Pater: One Man's Meditation on Childlessness and Fatherlessness in Jewish Civilization

May 2015
Rosh Chodesh I

Dear Reader,

Welcome to my new website.

In the coming months my book on what it means to be a childless Jewish man is scheduled to be published by Toby Press.

From the catalogue:

Part memoir and part reportage, journalist Elliot Jager tackles what has until now been an almost taboo subject: what it feels like to be a childless Jewish man.

After a 30-year estrangement from his hassidic father, a halting reconciliation is overshadowed by "the Pater's" desire that Jager father a child of his own. The Pater, as Jager calls the father who abandoned him as a child on the Lower East Side, now implores his son to visit the graves of holy men and living hassidic masters to seek Divine intervention that will end his childlessness.

Meantime, as Jager grapples with the stunningly negative attitudes Judaism maintains toward childless men, he talks to other men who do not have children—single and married, gay and straight—to share their intensely personal stories for the first time.

Pater is a revealing personal and spiritual journey about earthly and Divine Fathers and about the meaning of life without children.

The print version of the book will be available from Toby Press, local bookstores, Internet booksellers, and in digital format.  

$24.95
£18.99
99 shekels

Not a few books have been written — by women — on the subject of childlessness from various vantage points.

I hope my book offers a different perspective — and one that speaks to those interested in Jewish civilization, theology, sociology and memoirs.

For media inquiries, to schedule me as a speaker at your synagogue or organization, or if you want an invitation to a book-launch party in Jerusalem, metro-Tel-Aviv, New York, or London send your contact details to me at elliot_jager@yahoo.com

Let's be in touch! 

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