Best of
Judaica

2012

Letters to Talia


Dov Indig - 2012
    Dov Indig was killed on October 7, 1973, in a holding action on the Golan Heights in Israel during the Yom Kippur War. Letters to Talia, published in his memory by family and friends, contains excerpts from an extensive correspondence Dov maintained with Talia, a girl from an irreligious kibbutz in northern Israel, in 1972 and 73, the last two years of his life. At the time, Talia was a highschool student, and Dov was a student in the Hesder yeshiva Kerem B Yavneh, which combines Torah study with military service. It was Talia s father who suggested that Talia correspond with Dov, and an intense dialogue developed between them on questions of Judaism and Zionism, values and education. Their correspondence continued right up to Dov s death in the Yom Kippur War."

Koren Talmud Bavli - Berakhot


Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz - 2012
    The Koren Talmud Bavli Standard Edition is a full-size, full-color edition that presents an enhanced Vilna page, a side-by-side English translation, photographs and illustrations, a brilliant commentary, and a multitude of learning aids to help the beginning and advanced student alike actively participate in the dynamic process of Talmud study.

Identity Theft


Ron Cantor - 2012
    Divine time travel. An age-old cover up.In the middle of it all: One man miraculously transformed by Yeshua.In an instant, David went from being a skeptical Jewish columnist to a desperate seeker of Truth. The catalyst was an angelic visitation—a moment that marked him forever.David’s quest spans numerous philosophies and religions, culminating with the Person of Yeshua – Jesus the Messiah. He is plummeted into a vigorous spiritual tug of war. Part of him is intrigued and fascinated by the Messiah, while another is plagued by guilt. How could a Jewish person like himself believe in Yeshua considering all the horrific acts that have been done to his ancestors in His name?Author Ron Cantor, a gifted story-teller and authority on the Jewish Roots of the New Testament, takes you on an unforgettable tour of history as an angel supernaturally escorts David through the halls of time. You will soon discover that though atrocities have been committed in the name of Yeshua, the greatest crime of all may be against the Messiah Himself… a crime of identity theft.

The Law of Christ


Charles Leiter - 2012
    They have centered their lives around a "list of rules" rather than His "new commandment" to love. Not realizing that the goal of all Christian instruction is love, they have too often valued Bible knowledge, preaching ability, "ministry," and "gifts" above the one thing that matters most in the Christian life. Yet, according to the New Testament, love is the fulfillment of "the whole law," and no amount of sacrifice, knowledge, or even faith means anything apart from it. The goal of this book is to point believers to their perfect Savior and standard, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is Himself love incarnate, and who alone can enable them in some measure to love as He loved."Questions about the relationship between believers and the law of God continue to perplex biblical scholars and serious Christians alike. Charles Leiter shows himself well-informed of both the relevant biblical scholarship and the theological issues in this clearly written, helpful study. Unlike many other treatments of the topic, he succeeds in uniting insights from the Old Testament laws themselves with Christ's words in the Sermon on the Mount and discussions of law in the Pauline epistles. The result is a truly biblical theology of law that I recommend highly to pastors and other students of Scripture." --Stephen Westerholm, McMaster University (Author of Israel's Law and the Church's Faith: Paul and His Recent Interpreters)"It is a rare and wonderful blessing for me to recommend a book that not only honors the Scriptures, but also has been used by God as an instrument of transformation in my own life. Therefore, it is with great joy that I recommend this book to you." --Paul David Washer, HeartCry Missionary Society

