The Snail and the Shell will be available in 2026. To stay up to date on news regarding this book and be among the first to order, click here.
Though God may sometimes seem distant and removed, divinity is wrapped up in our world like a snail is inseparable from its shell.
Our spiritual lives should be like a person shoveling manure, cleaning out the muck to uplift and transform even the things that seem repulsive.
Our spiritual journey should have us stand, walk, skip, and fall, traveling a crooked path until we realize we’ve been only at the gateway the entire time.
We should imagine ourselves ladies-in-waiting to God, as hidden doves, as trees stretching from earth to heaven.
We should see God as our nursing mother, a soothing springtime rain, a shining light, an overwhelming ocean.
Our spiritual lives should be like a person shoveling manure, cleaning out the muck to uplift and transform even the things that seem repulsive.
Our spiritual journey should have us stand, walk, skip, and fall, traveling a crooked path until we realize we’ve been only at the gateway the entire time.
We should imagine ourselves ladies-in-waiting to God, as hidden doves, as trees stretching from earth to heaven.
We should see God as our nursing mother, a soothing springtime rain, a shining light, an overwhelming ocean.
These strange, beautiful, new images for what it means to encounter God in the world are deeply rooted in the centuries-old texts of the Jewish mystical tradition, particularly in the sermons and teachings of the early Ḥasidic spiritual masters.
Drawing on their wisdom, each of these 70 texts — covering the traditional Torah reading and holiday cycles — includes a summary, original translation (often appearing in English for the first time), footnotes and commentary, a contemporary personal and spiritual reflection, and open-ended guiding questions to aid you on your own journey.
Together, these images and texts can open your mind to new, deeper, more creative ways of thinking about what it means to live a meaningful, mindful life.
What's In The Book?
You'll find seventy texts from traditional Ḥasidic masters, one for each parashah (weekly Torah portion), special Torah reading, and Jewish holiday — in the original Hebrew (at the back of the book), along with an original English translation and commentary for each. These texts include full translations of texts from Degel Maḥaneh Ephraim, Eish Kodesh, Kedushat Levi, Ma’or Va-Shemesh, Mei HaShiloaḥ, Noam Elimelekh, Ohev Yisrael, Sefat Emet, Toldot Ya’akov Yosef, and more.
The book is organized around seven types of images or ideas present in these texts:
1. Cows, Stones, Stars, and Trees: Nature and the Natural World
2. Flowing Abundance: Water and Light
3. Stand, Walk, Skip, and Fall: The Spiritual Journey
4. Lovers and Kings: Images From Human Society |
5. Head, Heart, Hands, and Breasts: The Human Body
6. Treasures, Tents, and Clothes: Objects and Images of Everyday Life
7. Transforming Text and Torah: Letters, Words, and Images From Within the Tradition
8. Beyond the Concrete: Ideas, Concepts, and Abstract Images
This book is structured around a variation of the traditional Jewish “PaRDeS [Orchard]” method of study, an acronym for reading and understanding a text using four overlapping lenses or methodologies: P’shat, Remez, Drash, and Sod.
P'shat: A “simple” summary of the text, presented in accessible and easy-to-understand language. What is this text about? What’s the big picture? What is its contextual meaning?
Remez: “Hints” and references in the text, presented in the form of deeply-researched footnotes. What allusions are being made in this text to other texts? What background information does the text assume you already know? What deeper ideas can emerge from this text when read in conversation with the broader Jewish tradition?
Drash: “Seeking” a deeper, more personal understanding. How does this text apply to our lives today? This part contains some of my own personal and homiletical reflections on the text and its main images, drawing on my own experience as a rabbi, husband, father, and human.
Sod: The “secret” meaning of the text, which can only come from your own soul. This section contains guiding questions for your own personal reflection, meditation, or discussion.
What's It Look Like Inside?
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Aleksandra Rendak, an incredible Warsaw-based Jewish artist, crafted original artwork inspired by the translations and commentary presented in this book. Aleksandra writes:
The illustrations in this book were created as a visual response to the new, profound metaphors it presents. Drawing inspiration from nature—its rhythm, duality, and hidden symbolism—I composed collages in which scanned leaves, stones, photographs of water, and grass intertwine to form images of spiritual tension and reflection.
The boundary between light and darkness, the presence of spirituality in everyday gestures—these themes are translated into contrasting compositions where light and shadow, structure and emptiness, merge and interact. Standing at the threshold of knowledge and awareness is depicted as a suspension between form and its disappearance, while tradition appears as roots providing energy and perspective to branches and leaves. Excessive brightness, which paradoxically obscures vision, is expressed through the juxtaposition of detail and abstraction.
Layering was also key—elements were superimposed, different textures were combined, and drawings were added and transformed to create a sense of penetration, tension between light and shadow. By manipulating contrast and transparency, I sought ways to capture the ephemeral—the boundaries between matter and spirituality, knowledge and its absence, vision and blindness.
These images are not literal illustrations—they are rather traces of thought, interpretations that open a space for reflection, just like the texts that inspired them.
The illustrations in this book were created as a visual response to the new, profound metaphors it presents. Drawing inspiration from nature—its rhythm, duality, and hidden symbolism—I composed collages in which scanned leaves, stones, photographs of water, and grass intertwine to form images of spiritual tension and reflection.
The boundary between light and darkness, the presence of spirituality in everyday gestures—these themes are translated into contrasting compositions where light and shadow, structure and emptiness, merge and interact. Standing at the threshold of knowledge and awareness is depicted as a suspension between form and its disappearance, while tradition appears as roots providing energy and perspective to branches and leaves. Excessive brightness, which paradoxically obscures vision, is expressed through the juxtaposition of detail and abstraction.
Layering was also key—elements were superimposed, different textures were combined, and drawings were added and transformed to create a sense of penetration, tension between light and shadow. By manipulating contrast and transparency, I sought ways to capture the ephemeral—the boundaries between matter and spirituality, knowledge and its absence, vision and blindness.
These images are not literal illustrations—they are rather traces of thought, interpretations that open a space for reflection, just like the texts that inspired them.
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Update: November 23. Due to the ongoing war in Gaza, many shipping options to Israel have been restricted. For the time being we've had to remove Israel as a shipping destination to save you, our valued customers, and ourselves, unnecessary costs.
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