The December Project

"Thoroughly engaging, this book about the winter season of life glitters with insight and wisdom for all our years." —Andrew Weil, MD, author of Healthy Aging and Spontaneous Happiness

When New York Times–bestselling author Sara Davidson received a call from Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, asking her to engage with him in what he called "The December Project," she jumped at the chance. At eighty-five, Reb Zalman wanted to teach people how to navigate the December of life and to help them "not freak out about dying." For two years, they met every Friday to discuss this and how getting "up close with mortality" quickens our ability to relish every day.

Woven through their talks are sketches from Reb Zalman's life: escaping the Nazis; becoming an orthodox rabbi in the U.S.; landing in San Francisco during the sexual revolution; taking L.S.D. with Timothy Leary; befriending other faith leaders, including Thomas Merton and the Dalai Lama; and founding the Jewish Renewal movement.

During their time together, Davidson was nearly killed by a suicide bomb and Reb Zalman faced a steep decline in health. They created strategies to deal with pain and memory loss and found tools to cultivate fearlessness and joy—at any age.

Davidson includes twelve exercises so readers can experience what she did, a sea change in facing what we all must face: mortality.

"Anyone embarking on The December Project is in for a surprise: there is as much laughter, healing, and deep peace in these pages as sober reflection on being human." —Barbara Brown Taylor, author of Learning to Walk in the Dark

"Revelatory . . . the best rendering of Reb Zalman's wisdom that I've come across." —Jay Michaelson, The Forward