The Philosophy of Hebrew Scripture: An Introduction


Yoram Hazony - 2012
    

Davening: A Guide to Meaningful Jewish Prayer


Zalman Schachter-Shalomi - 2012
    We go to synagogue dutifully enough. We rise when we should rise, sit when we should sit. We read and sing along with the cantor and answer 'Amen' in all the right places. We may even rattle through the prayers with ease. We sacrifice vitality for shelf-life, and the neshomeh, the Jewish soul, can taste the difference."--from the IntroductionThis fresh approach to prayer is for all who wish to appreciate the power of prayer's poetry and song, jump into its ceremonies and rituals, and join the age-old conversation that Jews have had with God. Reb Zalman, one of the most important Jewish spiritual teachers in contemporary American Judaism, offers you new ways to pray, new channels for communicating with God and new opportunities to open your heart to God's response.With rare warmth and authenticity, Reb Zalman shows you:How prayer can engage not just spirit, but mind, heart and bodyMeditations that open the door to kavanah, the focus or intention with which we prayHow to understand the underlying "deep structure" of our prayer servicesHow to find and feel at home in a synagogueHow to sing and lead niggunim, the simple, wordless tunes that Jews sing to get closer to Godand more

Apprentice


Maggie Anton - 2012
    The world around her is full of conflict. Rome, fast becoming Christian, battles Zoroastrian Persia for dominance while Rav Hisda and his colleagues struggle to establish new Jewish traditions after the destruction of Jerusalem's Holy Temple. Against this backdrop Hisdadukh embarks on the tortuous path to become an enchantress in the very land where the word 'magic' originated. But the conflict affecting Hisdadukh most intimately arises when her father brings his two best students before her, a mere child, and asks her which one she will marry. Astonishingly, the girl replies, “Both of them.” Soon she marries the older student, although it becomes clear that the younger one has not lost interest in her. When her new-found happiness is derailed by a series of tragedies, a grieving Hisdadukh must decide if she does, indeed, wish to become a sorceress. Based on actual Talmud texts and populated with its rabbis and their families, Rav Hisda's Daughter: Book I – Apprentice brings the world of the Talmud to life - from a woman's perspective.

You Saved Me, Too: What a Holocaust Survivor Taught Me about Living, Dying, Fighting, Loving, and Swearing in Yiddish


Susan Kushner Resnick - 2012
    You Saved Me, Too is the incredible story of how two people shared the hidden parts of themselves and created a bond that was complicated, challenging, but ultimately invaluable. Sue was first attracted to Aron's warmth and wit, such a contrast to his tragic past and her recent battle with postpartum depression. Soon she would be dealing with his mental illness, fighting the mainstream Jewish community for help with his care, and questioning her faith. The dramatic tension builds when Sue promises not to let Aron die alone. This book chronicles their remarkable friendship, which began with weekly coffee dates and flourished into much more. With beautiful prose, it alternates between his history, their developing friendship, and a current health crisis that may force them to part.

Unlocking the Secrets of the Feasts


Michael Norten - 2012
    The intricate detail of theprophecies illustrated in the observances of these feasts provide insight intoGod's plan for the ages.

The Sacrificial Universe


David Chaim Smith - 2012
    Ranging from intellectual treatises on sacred geometry, biomorphism and the symbol of the serpent in kabbalistic theory and practise, to a poetic twilight language of ecstatic devotion.Produced as a lavish small folio with generous margins and a classic typographic style, "The Sacrificial Universe" presents David’s key artworks of the last four years as full-page images, with the triptychs and quadriptych offered as folding plates. The complex and evocative iconographic symbolism is also explored through commentaries. And yet "The Sacrificial Universe" is more than a homage to those seventeenth century books of hermetic mysticism. Structured according to the classic kabbalistic text Sefer Yetzirah, "The Sacrificial Universe" may be approached on three levels (world, year, and soul) to offer the reader a view of gnostic surrender within a vision of the self-consuming nature of phenomena.

