Rami Shapiro is a renowned teacher of spirituality across faith traditions and an award-winning storyteller, poet, and essayist. He is the author of many books including Recovery - The Sacred Art. Shapiro is featured on Spirituality & Practice as a Living Spiritual Teacher.
Shapiro has translated many Jewish texts, including the Pirke Avot, Ecclesiastes, the Hebrew Prophets, and Hasidic tales. This translation with interpretations of the Book of Proverbs in the Hebrew Bible is another winning effort by this prolific rabbi who spices the project with insights from all the world's religions. It is in this spirit that he recommends that we not just read proverbs but work with them "the way a Zen Buddhist might work with a Zen koan."
Shapiro posits that the Book of Proverbs was written by a variety of writers in the seventh century BCE, 200 years after the death of Solomon. This anthology of teachings was aimed not at the ordinary person but the literati belonging to the Hebrew Wisdom School. Part of the SkyLight Illuminations series, this paperback is divided into Nine Foundational Teachings, The First Collection of Shorter Sayings, The Thirty Precepts of Wisdom, Sayings of Solomon's Contemporaries, The Second Collection of Shorter Sayings, and Warnings and Numerical Proverbs.
Shapiro writes "wisdom is not an idea to be known, but a life path to be lived." The traits of those who follow this path are righteousness, justice, fairness, compassion, and tranquility. Wisdom is acquired through mindfulness, and she is open to triumph as well as tragedy, suffering as well as success. Every moment comes to us with its own lessons and we receive it gratefully with the words: "Yes, this too is of God."
The Book of Proverbs finds wisdom in nature rather than revelation. Look to the creatures of the world for hints on how best to live. Shapiro notes: "Joy, happiness, liveliness, and grace are the signs of Wisdom and the wise. Cynicism and a jaundiced personality are the signs of the foolish." Those who evidence wonder are on the path of wisdom.
