oakland, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sacred Therapy: Jewish Spiritual Teachings on Emotional Healing and Inner Wholeness (Hardcover)

Estelle Frankel's "Sacred Therapy" is one of the most important and optimistic books I have read, as a woman, a therapist, a Jew, a human being. Whether the reader arrives at this writing with explicit spiritual knowledge and practices, or simply a deep longing for understanding and peace, Estelle's graceful blend of wisdom and heartfulness inducts each of us into a direct experience of wholeness, of the Divine. Estelle does not skirt around issues of pain and suffering, nor the practical, rather, she dives headlong into the darkness with us, with Torah and simple tools, and, magically, we resurface with more hope and a greater ability to respond to Life as it truly is. For psychotherapists, Jewish or otherwise, Estelle offers a language and a context which urges us to "remember" our Selves large enough to hold our clients and to offer them a well to drink from, too. Through rich stories of Jewish history and spirituality, and with the support of guided meditations, Estelle invites us to know our Selves individually and in connection, through the eyes of God, even if we don't believe in God.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Striking a Deep Chord of Wisdom, July 20, 2005

By 

Jordan Gruber "CEO, Enlightenment.Com" (Menlo Park, CA<P>Menlo Park, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sacred Therapy: Jewish Spiritual Teachings on Emotional Healing and Inner Wholeness (Hardcover)

Do you believe in coincidences? Recently, at Harbin Hot Springs, a fabulous retreat center in Northern California, I was handed a book by an author who said, "I was planning to give this away to someone else, but it looks like you are the right person to hand it to." The attractive dark-haired woman who gave me the book was named Estelle Frankel, and is it turns out, I *was* the right person, at least in the sense that the book has made a deep impression on me.

A practicing psychotherapist and a "seasoned teacher of Jewish mysticism, Frankel studied and practiced Jewish mysticism in Israel for 8 years, and has been personally tutored by both Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach. For someone like myself, who has been in and out of Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah as a dilettante, I have found parts of this book absolutely fascinating, especially Biblical-era stories and musings of what it was, exactly, that happened with Moses and the People of Israel out there in the desert... (When was the last time you were part of a group illumination, what my Pennsylvanian friends would call an "egregrore"?)

The book consists of modern-stay healing stories, Midrashic-level musings, Hasidic wisdom and tales, and practical rituals and strategies for self-transformation and spiritual upliftment. The Kabbalah is, of course, returned to time and time again, and many themes that I would call (perhaps anachronistically) gnostic permeate the text. Here is one of my favorite passages:

"At every transition point in the life cycle, when one stage of life ends and another begins, we inevitably pass through this death-rebirth cycle of creation, dissolutoin, and re-creation. The shattering of the vessels is, in a sense, the Kabbalah's unique idiom for talking about what the Buddhists refer to as life's essential impermanence. As soona s something is created, its dissolution is already at hand. The vessels of creation, the finite forms created to house the infinite, are always imperfect and impermanent. They must inevitably shatter to make room for the next manifestation of divine unfolding. The light of the infinite simply cannot be contained and limited by any finite form, and so by shattering, the vessels of creation continually allow more light to be revealed. And just when things seem most broken and shattered, that is when healing or tikkun begins."

I have found this to be a rich and evocative book, one that ties together modern psychotherapy with Jewish mysticism, from the perspective of someone who uses both these tools to help individuals in their day-to-day lives. Especially for those interested in the Western esoteric traditions generally or Jewish mysticism specifically, or anyone with a Jewish background, I highly recommend this book.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A masterful blend, May 25, 2004

By 

Jinks Hoffmann (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sacred Therapy: Jewish Spiritual Teachings on Emotional Healing and Inner Wholeness (Hardcover)

I am a psychotherapist and spiritual director and I found Estelle Frankel's book Sacred Therapy to be an absolute jewel. The blend of Jewish teachings, psychotherapy, and spiritual direction is masterful. I resonate very much indeed with many of the teachings, and say "yes!" often as I read. I particularly loved Estelle Frankel's writing on T'shuvah as being the call from the inner divine spark to return to our wholeness....delicious! I have read parts of the book to my husband , and he too has found the work rich and inviting....

Jinks Hoffmann