Lynn Margulis: The Life and Legacy of a Scientific Rebel


Dorion Sagan - 2012
    Best known for her work on the origins of eukaryotic cells, the Gaia hypothesis, and symbiogenesis as a driving force in evolution, her work has forever changed the way we understand life on Earth.When Margulis passed away in 2011, she left behind a groundbreaking scientific legacy that spanned decades. In this collection, Dorion Sagan, Margulis's son and longtime collaborator, gathers together the voices of friends and colleagues to remark on her life and legacy, in essays that cover her early collaboration with James Lovelock, her fearless face-off with Richard Dawkins during the so-called "Battle of Balliol" at Oxford, the intrepid application of her scientific mind to the insistence that 9/11 was a false-flag operation, her affinity for Emily Dickinson, and more.Margulis was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1983, received the prestigious National Medal of Science in 1999, and her papers are permanently archived at the Library of Congress. Less than a month before her untimely death, Margulis was named one of the twenty most influential scientists alive - one of only two women on this list, which include such scientists as Stephen Hawking, James Watson, and Jane Goodall.

The Mile End Cookbook: Redefining Jewish Comfort Food from Hash to Hamantaschen


Noah Bernamoff - 2012
    Using their grandmothers’ recipes as a starting point, Noah and Rae updated traditional dishes and elevated them with fresh ingredients and from-scratch cooking techniques. The Mile End Cookbook celebrates the craft of new Jewish cooking with more than 100 soul-satisfying recipes and gorgeous photographs. Throughout, the Bernamoffs share warm memories of cooking with their families and the traditions and holidays that inspire recipes like blintzes with seasonal fruit compote; chicken salad whose secret ingredient is fresh gribenes; veal schnitzel kicked up with pickled green tomatoes and preserved lemons; tsimis that’s never mushy; and cinnamon buns made with challah dough. Noah and Rae also celebrate homemade delicatessen staples and share their recipes and methods for pickling, preserving, and smoking just about anything.For every occasion, mood, and meal, these are recipes that any home cook can make, including:SMOKED AND CURED MEAT AND FISH: brisket, salami, turkey, lamb bacon, lox, mackerelPICKLES, GARNISHES, FILLINGS, AND CONDIMENTS: sour pickles, pickled fennel, horseradish cream, chicken confit, sauerkraut, and soup mandelSUMPTUOUS SWEETS AND BREADS: rugelach, jelly-filled doughnuts, flourless chocolate cake, honey cake, cheesecake, challah, rye ALL THE CLASSICS: the ultimate chicken soup, gefilte fish, corned beef sandwich, latkes, knishesWith tips and lore from Jewish and culinary mavens, such as Joan Nathan and Niki Russ Federman of Russ & Daughters, plus holiday menus, Jewish cooking has never been so inspiring.

Return: Daily Inspiration for the Days of Awe


Erica Brown - 2012
    It was a personal ladder for me to try to achieve a greater sense of holiness and responsibility and go into the Days of Awe feeling the requisite awe. Each day I scaled a new topic for self-improvement rooted in Jewish tradition. I was so absorbed in it that I expanded it into a book that has just been published, Return: Daily Inspiration for the Days of Awe. In addition to a daily essay, I included portions of study on repentance in translation from Maimonides - the rationalist, Rabbi Kook, the mystic, and Rabbi Chaim Moshe Luzzato, the ethicist. I attached a life homework assignment to integrate study and action, using myself as a test case. I feel privileged to share what I learned."

Christ Among the Messiahs: Christ Language in Paul and Messiah Language in Ancient Judaism


