Best of
Jewish

1994

Jewish Wisdom


Joseph Telushkin - 1994
    In Jewish Wisdom, Rabbi Telushkin, the author of the highly acclaimed Jewish Literacy, weaves together a tapestry of stories from the Bible and Talmud, and the insights of Jewish commentators and writers from Maimonides, Rashi, and Hillel to Einstein, Isaac Bashevis Singer, and Elie Wiesel. A richer source of crucial life lessons would be hard to imagine.Accompanying this extraordinary compilation is Teluslikins compelling commentary, which reveals how these texts continue to instruct and challenge Jewsand all people concerned with leading ethical livestoday As he discusses these texts, Rabbi Telushkin addresses issues of fundamental interest to modern readers: how to live with honesty and integrity in an often dishonest world; how to care for the sick and dying; how to teach children to respect both themselvesand others, how to understand and confront such great tragedies as antisemitism. and the Holocaust; what God wants from humankind. Within Jewish Wisdom's ninety chapters the reader will find extended sections illuminating Jewish perspectives on sex, romance, and marriage, what kind of belief in God a Jew can have after the Holocaust, how to use language ethically, the conflicting views of the Bible and Talmud on the death penalty, and much, much more.Jewish Wisdom adds a new dimension to the many widely read contemporary books that retell the stones and reveal the essence of classic religious and secular literature. Possibly the most far-ranging volume of stories and quotations from Jewish texts, Jewish Wisdom will itself become a classic, a book that not only has the capacity to transform how you view the world, but one that well might change how you choose to live your life.

All Rivers Run to the Sea


Elie Wiesel - 1994
    In this first volume of his two-volume autobiography, Wiesel takes us from his childhood memories of a traditional and loving Jewish family in the Romanian village of Sighet through the horrors of Auschwitz and Buchenwald and the years of spiritual struggle, to his emergence as a witness for the Holocaust's martyrs and survivors and for the State of Israel, and as a spokesman for humanity.  With 16 pages of black-and-white photographs."From the abyss of the death camps Wiesel has come as a messenger to mankind--not with a message of hate and revenge, but with one of brotherhood and atonement."--From the citation for the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize

Four Meals


Meir Shalev - 1994
    During the four meals, which take place over several decades, Zayde slowly comes to understand why these three men consider him their son and why all three participate in raising him. A virtuoso performance of spellbinding storytelling, this is a deeply satisfying read—sensuous, hilarious, compassionate, and profound.

Missing Kissinger


Etgar Keret - 1994
    many of the characters in these stories are waiting for something to change their lives, many of them can't quite reach ultimate happiness, some of them are sick, some are abandoned, and most have trouble communicating. The unexpected can, and usual does, happen.Etgar Keret's stories are very short - and every word counts. They are quick, brief and precise, and they move us without hesitation. They are hilarious and off-the-wall, yet also dark, sometimes violent, and often intensely poignant. They are, in short, brilliant.

Tikvah Means Hope


Patricia Polacco - 1994
    Suddenly, catastrophe strikes as a fire sweeps through their town. Luckily for everyone, there are still miracles in this world--sometimes in the shape of a little cat. This heartfelt story is a stirring celebration of life, friendship, and--most of all--hope!

Jewish Cooking in America


Joan Nathan - 1994
    They come from both Sephardic and Ashkenazic Jews who settled all over America, bringing with them a wide variety of regional flavors, changing and adapting their traditional dishes according to what was available in the new country.What makes Jewish cooking unique is the ancient dietary laws that govern the selection, preparation, and consumption of observant Jews. Food plays a major part in rituals past and present, binding family and community. It is this theme that informs every part of Joan Nathan’s warm and lively text. Every dish has a story–from the cholents (the long-cooked rich meat stews) and kugels (vegetable and noodle puddings) prepared in advance for the Sabbath, to the potato latkes (served with maple syrup in Vermont and goat cheese in California) and gefilte fish (made with white fish in the Midwest, salmon in the Northwest, haddock in New England, and shad in Maryland). Joan Nathan tells us how lox and bagels and Lindy’s cheesecake became household words, and how American products like Crisco, cream cheese, and Jell-O changed forever Jewish home cooking.The recipes and stories come from every part of the U.S.A. They are seasoned with Syrian, Moroccan, Greek, German, Polish, Georgian, and Alsatian flavors, and they represent traditional foods tailored for today’s tastes as well as some of the nouvelle creations of Jewish chefs from New York to Tuscon. When Jewish Cooking in America was first published in 1994, it won both the IACP / Julia Child Cookbook Award for Best Cookbook of the Year and the James Beard Award for Best Food of the Americas Cookbook. Now, more than ever, it stands firmly established as an American culinary classic.

