Torah for Mental Health

Abstract

The world breaks everyone, and afterward many are strong at the broken places, observed Ernest Hemingway in his youth.

By fixing and integrating ourselves, taught Rabbi Isaac Luria in the 16th century, we also contribute to the grand cosmic endeavor of universal healing and repair.

This book offers sustained reflections about what the Torah has to say about seminal emotive states such as anxiety, fear, depression, empathy, resilience, post traumatic growth, anger and self-compassion, to name but a few.

The book also explores how to attain spiritual and psychological virtues such as forgiveness, letting go of resentments, as well as the cultivation of humility, integrity, emotional intelligence and active listening.

If you are interested in dialogues between Torah wisdom and various contemporary and classical psychological modalities, then this book will meet your needs.

If you are thirsting for a Torah which goes beyond legalistic minutiae, a Torah which is suffused in core life issues and challenges, then this book is for you.

REVIEWS and WORDS of PRAISE

This book is a true gift, a guide for a better and happier life. --Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar, world-renowned positive psychologist and founder of the Happiness Studies Academy.

Rabbi Sessler is a brilliant scholar. I highly recommend this book.
--Rabbi Dr. Mel Gottleib, President of the Academy for Jewish Religion and Jungian psychologist.

About the Author

Rabbi Dr. Tal Sessler is an author and spiritual counselor. His previous books include Levinas and Camus: Humanism for the 21st Century, and Leibowitz and Levinas: Between Judaism and Universalism.