Nine Essential Things I’ve Learned about Life, by Harold S. Kushner

When Kushner began his vocation as a rabbi, he soon discovered that the members of his synagogue were asking questions he had not encountered in seminary. This awakening led to a reorientation of his faith away from a “command and obey” religion to one of seeing how the ways of God add meaning and depth to life. Kushner began his first book, back in 1981, thus: “There is only one question which really matters: why do bad things happen to good people?” Now he asks what he considers an equally fundamental question: “Can we trust the world? Is ours a world in which people can count on getting what they deserve?” “Not yet,” he says. “The heirs of Abraham, whether they identify themselves as Jews, Christians, or Muslims, honor Abraham’s memory by sharing his faith that the world we live in is not yet what God meant it to be, and by working to bring about the day when what should be, will be.”