That's what California surfboarders used to say about excellent surfboarding. A Comment made to reflect two elements of the art. One was "rad", going bravely, adventurously to the edge of existence ("radical", to the root of things), And "gnarly", twisting and turning on one's path of navigation, as if venturing down an oid tree trunk.

That phrase keeps cropping up metaphorically as I read Sarah Hurwitz's meditative, provocative book Here All Along: Finding Meaning, Spirituality, and' A Deeper Connection to Life —in Judaism (After Finally Choosing to Look There). New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2019).

You no more have to be Jewish to read and benefit from this book, than you have to be Buddhist to read a book by the Dali Lama, or Roman Catholic by the deceased Pope Francis.

Hurwitz is/was non-denominational in her affiliations, at least she was at the time of her writing. She has self-described herself as being "secular" and not "religious" (forced to conform to a theistic view), yet she has been more or ritualistic observant, when it makes her feel attached to a spiritual/moral practice., Like Rabbi Marc S. Golub, she takes much of the Torah ("Instruction" as poetic and metaphoric, finding that attitude as much more useful and authentic, than pretenses arising from hypocritical habit and fears of being ostracized.

She values reconstructed memory, and critical examination over claimed pseudo-history, and interpretation over literalism.

It's been six years since this book first got published. Eminent authorities (some of whom contributed in various ways to the text) recognized its value, but I personally don't think it has gotten all the recognition and influence it desires.

"... you cannot read the siddur (prayer book) literally like a textbook designed to relay facts to you. The siddur's purpose is not to convey information. AS Rabbi Zalman Schacter-Shalomi noted, reading the siddur solely for content is like hearing your spouse tell you 'I love you,' and replying, 'Yes, dear, I know, you told me that yesterday.' You would never respond that way, because you understand that your spouse is not communicating data to you, but rather expressing a feeling of affection in the hope of connecting with you. The same with the siddur - it's supposed to help us connect with the Divine. It's more like a love letter than a shopping list.

"The siddur is also not meant to be read literally, but more like a poem. You would never read a line of poetry like 'O my luve's like a red, red rose,/That's newly sprung in June' and declare, 'That's ridiculous!

Love is an emotion, a rose is a flower-and they are nothing alike!' Same with the language in the siddur." (Rose quote from Robert Burns, poem, "A Red, Red, Rose"
Other examples could be cited here.

Hurwitz also notes the Jewish propensity to argue and debate. Leading to continual conceptual Improvement, and a tradition of broad tolerance. One is reminded of a game of the multi-dimensional go, rather than Chess, much less checkers.

The state of Israel and world Jewry are in a much too precarious position vis-a-vie the rest of humanity. So much of humanity is siding with barbaric Hamas, the Muslim Brother and kindred and allied groups. Humanity needs to understand Jewishness much more easily and completely in a short span of time. Doris Kindersley (aka "DK") pioneered an amazing and revolutionary set of highly-illustrated and comprehensive reference books in 1974 which make it easily and quick to assimilate highly complex subjects. Here All Along could be skillfully adapted into a specialized with the aid of Sara Hurwitz and a team of motivated collaborators, especially as Spiegel & Grau, Random House and Penguin Random House are all affiliated companies.

I have been on a journey similar in some ways to that of Sarah Hurwitz, but grew up in a secular household with a non-Jewish father, who an America-Firster could be Judeophobic in origins. My mother had an extraordinary, eclectic family background, part-Jewish with which she identified psychologically, a Roosevelt maternal grandmother and cousins (around 20% of the U.S. Presidents were collateral ancestors) (see Wall Street and FDR), and amazing collection of my maternal grandmother's cousins led the war effort of the Western Allies in World War II (FDR, Winston Spencer-Churchill, George VI, Mountbatten, MacArthur). During the 1950s, Allen Dulles led the CIA, his brother John Foster Dulles led the State Department, W S-C for a while continued as British Prime Minister. My household education focused upon high-level statecraft and grand strategy. I intend to cover this generally in a family history I started writing. My father's deep-seated dysfunction thwarted various career opportunities which life beckoned me as unfulfilled opportunities as I struggled to protect my mother
From my father and his family's misjudgments. But there is no reason for ethic snobbery to prevent Am Israel from reaching its full potential at last, and thwarting Judeophobia
Sincerely,
Dietz Ziechmann

I started this literary project solely as a literary review. But have been reformulating it as a media proposal. Sending it to Abigail Pogrebin of Central Synagogue, JBS, and also to 60 Minutes during Mike Wallace's days. And to Spiegel and Gray, literary agents, and first publishers of Here All Along. Wish me good luck along the way. I'll need much luck to generate the necessary momentum. The trick will be to facilitate easy assimilation for Jews and others without being reductionist. To peak the curiosity of potential
readers.

See Who is Dietz Ziechmann