Rabbi Dr Harvey Belovski is a colourful character with wide interests. He is a communal rabbi, head of University Jewish Chaplaincy, an organisational psychologist, interfaith activist, broadcaster, lecturer and writer. His interests range from halachah to history, mathematics, 19th-century literature, listening to Mozart, walking the Alps and cooking locusts.

This light-hearted, touching book tracks the Jewish year, providing brief (one -and-a-half page) tales and insights into everything from nature to mental health, inspiring personalities (Mandela, Dostoevsky, Rabbi Meir Shapiro who thought up Daf Yomi, and a prisoner called Jane), and the things that the author thinks makes life worth living (shared experience, difference, care, God).

The rabbi’s wisdom is not all derived from Jewish sources, but he has a knack for bringing it all back home.

The book also provides an anthropology of the Belovski household and a wonderful window into the life of a communal figure who values every moment. There is constant action, interesting escapades, complex dilemmas, his wife Vicki’s amazing ability to cook up a feast last minute and in the blink of an eye, reaching out, inviting home, running here and there, and the funny moment when the rabbi takes a snooze in the succah and finds himself locked out of the house in his PJs only to be rescued by a kindly (and somewhat confused) neighbour.

There is also a good selection of jokes. My favourite is the vicar, imam and rabbi asked about what they would like to have said at their funeral. The vicar suggested: “he was a great religious leader who achieved salvation.” The imam said he would like: “he was a spiritual inspiration who left the world a better place.” And the rabbi proposed: “Oh look, he’s moving!”