A perfect love, enduring happiness, discovering our purpose. Yearning for these experiences accompanies us through life, leading us to both joy and disappointment, and to a powerful vision of who we are, and who we can become. Far from being a burden, our yearnings can
themselves become a path to blessing, prompting questions and insights, resulting in new
ways of being and believing.

In Yearnings , renowned Rabbi Irwin Kula explores and celebrates seven of our deepest desires. He opens the spiritual toolbox of Jewish wisdom—it has much to teach about the ambiguities and uncertainties we all encounter—and takes us on an excursion into our age-old questions, merging ancient wisdom and stories with contemporary examples and insights.

Whether it's a woman struggling with a breach in her marriage, a child wondering about the tooth fairy, or Moses yearning for answers in the story of the burning bush, Yearnings offers a broader perspective to enrich our search for meaning.

The practices and insights in this book are based on teachings that have evolved for over three thousand years, as generations have wrestled with the messiness and complexities of the human experience. Rabbi Kula invites us to do the same, urging us to seek answers to our deepest questions, to search for spiritual and personal fulfillment while knowing we will
never finally get there, and to celebrate the discoveries we'll make along the way.

Rabbi Irwin Kula is an eighth-generation rabbi, nationally known speaker and teacher, and the president of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership. A repeat guest on Oprah , he is also the host of the public television broadcast called The Wisdom of Our Yearnings . Rabbi Kula lives with his wife and daughters in New York City.

Linda Loewenthal is a writer and literary agent who has also published and promoted spiritual and religious books as a publisher and editor.