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The Curse of Blessings: Sometimes, the Right Story Can Change Your Life
The Curse of Blessings is a paradox. It is a tale of utter simplicity that expresses life's most complex truths. It is a story that can be read in a sitting, but which will stay with you forever. It is life--distilled to its purest element--while revealing the world in all its richness and wonder. The Curse of Blessings takes four characters on a journey that will transform them--or not--depending on what they are willing to let themselves hear. Once in a generation a book comes along that is able to convey universal truths and wisdom within the simplest of frameworks. Like Jonathan Livingston Seagull and The Celestine Prophecy before it, The Curse of Blessings is just such a book. With a haunting, lyrical touch, Mitchell Chefitz presents a teaching tale that is at once disturbing, profound and inspiring-for those who are willing to listen. The Curse of Blessings can reveal nothing....or it can show you everything. The choice is yours.
96 pages, Hardcover
First published April 3, 2006
8 people are currently reading
39 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 22, 2021
This was one of of eight books I read to test out for an upcoming genre
"Fables, Folklore, Tales and and Myths" for the Jewish Book Club. The purpose was to find a few books having short stories written as a parables, with morals handed down through the generations. .
Many are re-written for contemporary audiences, yet some older ones stay the same. You will be able to recognizable the stories even though they have a different title.
This one fit beautifully. Short, entertaining, and makes the point.
"Fables, Folklore, Tales and and Myths" for the Jewish Book Club. The purpose was to find a few books having short stories written as a parables, with morals handed down through the generations. .
Many are re-written for contemporary audiences, yet some older ones stay the same. You will be able to recognizable the stories even though they have a different title.
This one fit beautifully. Short, entertaining, and makes the point.
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March 26, 2021This is a book of parables.
Not parables that tell you how to behave or what to do to be good, so much as parables to get at the unknown unknown: what you don't know that you don't know you don't know. The name of the book comes from the first story, in which a man has to issue a new blessing every single day of his life in order to remain alive.
I was reading along and thought I'd probably have to sit with these, as with some poetry.
Then I came to one that immediately hit the mark.
Maybe not the unknown unknown, but the known that I didn't credit until I saw it written down in a story. Noticed but not yet known until I read the story.
Although the book was short, I read the stories one at a time.
Not parables that tell you how to behave or what to do to be good, so much as parables to get at the unknown unknown: what you don't know that you don't know you don't know. The name of the book comes from the first story, in which a man has to issue a new blessing every single day of his life in order to remain alive.
I was reading along and thought I'd probably have to sit with these, as with some poetry.
Then I came to one that immediately hit the mark.
Maybe not the unknown unknown, but the known that I didn't credit until I saw it written down in a story. Noticed but not yet known until I read the story.
Although the book was short, I read the stories one at a time.
January 21, 2024
Beautiful book
Mini stories to stir up some wisdom in your mind - some reminders of what is important and what is not - what is real and what are illusions - will hopefully read again one day -
Thank you to the author!
Mini stories to stir up some wisdom in your mind - some reminders of what is important and what is not - what is real and what are illusions - will hopefully read again one day -
Thank you to the author!
January 30, 2009
I felt like I was reading The Tales of Beadle the Bard again, but that doesn't make this a bad read. In fact, almost in spite of myself, I ended up liking this book very much.
It's a compilation of parable-like tales, ten in all, that sometimes depend on religious tradition in order to give a moralistic resolution to each story. This makes sense, as Chefitz is a Jewish leader and probably tells such stories on a regular basis. I wish that more of them were his own and not simply altered tales he already is familiar with, but I guess I can't say anything since I've never heard any of them before.
This would be a nice way to tell moralistic stories to children without having to worry about blatant paternalistic, patriarchal, or misogynistic messages (although, now that I think about it, not many women were even in any of these stories...); the morals still come across loud and clear.
It's a compilation of parable-like tales, ten in all, that sometimes depend on religious tradition in order to give a moralistic resolution to each story. This makes sense, as Chefitz is a Jewish leader and probably tells such stories on a regular basis. I wish that more of them were his own and not simply altered tales he already is familiar with, but I guess I can't say anything since I've never heard any of them before.
This would be a nice way to tell moralistic stories to children without having to worry about blatant paternalistic, patriarchal, or misogynistic messages (although, now that I think about it, not many women were even in any of these stories...); the morals still come across loud and clear.
June 3, 2016
This is a short collection of short stories by a Jewish rabbi, the title refers to one of the stories. The stories are fables or allegories, and I really enjoyed them. Given some thought, each could teach you something about life. I'm not sure I gave them enough thought, and I missed the book club meeting which would have hashed them out really well, but I still got something from it.
May 3, 2008
sweet little book with a bunch of nice stories, but will it change your life? i dunno. maybe if you really really tried to read lots of meaning into the stories. maybe i'm shallow, but i think the blurb on the cover oversold this book. it ain't bad, it just isn;'t that great either.
December 6, 2015
Some thought provoking stories, but on the whole they are didactic rather than absorbing.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews