Tough Questions Jews Ask 2/E: A Young Adult's Guide to Building a Jewish Life

National Jewish Book Awards Finalist

What your rabbi probably has never told you, but could-if you'd only ask.

"Every day I wonder if God is real, if the Torah is true. Every day I wonder why I'm a Jew. But that's part of being Jewish. In the Torah, we're called Yisrael-the ones who wrestle with God. Wrestling, asking, wondering, searching is just what God wants us to do! God loves good questions. Now tell me, what are your questions?" -from Chapter 1

In Judaism we're allowed to ask questions. We are invited to ask them. But for young people, it often feels as if no one is willing to take tough questions about religion, ourselves, and the world seriously.

This updated and expanded new edition of Tough Questions Jews Ask turns that all around. With honesty, humor and respect, Rabbi Edward Feinstein tackles topics as diverse as:

• Why Does God Let Terrible Things Happen?
• What Is God Anyway?
• If I Pray for Something, Will I get It?
• What's the meaning of life? Is that a dumb question?
• Why Does Religion Need So Many Rules?
• Why Be Jewish?

With insight and wisdom-and without pretending to have all the answers-Rabbi Feinstein encourages young people to make sense of the Jewish tradition by wrestling with what we don't understand.

Rabbi Edward Feinstein is senior rabbi of Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, California. He is an instructor in the Ziegler Rabbinical School of American Jewish University and the Wexner Heritage Program. He is the author of Tough Questions Jews Ask: A Young Adult's Guide to Building a Jewish Life (Jewish Lights) and Capturing the Moon; and the editor of Jews and Judaism in the 21st Century: Human Responsibilities, the Presence of God, and the Future of the Covenant (Jewish Lights). He contributed to May God Remember: Memory and Memorializing in Judaism-Yizkor; Who by Fire, Who by Water-Un'taneh Tokef and We Have Sinned: Sin and Confession in Judaism-Ashamnu and Al Chet (all Jewish Lights).