The Human Challenge

Every human being is presented with the “human challenge”:

• How do I grow?
• How do I become wise?
• How do I sanctify the world around me and make it a better place?
• How do I work on my character?
• How do I integrate work and food and intimacy into my life’s goals?

This volume is an attempt to answer these questions for the intelligent and sensitive adult reader. It draws significantly on deeper Jewish thought, balancing brevity with profundity. The Human Challenge provides a rich and exciting entry point for those who are at the early stages of their relationship with Judaism as well as significant benefit to those with an extensive background, as it provides a methodical and sourced overview of topics that may otherwise remain as fragmented insights.

The Midrash says: “God looked into the Torah and created the world.” Every human being is an entire world — a world of hopes and dreams, aspirations, concerns, and perspectives. This book provides an inspiring picture of how Torah can be a force of personal transformation in everything we do."

-Rabbi Warren Goldstein Chief Rabbi of South Africa

Rabbi Edelstein has done it again… He has had to answer the questions that so many of us ask and had no one who was both erudite enough and sensitive enough to provide us with answers that are both genuine and articulate… This book will be a source of ideas, answers, and, most of all, insights — not only for beginners but for anyone with a mind that seeks more clarity and more depth in their understanding of Judaism's very foundations.

-Rebbetzin Tziporah (Heller) Gottlieb International Torah lecturer and author

[This book is a] fresh perspective on how purpose, holiness, and wisdom can recalibrate our noisy post-modern lives.

-Yaakov Lehman Founder, Chief Executive Integrator, Wisdom Tribe

How does one create a readable overview to 3,000 years of Jewish wisdom? How does one introduce Judaism without dumbing it down and over-simplifying it? The Human Challenge manages to do just that!

-Miriam Kosman Author of Circle, Arrow, Spiral and popular lecturer

Rabbi Avraham Edelstein is the Education Director of Neve College for Women. He was a founder and director of the Ner LeElef Institute and is the founder of and executive mentor to Olami, the worldwide network of Jewish outreach organizations for students and young professionals. He is a widely respected authority on Jewish education and outreach.