Books

The search for meaning in our lives has become a particularly difficult quest. The high-pressure world we live in, with its emphasis on material goods, has eclipsed the timeless values of commitment and spirituality. Today success is measured not by what we are, but by what we possess: the cars we drive, the clothes we wear, the trinkets we buy.

As a result, more and more people live with self-doubt, depression, ennui, and familial dysfunction. Relationships are stalled. Personal growth seems unattainable. In the end, the things we buy offer us no comfort. We grow old, lonely, and afraid, wondering how we could have done it differently.

"The Committed Life" teaches us a better way. Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis has been reaching out to people and helping others find happiness her entire life. By age six she was smuggling food and messages into Nazi detention camps during World War II, thereby learning her first lesson of the Torah: "You shall not stand idly by while the life of your brother is in jeopardy." Today she is a dynamic and inspiring leader who has devoted her life to combating the spiritual wasteland surrounding us.

The Rebbetzin knows that many of us are in trouble. She has heard countless cries for help escaping the emotional vacuums that have become our lives. Twenty-five years ago, she founded Hineni (Hebrew for "Here I am"), an outreach organization that has ignited the hearts and minds of people throughout the world. Her popular classe