For people who never thought they would read a book of theology-let alone understand it, enjoy it, savor it and have it affect the way they think about their lives.

In forty-five intense meditations, each a page or two in length, Stone takes us on explorations of the most basic human struggles: life and death, love and anger, peace and war, covenant and exile.

Ira F. Stone, rabbi of Temple Beth Zion-Beth Israel in Phildelphia is a teacher of theology at The Jewish Theological Seminary of America.