ctaymor reviewed Infertility in the Bible by Jessie Fischbein
Review of 'Infertility in the Bible' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
This book challenged me in a number of ways. The author is totally clear, up front, on her theology and understanding of the nature of Torah, and we don't always agree. She asks a number of questions that pushed and challenged me.
If I don't believe that G!d will give me a promotion, or peaches out of season, or any number of things one may want, just because I want them, why do I think G!d will give me a child just because I want one? What does prayer do?
About halfway in, she launches into how to effect divine intervention in your infertility and absolutely lost me, as it seemed like nonsense. But as I kept reading, she had interesting ideas that were about how we change ourselves, since we can't change G!d. It ultimately left me appreciating some of her ideas of how we change before G!d, and …
This book challenged me in a number of ways. The author is totally clear, up front, on her theology and understanding of the nature of Torah, and we don't always agree. She asks a number of questions that pushed and challenged me.
If I don't believe that G!d will give me a promotion, or peaches out of season, or any number of things one may want, just because I want them, why do I think G!d will give me a child just because I want one? What does prayer do?
About halfway in, she launches into how to effect divine intervention in your infertility and absolutely lost me, as it seemed like nonsense. But as I kept reading, she had interesting ideas that were about how we change ourselves, since we can't change G!d. It ultimately left me appreciating some of her ideas of how we change before G!d, and more deeply examining my own relatively unexamined theology.
Throughout, the author, who has herself dealt with infertility, has sensitivity to the sometimes painful emotions of people experiencing infertility.
I would recommend this book to religious Jewish people experiencing infertility, if you are the sort who can read past the things that don't speak to you (for me: an assumption of gender roles and an Orthodox worldview) to find the peices that do.