David J. Wolpe's The Healer of Shattered Hearts: A Jewish View of God is such a fine book that it ought to serve as a primer for all new students of Judaism. The author wrote it while he was a Finkelstein Fellow at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles.

He notes at the outset that "the poetry of faith assists in spinning out the implications and nature of God in this world, in searching for the mediated reflection of his presence." A few of the "ports of entry to God" are creation, choice, law, and tradition. Wolpe is especially cogent in his presentation of the Rabbinic views of God as a friend of the world, the parent of the human race, and an ardent lover of humankind. Our response comes through prayer, study, ritual, and moral behavior.

Feeling like we are exiles can be a stumbling block to faith in God. Even more difficult is the presence of evil in the world. "It is not in our hands," laments the Talmudic Rabbi Yannai, "to explain either the prosperity of the wicked or even the sufferings of the just."

Wolpe closes The Healer of Shattered Hearts with a warning about the twin dangers of zealotry and of indifference to God. Both must recede in favor of dialogue with God. The true benefit of this excellent text is that it makes a good case for attending to "the repository of centuries of spiritual insight (which) lies in Judaism."