Customer Reviews

Spiritual Boredom: Rediscovering the Wonder of Judaism

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Dr. Brown manages to take the topic of boredom and weave an engrossing tale of how we can recast familiarity into action. I particularly liked the distinction between boredom and calm. The section at the end of the book detailing action items is particularly valuable. Anyone with ennui should be reading this. And those who want to avoid it. A great resource for teaching children about spitituality as well. Well done!

No one, writes Dr. Brown, is immune from the debilitating disease of boredom, a modern condition that is cited in a dictionary for the first time in the mid-nineteenth century. The disease cannot be treated by an injection or any other outside intervention. The cure must come from inside the bored people themselves.
Boredom affects all aspects of life - an inability to enjoy oneself, family and religion - and destroys the self and others. In Judaism, boredom with Hebrew classes, synagogue services and religious lectures is well known, and all-too-often turns into an alienation from Judaism.
The main cause of boredom, Dr. Brown writes, is "a feeling of uninvolvement, a lack of concentration, an absence of motivation, a feeling of emptiness and, above all, no excitement or enthusiasm for what is happening." How can people overcome these destructive feelings?
Dr. Brown's well-written book is well-researched and filled with reasonable practical advice and interesting, poignant and instructive quotes, at least one and sometimes two or three on every page. For example: "Something is boring me. I think it's me," said Dylan Thomas. He understood the problem and cure.
Dr. Brown writes: "When we believe something is destined to be boring, we often make sure that it lives up to expectations." Boredom, she explains, is the result of selfishness, excessive concern about one's own benefits and pleasures. And "It is commitment that provides the real relief to boredom."
Dr. Brown offers ten prescriptions to heal the disease, which she discusses in detail.
1. Stop speaking about boredom. By mentioning it, you make it so.
2. When you see something, go through the ten times two exercise. Try to think of ten things you notice about what you are seeing. Then try to add ten more. This exercise trains people to find interesting meaning.
3. Do something unusual, even scary, and move on from lethargy and feeling sorry for yourself.
4. Get involved in helping other people for a side effect is satisfaction.
5. Smile. Just making the facial gesture changes attitudes.
6. Find time when you can be alone and learn to enjoy your own company.
7. Minimize distractions for they will keep you from seeing interesting events.
8. Open a Jewish book and study it with a teacher. Jewish teachings only seem dull when they are read only cursorily, without understanding.
9. Set a Shabbat table or any Jewish activity. The side effect of these acts is enjoyable.
10. Practice listening to others, Look them in the face and you will find a fascinating world that you have been ignoring.
These ten ideas together with the many insights that Dr. Brown offers about boredom will cure people of the modern man made malady of boredom.

There I was thinking I had been having a crisis of faith, when in actuality, thanks to Erica Brown's new book "Spiritual Boredom", I realize now that I have been suffering from boredom. Dr. Brown must have been living in my head for the last few years - her description of boredom, an all too common ailment facing those of us living in this time of information and activity overload, is exactly what I and many of my friends have been dealing with for the last few years. Her analysis of this "disease" is witty and thorough, and the practical solutions she offers have just moved up to the top of my to do list. A meaningful text with interesting literary references, this book is a must read for those of us who have been engaged in the Jewish community, have lost their way, and who miss the connectedness and meaning that Judaism offers.

Have the editorial reviewers and big-name blurb writers from the back cover read the same book I did? This book is poorly written and badly edited. The first four chapters were a total waste of paper and the following ones only slightly better. I struggled to read the whole thing, hoping that she would finally make a point, offer something that I could use. Nothing. The author had no point. Yes, people are disengaged from Judaism, feel that it's boring, and ...??? I agree that, no, they shouldn't feel that way. What is Brown's solution to this situation? A boring book that belabors the point and goes nowhere.

The quickest way to lose one's faith is for it to lose its wonder. "Spiritual Boredom: Rediscovering the Wonder of Judaism" is a spiritual guide for combating the most unsuspecting problem of the modern era for many Jews - boredom with one's faith. Humanity has an innate desire for change and newness, but how does one keep one's faith when their religion and synagogue life seems so stagnant? Discussing these questions and offering probable solutions, Erica Brown presents an intriguing dissection of this unique problem. "Spiritual Boredom" is a solid and enthusiastically recommended read for both tired Jews and Judaic leaders.