Recent years have seen an explosion of interest in spirituality and religious texts, as well as an exciting expansion of women''s participation and leadership in Jewish life. This unique multi-volume collaboration brings together women writers, rabbis and scholars to create the first comprehensive work on Jewish lifecycle that fully includes women''s perspectives.

Lifecycles, Volume 2 explores the impact that biblical texts have on our lives—and the impact our lives have on those texts. It delves into the human themes found both in the first five books of the Bible, and in women’s lives today, themes of:

• Genesis—Our roots and beginnings, family and home
• Exodus—Transformations to freedom, holiness and Torah
• Leviticus—Food and sacrifice, health and the body, sexuality, the power of words
• Numbers—Creating community in times of transition
• Deuteronomy—Leadership, law and revisioning the future

With a rich diversity of voices, the contributors show us how to understand the power of biblical texts, and then how to use those texts to find our own connections of self, spirit and community.

Introductions by Orenstein and Litman offer a broader context for the concepts explored in each section, and an afterword provides further advice on "Engaging with Torah," including a section on how to create a midrash. In a personal, insightful and creative style, Lifecycles, Volume 2 opens opportunities for us to grow from the intersection of the texts of our heritage and the lessons of our lives.