Hope, Not Fear: Changing the Way We View Death

Rabbi Blech (The Sistine Secrets) provides intriguing reasons for readers to take a fresh, fearless look at their own mortality in this surprisingly upbeat book on dying. Diagnosed with a fatal heart disease in 2012 and given only six months to live, 85-year-old Blech reminds readers that “life itself is a fatal disease for which there is no known cure.” He found his diagnosis liberating, and it inspired him to look for proof of the soul’s existence after death. After consulting the Torah, Jewish rituals and oral tradition, accounts of near death experiences, and the mysteries of the kabbalah, Blech concluded that, if God is good, the fact that life on Earth is unfair means there must be more left to experience. Though Blech acknowledges his arguments are more anecdotal than scientific, he gives readers plenty of food for thought on fringe topics (including reincarnation and hell’s expiration date) without any pressure to buy into his own conclusions. Blech leaves readers with key lessons he’s learned over the course of his ongoing dance with death, including the importance of holding on to faith, prayer, and optimism. (Sept.)