Eliezer Sobel Books

Eliezer Sobel's account offers a humorous and insightful exploration of alternative communities and spiritual practices over the last four decades. As a participant in various New Age and human-potential experiments, he shares his adventures across countries like India, Israel, Brazil, and Haiti. The narrative includes experiences with Primal Therapy, the Dalai Lama, cults, and psychedelic experiments, all presented with a perceptive wit that highlights his encounters with visionary figures and the eccentricities of contemporary spirituality.

Set in New York City, this novel follows Norbert Wilner, a 37-year-old grappling with arrested development alongside his childhood friends. As they gather to mourn a deceased friend, they confront their unfulfilled lives and the lingering impact of their pasts, including the shadow of the Holocaust. Each character, with diverse beliefs and quirks, reflects on their failures and aspirations. Norbert's journey leads him to consider becoming a rabbi and starting a funeral parlor, ultimately seeking meaning through humor, friendship, and spirituality.

The late Gabrielle Roth was the source and force behind a worldwide community of many thousands of people who loved and practiced "The 5Rhythms ®," a path of spiritual healing rooted in the body and movement (see 5Rhythms.com). This book is a collection of personal stories from about 170 of those people from every corner of the globe, relating intimate and powerful, unforgettable and often life-changing moments they experienced engaging with Gabrielle. She was known far and wide for being outrageous, profound, hilarious, mysterious and impenetrable, as well as utterly transparent, vulnerable, and completely attentive, present and loving with each soul she encountered. Everyone she met, for a moment on the street, or for decades doing her work, felt, above all, seen, and connected as if to a very special, life-long friend.