Jewish Book of Comfort, A

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When his father died, Dr. Alan Kay, a professor of English and a highly regarded Jewish educator, began to search for inspirational readings that would help him come to terms with the loss. This quest yielded more than 175 short essays, short fiction, letters, sermons, poems, insights, and readings from traditional Jewish sources that are now contained in A Jewish Book of Comfort.

A Jewish Book of Comfort, however, is more than just an anthology. Divided into sections that correspond to the progressive stages of Jewish mourning, this book contains two types of material: the inspirational readings as well as moving essays written by Dr. Kay about his own mourning process. Within his personal narrative, Kay explains the traditions, rituals, and rules of Jewish mourning, gently guiding the mourner through the distinctly Jewish choreography of the mourning period while relating his own personal experience. As such, his narrative becomes just the type of reading that Kay searched for in his own time of need.