Preface and Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Story Behind the Story
I. The Stories: Biblical and Rabbinic Stories
II. Folktales of Love
III. Love Letters
IV. Contemporary Love Stories
V. Writing Your Own Love Story
Glossary
Index
About the Editors
Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso is director of the Religion,
Spirituality, and the Arts Initiative at Butler University and is a
national speaker on women and spirituality and the religious
imagination of children. She is rabbi emerita of Congregation
Beth-El Zedeck in Indianapolis, where she served for thirty-six
years, and is the author of numerous highly acclaimed books for
both adults and children. Her children’s book The Shema in the
Mezuzah won the 2012 National Jewish Book Award for Best
Illustrated Children’s Book.
Peninnah Schram is professor emerita of speech and drama at Yeshiva
University. An internationally renowned storyteller, she travels
across the United States and other countries as a featured
presenter at storytelling festivals and conferences and as an
artist-in-residence. She is the author of twelve notable books of
Jewish folktales and has received numerous prestigious awards,
including a Covenant Award for Outstanding Jewish Educator and the
National Storytelling Network’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Schram and Sasso, in a synergistic collaboration of storyteller and
rabbi, have created an engaging compilation of Jewish love letters
and love stories. Beginning with tales about the love relationships
of biblical couplings (from biblical accounts, many interwoven with
rabbinic midrash), the book also includes Jewish folktales about
courtship, fascinating love letters by Jewish historical figures
(including between Alfred Dreyfus and his wife Lucie), and a
diverse collection of contemporary stories of meeting, love, and
marital union. The collection highlights both the differences and
the commonalities between contemporary love and marriage, and
unions from ages past. In part a celebration of modern, romantic
love, this book is also about the covenantal relationship between
members of a couple (gay as well as straight), as well as love’s
subtleties, conflicts, and hardships. The book concludes with a
chapter designed to help a couple to write their own love story.
Likely to appeal to a broad range of readers, the book is will be
of particular value to those celebrating a wedding or anniversary
(one’s own, or that of a friend or family member).
*Publishers Weekly*
To some, love stories can be boring, repetitive, and unrealistic.
Not so with these stories. The editors collect tales from the
Bible, folklorists, and contemporary sources to provide a tapestry
of tales that remind us that love is love, and it can grow in
surprising places. Jewish and non-Jewish readers alike will
appreciate how the love stories are grounded in Jewish identity but
in a way that covers a multitude of relationships, whether between
two women or in an arranged marriage. From Miriam standing up to
Moses and being revered for her wisdom to a woman whose first
meeting with her husband convinced her he was a jerk, the stories
in the collection repeatedly return to the theme of bashert, or
destiny: God is in his heaven, and he is making matches. It’s a
sweet reminder that every love story is as special as the
individuals who make it.
*Booklist*
Jewish Stories of Love and Marriage is a must-have addition for any
Jewish library, not to mention the perfect gift for any Jewish
engagement or wedding. . . .Buy the book. Read the book. Then take
the authors’ advice and pen your own family’s love story.
*Jewish Post & Opinion*
Jewish Stories of Love and Marriage offers a treasury of tales that
speak to the tenderness and passion, difficulties and blessings of
love. Jewish tradition overflows with love stories from the Bible,
Talmud, and Midrash. Folktales continue the tradition, and
contemporary writers highlight the way their faith and love
interweave and enrich each other.
*The Jewish Leader*
The volume presents both familiar love stories and the
unusual—ranging from the better-known biblical Song of Songs to
love letters from a husband showing appreciation for his wife's
ordeal during childbirth. The stories inform those who have little
knowledge of Judaism, and deepen the understanding of those who are
already familiar with its tenets. Well-researched in archives and
libraries, and well-documented, the material here is full of
different voices. . . .[W]hat makes this book truly a treasure is
the sharing by the authors of the most intimate feelings in their
own lives. . . . It is clear that both authors are loving and
loved. The reader feels loved as well. In fact, he or she might
think, 'These authors are so concerned about me that they included
instructions for writing my own love story.' What a rich volume for
anyone and everyone.
*Jewish Book Council*
Love is universal. But there is a special Jewish flavor to it. And
that flavor can be savored on every page of this beautiful book.
Reading it is like going to one hundred Jewish weddings—and being
inspired by the story behind each one. It will make you want to
shout ‘Mazel tov!’
*Ari L. Goldman, author of The Search for God at Harvard and Being
Jewish*
Traditional and modern voices of Jews in love vibrate through this
anthology of tales and letters which includes biblical, Talmudic,
and medieval folk tales as well as letters and personal narratives
of modern rabbis and philosophers. Some of the stories are classic
tales, others are refreshing and little-known intimate narratives,
yet all affirm the bond of love in Jewish courtship and in family
life. This lovely collection of tales should be the first on any
list of wedding gifts.
*Dan Ben-Amos, University of Pennsylvania; editor of Folktales of
the Jews*
Who can comprehend God? Who really understands human love? Jewish
mystics have long suggested that you can’t possibly know one
without the other. After reading this fascinating collection, I
think they're right—and I yearn even more for that sweetness, human
and divine.
*Jon M. Sweeney, author of When Saint Francis Saved the Church and
The Pope Who Quit*
Jewish Stories of Love and Marriage includes everything from love
letters and folktales to how to write the story of your own love
and marriage! It is beautifully and uniquely imagined and
assembled.
*Dan Wakefield, author of The Story of Your Life: Writing a
Spiritual Autobiography*
This lovely book of stories about love and marriage from biblical
times to the present is inspiring and hopeful. It would make a
delightful gift for new couples and anniversary celebrations, yet
will be equally helpful to clergy and seminarians.
*Rev. Debra W. Haffner, president, Religious Institute*
A unique celebration of love in Jewish stories, Jewish lives, and
Jewish letters through the ages, this collection will delight
readers at various stages of the love cycle. Anticipating that its
rich content will stimulate readers to want to record their
personal love story or offer their own perspective on this enduring
theme, the authors provide a handy set of questions, prompts, and
suggestions to get them started.
*Gail Reimer, founding director, Jewish Women's Archive*
If you need a story for an engagement, a shower, a wedding, an
anniversary–any celebration of love between two partners–Rabbi
Sasso and Peninnah Schran provide an excellent resource. They
select love stories from an unusual combination of genres.
*Storytelling Magazine*
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