Matthew V. Novenson - 2012
    Meanwhile, interpreters of Paul, faced with his several hundred uses ofthe Greek word for ''messiah, '' have concluded that christos in Paul does not bear its conventional sense. Against this curious consensus, Matthew V. Novenson argues in Christ among the Messiahs that all contemporary uses of such language, Paul's included, must be taken as evidence for its range ofmeaning. In other words, early Jewish messiah language is the kind of thing of which Paul's Christ language is an example.Looking at the modern problem of Christ and Paul, Novenson shows how the scholarly discussion of christos in Paul has often been a cipher for other, more urgent interpretive disputes. He then traces the rise and fall of ''the messianic idea'' in Jewish studies and gives an alternative account ofearly Jewish messiah language: the convention worked because there existed both an accessible pool of linguistic resources and a community of competent language users. Whereas it is commonly objected that the normal rules for understanding christos do not apply in the case of Paul since he uses theword as a name rather than a title, Novenson shows that christos in Paul is neither a name nor a title but rather a Greek honorific, like Epiphanes or Augustus.Focusing on several set phrases that have been taken as evidence that Paul either did or did not use christos in its conventional sense, Novenson concludes that the question cannot be settled at the level of formal grammar. Examining nine passages in which Paul comments on how he means the wordchristos, Novenson shows that they do all that we normally expect any text to do to count as a messiah text. Contrary to much recent research, he argues that Christ language in Paul is itself primary evidence for messiah language in ancient Judaism.

The Book of Job: When Bad Things Happened to a Good Person


Harold S. Kushner - 2012
    Yet after losing everything, Job—though confused, angry, and questioning God—refuses to reject his faith, although he challenges some central aspects of it. Rabbi Harold S. Kushner examines the questions raised by Job’s experience, questions that have challenged wisdom seekers and worshippers for centuries. What kind of God permits such bad things to happen to good people? Why does God test loyal followers? Can a truly good God be all-powerful?  Rooted in the text, the critical tradition that surrounds it, and the author’s own profoundly moral thinking, Kushner’s study gives us the book of Job as a touchstone for our time. Taking lessons from historical and personal tragedy, Kushner teaches us about what can and cannot be controlled, about the power of faith when all seems dark, and about our ability to find God. Rigorous and insightful yet deeply affecting, The Book of Job is balm for a distressed age—and Rabbi Kushner’s most important book since When Bad Things Happen to Good People.

Hasidic Spirituality for a New Era: The Religious Writings of Hillel Zeitlin


Arthur Green - 2012
    He retooled classic concepts of the Jewish mystical tradition to shape a Judaism that would appeal to a new generation of Jews in the early twentieth century, liberated from the bonds of traditional society but seeking a profound, open-minded, and universalistic version of Jewish teachings. His work complements that of his contemporary, Martin Buber. While Buber looked primarily to the Hasidic tales for inspiration, Zeitlin offered a version of Hasidic theology addressed to seekers who lived outside the Hasidic community. Largely neglected in the postwar era, Zeitlin's writings will have much to say both to contemporary Jews in search of ways to reembrace mystical teachings as a part of their tradition and to Christians interested in modern expressions of classic mystic truths that reach across all conventional borders. Zeitlin was martyred in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942. This is the first time his works have been translated into English. +

The Sea of Talmud: A Brief and Personal Introduction


Henry Abramson - 2012
    Tracing the history of the Talmud from its origins in ancient Israel and Babylon to Internet-based texts, Dr. Abramson describes the excitement and thrill of studying Talmud from an insider's perspective.

God Winked: Tales and Lessons from my Spiritual Adventures


Sara Yoheved Rigler - 2012
    She spent 15 years living in an ashram and practicing and teaching meditation. Then her spiritual journey took a hair-pin turn. She went to Jerusalem and started studying what she called, "the world's most hidden religion: Torah Judaism."The tales collected in this book span the breadth of Sara Yoheved Rigler's colorful, adventure-filled life. The lessons derive from a dizzying variety of sources: A Hassidic Rebbe in Jerusalem A guru in Varanasi A Kabbalist in rural Israel Girls at a Calcutta orphanage A clown A Maharaj's palace in the foothills of the Himalayas Her 90-year-old mother-in-law A cat on a dangerous military mission A totally paralyzed author of 8 books The tales in this book will make you laugh - and cry. The lessons will transform your life.Sample chapters:Buddhism, Judaism, and the Great Cheerio FiascoEat, Pray, Love, Then What?My Five Weeks with CancerMy Son the Doctor-MurdererGod vs. ProzacMy Niece's Catholic Wedding

Moving Waters


Racelle Rosett - 2012
    A television producer who moonlights as a cantor, an actress who leaves her husband for another woman and enters a mikvah to mark the transition, a young widow who gets her hair colored to prepare for the unveiling of her husband's gravestone – Racelle Rosett’s debut story collection enters the lives of members of a Reform Jewish community in Hollywood and explores the unexpected role that ancient ritual plays in the lives of these characters living in contemporary Los Angeles.

