Before I became a rabbi, I worked as an editor. I edited a monthly paper in south county for a few years after my first stint in graduate school (MFA in writing and literature at Bennington.) A good editor, I came to understand, is one who helps a work become the best version of itself: not imposing her own voice, but helping the writer refine their gem in the ways that will most allow it to shine.
Over the last few years I’ve been bringing that skillset to the publishing work I do at Bayit. Y’all, it is so much fun. I love helping people uncover what’s best in their work. I love uplifting voices that move me. (Arguably this is part of why I co-founded a Jewish spiritual innovation incubator in the first place.) I love how together we can bring forward something that is more than the sum of our parts.
About two years ago, a manuscript came our way that piqued my interest. It’s by R. Mark Asher Goodman, a rabbi who at the time I only knew over Twitter. His book features Hassidic texts — many of them translated into English for the first time — and opens them up for a modern reader with wry and self-deprecating humor, pop culture references, and quotes from the Wu-Tang Clan.
It’s called Life Lessons from Recently…
