With amazing literary sensitivity, Zornberg ingeniously breathes new life into Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac, Jacob and Esau, Rachel, and Joseph. The author's vibrant spirit, charming personality, and infectious enthusiasm for the Bible draw the reader into the search for meaning where real life and the biblical story intersect. The Beginning Of Desire imaginatively interweaves biblical, rabbinic, and literary sources into a colorful tapestry that is both intellectually stimulating and personally uplifting.One of the Jewish biblical scholars scheduled to appear on the Bill Moyers PBS special on Genesis, Avivah Zornberg employs an amazing repertoire of literary sources to engage the audience and illuminate the text. Delivering her erudition in a pleasantly lyrical style, the author shares her experience of God with the world. It is an intimate, personal, and revealing encounter no one should miss.

    Head of the Lubavitcher movement for forty-four years and recognized throughout the world simply as “the Rebbe,” Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who passed away in June 1994, was a sage and a visionary of the highest order.Toward a Meaningful Life gives people of all backgrounds  fresh perspectives on every aspect of their lives—from birth to death, youth to old age; marriage, love, intimacy, and family; the persistent issues of career, health, pain, and suffering; and education, faith, science, and government. We learn to bridge the divisions between accelerated technology and decelerated morality, between unprecedented worldwide unity and unparalleled personal disunity. Although the Rebbe’s teachings are firmly anchored in more than three thousand years of scholarship, the urgent relevance of these old-age truths to contemporary life has never been more manifest.            At the threshold of a new world where matter and spirit converge, the Rebbe proposes spiritual principles that unite people as opposed to the materialism that divides them. In doing so, he continues to lead us toward personal and universal redemption, toward a meaningful life, and toward God.

    Excellent Book

    Combining quality scholarship and sacred spiritual instruction, Living Judaism is a thought-provoking reference and guide for those already steeped in Jewish life, and a comprehensive introduction for those exploring the richness and grandeur of Judaism.

    Wolpe addresses all who seek to enlarge the spiritual side of their lives. For those considering a return to the faith of their forebears, for those drawn to conversion, Why Be Jewish? is a learned, graceful, and welcoming introduction beckoning readers into the heart of this venerable and enduring religion.

    But for Yakov, who questions his faith from an early age, becoming a rabbi is more an obligation than a calling. One summer, he discovers love in Rebecca, a young woman who challenges both his beliefs and his doubts. All too quickly, a family secret tears them apart and their lives diverge. Confused and curious, Yakov pursues a secular education alongside his rabbinical training. A chance encounter reunites him with Rebecca, who he learns is also studying to become a rabbi. His relationship with her blooms as he and his father continue to drift. But what will become of his relationship with God? This 20th anniversary re-release of Rabbi, Rabbi, Kane’s debut novel, is a masterfully written, deeply engrossing portrait of modern American Judaism. Now more than ever, Kane’s intimate prose will move any reader who has ever struggled with the complexities of faith, family, love, and personal identity.

    With extensive commentary by Rabbi Joseph Elias.

    Author Young disagrees with long held notions that Hellenism was the context which most influenced Paul's communication of the Gospel. This skewed notion has led to widely divergent interpretations of Paul's writings. Only in rightly aligning Paul as rooted in his Jewishness and training as a Pharisee can he be correctly interpreted. Young asserts that Paul's view of the Torah was always positive, and he separates Jesus' mission among the Jews from Paul's call to the Gentiles.

    Faye was an ordinary teenager when the Nazis invaded her town on the Russian-Polish border. She had a large, loving family, good friends and neighbours, most of whom were lost soon after the horrors of the Holocaust began. But Faye survived, and the photographs she took testify to her experiences and the persecution she witnessed. Decorated for heroism, Schulman uses her biography to tell an extraordinary story not just of survival, but of struggle and resistance against oppression. She talks about escaping from the Nazis, finding a partisan unit and proving her worth. The photographs she took speak eloquently of her experience of surviving for years in the woods with the partisans. There she learned to nurse the ill and wounded, and took up arms against those who had decimated her world.

    Rabbi Daniel Gordis, a dynamic new voice on the American Jewish scene, addresses what lies at the heart of modern Jews' frustration with Jewish life--namely, the apparent absence of spirituality in traditional Jewish expression.

