8T How On Earth Do We Speak?

By: Carter, Mary E.

Have you ever been tongue-tied? At a loss for words? Here is a new take on how on Earth we speak. With an intelligent and deeply probing Torah commentary, author Carter provides readers with a much-needed feminist perspective on Sarah and the Binding of Isaac. How on Earth we speak may embrace spoken words with silences, time lapses, judgement, opinion, and memory. Likewise, how we speak may suffer the intentional binding of women's voices. Join Mary E. Carter as she probes how on Earth we speak with memories from her 80 years.

"In this latest book of Mary Carter's, she brilliantly weaves together her experiences learning Torah, feminism, stories from her own life, and her commentary on the section of the Torah called the "Akedah" or, the "Binding and near sacrifice of Isaac". Her message is quite clear: we really need to look at what isn't written down. We need, especially, to think about what Sarah's reaction must have been and wonder at the silence of the text."
Rabbi Deborah J. Brin
www.RabbiBrin.com

"This new book by award-winning author Mary E. Carter is a powerful and gripping autobiographical account of her journey into adulthood and into Judaism. At one level, the book is an expanded modern midrash on the Biblical story of the binding of Isaac from an invaluable and much-needed feminist perspective. In speaking of the Torah, we read in Pirke Avot that we should "turn it and turn it again, for all is in it." Mary has turned it yet again, and after reading her latest book, you'll never think about our matriarch Sarah in quite the same way. Let's hope that Mary's tongue remains unbound for many years to come."
Rabbi Jack Shlachter
physicsrabbi@gmail.com

Five time WINNER in the annual New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards, author Mary E. Carter's books all speak with a Jewish voice. Born in the San Fernando Valley before there were freeways, Carter grew up in this peaceful diaspora. Turning eighty in 2025 she has stories to tell and questions to ask, most particularly: How on Earth do we speak even as we may be "knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door"?
www.mary-carter.com

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0GYP7QW4V
• ISBN13: 9798234040596
• Release Date: April 2026
• Publisher: Tovah Miriam
• Length: 340 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"