"The Honey and The Sting" Polish Translation

          The Polish translation of Rabbi Walter Rothschild's “The Honey and The Sting” will serve as a key educational tool for generations of people seeking authoritative and clear messages about Judaism.  This book will be used in our Step by Step Jewish educational program in Poland.  And in fact, its potential audience is much larger.   We have inquiries from high school teachers and others throughout the Serbo-Croatian language communities for contemporary presentations of Judaism. 

          This project is estimated to cost $18,000.  One fourth of the book has been translated thus far.  We expect to complete the translation by summer 2018 where it will be used in classes in an experimental form.  Final editing will be completed in May 2019.  

          Please support Friends of Jewish Renewal in Poland/Beit Polska towards this innovative project to spread Jewish perspectives to a section of the world that strongly desires a strengthening of Jewish knowledge.

         The title comes from a song by the Israeli composer and singer Naomi Shemer who refers to the fact that so many subjects have both a sweet and a bitter side.  And yet she prays, “al kol eyle,” it all belongs together.  Both the honey and the sting come from the same creature. Both the sweeter and the bitter parts of Jewish experience come from the same Creator. The intention – which has been borne out by those who have read the English and the German versions – is that a person who reads and learns from this book in Polish will also acquire this more balanced perspective, not naively optimistic, not depressively pessimistic, but with a touch of both.

          Rabbi Walter Rothschild’s book, “The Honey and The Sting” addresses Judaism from a European Progressive-Jewish perspective.  He presents information on practical Jewish life, history, holidays and culture in an engaging and straightforward manner.  In addition, he seeks to explore issues that other books may not comment on such as, “What do the life-cycle rituals mean for us today?How does the liturgy work and where/why/how/by whom has it been changed?  How do congregations really work?  How should we relate to other monotheistic and diverse religions?”