    Recent figures in the news, such as the self-proclaimed messiah David Koresh of the Branch Davidians, and the prophetic Orthodox Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, are confounding reminders of the forceful vitality of messianism in the modern world. They are also sobering indicators that contemporary society needs to take seriously and understand the messianic mind set. In "The Scepter And The Star," biblical scholar John J. Collins unearths the seeds of messianic thought in the Bible, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and other ancient literature.Many of Collins's conclusions hinge on his recent discovery of profoundly important material in the Dead Sea Scrolls. In 1991, nearly fifty years after they were originally folind, the entire collection of the Dead Sea Scrolls was finally released to the public. Collins was one of the first scholars to examine the scrolls and realized that they contained enormously significant messianic texts. "The Scepter And The Star" Will be the first scholarly work to explore fully the impact this new evidence has on our understanding of Jewish apocalypticism and messianism. In addition, Collins examines the crucial links and similarities between Jewish and Christian models of the messiah. How did Jewish communities, living in the turbulent century before the birth of Christ, envision the end of time? Did Jewish messianic figures influence the development of the Christian Messiah? Here, in careful detail and cogerit, accessible analysis, Collins explains the birth of messianic thought and its repercussions for Jews andChristians alike in ancient--as well as modern-times.

    With appendices of a variety of charts to assist the reader with the kabbalastic teachings found in the text. Volume 1 contains Reb Noson's introduction to the original work, short biographies of Rebbe Nachman and Reb Noson and a bibliography.

    Selected and adapted from the Talmud and Midrash. All the volumes in this popular series will not fail to inspire and stimulate the reader, while providing vital information on the Parshah.

    By applying what he calls the panoramic approach, in contrast to the existentialist approach of Buber and the historicist approach of Scholem, Idel has been able to illuminate the phenomenon of Hasidism in all its complexity and diversity. Rather than focusing on any one immediate aspect of Jewish mysticism, Idel proposes to understand Hasidism as the aggregation of multiple streams, including magic, theosophic kabbalah, and ecstatic kabbalah. By applying Idel’s orientation one can appreciate the complex fabric woven by the Hasidic masters from previous mystical sources. His book is provocative and stimulating.” ― Elliot R. Wolfson, New York University“The author succeeds in broadening our understanding of Hasidism through clarifying its relations to phenomenological models that are typical of earlier stages of Jewish mysticism. As a result of Idel’s vast knowledge of mystical and philosophical literature, he is able to demonstrate and clarify the extent that Hasidism is dependent on non-Lurianic schools of Kabbalah. Thus, Hasidism emerges as an important stage in Jewish mysticism, rather than as a mere reaction or result of historical and social forces such as Sabbatianism."Idel focuses on one of the most significant, yet little understood developments in the history of Jewish thought and religion. His close study of ecstasy and magic will be essential for all those who are in any way interested in this area.“The book is full of brilliant insights concerning the meaning of key concepts and practices in early Hasidism." ― Miles Krassen, Oberlin College

    He begins with a fresh, insightful reading of the Hebrew Bible, revealing the profound mystery and significance of the disappearance of God there. Why does the God who is known through miracles and direct interaction at the beginning of the Bible gradually become hidden, leaving humans on their own by the Bible's end? How is it possible that the Bible, written over so many centuries by so many authors, depicts this diminishing visible presence of God - and the growing up of humankind - so consistently? Why has this not been common knowledge? Friedman then investigates this phenomenon's place in the formation of Judaism and Christianity.But this is not only the study of an ancient concept. Friedman turns to the forms this feeling of the disappearance of God has taken in recent times. Here, too, he focuses on a mystery: an eerie connection between Nietzsche and Dostoevsky, who each independently developed the idea of the death of God.Friedman then relates all of this to a contemporary spiritual and moral ambivalence. He notes the current interest in linking discoveries in modern physics and astronomy to God and creation, reflecting a yearning for concrete answers in an age of divine hiddenness. And here the focus is on another mystery, intriguing parallels between Big Bang cosmology and the mysticism of the Kabbalah, which points to a territory in which religion and science are complementary rather than antagonistic.This inspiring work is grounded in learned research. It is a brilliantly original exploration of the Bible that also shows how the Bible is much more than "ancient history." In the Bible the hiding of the face of God is a literary and theological development, but in the twentieth century it is a spiritual crisis, and Friedman aims to apply solutions to this quandary. Moving through rich and provocative examinations of world literature, history, theology, and physics, The Disappearance of God is as readable and exciting as a good detective story, with a conclusion that offers real hope in a time of spiritual longing.

    For thirty years, in the face of fierce rivalry, this brilliant archaeologist led the race to uncover a long-lost Buddhist civilization which had lain for a thousand years beneath China's deserts. Today the treasures which he and his competitors - from Germany, France, Japan, Sweden and America - removed from the sand-covered tombs and temples of the ancient Silk Road are scattered among the museums of a dozen countries. In all Stein marched some 25,000 miles across Central Asia, often in appalling conditions, accompanied always by a small fox-terrier. Festooned with international honours, including a British knighthood, the Jewish Hungarian-born orientalist today lies in the lonely Christian cemetery at Kabul, where he died in 1943, aged 80, on the eve of one last great journey into the past.

