KIRKUS REVIEW
A rabbi’s account of how she helped her two adopted sons from Ethiopia assimilate Jewish cultural traditions and blend into her family.
Silverman (co-author: Jewish Family and Life: Traditions, Holidays, and Values for Today's Parents and Children, 1997) grew up with nonpracticing Jewish parents who, through divorce and remarriage, eventually evolved into a “sprawling, unconventional, and finally happy family.” When she started her own family after college, it was with a devoutly Jewish man who actively supported political causes and inspired her to learn more about her cultural and religious traditions. After going “from zero to two children within two years” and writing a book about the “organic relationship between Jewish life and progressive, activist values,” she decided to live out her most cherished dream of adopting a child from abroad. She and her husband registered with an adoption agency and allowed their faith to guide them to the two boys they adopted from Ethiopia, a country with historical ties to Judaism. The sense of fulfillment she experienced was profound. So was the frustration at being unable to give her adopted children more than a “messy mosaic” of family stories within “the unwieldy unfolding narrative of Jewish people” upon which to construct their identities and lives. When her first adopted son, Adari, began to express his unhappiness at being unable to live in a “brown family,” Silverman saw just how far the lived reality of blended family life was from her Edenic visions. Yet for all its imperfections, which she and her husband embraced with open arms, she also realized what a miracle her family was. In a book rich in understanding and humor, the author chronicles her quest to bring herself and her family closer to God. She also meditates on what it means to live as a broken being in a beautifully imperfect world.
Warm and spiritually engaging.
As a child, Susan Silverman was surrounded by a loving family; although her parents weren't happily married, they were devoted to their kids. In a vibrant, funny, imminently relatable voice (think Anne Lamott meets Katrina Kenison), Silverman tells of a family's evolution—from her parents' devastating loss of their infant son to raising bright and wildly unique daughters. It's also the creation story of her own family—raising her own bright and wildly unique daughters and taking a journey to adopt two boys from Ethiopia. A meditation on identity, faith, and belonging, peppered with laugh-out-loud moments, Casting Lots will resonate with anyone who has struggled to find their place in the world, to understand the significance of that place, and to sustain a family amid the world's chaos.
Copyright © Donald Silverman. All rights reserved.
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This is my daughter Sarah with baby Adar and this is Sarah with 17 year old Adar/. I can't figure out how this happened.
Donald Silverman
An amazing odyssey of adoption from the trip of a mother and her sister going to Ethiopia to find the baby destined to become their child.
My daughter son-in-law and 5 grandchildren! All have their own accomplishments. This page is about Susie and her adventure in adopting Adar. He's the big guy in the picture at age 17.
SUSIE JODYNE AND ADAR LEAVING ETHIOPIA FOR AMERICA
VISIT THE SITE THAT SHOWS ADAR'S TRIP FROM ETHIOPIA TO BOSTON.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3OkkoVN-Xg
Read an excerpt: http://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/_blog/The_ProsenPeople/post/its-a-practical-thing-love/