Title: Stalking Jonathan Omer-Man
Review: Stalking Elijah is the follow up to Kamenetz's very successful The Jew in the Lotus. Stalking won the National Jewish Book award, and deservedly so. Kamenetz asks the same hard questions about Jewish practice and spirituality that he did in Lotus, but this time with a greater focus on the Jewish side of things (as opposed to the Buddhist side). With that said, the parts of this book that particularly shine are related to Rabbi Jonathan Omer-Man. Omer-Man's tough minded mysticism is a good counter-balance to the softness of most New Age inquiry into Jewish mysticism. Omer-Man is suspicious of easy answers and realizes that the spiritual quest is not linear in any sense. One comes out of this book with a sense of the man's personality, learning, humanity, and frailty.
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