    

    From examining God's call on Israel to Paul and the Law, Dan Juster presents a solid foundation for biblical theology that includes its Jewish Roots.

    Collections of interviews with notable modern writers

    By understanding the physical and nonphysical universe and the psychological and psychic make-up of those within it, we can be transformed and make our dreams come true. A fascinating Tarot study.

    As a founding member of the Peace Now movement, Oz has spent over thirty-five years speaking out on this issue, and these powerful essays and speeches span an important and formative period for understanding today’s tension and crises. Whether he is discoursing on the role of writers in society or recalling his grandmother’s death in the context of the language’s veracity; examining the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a tragicomedy or questioning the Zionist dream, Oz remains trenchant and unflinching in this moving portrait of a divided land. “[Oz is] the modern prophet of Israel.” —Sunday Telegraph (UK)

    sheer detail and breadth of scale' BBC History MagazineThis newly revised and updated edition of Martin Gilbert's Atlas of Jewish History spans over four thousand years of history in 154 maps, presenting a vivid picture of a fascinating people and the trials and tribulations which have haunted their story.The themes covered include:Prejudice and Violence- from the destruction of Jewish independence between 722 and 586 BC to the flight from German persecution in the 1930s. Also covers the incidence of anti-semitic attacks in the Americas and Europe.Migrations and Movements- from the entry into the promised land to Jewish migration in the twenty- first century, including new maps on recent emigration to Israel from Europe and worldwide.Society, Trade and Culture- from Jewish trade routes between 800 and 900 to the situation of world Jewry in the opening years of the twenty- first century.Politics, Government and War- from the Court Jews of the fifteenth century to the founding and growth of the modern State of Israel. This new edition is also updated to include maps showing Jewish museums in the United States and Canada, and Europe, as well as American conservation efforts abroad. Other topics covered in this revised edition include Jewish educational outreach projects in various parts of the world, and Jews living under Muslim rule. Forty years on from its first publication, this book is still an indispensible guide to Jewish history.

    But as Stalin's regime grew increasingly paranoid and repressive, Babel found it difficult to write or publish. The Lonely Years is a collection of letters and nine stories from the period before Babel's arrest and disappearance. Together, they show an individual laboring against all odds to remain true to his craft and ideals. This edition contains a new introduction, based on previously unreleased information from the KGB files.

    It covers many Jewish authors and their writings from the middle of the 16th until the late 18th centuries in Europe. The book's combined approach to the history of science and Jewish thought strongly emphasises analysis of the mentalities that informed some of the prominent figures of Jewish thought in this time period. Jewish Thought and Scientific Discovery in Early Modern Europe takes a comprehensive look at the processes taking place in the minds of European Jewish intellectuals in Italy, Amsterdam, Prague, and London. The main purpose of this book is the description of the modalities of reception of the new sciences, complicated by the traditional reticence toward "alien sciences" found in many medieval Jewish writers still influential in the early modern period.

    The book documents their journey from Warsaw to the immediate vicinity of one of the most frightful places on earth--the Treblinka death camp. The Starkopfs survive on false papers and false identities as they witness the tragedy of millions.

    During his American years, he also gathered together a number of prominent thinkers at his weekly seminars on Jewish intellectual history. In the mid-60s, Taubes joined the faculty of the Free University in West Berlin, initially as the city's first Jewish Studies professor of the postwar period. But his work and interest expanded beyond the boundaries of the field of Jewish Studies to broader philosophical questions, particularly in the philosophy of religion. A charismatic speaker and a great polemicist, Taubes had a phenomenal ability to create interdisciplinary conversations in the humanities, engaging scholars from philosophy, literature, theology, and intellectual history. The essays presented here represent the fruit of conversations, conferences, and workshops that he organized over the course of his career.

    Complete with an Overview and a wealth of beautiful insights and stories, and the Book of Ruth.

    While the nature of the temptation has changed over the years, idolatry is as much a threat today as it was in our ancestors' time. Today, we face the lures of a material society. For many of us, our careers expand at the expense of our personal lives. Seeskin looks at turning points in Jewish history to demonstrate how Judaism can respond to the modern threat of idolatry. The example of our forebears can help us confront today's temptations--and preserve the holiness in our lives.

    A high-spirited woman rabbi assesses contemporary Judaism and breathes new life into classic tradition by drawing on Jewish, feminist, ecological and Native American sources.

