"I look at the world and see three sorts of people," begins acclaimed author Rabbi Harold Kushner in his tenth book Overcoming Life's Disappointments (Knopf, 2006). "Those who dream boldly even as they realize that a lot of their dreams will not come true? those who dream more modestly and fear that even their modest dreams may not be realized? and those who are afraid to dream at all, lest they be disappointed."
This event is part of the Museum's book club series Looking Back, Facing Forward, cosponsored by the Forward and moderated by its associate editor, Gabriel Sanders.
Overcoming Life's Disappointments aptly uses the Biblical hero Moses to illustrate its point. After forty years of wandering the desert Moses died before reaching the Promised Land. Kushner continually returns to the Moses narrative to demonstrate the human desire to carry on in spite of hardships. Kushner states that if this great leader is capable of enduring profound disappointments—death, plagues, discontent among his people, homelessness, and personal family tensions—surely modern readers can also move on in spite of obstacles.
Other resilient figures Kushner introduces include Abraham Lincoln, who did not let personal depression and overwhelming divisiveness destroy his dream to preserve the United States? Tevye, from Fiddler on the Roof, who retained his faith and traditions in spite of pogroms and changing times? and even the fairytale characters of Steven Sondheim's Into the Woods, who discover that knowing what to wish for is sometimes trickier than it seems. With chapter titles such as A Hard Road, Not a Smooth One, New Dreams for Old Ones, The Mistakes Good People Make, and How To Write Yourself a Happy Ending, Kushner has composed an accessible, encouraging, and straightforward piece that promotes maintaining faith and hope, even when doing so seems difficult, or even futile.
From being overlooked for a promotion, to illness, to marital problems, Kushner assures his readers that no one gets everything he or she expects out of life. Rather than let unexpected setbacks defeat them, Rabbi Kushner assures readers that resilience in spite of misfortune is not only possible, but that in the end, these negative experiences are learning opportunities that can serve to strengthen the very hopes yet to be achieved. "Life is tough," says Kushner, "let's be strong enough not to be broken by it."
About Rabbi Kushner
Rabbi Kushner is the bestselling author of important theological books, including When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Living a Life That Matters, How Good Do We Have to Be?, To Life! and many others. In collaborations with Chaim Potok, Kushner coedited the official Torah commentary of the Conservative movement, Etz Hayim: A Torah Commentary. He is Rabbi Laureate of Temple Israel in Natick, Massachusetts, where he resides.
Kushner has been honored by the Christophers, a Roman Catholic organization, as one of the fifty people who have made the world a better place in the last half century as well as Clergyman of the Year by Religion in American Life in 1999. In 2008, he was honored with the Jewish Book Council's Lifetime Achievement Award. -- www.mjhnyc.org
