Rabbi Gershon Schusterman knew all the textbook answers when comforting bereaved community members who asked him, “Where is God? If God is loving, how could this happen?” But when the rabbi’s young wife died suddenly, leaving him a 38-year-old widower with eleven children to raise, he found himself reeling.

His personal quest for answers to these timeless questions led him to a deeper exploration of Judaism’s teachings about how to cope with and transcend tragedy, teachings that have provided comfort and understanding to millions of people throughout the generations.