Chicken soup is so synonymous with healing that it has earned the name “Jewish penicillin.” So it is only natural that the publishers of the “Chicken Soup” series of inspirational books have recently released “Chicken Soup for the Jewish Soul: Stories to Open the Heart and Rekindle the Spirit” (Health Communications, 2001, $12.95, paperback).
The book was five years in the making, said Rabbi Dov Peretz Elkins, its editor along with Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, the authors of the Chicken Soup series.
While visiting Milwaukee late last month for the Lion of Judah event held by the Women’s Division of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, Elkins said that panels of readers, sometimes up to 50 at a time, read and graded all the 5,000 stories submitted for this book, through three iterations.
The result is a collection of some 90 stories that Elkins describes as “illustrative of the survival power of the Jewish people and a source of self-esteem and pride in ourselves and our history. We have survived onslaughts of thousands of years of exile and we can take pride in what we’ve gone through. But they also teach us to draw on this strength to reach out to people in circumstances less fortunate than ours.”
Self-esteem is an important component of the “Chicken Soup” series and an area in which Elkins has years of expertise. The first rabbi to earn a doctoral degree from Colgate Rochester (N.Y.) Divinity School, his thesis, “Teaching People to Love Themselves: A Handbook of Theory and Technique for Self-Esteem Training,” is used as a text in universities world-wide.
With Canfield, Elkins led human development workshops throughout the U.S. in the 1970s before becoming a military chaplain at Fort Gordon, Ga. Since then he has been spiritual leader of large congregations in Rochester, Cleveland and Philadelphia, and currently serves as rabbi of The Jewish Center in Princeton, N.J.
Admitting that people generally tend to adore or abhor the “Chicken Soup” series, Elkins said, “Whatever you think about the series, this first Jewish book in it helps people see the power of the Jewish heritage, the beauty of Jewish family life, the exquisite nature of Jewish celebration and the unrelenting search for justice in the Jewish religion.
“And, to me, there’s nobody in the world who can’t use a little more love and courage and inspiration in their life, especially now.”
Local connections
In addition to the well-known names of Anne Frank, Kirk Douglas, Golda Meir, Ed Koch and numerous rabbis, the book contains the stories of at least two authors with local ties.
Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski, M.D., brother of west side Rabbi Michel Twerski, has contributed “Diamonds Polished Here,” about the power of believing in the inherent goodness of every human being.
And Skokie resident Marsha Arons has contributed “Lost and Found,” a lesson about parental expectations she learned as a camp mother at Camp Moshava in Wild Rose, Wis.
“These stories are not meant to be read all at once,” advised Elkins. “That would be like eating dessert for a whole day. We should savor them over time, perhaps reading them to our families as attorney Allan Dershowitz does, for example at Shabbat dinners and other gatherings, or anytime we need a dose of love, faith or hope.”
Does he have a favorite? Elkins smiled: “That’s like asking a parent to name one of his or her children as a favorite. But if you push me, I’d have to say it’s ‘Of Angels and Poinsettias’ by Sara Levinsky Rigler.”
This well-known piece describes the endless capacity of an ailing Camden, N.J., pharmacist to extend his caring for his inner-city clientele beyond their prescriptions to their need for heated apartments, a bit of attention on Christmas and loans that didn’t need to be repaid.
He forgot neither his neighborhood nor the State of Israel (borrowing money himself to send to the country during the Six Day War) nor his fellow Jews (taking out a second mortgage so that he could contribute to the building of a local geriatric home).
He didn’t have much room for faith, writes his daughter; he was too busy living it. And he had little time for introspection and self-pity; he was too busy helping others.
There is much for the me-first boomer generation to learn from his example and the others in this book, and to teach our children.
MORE STORIES
Loading ...