ONE SON’S JOURNEY INTO THE MYSTERY
The author’s mother endured a 20-year journey with Alzheimer’s disease, and he and his wife managed the final six years of her at-home care until she died at 95. Gradually, he discovered that beyond the tragic and at times violent stages of the disease progression, there were simultaneously many moments of genuine joy, laughter and deep healing that occurred for his family. Sobel attempts to provide a balance to all the sad and often horrific accounts of Alzheimer’s that are available in abundance, by instead sharing the “silver lining” he discovered that recast his whole experience in a positive light, and he hopes to share that possibility with others.
by eliezer sobel
Encounters with Gabrielle Roth
Eliezer’s latest book, DARK LIGHT OF THE SOUL, Encounters with Gabrielle Roth, is a collection of personal accounts from 150 people all over the world who experienced intimate, powerful, unforgettable, and often life-changing moments in their meetings with Gabrielle. She was the creative force behind a worldwide community of thousands who love and practice the “5Rhythms®,” a path of spiritual healing rooted in the body and movement. Gabrielle had the unique gift of offering her full presence and attention to everyone she met, so that invariably people would leave their first meetings with her feeling as if they had just met a new and deep lifelong friend. Learn More
published by Raven Recording
A Book for Memory-Challenged Adults (Book I of a Series) published by Rainbow Ridge Books
Although there are more than 20,000 books available for caregivers, this is one of the first books for Alzheimer’s patients. It is dedicated to the author’s mother.
Eliezer came upon the idea of creating simple picture books for dementia patients when he discovered that his mother could still read short phrases in big print, long after the rest of her language skills had evaporated. Learn More
by eliezer sobel
Pictures to Evoke Memories of Jewish Life (Book 2 of a Series) published by Rainbow Ridge Books
The latest in Eliezer’s series of simple and beautiful picture books designed for Alzheimer’s and dementia patients. L’Chaim! was created specifically for Jewish people with memory loss. Learn More
by eliezer sobel
e-Book
Available as a Kindle book on Amazon
Enlightenment is not for the faint of heart, or as Eliezer Sobel makes clear, for those without a sense of humor. Why I Am Not Enlightened is a penetrating, insightful, and — above all — genuinely funny meditation on the quest for gnosis and its discontents.
Where does the spiritual path take us? What does “enlightenment” mean, really? In this concise recounting of his personal journey along the highways and byways of the spiritual search, Eliezer pursues these questions while calling on 30 years of study with a remarkable array of teachers, gurus, shamans, healers, channelers, yogis, and more. Learn More
by eliezer sobel
published by Santa Monica Press
Novelist, publisher and editor Sobel does a fine job making his 30-year quest for spiritual awakening widely identifiable with a funny, clear-eyed account that takes readers around the world and through a gauntlet of gurus, shamans, workshops and retreats, not to mention sex and drugs (legal and otherwise). Sobel’s twin assets are his willingness and his sense of humor, both apparent from the start in his encounter with a guru named Ram Dass, whose first instruction to Sobel is to take off his pants (“So I did”).
— from Publisher’s Weekly
by eliezer sobel
published by the University of Tennessee Press
One of my marketing approaches for Minyan was to send the following postcard to about 125 Jewish newspapers and magazines:
Dear Mr. Big Shot Editor,
What, it would kill you to review my son’s book? Such a writer he is, I can’t begin to tell you. It won a fancy literary prize no less. You want a copy, drop him an e-mail already, I’m not getting any younger. What, it would hurt to give a mother a little nachas?
Sincerely,
Mrs. Sobel
by eliezer sobel
published by Simon & Schuster / Fireside
“Hip, wise, zany, and Zen, Eliezer is a delightful guide through the creative process and its healing power.”
— Gabrielle Roth, author of Sweat Your Prayers
by eliezer sobel
published as a series of articles in Wild Heart Journal
Wild Heart Journal published a series of articles intended to encourage creativity in children, under the umbrella, “I’m a Real Artist,” which also included “I’m a Real Dancer,” “I’m a Real Singer,” “I’m a Real Writer,” and “I’m a Real Cook.” The idea was to rail against the notion I had struggled with my whole life, waiting for the world to acknowledge and legitimize my identity as a writer, rather than simply writing to write, or writing because, as the series conveyed, each and every one of us has a unique voice of authenticity and originality worthy of expression.
by eliezer sobel
published in a Brooklyn basement
Towards the end of my tenure as Editor-in-Chief of The New Sun , I received a call from a man in Brooklyn looking for a writer. He sold mail-order how-to books that he published in his basement on an old press, and advertised through the classifieds in The National Enquirer. He had just run an ad, as a test, for a book that didn’t yet exist, and received thousands of orders.
The ad he ran said something like this:
“Change Your Luck Overnight:
Send for Free Introductory Material!”
So he needed someone to write a book for him very quickly. I took it on.
by eliezer sobel
with Harry Sobel
I began my first novel in seventh grade. It opened with a description of a solitary, male figure on a hillside, gazing out at the sea. He was wearing sandals. That was about as far as I got in terms of character and plot development before the narrative spontaneously evolved into an entertaining discussion of my sock drawer, and how my older brother Harry used to irritate me by opening it without my permission, and helping himself to my socks. Learn More
by eliezer sobel
unpublished in Florida — and countless other locations
Inspired by my terrifying years spent on the playground of Warren Point School in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, I salvaged many of the childhood sequences from Playground for inclusion in Minyan , connecting each kid from the former to one of the adults in the latter. Playground featured the same protagonist, Norbert Wilner, and many of the same characters — as does virtually every piece of fiction I’ve ever written. Learn More
by eliezer sobel
the Wild Heart Interviews
I published the Wild Heart Journal for five years, ending it in early 2004 due to my inability to make it financially solvent. It was a beautiful publication (thanks to my graphic designer in New Zealand, Lesley Maclean), treasured by its small but faithful readership. Devoted to “Art, Creativity & Spiritual Life,” it afforded me the opportunity to celebrate the lives and works of those people — known and unknown — for whom the creative process served as their principle spiritual path. This as-yet-unpublished book collects five year’s worth of interviews, interspersed with my musings on creativity. Included are Alex Grey, Krishna Das, Natalie Goldberg, Gabrielle Roth, Andrew Harvey, Jai Uttal, John Daido Loori and many others. Learn More
interviews by
by eliezer sobel
Mordecai was a little-known and hidden Jewish mystical poet, a contemporary and drinking partner of Rumi’s. This is the story of a young man in modern day New York City who meets the eccentric ‘Reb Miltie’ in a subway station, and through him discovers the magic and mystery of Mordecai. His life will never be the same.
by eliezer sobel
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