FOR MEDIA INQUIRES CONTACT:
Eva Zimmerman | Publicist
Eva.Zimmerman@perseusbooks.com
510.809.3834
1000 Mitzvahs:
How Small Acts of Kindness Can Heal, Inspire and Change your Life
You’ve heard the expression, “A picture is worth a thousand words” but have you heard this one? “A death is worth a thousand mitzvahs.”
Margie Boule, Oregonian Columnist
When her father passed away in 2006, Linda Cohen’s busy life as a mother, wife and entrepreneur came to a screeching halt. She took a spiritual sabbatical to work through her grief and came out of it resolved to embark upon a project: perform one thousand acts of kindness mitzvahs to honor her father’s memory.
1,000 Mitzvahs: How Small Acts of Kindness Can Heal, Inspire and Change Your Life shares Cohens two-and-a-half-year journey from sorrow to inspiration through simple daily acts of kindness. She presents each mitzvah as a short vignette and the myriad forms they take from helping the elderly to donating to good causes to baking and collecting food for others. As she pursues her quest, Cohen finds her life is improved by these small acts and that every time she goes our of her way to do something good for someone else, she enhances her own well-being.
“Performing one thousand mitzvahs turned out to be exactly what I needed to move from grief to inspiration and help honor my father’s memory in a positive manner. Along the way, I received so much more than I gave.”
More than a touching story of a daughter’s love for her father, 1,000 Mitzvahs is a testament to the transformational power of kindness, and a call to arms for those who would like to follow in Cohen’s footsteps with their own mitzvahs no matter how large or small.
“The intention of my book is to lift into modernity the ease with which we can perform acts of kindness. From the beginning, most of my mitzvahs were simple and duplicable. I didn’t set out to save the world. I don’t even profess that any of the 1,000 small actions stand out as particularly important or life changing. But I will assert that each of them made a small impact and that cumulatively they have changed my life.”
* * *
About Linda Cohen
1,000 Mitzvahs: How Small Acts of Kindness Can Heal, Inspire and Change Your Life is Cohen’s first book. In addition to writing, Cohen speaks around the country on the subjects of volunteerism, parenting and mitzvahs. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Willowbrook, a non-profit summer arts program for children. Originally from the east coast, Cohen now resides in Portland Oregon with her husband, two children and their dog. Visit her at http://www.1000mitzvahs.com.
1000 Mitzvahs: How Small Acts of Kindness Can Heal, Inspire and Change your Life
By Linda Cohen
Seal Press· October 19, 2011 · 252 pages · $16.00 · Trade Paper
ISBN 13: 978-1580053655
About Seal Press
Seal Press was founded in 1976 to provide a forum for women writers and feminist issues. Since then, Seal has published groundbreaking books that represent the diverse voices and interests of women—their lives, literature, and concerns. Seal’s authors are radical and original thinkers, professionals with a distinct point of view, gutsy explorers, truth-tellers, and writers who engender laughter, tears, and rage. Seal Press publishes books with the goal of informing women’s lives. Based in Berkeley, Calif., Seal is a member of the Perseus Books Group. You can visit us at www.sealpress.com.
1,000 Mitzvahs 