From one of our country’s most promi­nent rab­bis, an inspir­ing book about the pow­er of com­mu­ni­ty based on one of her most impact­ful sermons.

In a time of lone­li­ness and iso­la­tion, social rup­ture and alien­ation, what will it take to mend our bro­ken hearts and rebuild our society?

Sharon Brous — a lead­ing Amer­i­can rab­bi — makes the case that the spir­i­tu­al work of our time, as instinc­tu­al as it is counter-cul­tur­al, is to find our way to one oth­er in cel­e­bra­tion, in sor­row, and in sol­i­dar­i­ty. To show up for each oth­er in moments of joy and pain, vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty and pos­si­bil­i­ty, to invest in rela­tion­ships of shared pur­pose and build com­mu­ni­ties of care.

Brous con­tends that it is through hon­or­ing our most basic human instinct– the yearn­ing for real con­nec­tion– that we reawak­en our shared human­i­ty and begin to heal. This kind of sacred pres­ence is cap­tured by the word amen, a pow­er­ful ancient idea that we affirm the full­ness of one another’s expe­ri­ence by demon­strat­ing, in body and word: ​“I see you. You are not alone.”

An acclaimed preach­er and sto­ry-teller, Brous pairs heart-dri­ven anec­dotes from her expe­ri­ence build­ing and pas­tor­ing to a lead­ing-edge faith com­mu­ni­ty over the past two decades with ancient Jew­ish wis­dom and con­tem­po­rary sci­ence. The result is a clar­i­on call: the sense of belong­ing engen­dered by our gen­uine pres­ence is not only a social and bio­log­i­cal need, but a moral and spir­i­tu­al necessity.

With orig­i­nal insights and prac­ti­cal tools, The Amen Effect trans­lates foun­da­tion­al ideas into sim­ple prac­tices that con­nect us to our bet­ter angels, offer­ing a blue­print for a more mean­ing­ful life and a more con­nect­ed and car­ing world.