cover image Why Me? Why Anyone?

Why Me? Why Anyone?

Hirshel Jaffe, James Rudin, Marcia Rudin. St. Martin's Press, $15.95 (193pp) ISBN 978-0-312-87803-0

In 1982, Jaffe, a rabbi in Newburgh, N.Y., found himself stricken with a rare form of leukemia. In his late 40s, a marathoner known as the ""running rabbi,'' he was successively shocked, angry and emotionally hurt by his affliction. Here Jaffe, with Marcia Rudin and James Rudin (an official of the American Jewish Committee), describes his battle with the disease, which is currently in remission. The heartfelt narrative alternates with Jaffe's diary excerpts, telling how he sought answers in religious faith. The authors present a wealth of information about Judaism's thinking on suffering, medicine, heroic measures to preserve life, euthanasia and the afterlife. Their book lacks the universality of Harold Kushner's When Bad Things Happen to Good People, but it has deeply affecting moments. (March 31)