The Five Scrolls: The Song of Songs, the Book of Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, the Book of Esther

The five books of the Hebrew Bible known--collectively as the Five Scrolls--are among the most universally revered books of the Old Testament and are considered "wells of living water" from which flow the intense spirituality of deep Jewish piety.??

Here, published together for the first time in a trade edition and ordered according to their use in services during the year, are Canticle of Canticles, The Book of Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and The Book of Esther. Each book presents a message of hope and trust in God in spite of the cruelties of chance and the barbarity of enemies.??With a preface by National Book Award-nominated poet Alicia Suskin Ostiker, The Five Scrolls shows us how love has power over death, how the light of Providence shines even in the dark, that to see clearly is to fear God, and that Existence is both miracle and sacrifice.

Alicia Suskin Ostiker is a prize-winning poet and critic. Her poetry and essays have appeared in American Poetry Review, Kenyon Review, The Nation, and The New Yorker.