The Sacrifice of Tamar


Naomi Ragen - 1994
    Tamar Fine gold is a happy young bride in one of Brooklyn's insulated ultra-Orthodox enclaves. But this staid, predictable life is violently altered when Tarmer is raped by an intruder as she baby-sits for her nephew. Humiliated and confused, she refuses to risk the unbearable stigma of discovery, but in her attempt to hide her shame, she is sent plummeting into a moral crisis: when she discovers she is pregnant and cannot be sure who the father is. In the end, heartbreaking sacrifices and impossible decisions lead to a surprising triumph of the human spirit.

The Jew in the Lotus


Rodger Kamenetz - 1994
    Along the way he encounters Ram Dass and Richard Gere, and dialogues with leading rabbis and Jewish thinkers, including Zalman Schacter, Yitz and Blue Greenberg, and a host of religious and disaffected Jews and Jewish Buddhists. This amazing journey through Tibetan Buddhism and Judaism leads Kamenetz to a renewed appreciation of his living Jewish roots.

The Empty Chair: Finding Hope and Joy Timeless Wisdom from a Hasidic Master, Rebbe Nachman of Breslov


Nachman of Breslov - 1994
    To others, his teachings shed light on some of the deepest mysteries. Here, is timeless wisdom, adapted by disciplines living in Jerusalem today, reaches out to us all: Never lose hope. Find joy and cause for happiness in everything that happens to you.

Karski: How One Man Tried to Stop the Holocaust


E. Thomas Wood - 1994
    Surviving Soviet captivity and Gestapo torture, he escaped Poland in 1942 and embarked on a heroic crusade to give Allied leaders his eye witness report of Nazi extermination of European Jews. Karski is the first definitive account of the little-known episode--one of the earliest documentations of atrocities to reach the west and perhaps the most significant warning of the genocide to come. Karski's story introduces vital new insights about the Polish Underground, and about the Allies' reaction to the Holocaust.

The Zigzag Kid


David Grossman - 1994
    The Zig Zag Kid is written in a more optimistic vein, and recounts thirteen-year-old Nonny Feuerberg's picturesque journey into adulthood. As Nonny's Bar Mitzvah year trip turns into an amazing adventure, he not only finds himself befriending a notorious criminal, and a great actress, but confronts the great mystery of his own identity.With wit and humor, The Zig Zag Kid is a novel that explores the most fundamental questions of good and evil and speaks directly to both adults and teenagers.

The Nakedness of the Fathers: Biblical Visions and Revisions


Alicia Suskin Ostriker - 1994
    Biblical interpretation combines with fantasy, autobiography, and poetry. Politics joins with eroticism. Irreverence coexists with a yearning for the sacred. Scholarship contends with heresy. Most excitingly, the author continues and extends the tradition of arguing with God that commences in the Bible itself and continues now, as it has for centuries, to animate Jewish writing. The difference here is that the voice that debates with God is a woman's. In her introduction, "Entering the Tents, " Ostriker defines the need to struggle against a tradition in which women have been silenced and disempowered - and to recover the female power buried beneath the surface of the biblical texts. In "The Garden, " she reinterprets the mythically complex stories of Creation. Then she considers the stories of "The Fathers, " from Abraham and Isaac to Moses, David, and Solomon - and their wives, mothers, and sisters. In "The Return of the Mothers, " she begins with a radical new interpretation of the book of Esther, includes a meditation on the silenced wife of Job and the idea of justice, and concludes with a fable on the death of God and a prayer to the Shekhinah, the feminine aspect of God. Ostriker refuses to dismiss the Bible as meaningless to women. Instead, in this angry, eloquent, visionary book, she attempts to recover what is genuinely sacred in these sacred texts.

Found Treasures: Stories by Yiddish Women Writers


Frieda Forman - 1994
    A book of voices from an almost forgotten female heritage, it features eighteen writers who speak powerfully of the events that shaped their lives; the daily fabric of life in Europe, the struggle from which new lives in North America, Palestine and then Israel were forged, the terror and challenge of survival during the Holocaust and its aftermath.

New Interpreter's Bible: General & Old Testament Articles, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus


Leander E. Keck - 1994
    Guided by scholars, pastors, and laity representing diverse traditions, academic experience, and involvement in the Church, this entirely new collection of writings is specifically prepared to meet the needs of preachers, teachers, and all students of the Bible. Easy-to-use Format: * Full texts and critical notes: NIV and NRSV * Detailed, critical Commentary providing an exegetical "close-reading" of the biblical text * Reflections that present a detailed exposition of issues raised in the discussion and dealt with in the Commentary Key Features The entire Bible (including the Apocrypha Deuterocanonical books) in twelve volumes * Introductions to each book that cover essential historical, sociocultural, literary, and theological issues An ecumenical roster of contributors Comprehensive, concise articles Numerous visual aids (illustrations, maps, charts, timelines) enhance use. Download The NIB Vol. 1 Errata Sheet"

Ways of the Tzaddikim: Orchos Tzaddikim (Torah Classics Library)


Moshe Chayim Luzzatto - 1994
    This is a newly researched, corrected, annotated and vowelized Hebrew edition with a contemporary English translation. Discusses refining character traits and maintaining a balance in all matters.

