In Search of Wholeness: The Pursuit of Spiritual Integrity in a Delusional World

Lynn Szabo is an assistant professor of English at Trinity Western
University in Langley, B.C.

In this book, essayist and novelist Rabbi Martin Cohen organizes his
teachings into 18 chapters, all with titles framed in paradox, the
hallmark of rabbinic pedagogy. In each chapter, he seeks to synthesize
approaches to the conflicts faced when human experience engages the
search for God. His book articulates the elusive nature of the wholeness
requisite to “absolute self-immersion into God.”

Fundamental to Cohen’s epistemology is his conviction that God
“listens and exists in an ongoing and dialectical relationship with
His creatures.” From that base, he draws parallels between the inner
and outer worlds of human experience and their inhabitation by God.
After articulating the problems of finding an equilibrium between these
worlds, he proclaims that “Judaism teaches that the unity of Israel is
the ongoing terrestrial mirror of the unity of God.” Only intense
spiritual exercise can provide the stamina required to face God in an
I/Thou relationship, which is the ultimate goal of spiritual experience.
The author concludes his treatise with the humble declaration that the
questions surrounding the issues of spiritual wholeness are those “we
are smart enough to ask, but nowhere near smart enough to answer.”

Cohen’s parenthetical comments, almost conversational in nature,
often result in a loss of focus. Nevertheless, his book is thoroughgoing
and will appeal to readers who are interested in exploring the subject
of spiritual wholeness within a Jewish framework.