We have a shared enjoyment of all things academic and spiritual. Religious talk became discussions on theology.  Questions of what do you believe became inquiries about why we believe.  These conversations quickly found their way onto the internet.  We created this blog, cheekily titled A Jew and A Gentile Walk into a Bar . . . Mitzvah.  It was during our working on our interfaith blog that we discovered another connection between us: we both live with depression. We feel that a book is the next step of a dialogue we started several years ago to which we invite others to join. This conversation is an honest discussion of mental illness and Faith.  We approach both of these subjects from many directions: personal, academic, theological, and philosophical.  There will also be humor (most of it sarcastic) and poorly constructed cigar metaphors (often stretched, contorted, and distorted beyond usefulness). If you or a loved one suffers from depression or any other mental illness and are looking for someone to show you the well-trodden path the recovery, stop reading, now! What unfolds is our journeys which have, for a time, intertwined.  Our point?  Sometimes there is comfort in just knowing there are others travelling, even if their paths and destinations are different from our own.  If anything we share helps you in any way, take it.  But please, under no circumstances take what we write as the gospel. “We are fellow travelers, sojourners walking together down parallel paths through dark forests with only our faith to guide us,” Paul Singer