Travels on the Private Zodiac: Reflections on Jewish Life, Ritual, and Spirituality

Norman Ravvin’s novel Café des Westens won the Alberta Culture New
Fiction Award.

In Travels on the Private Zodiac, Martin Cohen manages a difficult
balancing act: his reflections on Jewish life and ritual will provide a
thoughtful and provocative introduction for non-Jewish readers; but he
manages as well, through his timely pieces on the Sabbath, keeping
kosher, seasonal celebrations, and contemporary Jewish education and
worship, to address these subjects in a way that will inspire Jewish
readers. Cohen’s focus is unlike most general guides to Jewish life,
in that it is distinctly personal in tone and mystical in its
inclinations. His collection conveys the felt experience of ordering
one’s week around the Sabbath, of discovering the meaning of prayer,
and of dealing emotionally and intellectually with the bafflement of
non-Jews before Jewish ways of viewing the world. These are difficult
and at times thorny issues to convey, and through its learned context
and intimate style, Cohen’s writing rises to this challenge uncommonly
well.

The rabbi of a conservative congregation in Richmond, B.C., with a PhD
in the history of ancient Judaism, and a writer of fiction, Cohen brings
the skills of an educator, a colorful storyteller, and a spiritual guide
into play as he examines how Jewish tradition has been transformed over
the centuries. Travels on the Private Zodiac will serve as an excellent
learning tool for introductory courses or informal reading groups
examining the workings of the contemporary Jewish imagination. For the
individual reader, whether informed or newly curious, Cohen offers a
gentle hand and an outstretched arm as he argues for a deeper
understanding of a ritual and spiritual life he describes as “blunt,
frank and unadorned.”