A Time to Every Purpose: Letters to a Young Jew Jonathan D. Sarna Basic Books 200 Pages $23.00 ISBN: 978-0-465-00246-7

Those familiar with Jonathan Sarna’s previous works will be pleasantly surprised by the format and content of his latest book, A Time to Every Purpose.Written as a series of loving letters to his daughter, Sarna draws on his roots as an eminent historian to present the conflicting choices facing young people (and older folks, too) about being Jewish in contemporary America. Taking us through the Jewish calendar, Dr. Sarna writes introspective and personal “seasonal” letters which not only provide specific information about each holiday but challenge the reader to consider how the stories and ritual of each holiday shape our spiritual and religious lives. This is not a book with didactic solutions to the question of Jewish continuity but with open-ended choices. “Will you study Judaism, practice Judaism, and then transmit Judaism, someday, to your own children?” The underlying message to his daughter and to us is that “the Jewish future rests in your hands.” This wonderful book, probably the shortest of all his titles, has the greatest potential to reach a large and diverse audience. While written from the heart to a beloved child, this book should be required reading for anyone—teenager, parent, or potential convert—curious about what it means to be Jewish in America today.