How does one express reverence and gratitude in a world without God? That question is at the core of Herb Levine's bilingual collection of prayers and poems, Words for Blessing the World.  The book resonates with traditional Jewish liturgy even as it observes the world through a distinctly modern lens. The poems deal with the theological, the political, and the personal and is presented in both Hebrew and English, anchoring the collection deep within the Jewish tradition.

“A learned and sincere engagement with Jewish tradition. the author suggests that we can pray ‘in a world without a master.’ The poems express a faith that is committed to human evolution toward more compassion, love, unity and justice. The poems are resonant with Biblical poetry and story. The Hebrew is elegant and prayerful. A gracious and powerful spiritual tool for our time.” — Rabbi Sheila Peltz Weinberg, author, God Loves the Stranger: Stories, Poems and Prayers

HERBERT LEVINE is the author of several works on the intersection of spirituality, religion and poetry: Sing Unto God A New Song: A Contemporary Reading of the Psalms (Indiana U Press), Yeats’s Daimonic Renewal (UMI Press) and seminal essays on Whitman’s “Song of Myself ” in Whitman’s Song of Myself (Chelsea House). His first poem was published in 1992; this is his first volume of poetry.