A unique memoir that interweaves poetry, narrative, meditation, and social history, A Spiritual Life explores the complex facets of a Jewish woman's spiritual coming-of-age, capturing the emotional and spiritual reality of contemporary Jews as well as religious seekers of all types. From the experiences of early childhood, to the spiritual awakening of a secular adolescent encountering Jewish tradition, to the alternately funny and searing tales of new-found independence, early married life, young motherhood, and midlife, Feld comments with remarkable honesty and clarity on the many stages of spiritual and artistic exploration and growth. Overarching all these accounts is the picture of how the cycle of the Jewish calendar year comes to provide an ever-renewing source of sustenance for the author's deepening spiritual expression.
Merle Feld is a widely published poet, award-winning playwright, peace activist and educator. She is the author of a new volume of poetry, "Finding Words," (URJ Press, 2011) and a highly acclaimed memoir, "A Spiritual Life: Exploring the Heart and Jewish Tradition" (State University of New York Press, revised edition 2007).
Merle's award-winning plays include "The Gates are Closing," which has offered hundreds of synagogue communities and university groups from Brooklyn to Beijing a powerful and moving introduction to the themes of the High Holidays. In "Across the Jordan" (published by Syracuse University Press in the anthology "Making a Scene"), Biblical characters share the stage with contemporary Israelis and Palestinians struggling for recognition and rapprochement.
Merle is a popular scholar-in-residence nationally; abroad, she has facilitated Israeli-Palestinian dialogue on the West Bank and at Seeds of Peace, and has traveled to collaborate with and support Jewish women activists in the former Soviet Union through Project Kesher. The Russian translation of "A Spiritual Life" enjoys a wide audience in the FSU; its publication occasioned a unique three-week book tour of Ukraine. Both her experiences facilitating dialogue on the West Bank and traveling across the FSU are detailed in the revised edition (2007) of "A Spiritual Life."
Since 2005 Merle has served as Founding Director of the Albin Rabbinic Writing Institute, guiding rabbinical students and rabbis from all denominations to develop and explore their own spiritual lives and to serve more effectively as spiritual leaders. Her prose and poetry (including her signature poem about women and men at Sinai) can be found in numerous anthologies and prayer books, most recently in the celebrated volumes "Mahzor Lev Shalem" and "The Torah: A Woman's Commentary." Merle and husband Rabbi Edward Feld make their home in Western Massachusetts.
Visit Merle's website www.merlefeld.com for further details about her books and plays, her speaking and teaching schedule and her guidance to begin or enrich your own spiritual writing practice.