Reference Guide to the Talmud: Fully Revised


Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz - 2012
    An indispensable resource for students of all levels, this fully revised, English-language edition of the Reference Guide clearly and concisely explains the Talmud's fundamental structure, concepts, terminology, assumptions, and inner logic; provides essential historical and biographical information; and includes appendixes, a key to abbreviations, and a comprehensive index. For improved usability, this completely updated volume has a number of new features: topical organization instead of by Hebrew alphabet, re-edited and revised text to coordinate with the language used in the Koren Talmud Bavli, an index of Hebrew terms to enable one seeking a Hebrew term to locate the relevant entry. An excellent companion for anyone studying any edition of the Talmud.

Collected Essays, Volume I


Haym Soloveitchik - 2012
    They reflect the author's lifetime interest in the history of halakhah - not as intellectual history per se, but rather a concern to identify measurable deflection in the unfolding of halakhic ideas that could point to an undetected force at work. What was it that stimulated change, and why? What happened when strong forces impinged upon halakhic observance, and both the scholarly elite and the community as a whole had to grapple with upholding observance while adapting to a new set of circumstances? Haym Soloveitchik's elegant presentation shows skilfully that the line between adaptation and deviance is a fine one, and that where a society draws that line is revelatory of both its values and its self-perception.Many of the articles presented here are well known in the field but have been updated for this publication (the major essay on pawnbroking has been expanded to half again its original size); some have been previously published only in Hebrew, and two are completely new. An Introduction highlights the key themes of the collection and explains the underlying methodology. Having these essays in a single volume will enable scholars and students to consult all the material on each theme together, while also tracing the development of ideas. The opening section of the volume is a brief description and characterization of the dramatis personae who figure in all these essays: Rashi and the Tosafists. It covers the halakhic commentaries and their authors; the creativity of Ashkenaz; and the halakhic isolation of the Ashkenazic community. The second section focuses on usury and money-lending, including the practice of pawn-broking, while the third section deals with the ban on Gentile wine and how that connected to the development of money-lending.The final section presents general conclusions in the form of four studies of the communal self-image of Ashkenaz and its attitude to deviation and change.

Dirty Yiddish: Everyday Slang from "What's Up?" to "F*%# Off!"


Adrienne Gusoff - 2012
     Ikh bin fershikkert. Don’t fuck with me! Bareh mikh nit! I have the shits. Ikh hob a shittern mogn. Lick my pussy. Lekh meyn lokh. Was it good for you? Tsufreedn?

The Pope's Conspiracy


Lewis M. Weinstein - 2012
    Weinstein's widely acclaimed first novel, The Heretic ... Benjamin and Esther Catalan have escaped the Inquisition in Spain and are seeking to re-build their lives as Jews and printers in Florence under the protection and patronage of Lorenzo de Medici, one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in Europe. Their promising future is threatened, however, as they are caught up in a secret plot to murder Lorenzo and his brother Giuliano, with the devious Pope Sixtus IV at the center of the conspiracy. Tension builds as the Pope's plan is put in motion and the Medici family responds. Based on actual historical events, The Pope's Conspiracy offers an enticing view of Renaissance Florence at the peak of its artistic and political glory, and also of the heroic struggles of a talented and ambitious Jewish couple trying to find their place in an often hostile Christian world. The Catalan's skills as printers provide not only their initial link to Lorenzo, but also their standing as a valued part of the small Florentine Jewish community. The technology of Gutenberg's printing press and the organization of a printing business play featured roles in the novel. Readers who loved Benjamin and Esther Catalan in The Heretic will be excited to see their development in The Pope's Conspiracy, as individuals and as a couple."

