After One-Hundred-and-Twenty: Reflecting on Death, Mourning, and the Afterlife in the Jewish Tradition

Description

A deeply personal look at death, mourning, and the afterlife in Jewish tradition After One-Hundred-and-Twenty provides a richly nuanced and deeply personal look at Jewish attitudes and practices regarding death, mourning, and the afterlife as they have existed and evolved from biblical times to today. Taking its title from the Hebrew and Yiddish

Hillel Halkin is an author, translator, critic, and journalist. His books include Jabotinsky: A Life and Yehuda Halevi, which won the National Jewish Book Award.

"Long-listed for the 2017 Jewish Quarterly Wingate Prize" "It's refreshing to read a Jewish book on death that does not presume to offer guidance, either through that dark portal, or around it. Instead, Hillel Halkin . . . has written a brief, pellucid account of the role death has played in Jewish texts, law, thought and lives--including his own."---Esther Schor, Wall Street Journal "Halkin combines an accessible and trenchant exploration of Judaism's evolving concepts of death with his own struggle with understanding it. He leavens what could be a depressing read with humor. . . . Halkin's frankness about his own difficulties . . . help make this nuanced quest for meaning personal and affecting." * Publishers Weekly * "Well-rounded and thoroughly readable."---Jeff Fleischer, ForeWord "Deeply moving."---Ray Olson, Booklist "A very user-friendly historical account of Jewish ideas about death . . . and how those ideas change. . . . [Halkin] is a master at 'popularisation' in the best sense of that term, bringing to a non-academic audience what are, in essence, some very complicated ideas."---David Hillel-Ruben, Jewish Chronicle "Hillel Halkin, an American-born Israeli scholar and novelist, poignantly explores his own experiences while providing a history of Jewish thought."---Amy Frykholm, Christian Century "Instructive and thought-provoking. . . . One would be hard-pressed to find a more knowledgeable or astute guide through the vast literature of Jewish thanatology than Hillel Halkin. . . . The Biggest of Mysteries being tackled by one of our best and brightest."---Matt Nesvisky, Jerusalem Post "Learned and beautifully written." * Choice * "At once scholarly and passionate, secular and religious, detached and autobiographical."---Edward Alexander, Chicago Jewish Star "Charming, frankly vulnerable, and deceptively deep."---Abraham Socher, Jewish Review of Books "In this important new book, Hillel Halkin explores Jewish attitudes towards death and the world to come. . . . A highly readable book which provokes reflection on an often uncomfortable subject. It would prove a valuable resource for all those involved in the field of pastoral care."---Randall C. Belinfante, Association of Jewish Libraries Reviews