Traces of God: Seeing God in Torah, History and Everyday Life [Hardcover]

Neil Gillman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2006

The Torah is replete with references to hearing God but precious few references to seeing God. Seeing is complicated. What we look for and see are traces of God's presence in the world and in history, but not God. In order to identify those traces as reflections of divine presence, we need to re-examine how we see, what we see, and how we interpret that information.

In this challenging and inspiring look at the dynamics of the religious experience, award-winning author and theologian Neil Gillman guides you into a new way of seeing the complex patterns in the Bible, history, and everyday experiences and helps you interpret what those patterns mean to you and your relationship with God.

Examining faith and doubt, revelation and law, suffering and redemption, Gillman candidly deconstructs familiar biblical moments in order to help you develop and refine your own spiritual vision, so that you are able to discern the presence of God in unanticipated ways.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Rabbi Gillman, a theologian, has written a column in the Jewish Week, New York's -Anglo-Jewish weekly, for the past 25 years. As the voice of the conservative movement, Gillman has selected 60 columns for this anthology. The author examines evidence that will help answer questions of what he calls a "spiritual search." They include such topics as God's existence and his presence, control over our destinies, suffering and redemption, and the role we play in shaping our relationship with God. Gillman has arranged the anthology into four broad terms: seeing God; images of God; revelation and law; and suffering, death, and redemption. There may never be definitive answers to some of these questions, but Gillman's astute book is a start. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

From the Inside Flap

In this inspiring book, award-winning author and teacher Neil Gillman probes for clues that can help you determine God's presence in your life--not in place or space, above or below, outside or inside, but in the sanctified moments that you experience each day and throughout the year.

Elegant and profound, this thought-provoking spiritual guide turns your attention not to burning bushes and splitting seas but to the everyday and the holy days that shape your religious life for the answers to your deepest spiritual questions:
* How can I know if God really exists?
* How do I know when God is present?
* How much control do I have over my own destiny?
* Why do I suffer and what role do I play in redemption--both human and divine?

By encouraging you to look at daily life as sanctified time to experience divine presence, Gillman helps you recognize the intrinsic and valuable moments that mark your journey to faith in God.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 216 pages
• Publisher: Jewish Lights Publishing (February 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580232493
• ISBN-13: 978-1580232494
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,031,932 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars not bad, but a bit uneven, April 7, 2007

By 

Michael Lewyn (Forest Hills, NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Traces of God: Seeing God in Torah, History and Everyday Life (Hardcover)

Some of these essays struck me as a bit elementary, telling me things I already know (though I think I would have liked them more a few years ago when I was less well-read).

But on the other hand, every so often I read one that was genuinely interesting. A few that I liked:

*An essay on Jacob and Esau, explaining why first-born sons nearly always lose in the Torah. Gillman's explanation: "This is the biblical historiographer's way of telling us that ultimately God who governs the course of historical events, not the immutable laws of natural order."

*An essay on the birth of Samson. After an angel informs Samson's parents of his impending birth, the parents offer a sacrifice, the angel ascends in the flames of the altar, and the Tanach says "Umafli la'asot"- in the words of one translation cited by Gillman, "a marvelous thing happened". The same phrase ends the Asher Yatzar prayer (a prayer recited after we perform certain bodily functions). Gillman's explanation: "The normal functioning of our body is as miraculous as the angel's ascent to heaven."

*An essay on the boundaries provided by ritual commandments: "the purpose of the [boundaries] is to create structures. Structures provide a sense of order ... [and] shield us from the anarchy or chaos that are so much part of our daily experience."

*An essay on Pinchas, who takes the law into his own lands by killing on Israelite who is cohabiting with an idolater. How could the Torah condone such actions? Gillman explains that even though Pinchas may seem like a fanatic, he must have been "convinced that the established social and legal structures have collapsed, that anarchy rules, and that he alone is left to right the wrong that abound about him."

4.0 out of 5 stars Traces of God, January 5, 2012

By 

Eric Maroney (Trumansburg, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Traces of God: Seeing God in Torah, History and Everyday Life (Paperback)

Rabbi Neil Gillman is involved in the very suspect occupation of Jewish theology, two words that are only uncomfortably paired in the history of Judaism. Rabbinical Judaism has stressed practice and adherence to the mitzvoth far more than to any set of beliefs or principles about God. The overall impression of the Rabbinical world view is that it matters very little (or not at all) what a Jew believes about God, as long as he or she adheres to God's commands.

Certainly, Gillman acknowledges this viewpoint. There is no getting around it. But of course it is nearly impossible to simply follow the mitzvoth and not have some idea of how or what God is. So in this group of essays, Traces of God: Seeing God in Torah, History and Everyday Life, Gillman goes about examining aspects of Jewish religion which border on, if not reside in, the realm of theology.

This series of essays explore a range of areas, and are divided into three distinct topics. As there pieces were written for a journal, Gillman often repeats himself in various places. This is both good and bad. The discussions can get a bit repetitive, but we also get to see how he thinks about a particular topic across a range of subjects.