A Psychotherapy for the People: Toward a Progressive Psychoanalysis


Lewis Aron - 2012
    This book discusses redefining psychoanalysis in relation to psychotherapy, modifying psychoanalytic education, and recognizing its continued biases.

All Politics Is Religious: Speaking Faith to the Media, Policy Makers and Community


Dennis S. Ross - 2012
    Reading this book will not make you as glib as your favorite newscaster (who is probably reading a teleprompter) or as dashing or beautiful as a Hollywood celebrity, but it will make you less fearful, better trained and more likely to be used as a source again."--from the Foreword by Rev. Barry W. LynnA practical and empowering resource. It provides ideas and strategies for expressing a clear, forceful and progressive religious point of view that is all too often overlooked and under-represented in public discourse. It identifies the religious themes in today's great debates--gay rights, the needs of children and families, church-state separation and reproductive rights, including access to sex education, contraception and abortion care--and presents new language and methods for effective communication with the media, policy makers and community. It steers away from the polemics and jargon of politics--left, right, liberal, conservative, socialist--and instead relies on factual historical examples, current events and personal stories to illustrate the best ways to communicate the positive role faith can play in personal and public life by reinforcing the separation of church and state.

Menachem Begin: A Life


Avi Shilon - 2012
    Among the many topics Avi Shilon holds up to new light are Begin's antagonistic relationship with David Ben-Gurion, his controversial role in the 1982 Lebanon War, his unique leadership style, the changes in his ideology over the years, and the mystery behind the total silence he maintained at the end of his career. Through Begin's remarkable life, the book also recounts the history of the right-wing segment of Israeli society, a story essential to understanding the Israel of today.

Simon and Simon: Passion and Power (1st Century Trilogy, #2)


Steve Copland - 2012
    It features two men born just a few miles apart whose lives are dramatically different, Simon Peter and Simon Magus. Simon Peter's passionate life weaves through the story and is contrasted with Magus, the one known as ‘Simon the Sorcerer’. The latter travels to Kashmir and studies the Rig Veda in search of individual power. He returns to Israel where he meets Simon Peter in a small Samaritan town. Triarius is a Roman soldier married for only a few months and sent to the Northern frontier. His wife is pregnant when he leaves and believed to be carrying a son if the witch is correct. He sends orders to dispose of the child if the seer is mistaken. His wife gives birth to a daughter, ‘Triaria’, and secretly raises the child while her husband is away, not knowing if he will return. He does, and discovers the child’s existence, and…well, that would be telling the story.

The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, Volume 10: 1973–2005


Deborah Dash Moore - 2012
    The volume vividly demonstrates the interaction of Jewish ideas and themes across continents and languages, revealing the complex transnational character of Jewish life and cultural production. With hundreds of examples from literature, visual arts, and popular culture, as well as intellectual and spiritual works, the volume adopts a deliberately pluralistic perspective. High and low, elite and popular, folk and mass, famous and obscure—all have a place in this groundbreaking anthology.Readers will quickly come to appreciate the impact on Jewish culture of major social, political, and economic events during the past quarter century—the feminist movement, Israeli politics after the Yom Kippur War, Russian Jewish emigration, the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory, the rise of identity politics in the United States, South American revolutions and dictatorships, and North African emigration to France, among many others. Offering a rich encounter with an array of expressions of Jewish identity, the anthology reflects the exuberance, diversity, and vigor of Jewish culture in the decades since 1973.

