Several books use biography and history to describe and express the Jewish Renewal movement.

The Jew in the Lotus


Rodger Kamenetz
HarperSanFrancisco, 1998

The story of a meeting in India between Rabbis and the Dalai Lama, with its deeper meaning and results

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Stalking Elijah


Rodger Kamenetz
HarperSanFrancisco, 1998

The story of the more mystical and meditative aspects of Jewish renewal, especially focused on several individual teachers and rabbis.


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Taking Judaism Personally


Judy Petsonk
Free Press, 1997

Petsonk's story of her own life-journey into jewish renewal. Most aspects and teachers of the movement are described as she meets them along the way.


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An Orphan in History: Retrieving a Jewish Legacy


Paul Cowan
Jewish Lights, 2002
Chronicles how Cowan's own totally assimilated American identity found
its way into a rich and reverberating Judaism.


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These Holy Sparks


Arthur Waskow
HarperSanFrancisco, 1982

An interpretive history of the jewish renewal movement from its origins (ca. 1967) to 1982.

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With Roots in Heaven


Tirzah Firestone
Dutton, 1998

Firestone's brilliantly written memoir of the passionate and turbulent spiritual journey of her own life, and how especially in wrestling with her family she has wrestled with the many faces of God.


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A Spiritual Life: A Jewish Feminist Journey


Merle Feld
SUNY Press, 1998

Weaves midrash, poetry, and family memoir together into a characteristically Jewish-renewal way of dancing with Torah.

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Return from Exile


Carol Matzkin Orsborn
Continuum, 1998

Orsborn shows how the intellectual power of Jewish renewal and its commitment to tikkun olam drew her into its sense of covenant.


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The Art of Blessing the Day


Marge Piercy
Knopf, 1999

A collection of Piercy's earthy Jewish poetry -- some of it funny to the point of helpless laughter, some of it awe-struck and awe-striking enough to take the breath away, some of it warm and caressing. Much of it was explicitly written as prayer, for liturgical use.


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