Carol Orsborn

At midlife, a spiritually hungry author of self-help books leaves her professional life to enroll in divinity school. Return from Exile is the engaging, often profound story of Carol Matzkin Orsborn's first year at Vanderbilt Divinity School, the year that transformed her life. In this spiritual "pressure cooker," we share the author's friendships with similarly searching students, her encounters with challenging and supportive professors, and her first serious engagement with Jewish and Christian literatures. In a largely Christian environment, Orsborn confronts her unconsciously held prejudices and loyalties and discovers the hidden riches within her own tradition. Eventually she finds her way back to the heart and soul of Judaism, but it is a very different Judaism from the one she left behind.

Sometimes you carry a problem around for ages and think there is no resolution for it. If you can clear one day to approach the problem in the innovative and ultimately satisfying method put forth in Carol Orsborn's book, you may well find success. Be warned, though, where the experience takes you may not be where you thought it would. Giving your problem a full day of your attention is showing your respect for the problem's place in your life and for your own willingness to clear it from your future, which is a form of self respect. Good luck!

When Jim and Charlie overhear two of their teachers talking in a secret language and the two friends set out to solve the mystery, they do not expect the dire consequences of their actions.