    Its shape is traditional but not fundamentalist. This book, the main cause of the 'Jacobs Affair' in which the author's appointment to an Orthodox Rabbinic position was vetoed, suggests that the doctrine Torah Min Ha-Shamayyin (The Torah is from Heaven) needs to be reinterpreted so as not to be in conflict with modern knowledge. The controversy erupted again in the 1990s when Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks declared that those who hold views similar to the author's have severed links with the faith of their ancestors. This expanded fifth edition, with a Preface by William Frankel and a Retrospect of the 'Jacobs Affair' by the author, will enable readers to follow the argument and make up their own minds. In a recent poll conducted by the (London) Jewish Chronicle, Louis Jacobs was chosen as the 'Greatest British Jew.'

    Using classical Jewish sources as well as supplementary material from history, anthropology, sociology, psychology, ancient religion, and feminist theory, Judith Antonelli has examined in detail every woman and every issue pertaining to women in the Torah, parshah by parshah. The Torah is divided into fifty-four portions; each portion, or parshah, is read in the synagogue on the Sabbath (combining a few to make a yearly cycle of readings). This book is modeled on that structure; hence there are fifty chapters, each of which corresponds to a parshah. One may, therefore, read this book from beginning to end or use it as a study guide for the parshah of the week. The reader will discover in these pages that the Torah is not the root of misogyny, sexism, or male supremacy. Rather, by looking at the Torah in the context in which it was given, the pagan world of the ancient Near East, it becomes clear that far from oppressing women, the Torah actually improved the status of women as it existed in the surrounding societies. Not only does this book refute the common feminist stereotype that Judaism is a "patriarchal religion" but it also refutes the sexism found in Judaism by exposing it as sociological rather than "divine law."

    This book explores the fundamental issues in Jewish mysticism and provides a taxonomy of the deep structures of thought that emerge from the texts.

    Blenkinsopp looks at the character and development of these roles and how they functioned in their particular time and place. Based on sociological insights deriving from role theory and audience expectations, the book demonstrates how these intellectual leaders represented their own traditions while responding to the political and professional pressures of their unique situations.

    When these young people try to get to know one another, they find they must struggle against a heritage of hard truths and half-truths, varying family histories, and community-fostered pride and prejudices. In this book Björn Krondorfer, who grew up in Germany and now lives in the United States, analyzes the guilt, anger, embarrassment, shame, and anxiety experienced by third-generation Jews and Germans—emotions that often act as barriers to attempts to reconcile. He then describes the processes by which some of these young people have moved toward an affirmative and dynamic relationship.Krondorfer points out that relations between Jews and Germans since the war have consisted of an uneasy truce that does not address the deeply felt pain and anger of each group. He then shows how new relationships can be forged, providing detailed accounts of the group encounters he arranged between post-Shoah American Jews and Germans. He describes how the participants reacted to oral Holocaust testimonies and to public memorials to the Holocaust, the creative work of a Jewish-German modern dance group to which Krondorfer belonged, and finally the students' responses to a trip to Auschwitz, where they developed the courage necessary to trust and comfort one another. Krondorfer argues that friendships between young Jews and Germans can be fostered through creative models of communication and conflict-solving and that their road to reconciliation may become a model for other groups in conflict.

    It transcends all sectarian boundaries and brings to the spiritually sensitive reader the choicest creations of the human spirit when it is touched by the encounter with God. Rabbi Ben Zion Bokser Isaiah Horowitz: The Generations of Adam translated, edited and with an introduction by Miles Krassen preface by Elliot R. Wolfson In the Name of God. This is the book, Generations of Adam. Blessed is god who helped me until this point. Many words were produced, concerning great matters. As a result, human action has been explained, regarding both a person's [divine] image and the likeness of his soul and body. Just as his Torah has been explained, so has his formation, which involves the garments of light that became garments of skin. Yet in the future his eye will be opened to great light, the light that is concealed. [We have also explained] the true light, God's light that is concealed for the future, according to the secret of 'on that day YeHYeH YHVH will be One.' This is entirely dependent on the spiritual arousal of human beings, who through their freedom of will have been granted the power to arouse the supernal. [We have also explained] how everything is foreseen, yet permission is granted. Thus is the ultimate purpose of the creation of human beings. Also, the meaning of the 'world to come' and its eternity [has been explained]. For the cloud will perish along with the contamination of the serpent, which Adam drew down through his sin. Evil will be transformed to good and then there will be a world that is completely good. These themes have been explained in this precious introduction, which is called The Generations of Adam, because all of the causes and events of human life and its purpose have been mentioned within it. -from the beginning of The Great House Rabbi Isaiah ben Abraham Horowitz (1570?-1626) In this introduction to the magnum opus of Isaiah Horowitz-a book-length work in itself-he brought together his views concerning many of the most important issues addressed by kabbalists since the late twelfth century. These include basic theological questions concerning how God can be known, the true nature of the Torah, the divine origins of the human soul, the meaning and purpose of life in this world, the nature of the precepts and the power of divine intervention with regard to them, and the ultimate reward of the Messianic Age and the World to Come. +