Women's Lives, Women's Legacies: Passing Your Beliefs and Blessings to Future Generations [Paperback]

Rachael Freed (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 27, 2003

This book shows women how to create an enduring document that expresses who they are, what they value, and how they want to be remember.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"As much a tool for self-knowledge as a vehicle for preserving a legacy." -- Cleveland Plain Dealer

"As much of an intriguing read as it is an in-depth guide on how to document one's life." -- American Jewish World

"While it's possible to create a spiritual-ethical will on one's own, Freed hopes that women will work in community." -- Minnesota Women's Press

"[Examines] ethical wills from a feminist point of view, [and how] women have been left out of the process." -- PBS Religion and Ethics Newsweekly

From the Inside Flap

A spiritual-ethical will is a record of who you are---a link to your past and a gift to the future. In it you can articulate your values, impart your wisdom, bless your loved ones, and express how you hope to be remembered after you are gone.

Whether you are reclaiming your history or supplementing a legal will, Rachael Freed will guide you through each life-changing step in the legacy writing process. One day your descendants will hold your document in their hands and know who you were, what mattered to you, and what you contributed to the world.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Fairview Press (August 27, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 157749119X
• ISBN-13: 978-1577491194
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #444,591 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #13 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Judaism > Women and Judaism

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Women's Lives, Women's Legacies - a radiant guidebook, October 2, 2003

By 

Nancy Carter, L. M. F. T. (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Women's Lives, Women's Legacies: Passing Your Beliefs and Blessings to Future Generations (Paperback)

I'm a woman who's been blessed with a long and varied life. I've always wanted to share my experiences with my nieces, and to offer them my hard-earned wisdom so that they might move into womanhood a little better informed than I was. I've also had an inner desire to be seen and valued by them.
The beautifully written and accessible WOMEN'S LIVES, WOMEN'S LEGACIES offers encouragement and serves as a guide so that I may begin to write my life and in the process, come to love and appreciate myself more fully. I love the personal stories and poetry in the book. As I read, I find myself moving to that spiritual place inside myself of loving my own being as well as all the women who've lived before me and those who will come after. This book is a celebration of and addition to the heritage of women.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brings forth women's wisdom, September 30, 2003

By 

Molly Brown (Southwest Colorado) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Women's Lives, Women's Legacies: Passing Your Beliefs and Blessings to Future Generations (Paperback)

I am a writer, counselor, and teacher in my 60's, married for over 40 years, with grown children and one grandchild. So I can recommend this book especially to midlife and older women. This book can help us harvest the fruits of our abundant life experience and share them with a wisdom-starved world.

Through stories, commentary, and especially "reflection and writing" suggestions, this book guides us to contemplate aspects and details of our lives we may tend to take for granted, plumbing the rich depths of their meaning to us, our families, and the world. To name just a few examples: pregnancy, miscarriage, and birth; hanging clothes on a clothesline, specific childhood memories, family relationships, friendships, personal rituals, illness and healing experiences, personal response to world events.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Motivating and inspiring!, September 29, 2003

By 

Megan O'Keefe (Saint Paul, Minnesota) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Women's Lives, Women's Legacies: Passing Your Beliefs and Blessings to Future Generations (Paperback)

I must admit, I've read the personal stories, poems and quotes found throughout the book, but haven't finished the writing exercises; my spiritual ethical will is a work-in-progress! This book has inspired me to learn more about my roots, particularly my Jewish heritage. Since beginning the book I have contacted my great-aunt and have arranged to spend time with her next month, to better understand my genealogical and spiritual roots before moving ahead with the writing process.

As a social worker in long-term care and senior housing, I am acutely aware of how many women's stories go untold. I would love to use this book as a guide for a writing group; just think of all the stories and pearls of wisdom that could be saved!