Reviews for Shanda: The Making and Breaking of a Self-Loathing Jew

The average rating for Shanda: The Making and Breaking of a Self-Loathing Jew based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-01-11 00:00:00 Jeffrey Stieglitz Neal - Wow! Thank you. What a joy this was to read...truly. So full of heart and humor, just like you! What Rabbi Friedman said about 'true religion' rang so true to me... "Everybody talks about the 'true religion.' As far as I'm concerned, every religion is 'true.' If I were interested in enlightenment, my destination would be Buddhism, and I'd have to fly another airline, maybe switch planes to another hub. If my destination were heaven, safe from Satan, my destination would be Christianity." And how he goes on to say that each religion doesn't have a different God, but that we look for him in different ways, often wrong ways. That, "it all depends on our destinations, where we've been and are going to, with all our connections to the past and the generations coming." (pg 106) I couldn't agree more! I also really enjoyed what Ba'al Shem Tov said about the "Divine spark of light" being "in every living thing, down to every blade of grass, every singer that made me tap my toe, every joke that made me laugh with joy." (pg 175) And finally, your sense of humor throughout had me laughing out loud. I particularly loved the term Scandifarians when describing the tattooed and dreadlocked diners at French Meadow. Now, that's funny. And the bit about Sturgis brought a big smile to my face. That would have been quite a journey... I laughed, I cried. Thank you, my man! Amy

Review # 2 was written on 2014-07-25 00:00:00 Roland Helfer Warm, heartfelt, well-written memoir by one of the Twin Cities' better writers about his journey back to Judaism--and himself. It's broad comedy in some places and could offend the overly sensitive or pious, but stick with it. Recommend it.