The Telling

Life changing wisdom from one of Judaisms most powerful texts The Haggadah, which can be found in Jewish homes around the world, has guided Jewish families and friends through Pesach celebrations for millennia. In The Telling How Judaisms Essential Book Reveals the Meaning of Life, author Mark Gerson shows how even the most familiar passages from the Haggadah are sitting on top of buried treasures ready to help us live more meaningful and fulfilling lives today. The Telling will enable readers to make their Seder the most engaging, inspiring and important night of the Jews year and readers generally to understand how Jewish wisdom can help them to live their happiest, most purposeful and worthwhile lives.

The fundamental questions of life that The Telling addresses include those of freedom, blessings, parenthood, dreams, education, idolatry, family, forgiveness, willpower, dreams, memory, wisdom, goodness, analogies, habits, newness, music, food, aging, false humility, the role of the imagination, the purpose of political debate, the cultivation and expression of gratitude, the State of Israel, our relationship with God, the secret of joy, the meaning of history, the presentation of miracles and much more. The Telling, which calls on disciplines from Talmudic discussion to evolutionary psychology to understand the Haggadah, is a groundbreaking reexamination of one of the most powerful texts in Judaism and an indispensable source of wisdom and insight for people of all faiths.

Gerson is the co-founder of Gerson Lehrman Group and several other business in New York. He is also the co-founder and Chairman of United Hatzalah, the pioneering crowd-sourced system of volunteer first response that enables Israelis to be treated within the crucial three minutes following any medical trauma. He is also the co-founder and Chairman of African Mission Healthcare, which supports the work of Christian medical missionaries who provide the indispensable source of care for the African poor.

A graduate of Williams College and Yale Law School, Mark Gerson is the author of books of intellectual history and education. His articles and essays on subjects ranging from Frank Sinatra to the Biblical Jonah have been published in Commentary, The New Republic, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and many other publications. Mark is married to Rabbi Erica Gerson.

They and their four children live in New York City.