Open Secrets: The Letters of Reb Yerachmiel Ben Yisrael

Everything about this book is perfect. His life affirming point of view, the format of "letters", the richness of spirit and the liberating approach to the religious aspects of Judaism that encourages affirmation of life is refreshing, welcoming and warm.

Open Secrets is really a collection of letters by Rami M. Shapiro to his son, Aaron Hershel. However, Shapiro has turned the writings into decades-old hand-written letters from the fictional Reb Yerachmiel ben Yisrael to Shapiro's fictional great-grandfather, Aaron Hershel. Got that? The twist in time, place, and participants gives the book a timelessness, a sense of striking Judaic modernity, and lots of human interest. Shapiro talks about Judaism as being characterized by the inseparable qualities of tikkun (right action) and teshuvah (right attention). This is basic and practical nondual Judaism, as the following quotation demonstrates: "You and I and all living things are the vessels of God, the embodiment of Elohut (Godhead). In this we are one with God, yet we imagine ourselves to be separate from God and this creates in us the idea of brokenness. The brokenness of the world starts as a process in the mind, but it doesn't end there. We go about the world breaking it up into smaller and smaller segments, each often at war with the rest, without ever realizing we are warring with ourselves. "Tikkun is the process of putting things back together again." If you want to learn about nonduality itself, or the nondual side of Judaism, read this book, and be entertained while you're at it. Jerry Katz One: Essential Writings on Nonduality

According to The Alliance for Jewish Renewal (ALEPH) "Jewish renewal seeks to bring creativity, relevance, joy, and an all embracing awareness to spiritual practice, as a path to healing our hearts and finding balance and wholeness--tikkun halev." Rami Shapiro's writings are perhaps unique in the literature of the Renewal in their particular relevance to non- or post-halakhic Jews. Rami emphasizes principle over practice, spirit over letter, and does not make idols of God, Israel, and Torah. Rami's writings also embody the basic principle of Reconstructionism that Jewish people invent Jewish religion. In Rami's case, he brings his experience of the non-dual Advaita, Zen, and Taoist traditions to his reading of Hasidism, the Prophets, and the Wisdom literature. For those of us who meditated or chanted our way through the late 60s and 70s, Rami's approach will feel familiar and his Judaism both natural and compelling. OPEN SECRETS is a series of letters written by a fictitious Old World rabbi of the late 1800s or early 1900s to a student who has emigrated to America. The letters from "Reb Yerachmiel ben Israel" cover such matters as God, creation, human nature, evil, Torah, mitzvah, prayer, death, other religions, even Jesus! They are short letters, at most a few pages, and they are written in a homey style by a rabbi who who likely would have been impossible in his time and place but one we would all have loved to know and learn from. Reb Yerachmiel is the rabbi Rami Shapiro says he would like to be, and therefore to whatever extent already is. All of Rami's books are worth reading, but OPEN SECRETS is one you will want to read and read again as its soul speaks to yours. I can't recommend this book highly enough for Liberal Jews who perceive and relate to God as the Thou of Reality and who wish to repair the brokenness in themselves and in the world in a spirit of peace and joy.

It's an amazingly beautiful book, that will touch your heart and your soul.

Open Secrets is a celebration of the unfolding story in everyone. More important than the wisdom shared in Open Secrets, is the depth of understanding shown in the letters. Even after completing Open Secrets, I find myself regularly rereading different sections. The heartfelt messages in this book continually teach me what I need to know on a daily basis. I would highly recommend this book.