Being sick, especially being chronically ill, can feel like being trapped in a narrow place, with no way out. Even professional healers can feel trapped, not knowing how to lift that person up. One of the oldest stories in the world, the exodus, is a tale of escaping that kind of trap. For the past five-plus years, I have been working on a book that uses the story of the exodus to help understand illness and healing—the narrow space, and the way out. At long last, the book is finished, and not a moment too soon. In this hour where everything seems to be closing in on us – personally, professionally, societally – I hope I can provide some road map of the way through.
From Illness to Exodus asks hard questions about illness, loss, and suffering—questions that literally keep people up all night—using the traditional Passover seder and its text, the Haggadah, as a template. It invites the ill person and healer alike to address these questions with compassion, curiosity, and a mature faith that can handle the uncertainty of being human.
The book is available on Amazon or through my publisher Wipf and Stock (sign up for their newsletter and you can get a 40%-off coupon for one book!). Please read it, share it with friends, and put it to good use – around your seder table, in your own recovery from illness, or in your work to help others heal. In learning and doing together, may we come to be like the words that Mara Cohen illustrated so beautifully on the cover: “Those who sow in tears will reap in joy. He goes out crying, carrying his bag of seeds; he comes in rejoicing, carrying his sheaves (Psalm 126:5-6).”
Healers Who Listen would love to listen to what you have to say, too.