According
to Mosaica’s webpage for the book:
…[A]cclaimed educator and coach Gila Ross uses
her 20-years of experience in education and coaching to help transform
relationships and lives. Through Living Beautifully, Mrs Ross strives to
share her deep passion for Jewish wisdom and living a meaningful life.
Living Beautifully navigates the complex terrains of life,
providing the tools and principles to appreciate what is truly valuable, see
obstacles as challenges, and guide readers toward a balanced life full of
meaning, joy, and fulfillment. Drawing from the time-tested wisdom of Pirkei
Avos, Mrs Ross shows readers how to live beautifully despite the pressures and
complexity of modern life.
Living Beautifully will inspire readers to infuse their lives
with meaning and happiness, while demonstrating how even the smallest actions
can have a significant impact on our souls and the world.
The large
and comfortably readable print, accessibility and chatty, informal style suggest
that the publishers are promoting this very much as a women-for-women book,
penned by an author who has contributed much to the education and welfare of
others, living a richly meaningful Jewish life while fulfilling the taxing
challenges of marriage to a rabbi and raising eight children.
Not being a
woman, I am ill-equipped to appreciate this book’s finer qualities. My
impression is that many female readers will find it awesome and inspiring, offering
them a way to raise their game and achieve greater things in their careers,
their relationships and in their personal growth. Others may feel a little
depressed, wondering how they continue to struggle with things that others can
handle with such apparent ease and grace, emerging smiling and made wise from
each lesson life teaches them—including the painful ones.
But what
does this book offer me, as a man and a Pirkei Avot enthusiast? Strangely,
having recently reviewed R’ Yisroel Miller’s The Wisdom of Avos, I was
struck by their essential similarity: both authors draw greatly on their
personal experience, concentrating on the contemporary relevance of Avot rather
than detailed analysis of the text and historical relevance. Each uses Avot as
a springboard for their thoughts and perspectives. Neither avoids citing
commentators from bygone generations, but this is done to enhance a discussion
rather than to define or limit it. What’s more, neither book is overtly
“preachy”. We know the author’s personal religious feelings and commitments but
do not feel that we are being pushed into accepting them or being damned if we
don’t. Gila Ross employs more in the way of homespun wisdom than does R’ Miller,
which accounts in part for the fact that her book is of greater length.
I shall be referring
to Living Beautifully from time to time when developing points from Avot,
so watch this space!
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