Basics of Ancient Ugaritic: A Concise Grammar, Workbook, and Lexicon


Michael James Williams - 2012
    It begins with the alphabet, and each new lesson builds on the ones before it. It is not, therefore, a synthetic Ugaritic grammar these types of texts often prove to be overwhelming for students.Instead, Basics of Ancient Ugaritic can be used for learning the language by individuals on their own or in a classroom setting. Each chapter concludes with a set of exercises allowing students to know whether they are grasping the fundamentals of the language.In short, Basics of Ancient Ugaritic represents an ideal first text for entering the larger world of Semitic languages."

Among the Enemy: Hiding in Plain Sight in Nazi Germany


Sam Genirberg - 2012
    Incredibly, he lives in plain sight among his enemies for almost three years.Eighteen-year-old Sasha flees from the Nazi-occupied Dubno ghetto days before the mobile killing squads of the SS massacre the remaining Jewish inhabitants. He attempts to save himself by posing as a gentile in the very heart of Hitler's Germany. Close calls, unexpected challenges, and hair-raising encounters punctuate each day on the run. As he moves from town to town and job to job, Sasha's quick wit and some twists of fate allow him to survive--at least until the next time. Meeting no other Jews, he fears he may be the only Jew still alive in Europe.Sasha, a Jewish youth from Ukraine, runs from the Dubno ghetto in October of 1942, at the urging of his mother, who knows that any day the Germans will come for them and kill them. To survive, he uses falsified identity documents to join a transport of non-Jews conscripted for compulsory labor in Germany. In the homeland of his enemy, he hides in plain sight for almost three years.He is repeatedly forced to flee when suspicions and rumors that he might be Jewish threaten his life. Each day he faces new challenges: whether he is being questioned by the Gestapo after running away from a job or being examined by a German physician who may well discover that he is circumcised.He lives with the loneliness and isolation of not being able to share with anyone the secret of who he really is, as well as his daily fear of being discovered. He must constantly remain on guard with everyone: his co-workers, his German bosses, and even the woman who professes to love him.This incredible memoir documents one young man's determination to remain alive during the Holocaust. It is a narrative of anguish, identity confusion, triumph over adversity, and ultimately a final escape to the West to reclaim the identity and ideals of his youth.Sam Genirberg immigrated to the United States with his wife and child in 1948. Settling in California, his career path progressed from chicken farmer, to owner and manager of a popular ice cream store, to highly successful land developer. Over the years, he has been active in the Jewish community and has remained a steadfast supporter of Israel. He and his wife, Rose, have raised three children. He currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, continues to be involved in property management, and frequently talks about his Holocaust experiences to Jewish groups and high school students in his community.

The 613 Mitzvot


Ronald L. Eisenberg - 2012
    Commentaries from the Mishnah and the Talmud to present day interpretations are included. A handy source for studying the mitzvot, and also an easy refrence tool for looking up a specific mitzvah.

Shuva: The Future of the Jewish Past


Yehuda Kurtzer - 2012
    By now "history" has surpassed "memory" as a means of relating to the past--a development that falls short in building identity and creates disconnection between Jews and their collective history. Kurtzer seeks to mend this breach. Drawing on key classical texts, he shows that "history" and "memory" are not exclusive and that the perceived dissonance between them can be healed by a selective reclamation of the past and a translation of that past into purposefulness.

Sami's Sleepaway Summer


Jenny Meyerhoff - 2012
    . . and is camp ready for her?Samantha "Sami" Bloom is going to sleepaway camp for the first time. Sami's big sister, Maya, has always loved her summers at Camp Cedar Lake, but Sami isn't so sure she'll feel the same way. She's nervous about being away from home, trying new food, and doing the super-scary ropes course. Worst of all, Sami's annoying cousin, Daniel, is attending the same camp. It's sure to be a disaster!But Sami never counted on delicious Shabbat dinners, funny new friends, and more than a handful of surprises -- one including Daniel himself.No matter what, this will be a summer to remember!

