From the bestselling author of The Beauty of What Remains, a guide to writing a meaningful letter about your life.
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Steve Leder is the senior rabbi of Wilshire Boulevard Temple in Los Angeles. After receiving his degree in writing and graduating cum laude from Northwestern University, and spending time studying at Trinity College, Oxford University, Leder received a master’s degree in Hebrew letters in 1986 and rabbinical ordination in 1987 from Hebrew Union College. He is the author of five books: The Extraordinary Nature of Ordinary Things, More Money Than God: Living a Rich Life Without Losing Your Soul, and the bestsellers More Beautiful Than Before: How Suffering Transforms Us, and The Beauty of What Remains.
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Amanda Kloots serves as host of The Talk, CBS’ Daytime Emmy Award-winning talk show. Her first memoir, Live Your Life, co-written with her sister was published in 2021. The book tells of her 95-day struggle and love story with her late husband, Nick Cordero, the Broadway star, and Tony Award nominee, whose public battle with COVID-19 and tragic death made headlines around the world. A former Broadway dancer and Radio City Rockette, she met Cordero, when they starred together in Bullets over Broadway. Kloots performed on a variety of stage, film and TV productions for over 17 years. Her love of dance and fitness led her to work and lead classes at one of New York’s premiere fitness studios and developing the AK! Fitness brand. In addition, Kloots and her sister, Anna Kloots, launched the apparel company Hooray For®.
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For You When I Am Gone: Twelve Essential Questions to Tell a Life Story
Writing an ethical will, a document that includes stories and reflections about your past, is an ancient tradition. It can include joy and regrets, and ultimately becomes both a way to remember a loved one who is gone and a primer on how to live a better, happier life. Beloved Rabbi Steve Leder has helped thousands of people to write their own ethical wills, and in this intimate book helps us write our own.
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Because our culture privileges the material over the spiritual, we sometimes forget that our words carry greater value than any physical thing we can bequeath to our loved ones. Rabbi Leder provides all the right questions and prompts, including: What was your most painful regret and how can your loved ones avoid repeating it? When was a time you led with your heart instead of your head? What did you learn from your biggest failure?
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Including examples of ethical wills from a broad range of voices—old and young, with and without children, famous and unknown—For You When I Am Gone inspires readers to examine their own lives and turn them into something beautiful and meaningful for generations to come.