The Torah is in itself God’s gift to the world. The Torah is a book of second chances. From the very first story of Adam and Eve to the last of Moses’ death, the Bible repeats this theme of the second chance. God gives us a second chance to redeem ourselves. God puts Adam and Eve in the garden. And, through disgrace, deceit and arrogance, they are expelled. The Paradise lost. But a second chance occurs. Outside the garden, they are blessed with children. Our father, Abraham, was living a quiet ordinary life. God gives him a second chance to make his life extraordinary. At first, the Jewish people reject the Ten Commandments. God gives them a second chance to accept it. Moses is raised as an Egyptian. God gives him a second chance to live as a Jew. Throughout the Torah, story after story, God gives us examples of those who seize the second chance.
The first part of this book explores the individual experience: Rabbi David Wolpe suffered a life-threatening illness and his scribe a miraculous escape from death during war. Both were given a second chance. Does not each of us have our own experience? Many events, such as a loss of a child, a country, a catastrophic illness or war may give us a second chance to do things differently. However, it does not take a devastation to trigger a second chance. The second chance can come in moments unexpected, moments that forever alter our lives. Moments such as looking at a photograph or having an epiphany, hearing a piece of music, having a dream, making a decision, where a truth is suddenly revealed and action must be taken. Do we take advantage of God’s gift of the second chance?
The remainder of the book explores the second chance through the universal Jewish experience, the Holocaust and the rebirth of the State of Israel. As you read and reflect upon this book, think about the second chance and how it is woven throughout the Torah, our history and all of time.
Hallie Lerman
Above all else, A Second Chance elevates us above our day-to-day meanderings and into the realm of hope, inspiration and beauty. Building upon the writing of a Torah, commemorating a beloved rabbi’s recovery from a life threatening illness, the book uses the metaphor of a second chance to remind us that God offers us all another chance to live our lives. Hallie Lerman creates a loving tribute to the spirit of the possible and to man’s enduring relationship with God. She achieves this through her exquisite photographs, poetic essays and piercing quotations from the Torah itself. This moving book challenges you to pick any page at random and ponder and contemplate the meaning of a second chance. She creates a work of beauty through poetic prose and offers unforgettable images that will stay with you. The book explores the gift of redemption from both the individual perspective and the collective Jewish experience of the Holocaust and the miracle of the rebuilding of the State of Israel. If you allow it, A Second Chance may change your life through its eternal message. God offers each of us a second chance if we are only wise enough to reach for it.
