Traces of God: Seeing God in Torah, History, and Everyday Life - Gillman, Neil. Jewish Lights, 2006. 216p. $21.99, hardcover. ISBN-10: 1-58023-249-3. ISBN-13: 978-1-58023-249-4. www. jewishlights.com 296.3’114 Spiritual life—Judaism. Torah commentary. God—Biblical teaching. God (Judaism).

These sixty brief essays began as commentaries on the weekly Torah portion, a regular column in the Jewish community newspaper The Jewish Week. Though they were written over a period of twenty-five years, they fit together neatly to illuminate our spiritual search for God. Gillman arranges the essays under four headings: Seeing God; Images of God; Revelation and Law; and Suffering, Death, and Redemption. His exploration places these theological topics within our common experience.

Gillman’s insights challenge us. One example: Gillman re- flects on a performance of the Schoenberg opera Moses and Aaron. He notes the tension between Moses, who praises the omnipresent God, “unperceived and inconceivable,” and Aaron, who challenges Moses, “Can you love what you dare not even conceive?” Gillman states, “There it is, that unavoidable tension in all human attempts to relate to God.”

Throughout this volume, Gillman gives voice to our dilemma: how do we see God in everyday life when God is beyond words or images. But he doesn’t just voice the dilemma. He also models ways that each of us can engage in this age-old dialogue with God. It is a wide-ranging conversation, and Gillman, an awardwinning writer and theologian, is an able guide.

This book is a worthy addition to your library.

Rabbi Louis A. Rieser
Etz Hayim Synagogue
Derry, New Hampshire