Part of the great adventure of living is asking questions, looking around with awe, listening to each other, and patching together a tapestry of meaning. In the tenth anniversary edition of this wonderful work designed for nine through thirteen year olds, Rabbi Lawrence Kushner ("Invisible Lines of Connection") notes that since children are already spiritual, the best adults can do is to surprise the imagination and awaken the soul. Two major challenges are to seek out God in the created world and in the Torah. "To be a Jew," writes Kushner, "means to wake up and to keep your eyes open to the many beautiful, mysterious, and holy things that happen all around us every day."
The practices of attention and connections are especially important in Jewish spirituality. Other elements covered here include blessing, prayer, different images of God, and mending creation through mizvah. The goal of devotion, according to Kushner, is "to see yourself mirrored in the heavens above and to realize that the Holy One created you personally to help complete the work of repairing the world." Like a bell bringing us to alertness, "The Book of Miracles" enables young and old alike to savor the mysteries and the meanings of the spiritual life.
