The Boy on the Door on the Ox: An Unusual Spiritual Journey Through the Strangest Jewish Texts

boyondooronoxMartin S. Cohen
ISBN: 978-0-916219-40-6
Pages: 314 

The ancient Jewish text of the Mishnah is not often thought of as a source for spiritual guidance, but in this groundbreaking work, Rabbi Martin Cohen uses the sketchy characters found in the Mishnah as personal spiritual guides.  He defines the concept of Mishnah as escort – “Virgil to every Jew's inner Dante.” This meditation on finding meaning in the Mishnah is steeped in scholarship, yet salted with wit and a distinctly modern slant. For readers of Rabbi Cohen's other popular books, this book offers a rare glimpse into the life of a scholar and rabbi whose career has been informed by a personal engagement with ancient Jewish texts.

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“From the most intricate, recursive and obscure of texts, Martin Samuel Cohen introduces to us fleeting, strangely luminous guides—mute and ghostly mirror-selves. The Boy on the Door on the Ox is a marvelous book: an erudite personal memoir and original travelogue, a Baedeker for spirits not satisfied with a conventional interest in the journey, but who still hope to arrive at a vivid and holy destination.” 

- Aryeh Lev Stollman, author of The Far Euphrates and The Illuminated Soul

"One of the most remarkable books of Judaic scholarship I have read in years. Rabbi Cohen sees things that few people notice, and then he teaches us to see them as well." 

- Rabbi Harold Kushner, author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People and Living a Life that Matters

"Martin Cohen is unique - learned, wise, inviting. His guidance is firm yet humorous, and his step is sure. Walk with him into the wisdom of the rabbis and you will emerge from the read wiser and more capable of engaging the world (including your soul) for its own repair."

- Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson, Dean, Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies