BOOK REVIEW: The Remedy I Need4 min read

To sum up a book in one word isn’t an easy task, which is probably why we all had to write book reports in school. But there is indeed one word that kept coming to mind while reading R’ Yaakov Klein’s newest masterpiece, “The Story of Our Lives”:

Transformative.

Anchored in a short story, “The Lost Princess,” told by Rebbe Nachman of Breslov in 1806, this new book takes this classic tale and elucidates the story in a way that shines a new light on it both for those who are reading it for the first time as well as for those who know each line by heart.

To quote the author’s preface, “This book is an attempt to contact and engage the facet of human personality we each share in common, the inner child locked away behind the barriers our sophistication who yearns for the redemption that will allow his greatest gifts to once more illuminate our lives. The primary purpose of this book is to uplift, encourage, inspire, guide, and lend penetrating clarity to the pursuit of true joy and peace of mind for which we do desperately yearn.”

This book, with a beautiful forward by Rav Moshe Weinberger of Congregation Aish Kodesh, in Woodmere, NY, is actually the centerpiece of a organization founded by R’ Yaakov Klein in 2020 called The Lost Princess Initiative. An educational platform based on messages within The Story of Our Lives, The Lost Princess Initiative (LPI) engages and enlightens thousands of readers online, in social media, and with in-person and distance learning and content.

Not intended to be a self-help book, an introduction to the Chassidic world of Breslov, or a scholarly dissection of “The Lost Princess”, this book seems to effortlessly be all of of these and more as you dig deep into it. The book contains 21 chapters divided into 3 parts, plus 6 appendices, weighing in at just over 450 pages. At the end of each chapter are summary points titled “Lessons for Life”. The beginning of the book includes the complete text – in English and Hebrew – of the short story that is the centerpiece of the work.

The sources cited and footnoted run the spectrum of Jewish thought and include, but are not limited to: The Baal Shem Tov, The Vilna Gaon, Elie Wiesel, Rebbe Nachman, Reb Nosson of Breslov, various Breslov works, Rabbi Hilllel Zeitlin, Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe, Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira (the Piaseczner Rebbe), Rabbi Yitzchak Levi of Berditchev, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi (the first Lubavitcher Rebbe), The Ramchal, Reb Tzadok of Lublin, Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, both scriptural and Talmudic sources. In addition, sprinkled throughout the book are teachings from Rabbi Avraham Yitzchok Kook.

All who attempt to live a life of purpose, a life of religious conviction, and a life of growth and Inspiration get stuck from time to time and have to deal with bumps in the road, setbacks, questions of faith, and an uncomfortable feeling of not being as excited and passionate about our observance as were in at a point in our past. For me, a consistent feeling of growth is something I have struggled with on and off over the years. As R’ Klein so skillful says, “The normalcy and everydayness of one’s Halacha observance and avodas Hashem [serving our Creator] has caused the excitement, wonder, passion, and yearning of encountering the Master of the world to disappear.”

This book addresses those issues and offers a “cure for the common cold” of Avodas Hashem on auto-pilot. It does so within the framework of a story about a King, a Princess who goes missing, and the King’s Viceroy who searches for the lost Princess. The journey of the Viceroy is, as Yaakov so strongly emphasizes in the book, the “story of our lives”. The reader gains much insight into Jewish thought and belief in a clear and accessible way. The book gives the reader, the seeker, a transformative message of hope and inspiration to grow closer to who we are and who we are meant to be. It’s a journey that R’ Yaakov takes us on, grabbing us and engaging us in the setbacks that occur to the Viceroy, and to us. The Viceroy’s journey is, as we soon discover, our journey. The pages are full of encouragement that is cornerstone of authentic Jewish spirituality. This book reminds us that, “Each and every positive effort towards holiness is precious to Hashem and represents progress that can never be washed away.”

This remarkable book explores our relationship with ourselves, others, and our Creator in a fresh and exiting way as sometime new, yet essentially something very old from our traditions. Again, the word “transformative” comes to mind. It also address contemporary issues such as the current state of Jewish education and parenting, the question, “How many children who fail out of our schools and fall out of touch with the Yiddishkeit do so not out of rebellion or theological crisis but simply because the greatness of their souls compels then to thirst for a level of Torah that is unavailable to them?”

I found this book to be both a lighthouse showing the way to a safe shore of a passionate Judaism as well as a roadmap that shows not only the destination, but how to get back on track when we feel we have made a wrong turn. This honest acceptance that we encounter bumps on the road is part of our journey as Jews.

The book is also a call to action, as R’ Yaakov writes towards the end of this masterpiece, “Perhaps it is time for us to arise from the dust of our spiritual obscurity and commit to reengaging with the inner spirit of Yiddishkeit, to bring Hashem and the blessing of God-consciousness back into our shuls, homes, and yeshivos, to center our Torah study and halachah observance around our desperate yearning for a relationship with our Father in heaven.”

For me, this book strongly crystallized many feelings and challenges I have had and still experience in trying my best to live my life as a growth-oriented Jew. It offers hope and a remedy to a complacency of observance that I think many people experience on one level or another.

Everyone knows that what happens in the spiritual realm casts a shadow on what happens in this world. The Story of Our Lives was first available for paperback publication in the beginning of December 2020. This was around the time that a vaccine started becoming available as a response to a pandemic. In my humble opinion, this book is coming at exactly the right time in our history when we are open to a remedy to help reignite our relationship with our Creator.

The book is available at Jewish bookstores everywhere or on Amazon.com.