In Torah Wrestling, Rabbi Roy Furman reinterprets often misunderstood stories in the Bible's first five books, inviting readers to see ourselves and our daily moral dilemmas in new and helpful ways.
In Torah Wrestling, Rabbi Roy Furman invites readers into an engaging and transformative exploration of the most challenging and inspiring stories in the Bible's first five books. With intellectual rigor, deep ethical sensitivity, and a storyteller's grace, Rabbi Furman breathes new life into stories both familiar and unfamiliar. This book is an ideal book for Jews, Christians and Muslims who wrestle with the moral dilemmas of our time while drawing wisdom from the Torah's timeless teachings.
In a "Foreword from a Christian Perspective," Reformed Journal Editor Jeffrey Munroe writes: "I wished I had been a member of one of Rabbi Furman's congregations. He explores the Bible, in particular difficult passages of the Bible, with life-giving, refreshing freedom." Then, in an Afterword from a Muslim Perspective, Wayne State University scholar Saeed Khan reminds readers that these timeless texts are "some of the greatest stories in the human experience."
Rabbi Furman's interpretations often challenge traditional understandings while remaining deeply rooted in Jewish tradition and a profound love for Torah, and his Jewish colleagues agree. Torah Wrestling can bring people together across religious and cultural lines to talk about how these Bible stories can be "a mirror for our world today," writes Rabbi Allan Kensky in his Preface to the book.
Even if you "are coming to Torah for the first time, Rabbi Furman's innovative insights will intrigue and empower you," writes Rabbi Laura Geller.
That's because Rabbi Furman confronts the complexities of sacred scripture with honesty and courage, grappling with issues of patriarchy, intolerance, divine justice, and human suffering. He encourages readers to embrace the struggle, offering fresh insights that empower readers to find relevance and inspiration in ancient texts.
Perfect for individual reflection or group study. Rabbi Furman offers readers a free, downloadable discussion guide to help spark spirited conversations.
Torah Wrestling bridges ancient wisdom and contemporary challenges, inviting all readers to discover the vibrant, transformative power of Torah.
Rabbi Roy Furman brings to new life the words of the ancient sage Ben Bag-Bag: "Turn Torah over, and turn it over again, for everything is in it. Reflect on it through all the stages of your life." Whether you have been wrestling with Torah for many years or are coming to Torah for the first time, Rabbi Furman's innovative insights into familiar and not so familiar stories will not only intrigue you, but also empower you to challenge some of the moral issues of our time. And you will continue to come back to these interpretations as you turn Torah over again and again.
Rabbi Laura Geller, Rabbi Emerita of Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills and co-author of Getting Good at Getting Older
In Torah Wrestling, Rabbi Roy Furman enters into an honest, sensitive, and sometimes difficult dialogue with troubling texts from Scripture. For Furman as a committed Jew, the Bible's authors are not simply scribes from distant antiquity. They are members of his own religious community, neighbors whom he visits weekly or daily as he studies and chants their words. Mindful of Leviticus 19:17's command that at times we have a responsibility to reprove our neighbors (just as they have a responsibility to reprove us), Furman lovingly but candidly reproves Torah - always on the basis of other teachings found in that same Torah. Furman also shows how Israel's sacred texts wrestle with themselves and thus invite us to engage them in discussion and argument as well. His approach to Torah-wrestling is a profound continuation of the process of Torah itself.
Ben Sommer, professor of Bible at Jewish Theological Seminary in New York and author of Jewish Concepts of Scripture
In Torah Wrestling, Rabbi Roy Furman offers a series of scriptural meditations that are fearless and provocative and thus faithful in the best sense - to the text, the people, and God. Rabbi Furman's willingness to wrestle with Torah and challenge traditional interpretations - and the text itself - reflects the religious leader's obligation to guide his/her people into the highest and best understanding of what it really means to be God's people. I learned a very great deal from this book, which must be read to the very end - the author's personal meditations in the last two selections are especially poignant.
David P. Gushee, Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics, Mercer University; Chair of Christian Social Ethics, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam; and author of Introducing Christian Ethics and Changing Our Mind
Rabbi Roy Furman is a native of New York, educated at Queens College, and ordained by Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1971. His writing and thinking as a rabbi and as a Jew have been influenced by his work with havurot (Jewish fellowship groups), minyanim (prayer groups), and Jewish congregations in Los Angeles, Portland, OR, Chicago, and Evanston, IL; by his Hillel work at the University of Southern California and DePaul University; by his graduate work in the history of religions, ancient Judaism, and early Christianity; by his twenty years of teaching comparative religion and Jewish Studies courses at DePaul; by his training and practice as a clinical social worker; and by his numerous stays in Israel: traveling, working, studying, and doing archaeological work over the course of his adult life. He now lives in Chicago with his wife, Dr. Frida Kerner Furman, a retired DePaul professor of social ethics and religious studies. His daughter, Daniella, is a neuroscientist living in Berkeley, CA with her wife, Yula, and their absolutely adorable child, Ilani.
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