Fodor and Frommer tell you how to get there. This guide tells how to make it a spiritual experience.The plane tickets to Israel are bought, the itinerary is planned, and the suitcases are finally packed....Journeys take preparation; but being ready is one thing-being spiritually prepared is another.Now, in time for the 50th anniversary of the State of Israel, here's a Jewish spiritual travel guide to Israel. It combines, in quick reference format, ancient blessings, medieval prayers, biblical references, and modern poetry, to help today's pilgrim tap into the deep spiritual meaning of the ancient-and modern-sites of the Holy Land.For each of 25 major tourist destinations (from the Western Wall to Masada to a kibbutz in the Galilee), arranged by geographic regions, it gives guidance in sharply-focused three-step sections:* Anticipation: To read in advance. Facts to help orient you in the site's historical context.* Approach: To read on the way there. Readings from varied sources to orient you in the site's spiritual context.* Acknowledgment: To read at the site. A prayer or blessing to integrate the experience into your spiritual consciousness, as well as a journaling space for writing your thoughts and reactions.The only travel book that helps readers to prepare spiritually for the occasion, Israel-A Spiritual Travel Guide is more than a guidebook: It is a spiritual map.
Israel: A Spiritual Travel Guide: A Companion for Modern Jewish Pilgrims by Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman is slender enough to slip in your backpack and big enough to change your life. On his first visit to Israel, the American Rabbi Hoffman was disappointed that his reactions to the holy sites seemed to stop with "Wow." His subsequent trips have been more fulfilling, because he's developed a system of preparation and approach involving reading, prayer, and journaling that is summarized in Israel: A Spiritual Travel Guide. Look to Lonely Planet to help you find cheap eats and soft beds; and keep this guide handy for maps, time lines, and blessings (in both Hebrew and English) appropriate to most destinations that draw pilgrims--ranging from the Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem to the mystical center Safed. Rabbi Hoffman's writing describes pilgrimages with an appealing blend of gravity and levity; his guide can help shape your memories of pilgrimage into your own distinctive "contribution to the memory of this people that has never suffered from amnesia." --Michael Joseph Gross
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
Went to Israel WITHOUT this book:
I'm usually fairly generous with ratings but I must say this book is not what I expected. I read when first received and then tried to look at it again before our trip to Israel. We did not bring it with us. It did not fit in our agenda.
Great Israel Trip Companion:
This is a great book to have with you on your trip to Israel. The readings and blessings add so much to an already special experience.
It's all Hebrew to me:
Had to return this book. Chunks of it were written in Hebrew script with a romanized translation underneath followed by an English translation.
Made my trip!:
When I went on my Birthright Israel trip, I was like many young Jewish people and just didn't know all that much about my religion and it's history.
Aside from prayers and tips on how you can approach these places with a more spiritual frame of mind, it also gives you the requisite history about it. And it's a tiny book and an easy read, so you can even read the section on the place you're going to during the bus ride there, or even the night before you go. This made a huge impact on what I got out of... more info