To Paint Her Life: Charlotte Salomon in the Nazi Era


Mary Lowenthal Felstiner - 1994
    To Paint Her Life tells the story of Salomon's extraordinary life and death.

The Legends of the Jews - Volume 4


Louis Ginzberg - 1994
    He is considered to be a leading Talmudists in the 20th century. Ginsberg believed in Halakha. Halakha is a body of Jewish law including biblical law, Talmudic law, and rabbinic law. Judaism does not distinguish between religious and non-religious law. Legends of the Jews is a multi volume set encompassing hundreds of legends and parables from the Hebrew Bible. Midrash is the retelling of Bible stories where moralistic stories are alongside mythical tales of magic and demons. This reference work is a good source for unanswered Biblical questions and the source of post Biblical stories not contained in the Bible.

Pirkei Avot - Shemoneh Perakim of the Rambam/The Thirteen Principles of Faith


Maimonides - 1994
    

Facing History And Ourselves: Holocaust And Human Behavior: Resource Book


Margot S. Strom - 1994
    Traces the historical events that led to the Holocaust and other examples of genocide to help students make the connection between history and the moral choices they will confront.

A Christmas Story: A True Story


Jay Frankston - 1994
    The author describes how and why he became Santa Claus each year to a number of needy children whose letters to Santa he found in the postal service's dead letter office.

Shlomo's Stories: Selected Tales


Shlomo Carlebach - 1994
    A collection of stories by the late, world-renowned rabbi and folk singer Shlomo Carlebach.

Far from the Place We Called Home


Sarah M. Schleimer - 1994
    They send their young sons Erich, Karl, Otto and Kurt to London, where they hope and pray the children will be spared. But all too soon that haven proves equally dangerous and the boys are evacuated to the English countryside and taken in by kindhearted farming families.This gripping historical novel weaves the actual experiences of youngsters who were part of the "Kindertransport" into the dramatic events of World War II, presenting a vivid account of physical and spiritual survival.

Jewish Views of the Afterlife


Simcha Paull Raphael - 1994
    Thru a compilation of ideas found in the Bible, Apocrypha, rabbinic literature, medieval philosophy, medieval Midrash, Kabbalah & Hasidism, readers learn how Judaism conceived of the fate of the individual after death throughout history. In the wake of the deaths of six million Jews in the Holocaust, many turned away from Judaism & shunned a God who had seemingly allowed this senseless act of cruelty to occur. Others turned toward the faith, desperately wanting to believe in the doctrine that those whose lives had ended prematurely had passed on to another a better life. But does an afterlife even exist? What role does it play in Jewish theology? While many affirm a belief in the afterlife, a scarce few are aware of where these teachings can be found in Jewish literature. Among the topics discussed in this fascinating volume are heaven & hell, Olam Ha-Ba (The World to Come), Gan Eden, resurrection of the dead, immortality of the soul & divine judgment prior to death.

The Archaeology of Ancient Israel


Amnon Ben-Tor - 1994
    In this book some of Israel’s foremost archaeologists present a thorough and up-to-date survey of this research, providing an assessable introduction to early life in the land of the Bible. The authors discuss the history of ancient Israel from the Neolithic era (eighth millennium B.C.E.) to the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the First Temple in 586 B.C.E. Each chapter describes a different era as seen through relevant archaeological discoveries. The reader is introduced to the first permanent settlements in the land of Israel, the crystallization of the political system of city-states, the nature of Canaanite culture, the Israelite patterns of settlement, and the division of the country into the kingdoms of Judah and Israel. The lavishly illustrated text explores and demonstrates developments in religious practices, architecture, technology, customs, arts and crafts, warfare, writing, cult practices, and trade. The book will be a delightful and informative resource for anyone who has ever wanted to know more about the religious, scientific, or historical background to the events described in the Bible, or to current developments in the Middle East.

The Vilna Gaon: The Life and Teachings of Rabbi Eliyahu the Gaon of Vilna


Betzalel Landau - 1994
    Adapted by Yonason Rosenblum from Betzalel Landau's Hebrew, HaGaon HaChassid MiVilna.

Greek in Jewish Palestine/Hellenism in Jewish Palestine


Saul Lieberman - 1994
    In Greek in Jewish Palestine, he demonstrates that "almost ever foreign word and phrase have their raison d'etre in rabbinic literature" and that "all Greek phrases in rabbinic literature are quotations." Hellenism in Jewish Palestine is "an inquiry into the spirit of many rabbinic observations and investigations of the facts, insicents, opinions, notions and beliefs to which the Rabbis allude in their statements."

