Books by Erica Brown

In the Narrow Places - Daily Inspiration for the Three Weeks

Maggid

Erica Brown is one of the foremost Jewish educators of our time. Through her writing and adult education classes, she helps people re-think Jewish tradition and become inspired Jewish leaders.

For each day of the Three Weeks, Erica presents a short, inspirational essay based on biblical texts followed by a kavana—an exercise that involves reflection, imagination or action—to transform these somber days of remembrance into a period of introspection and spiritual growth. Alongside the traditional prophecies of doom and consolation traditionally read during the Three Weeks, In the Narrow Places offers a new process for rebuilding and a re-affirmation of hope.

Inspired Jewish Leadership
Practical Approaches to Building Strong Communities

Jewish Lights Publishing

“Eloquent insight into how Jewish history and ideals cultivate a positive foundation for the kind of leadership that inspires others to excellence.”— Senator Joseph I. Lieberman

Drawing on the past and looking to the future, this practical guide provides the tools you need to work through important contemporary leadership issues. It takes a broad look at positions of leadership in the modern Jewish community and the qualities and skills you need in order to succeed in these positions. Real-life anecdotes, interviews, and dialogue stimulate thinking about board development, ethical leadership, conflict resolution, change management, and effective succession planning.

Whether you are a professional or a volunteer, are looking to develop your own personal leadership skills or are part of a group, this inspiring book provides information, interactive exercises, and questions for reflection to help you define leadership styles and theories, expose common myths, and coach others on the importance of leading with meaning.

Spiritual Boredom
Rediscovering the Wonder of Judaism

Jewish Lights Publishing

"Erudite, passionate, illuminating, inspiring, and, above all, Jewish. Here one of the foremost Jewish educators of our time takes aim at spiritual boredom, and points the way to a life of wonder, creativity and engagement." — Jonathan D. Sarna, Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History, Brandeis University

Boredom is a crisis of our age. In religious terms, boredom is sapping spirituality of its mystical and wholesome benefits, slowly corroding our ability to recognize blessing and beauty in our lives, to experience wonder and awe. What happens when our need for constant newness minimizes our interest in prayer, learning, and the mysteries of nature?
This intriguing look at spiritual boredom helps you understand just what this condition is, particularly as it relates to Judaism, and what the absence of inspiration means to the present and future of the Jewish tradition. Drawing insights from psychology, philosophy, and theology as well as ancient Jewish texts, Dr. Erica Brown explores the many ways boredom manifests itself within Judaism--in the community, classroom, and synagogue--and shows its potentially powerful cultural impact on a faith structure that advises sanctifying time, not merely passing it.

The Case for Jewish Peoplehood
Can We Be One?

Jewish Lights Publishing

"Accessible and stimulating. Opens the windows and doors wide to invite all of us to participate in a spirited conversation about the changing nature of Jewish peoplehood in the twenty-first century." — Shifra Bronznick, co-author, Leveling the Playing Field: Advancing Women in Jewish Organizational Life; founder and president, Advancing Women Professionals and the Jewish Community

Peoplehood--everyone's talking about it. But what does it actually mean and why is it important to the future of Judaism?

"Why is this conversation important? Why does it merit your attention? If you care about Jewish identity and community, then you know that we have no trouble identifying the problems that fragmentize us as a people but have far less success identifying that which unites us. Without a unifying, collective notion of Jewish identity that is meaningful and robust, it is virtually impossible to make a strong case for Jewish continuity." — from the Introduction

This call to Jewish community explores the purpose, possibilities, and limitations of peoplehood as a unifying concept of community for a people struggling profoundly with Jewish identity.

Confronting Scandal
How Jews Can Respond When Jews Do Bad Things

Jewish Lights Publishing

Jews seem to be in the news today for all of the wrong reasons. Whether it is Bernie Madoff or money laundering by rabbinic leaders, the Jewish community has yet to take stock of what these breaches of civil law and Jewish ethical teachings mean for us as a people. How do we manage collective discomfort and shame? How do we explain rabbis who commit sex offenses or other crimes yet stand at the pulpit week after week offering others moral guidance? And most importantly, how do we restore honor and dignity to our community by raising the ethical bar and adherence to it?

This book explores the difficult and thorny issues surrounding scandals: airing dirty laundry in public, coming to terms with criminality among Jews, examining painful stereotypes of Jews and the difficult position of being a minority in society. A call for us to answer to a higher authority, it also addresses practical ways to strengthen ethical behavior and "do good things" to bring pride back, and to engender greater self-respect and the respect of others.

"I write to understand as much as to be understood."

— Elie Wiesel

"Just to be is a blessing. Just to live is holy." 

— A. J. Heschel