Toward a Meaningful Life

by Jacobson, Simon

• ISBN13: 9780060732783
• ISBN10: 0060732784
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-12-10
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publications

Summary

With a new foreword and chapter that address the upheaval that followed the events of September 11, Toward a Meaningful Life is a spiritual road map for living based on the teachings of one of the foremost religious leaders of our time: Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. Head of the Lubavitcher movement for forty-four years and recognized throughout the world simply as "the Rebbe," Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who passed away in June 1994, was a sage and visionary of the highest order. Toward a Meaningful Life gives Jews and non-Jews alike fresh perspectives on every aspect of their lives -- from birth to death, youth to old age; marriage, love, intimacy, and family; the persistent issues of career, health, pain, and suffering; and education, faith, science, and government. We learn to bridge the divisions between accelerated technology and decelerated morality, between unprecedented worldwide unity and unparalleled personal disunity. At the threshold of a new world where matter and spirit converge, the Rebbe proposes spiritual principles that unite people as opposed to the materialism that divides them. In doing so, he continues to lead us toward personal and universal redemption, a meaningful life, and God.

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix
Introduction	xix
I MAN
1. Body and Soul	3	(11)
2. Birth	14	(7)
3. Childhood	21	(9)
4. Education	30	(9)
5. Youth	39	(9)
6. Marriage	48	(10)
7. Love	58	(8)
8. Intimacy	66	(8)
9. Home and Family	74	(11)
10. Health and Fitness	85	(8)
11. Work and Productivity	93	(8)
12. Charity and Wealth	101	(7)
13. Aging and Retirement	108	(9)
14. Death and Grieving	117	(8)
15. Pain and Suffering	125	(9)
16. Fear and Anxiety	134	(9)
17. A Day of Life	143	(10)
II SOCIETY
18. Responsibility	153	(8)
19. Government	161	(9)
20. Leadership	170	(8)
21. Women and Men	178	(10)
22. Science and Technology	188	(10)
23. Upheaval and Change	198	(14)
24. Our Generation	212	(11)
III G-D
25. G-d	223	(15)
26. Faith and Reason	238
27. Unity	219	(42)
28. Philosophy and Practicality	261	(8)
29. Good and Evil	269	(11)
30. Miracles	280	(8)
31. Redemption	288	(8)
Epilogue: The Rebbe as the Messiah?	296	(3)
Acknowledgments	299	(4)
Biography	303	(4)
References and Notes	307	(8)
Selected Bibliography	315