Reviews

A Guidebook for Spiritual Survival
Alex Cicelsky, Center for Creative Ecology, Kibbutz Lotan, Israel on Amazon.com

When exploring the wilderness, it is vital to be prepared and carry the proper gear. Rabbi Comins's guide is a full backpack complete with trail maps, a soul directing compass, and just enough guiding to empower us to create and realize an intimate and personal adventure. I particularly appreciate the trek's preparation that conveys in succinct terms relevant Jewish resources that combines moral, spiritual, modern and environmental ideals so that we have the proper tools to traverse the untamed mountaintops (and cityscapes?) and find there nourishment for worn souls. Rabbi Comins is also an exceptional translator who reveals the essential vibrant aroma and intentions of the Hebrew terms for the English reader. This book is a significant addition to our Permaculture, Ecovillage Design and Jewish resource library.

Review Essay
A Wild Faith - From Geography to Ideology and Back Again
Rabbi Jaime Arnold, Bet Evergreen Bulletin, Bet Evergreen, Colorado

When I first came to Beth Evergreen, two years ago, I was repeatedly cautioned about the diversity of this community with the statement, “We are a congregation united more by geography than ideology.” I repeated this phrase myself in a recent interview with the Intermountain Jewish News because I take some pride in it. We are blessed to have been granted residence in such a geographically beautiful place. Our shared appreciation of this geographical majesty provides a more than adequate starting place for the formation of sacred community.

And yet, ever since Rabbi Mike Comins's visit to Evergreen at the end of June (and especially after reading his book, A Wild Faith: Jewish Ways into Wilderness; Wilderness Ways into Judaism), I have been challenged to consider not only how we can deepen our connection to our natural environment, but how that endeavor can deepen our connections to each other. Read More...

Review Essay
Review of A Wild Faith
Rabbi Alan Secher, Bozeman, Montana

Many years ago, I stood on a bluff just south of Masada and watched the sun rise over the Dead Sea. It was a clear experience of what Heschel terms radical amazement. God was not just present in the sunrise but present in me. I reconnected with that moment as I submerged myself in the pages of Rabbi Michael Comins's wonderful new book--A Wild Faith: Jewish Ways into Wilderness,Wilderness Ways into Judais, published by Jewish Lights. Mike writes "Judaism matters because it offers a vocabulary and a practice to translate the sublime experience of wilderness into a life of purpose and meaning, a life of beauty, integrity, and moral action." Read More...

Editorial Review
Publishers Weekly - April 2007

In this lyrical but practical primer to fusing Torah with nature, Comins writes: "Far from humans, in God's handiwork, my heart sheds its burdens and my prayers flow." An ordained rabbi, he felt suffocated by books and buildings until he returned to the source of his first spiritual feelings: the wilderness. Ironically, he writes, "I felt compelled to rebel against the very tradition that planted the thirst for God within me." To overcome the stereotype that "Jews just don't do that outdoor stuff," Comins offers insights from Jewish philosophers and spiritual practices that include meditations, mindfulness, journal-writing, reciting and writing psalms and blessings, and much more. As the subtitle indicates, Comins asserts that the relationship between Torah and nature is a two-way trail: wilderness is the best place to work out a personal, unscripted, fresh relationship with divinity, and Judaism offers a vocabulary and practice to translate the experience of wilderness into a life of purpose and meaning. For those who love nature and know little about Judaism, and those who love Judaism but know little about wilderness, Comins's message is clear: one need not choose between the two to find potential, promise and fulfillment.