Memoirs of a Hopeful Pessimist

"An engaging memoir of a much-travelled life. Weissman tells of her involvement in many historic movements: Jewish education, Zionism, orthodox feminism, and inter-faith work, as well as the founding of a progressive Orthodox synagogue community in Jerusalem. She describes the development of a religious and political consciousness 'dancing,' as she puts it, between opposite poles of tradition and liberalism. An often wry humor marks her account of the personal and the public dimensions of her career. Both idealistic and pragmatic, her memoir is a fitting testimony to a life of commitment and achievement." Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg, author, The Beginning of Desire: Reflections on Genesis
"Reading Debbie Weissman's memoir leaves us with some hope whose teaching and writing in Israel and the Diaspora and commitment to dialogue between people of different faiths have had a world-wide impact An insight into the principles by which Debbie guides her own behavior can be seen as she adopts a modified version of Levinas' teaching that we should see the 'face of God in the Other.' 'It would be enough,' she says, 'if we could just look at the Other and see a face no less human than our own.'" dra DeKoven Ezrahi, https://www.tikkun.org
"Thanks to this very thoughtful memoir, all of us readers who long for more peace and better interfaith relations will find much to encourage us." Professor Mary Elizabeth Perry, Nashim Journal