Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907-72) was a Polish-born American Jewish rabbi who lost his mother and sister in Nazi Germany during World War II, and after living in exile in the United States, served as a professor of mysticism and ethics at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. A scholar, writer, activist, and theologian, he has spent his life in pursuit of true freedom and faith, and is one of the most widely read Jewish theologians among Christians, with The Prophet among Christianity Today’s 100 Best Books of the Twentieth Century. His most influential works, in addition to this book, include The God Who Seeks Man and Man Is Not an Island. Heschel worked with Martin Luther? Dr. King, Jr. in the 1965 U.S. Civil Rights Movement marches, writing, “When I marched in Selma, my feet prayed.” (WhenI marched in Selma, my feet were praying.)

The author’s last Shabbat was spent sharing a wonderful meal with his family and many friends, after which a guest read Yiddish psalms written in his youth. He went to sleep that night and never woke up. In Jewish tradition, passing away in one’s sleep is called “God’s kiss”; passing away on the Sabbath is a gift worthy of a pious man. The author once wrote: “In the fear of God, death is a privilege.”

Foreword: The Architecture of Time
Chapter 1 The Temple of Time
Chapter Two: Beyond Civilization
Chapter 3 The Glory of Space
CHAPTER IV The Only Kingdom of Heaven and Nothing Else?
Chapter 5 “Thou art the Only One”
Chapter 6 The Presence of the Day
Chapter 7 Eternity in a Day
Chapter VIII. Intuitive Eternity
Chapter 9 Holiness in Time
Chapter 10: Be Greedy
Trek: Sanctifying Time
Appendix: The Father’s Sabbath (Suzanne Heschel)