The Vilna Gaon: The story of Rabbi Eliyahu Kramer


Yaacov Dovid Shulman - 1994
    

Day of Delight: a Jewish Sabbath in Ethiopia


Maxine Rose Schur - 1994
    Depicts a young Ethiopian Jewish boy and his family, including their typical daily routine followed by preparation for and celebration of the Sabbath.

A Day in the Life of Israel


Rick Smolan - 1994
    Photographs document the people and places of Israel, including tribes of Bedouin, the black-garbed Hasidim, the skyscrapers of Tel Aviv, the valleys of Galilee, and the deserts of Nagev.

A History of Israelite Religion in the Old Testament Period, Volume I: From the Beginnings to the End of the Monarchy


Rainer Albertz - 1994
    It is a part of the Old Testament Library series.The Old Testament Library provides fresh and authoritative treatments of important aspects of Old Testament study through commentaries and general surveys. The contributors are scholars of international standing

The Beloved People


Denise Robertson - 1994
    Linked by place, chance, and time, the people of Belgate grapple with the personal and general costs of war, coal, and childbirth. And in the 1930s, they face together a terrifying new crisis in Europe.

Rose's Melting Pot: A Cooking Tour of America's Ethnic Celebrations


Rose Levy Beranbaum - 1994
    50,000 first printing. $50,000 ad/promo.

Grammar For Gemara: An Introduction To Babylonian Aramaic


Yitzhak Frank - 1994
    

The Secret War Against the Jews: How Western Espionage Betrayed The Jewish People


John Loftus - 1994
    Using thousands of previously top-secret documents and interviews with hundreds of current and former spies, Loftus and Aarons, both veteran investigators, Nazi-hunters, and authors, present a compelling narrative.The authors demonstrate that numerous Western countries, especially the United States and Great Britain, have conducted repeated and willful spying missions on Palestine and later Israel over many decades. While on the surface these two countries and others profess to be ardent allies of Israel, they work, in fact, through their intelligence services to betray Israel's secrets to the Arabs. Their motive: oil and multinational profits, which must be attained at any price through international covert policies.The pageant of characters appearing in this narrative is vast and shocking. This is not only a compelling work of history, but also a volume whose grave allegations will be debated for years to come.

Going Forward: A True Story of Courage, Hope and Perseverance


Peska Friedman - 1994
    

Reb Simcha Speaks: Rabbi Simcha Wasserman's Insights and Teachings on Vital Principles of Life and Faith


Yaakov Branfman - 1994
    

Will We Have Jewish Grandchildren?: Jewish Continuity And How To Achieve It


Jonathan Sacks - 1994
    

A History of Israelite Religion in the Old Testament Period, Volume II: From the Exile to the Maccabees


Rainer Albertz - 1994
    It is a part of the Old Testament Library series.The Old Testament Library provides fresh and authoritative treatments of important aspects of Old Testament study through commentaries and general surveys. The contributors are scholars of international standing.

The Passover Table: New and Traditional Recipes for Your Seders and the Entire Passover Week


Susan R. Friedland - 1994
    With The Passover Table, what was once a challenge becomes a delight. Here are more than forty delicious recipes, both traditional and modern, for celebrating the holiday, organizing seders, and preparing meals throughout the Passover week. Susan R. Friedland offers marvelous and reliable versions of all the classic fare, including Matzo Balls and Chicken Soup, Gefilte Fish, and Borscht, as well as contemporary dishes to update your Passover table, such as Spinach Pie, Turkish Sweet and Sour Artichokes, and Tangine of Chicken.With its thorough explanations, lavish full-color photography, and delicious recipes, The Passover Table is the only book you need to celebrate the beloved and joyous commemoration of the Exodus.

How Do We Know This?: Midrash and the Fragmentation of Modern Judaism (Suny Series in Judaica : Hermeneutics, Mysticism and Religion)


Jay M. Harris - 1994
    It shows how the rise of Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox Judaism in the modern period is tied to distinct attitudes toward the classical Jewish heritage, and specifically, toward rabbinic midrash halakah. What has gone unnoticed until now is the extent to which the fragmentation of modern Judaism is related to the interpretative foundations of classical Judaism. As this book demonstrates, spokespersons for any form of Judaism that engaged modernity on any level had to explain the basis for the rejection or continued acceptance of the authority of rabbinically developed law. Inevitably and invariably, this need led them to address anew what were long-standing questions regarding the ancient interpretations of biblical law. Were they compelling? Were they reasonable? Were they still relevant? Each form of Judaism fashioned its own response to these challenges, and each argued forcefully against the responses of the other denominations. Jay M. Harris describes the fragmentation of modern Judaism in terms of each denomination's relationship to classical Judaism's system of interpretation in part two of this book.