After his wife Ruth is slaughtered in a grotesque mass shooting, Rabbi Jacob Marcus' world comes crashing in on him. He is forced to deal with the tragic loss of his love, aching loneliness, years of spousal dependency, and above all, his gnawing culpability for his wife's death. When his friend Shai secures him a two-week position on a cruise ship as a rabbi, an adventure begins that will address all of these feelings and more.
Michael Neil Isaacson, author of People of a Prayer once again brings his honed observational talents, sharp wit, and keen perspectives of Judaism to his second novel. We'll meet all types of colorful passengers and ship's staff who reinforce Rabbi Jake Marcus's belief that a cruise ship is indeed a microcosm of the world. Cruising will never be the same for you...it will be so much more insightful!
BRING MICHAEL ISAACSON TO YOUR COMMUNITY!
Schedule Dr. Isaacson for a lecture and book signing. E-mail eggcreamer@sbcglobal.net or call 561-877-8638 for more information.
"I know a lot about cruising but honestly, very little about Rabbis, but thanks to Michael Isaacson's creative, fascinating, interesting, and worldly book The Cruise Ship's Rabbi I now know a lot more about both, including an enhanced vocabulary of at least 100 Jewish phrases. Sensitively written, he takes us on a magical journey around the world that opened my eyes about love, life, sensitivity... and "New Beginnings".
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Trevor Cramer, Music publisher and world traveler.
The Cruise Ships Rabbi is a most engaging read. From the very first to the very last page, the reader is captivated by Michael Isaacson's masterful ability to create an incredible tapestry of human stories and relationships. A book that is an excellent source of discussion for Book Clubs. An eloquently sensitive tale of the human condition. The reader is invited aboard ship and thus becomes personally engaged in a mingling of souls. The protagonist, the cruise ship's rabbi, is an outstanding individual; the type of person one could follow around any corner and feel safe. A beautifully crafted story that will embrace you with love.
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Brahms and Vivian Silver
Dr. Michael Isaacson's work is of the highest quality. This book seems to extend that quality not just to music, but to writing about music. It is a genuine contribution to the field.
- Dr. Lawrence Hoffman, Professor of Liturgy, Hebrew Union College
If anyone knows Jewish Music today it is Dr. Isaacson and this book is a testament to his prodigious knowledge and skill. This is a wonderful book.
- Rabbi Lawrence Kushner, author
Michael Isaacson combines a life time of compositional know-how with an informed understanding of Jewish literary midrash to tackle the questions of authenticity and innovation in Jewish music. He offers us valuable tools with which to listen, understand, and remember much of the music that defines our Jewish lives. Dr. Isaacson's experiences creating effective dramatic music for live theatre, television and film come into play to clarify issues in worship music. Jewish Music As Midrash: What Makes Music Jewish? is a profoundly original book that has few models preceding it but is certain to set a course for sacred artistic studies well into the future.
- Samuel Adler, Professor of Composition, Juilliard School of Music
Michael Isaacson's analytic observations of synagogue music past and present and his vast accomplishments in composing sacred, secular, and media music combine to offer the reader and listener a privileged view of where Jewish music has been, where it is today, and where it has the potential of developing in the future. This is a book that is sure to benefit Jewish and non-Jewish professionals, lay-persons, and all who are fascinated with the stimulating question "What, in fact, is Jewish music?" The two CDs of Isaacson's midrashic musical examples, which are included, are more than worth the price of the book alone.
- Rabbi Stephen S. Pearce, Senior Rabbi Congregation Emanu-El, San Francisco
Although the subject of synagogue music has been explored in numerous books, the composer’s voice is conspicuously scarce. When this insider’s perspective does appear in a bound volume, it almost always comes in the form of an anthology, such as the collected writings of Abraham W. Binder (1971), Herbert Fromm (1978) and William Sharlin (2008). Especially rare—and especially valuable—is the composer’s book that follows a logical sequence of chapters, tackles a central theme and develops a sustained argument. Perhaps the only publication of this kind is Michael Isaacson’s Jewish Music as Midrash: What Makes Music Jewish? Isaacson, whose credits include hundreds of compositions and fifty recorded albums, is among the most renowned contemporary creators of Jewish sacred song. His thoughtful and inventive treatment of texts, which he calls “musical midrash,” is outlined in fifteen lucid chapters combining music theory, personal anecdotes, professional observations and various sources of wisdom. CLICK HERE to read the full review.
- Cantor Jonathan L. Friedmann, Ph.D. at theDailyRabbi.com
