Sarah Shapiro writes:
For anyone who has not yet had the privilege of meeting Ruthie Fogelman personally, this lovely, intriguing volume of letters can serve as a visit to her home in the Old City of Jerusalem, along with the thousands of people who have experienced the exuberant, legendary hospitality of her and her husband Yaacov, well-known founder of the Torah Outreach Program.
As someone who has lived in Israel throughout the time period covered by her letters, not only could I take pleasure in her accurate descriptions of events that I, too, have witnessed, but this book has vividly reawakened for me precious memories that I had long forgotten.
Ruthie Fogelman's take on life here is always alive, always tinged with excitement, always full of her pure, joyous appreciation for the opportunity to be an oved Hashem - a servant of God - in the Jewish homeland during this momentous era of our history.
In the tradition of our forefather Avraham, from whom we learn the centrality in Judaism of opening one's home to the stranger among us,
Ruthie Fogelman in this book sets a life of mitzvahs before us, and we leave her table well-nourished.
We are fortunate that in addition to everything else, she is also a graceful, amusing, gifted writer, one who gathers us in with her words as open-heartedly as she does her guests every Shabbos.
These are love-letters to Jerusalem, and a reader cannot help but become a citizen, along with her, of the Holy City.
Sarah Shapiro
Author of "Growing With My Children: A Jewish Woman's Diary"
"Don't You Know It's A Perfect World? And Other Essays"
Editor of Our Lives: Anthologies of Jewish Women's
Writing
As someone who has lived in Israel throughout the time period covered by her letters, not only could I take pleasure in her accurate descriptions of events that I, too, have witnessed, but this book has vividly reawakened for me precious memories that I had long forgotten.
Ruthie Fogelman's take on life here is always alive, always tinged with excitement, always full of her pure, joyous appreciation for the opportunity to be an oved Hashem - a servant of God - in the Jewish homeland during this momentous era of our history.
In the tradition of our forefather Avraham, from whom we learn the centrality in Judaism of opening one's home to the stranger among us,
Ruthie Fogelman in this book sets a life of mitzvahs before us, and we leave her table well-nourished.
We are fortunate that in addition to everything else, she is also a graceful, amusing, gifted writer, one who gathers us in with her words as open-heartedly as she does her guests every Shabbos.
These are love-letters to Jerusalem, and a reader cannot help but become a citizen, along with her, of the Holy City.
Sarah Shapiro
Author of "Growing With My Children: A Jewish Woman's Diary"
"Don't You Know It's A Perfect World? And Other Essays"
Editor of Our Lives: Anthologies of Jewish Women's
Writing