The Dance of the Dolphin: Finding Prayer, Perspective and Meaning in the Stories of Our Lives

I found this book to be even better than God Whispers, Rabbi Kedar's earlier work. It is far more personal and, in my opinion, much better written. I teach a class in Jewish spirituality at my Temple and will be adding readings from this book to my syllabus!

As a Reform rabbi, Karyn Kedar is undoubtedly aware of Reform Judaism's historic tension between the particularistic and the universalistic - the focus on things Jewish versus the things that relate to all of humankind. As befits a rabbi's book, Dance of the Dolphin is dominated by material from Jewish sources - Biblical, Talmudic, anecdotes of life in Israel. It is Kedar's great accomplishment that from these particularistic roots, a thoroughly universal message has blossomed. You don't have to be Jewish ... to be moved and challenged by her insight into the search for meaning in our lives, nor to recognize the wisdom in her admonition not to live in the past, but to build on the past. Dance of the Dolphin is easy enough to read, but difficult to come to grips with; the author makes clear that connecting with the Divine is not something that comes to us readily, but that rewards those who pursue it with diligence. The new book reveals, as did its predecessor, God Whispers, her uncanny ability to find the spiritual in the commonplace.

One can hear her voice when reading the soulful words of Rabbi Karyn Kedar in The Dance of the Dolphin. Yet Rabbi Kedar also gives a voice to us, those who walk the path of our real world while searching for ways of making it our holy world as well. She proves her thesis that this can be done when she relates everyday events in everyday words and then interprets this same, mundane experience as a connection to the Divine. Here her words soar, reinforcing the joy that comes from from one who, recognizing that connection, wants to share it with others. She does so with passion and clarity. Rabbi Kedar's writing also sends the message that there is a joy in undertaking the search, thereby giving strength and comfort to those less learned than is she. The Dance of the Dolphin is the work of a gifted writer but more importantly, that of a master teacher.

The Dance of the Dolphin is a gift of love, beauty, and spirituality that Karyn Kedar has shared with her readers. Like God Whispers,it evoked many soulful emotions and tears. When I first began reading it, I carried the book around with me everywhere I went. It just felt good to have it next to me...in my drawer at work, next to me in my car, or sitting on my night table. I never wanted it to end. I will treasure the Dance of the Dolphin, and continue to read it over and over again. Karen has put into words the kind of person I strive to become and delicately demonstrates how one can develop their own relationship with G-d.

Karyn Kedar's first book, God Whispers, had this magical quality that brought the eternal and the spiritual into everyday life, and now Dance of the Dolphin has matched - actually surpassed - the first book. Dance of the Dolphin is a book you will want to linger with. It is not long, but don't plan to plow through it fast. At every step you will see your life in new ways, and you will find yourself lost in thought, pondering the insights that the book has helped you see. Like a dolphin that needs to breathe air as it lives in the water, Kedar shows us how to breathe spirituality into every moment of our lives. She helps you see magic in the mundane, and reading her books is a rich, rewarding experience. As with God Whispers, she does this by weaving in stories, many from her own life, and seamlessly weaving them into greater truths about life, people and God. Read this book. Savor it. Think of it, like the dolphin does, as a breath of fresh air.