Twenty-Six Questions on the Path to Wisdom

What is the purpose of creation? How do I break free of this solitude? What is there to love? Why should I care? These are a few of the twenty-six questions on the path to wisdom, with twenty-six corresponding to the numerical value of the Holy Name of Four Letters, yud-hey-vav-hey. We live in a time that seems void of meaning, because we live in a time that is empty of wisdom. Undertaking a quest for wisdom, this book turns to the millennial teachings and traditions of Judaism, as well as other traditions. The path to wisdom lies in these teachings—in these questions—that humanity has inherited from its sages. These are the questions that shape a life by enabling us to live a meaningful life. They are not so much the questions that we have but the questions that “have” us, that take hold of us, often in spite of ourselves. For each question, the author offers a response, a reflection, but not a final answer. Indeed, the responses to these twenty-six questions are themselves subject to questioning, as they must be.