Why Rain Comes from Above - by Devora Steinmetz (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

In Why Rain Comes From Above: Explorations in Religious Imagination, Devora Steinmetz invites the reader into the imaginative space created by deep engagement with biblical and rabbinic texts. Each of these six poetic and scholarly essays leads us through a web of texts, drawing us into stories, images, and experiences that open us to new ways of thinking and to new worlds of meaning. Steinmetz's explorations show us how imaginative engagement as a form of religious reading can transform our relationship to the world around us, awaken us to the ethical commitments to which we are called, and give us ways of thinking about our lives, our world, and God.

Review Quotes

With incisive close readings and a bold moral imagination, Devora Steinmetz brilliantly interweaves ancient talmudic and midrashic sources to reveal hidden meanings and surprising resonances in the biblical text.

- Ilana Kurshan, author of If All the Seas Were Ink

Why Rain Comes From Above is a delight to read. Devora Steinmetz weaves together a rich tapestry of sources and texts, forging connections among disparate literary passages. She brings out deeper relationships among concepts, themes, ideas, and words to uncover hidden layers of understanding and meaning. Her profound knowledge of biblical and rabbinic literature and her penetrating and incisive analyses are evident on every page.

- Jeffrey L. Rubenstein, New York University