Highlighting: “Making Meaning Out of Madness: A Jewish Journey” by Miranda Portnoy. 388 pages; Hardcover. ISBN:
978-1-64718-881-8.

Scapegoated by a murderer, betrayed by her lover and driven to her knees, Miranda Portnoy witnesses something astonishing when she turns to the God she doesn’t yet believe in. “Making Meaning Out of Madness: A Jewish Journey” reveals Portnoy’s voyage from traumatic American Jewish childhood to marrying a noble Orthodox Jewish husband in Jerusalem.

In a harrowing yet comical spiritual memoir, which brings her by turns into the arms of a Tantric master and face to face with the Divine, double-crossed by Ivy League administrators and encountering less than savory activities at an Orthodox Jewish seminary, Portnoy emerges from it all with faith. In wry, athletic prose wrought by tribulation, she acquaints her audience with mysticism, healing and redemption in an inspiring survivor’s tale.

While targeted Jews around the world are reluctantly taking off their kippahs, “Making Meaning Out of Madness: A Jewish Journey” suggests the antidote to antisemitism may lie in the opposite direction, by embracing Jewish destiny. Author Sherri Mandell calls the book “a searing, tell-all memoir of Jewish tragedy and redemption that will keep you reading.”

In the second section of her book, Portnoy challenges agnostic assumptions in three provocative, well-researched essays. Taking aim at the spiritual skepticism fostered by contemporary academia, she offers an utterly novel, commonsense proof of classic Jewish principles. Providing an original thesis for why American and Israeli Jews are increasingly estranged, Portnoy bridges the gap with a passionate case for Jewish unity.

This powerful memoir and essay collection is bound to capture the hearts and minds of Jews struggling to combat the resurgence of antisemitism today.

“Making Meaning Out of Madness: A Jewish Journey” can be ordered through all major book sellers and online via Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple and Kobo on November 30, 2021.