Early Judaism: A Comprehensive Overview


John J. Collins - 2012
    This volume provides the most comprehensive and authoritative overview available of Judaism in the Hellenistic and early Roman periods.Contributors: John M. G. BarclayMiriam Pucci Ben ZeevKatell BerthelotJohn J. CollinsErich S. GruenDaniel C. HarlowJames L. KugelAdam Kolman MarshakSteve MasonJames S. McLarenMaren R. NiehoffDavid T. RuniaLawrence H. SchiffmanChris SeemanGregory E. SterlingLoren T. StuckenbruckEibert TigchelaarEugene UlrichAnnewies van den HoekJames C. VanderKamJ rgen K. Zangenberg

On Maimonides: The Complete Writings


Leo Strauss - 2012
    His studies of the medieval Jewish philosopher led to his rediscovery of esotericism and deepened his sense that the tension between reason and revelation was central to modern political thought. His writings throughout the twentieth century were chiefly responsible for restoring Maimonides as a philosophical thinker of the first rank. Yet, to appreciate the extent of Strauss’s contribution to the scholarship on Maimonides, one has traditionally had to seek out essays he published separately spanning almost fifty years.With Leo Strauss on Maimonides, Kenneth Hart Green presents for the first time a comprehensive, annotated collection of Strauss’s writings on Maimonides, comprising sixteen essays, three of which appear in English for the first time. Green has also provided careful translations of materials that had originally been quoted in Hebrew, Arabic, Latin, German, and French; written an informative introduction highlighting the original contributions found in each essay; and brought references to out-of-print editions fully up to date. The result will become the standard edition of Strauss’s writings on Maimonides.

The Observant Life: The Wisdom of Conservative Judaism for Contemporary Jews


Martin S. Cohen - 2012
    

Between the Lines of the Bible: Exodus: A Study from the New School of Orthodox Torah Commentary


Yitzchak Etshalom - 2012
    The new windows which have opened up in the last century into the rooms of academia – anthropology, archeology, philology and literary analysis, to name a few – have given new perspectives to traditional study and have allowed Orthodox students of our Book of Books to understand, with greater depth and insight, the stories, laws, prophecies and poems that have been our breath for these millennia. In this rich volume, Rabbi Etshalom demonstrates the methodology through which traditional study meets academic rigor, and new insights into the meaning of the text and its import come to light.

The Music Libel Against the Jews


Ruth HaCohen - 2012
    Ruth HaCohen focuses her study on a “musical libel"—a variation on the Passion story that recurs in various forms and cultures in which an innocent Christian boy is killed by a Jew in order to silence his “harmonious musicality.” In paying close attention to how and where this libel surfaces, HaCohen covers a wide swath of western cultural history, showing how entrenched aesthetic-theological assumptions have persistently defined European culture and its internal moral and political orientations.Ruth HaCohen combines in her comprehensive analysis the perspectives of musicology, literary criticism,  philosophy, psychology, and anthropology, tracing the tensions between Jewish “noise" and idealized Christian “harmony” and their artistic manifestations from the high Middle Ages through Nazi Germany and beyond. She concludes her book with a passionate and moving argument for humanizing contemporary soundspaces.

The Intellectual History and Rabbinic Culture of Medieval Ashkenaz


Ephraim Kanarfogel - 2012
    Examines the intellectual proclivities of twelfth and thirteenth century Ashkenazic rabbinic culture as a whole.

The Vanishing Gourds: A Sukkot Mystery


Susan Axe-Bronk - 2012
    When Sara's gourds--decorations for the family sukkah--start mysteriously disappearing, the hunt for the culprits is on.

The Golem Redux: From Prague to Post-Holocaust Fiction


Elizabeth R. Baer - 2012
    In The Golem Redux: From Prague to Post-Holocaust Fiction, author Elizabeth R. Baer introduces readers to these varied representations of the golem and traces the history of the golem legend across modern pre- and post-Holocaust culture. In five chapters, The Golem Redux examines the different purposes for which the golem has been used in literature and what makes the golem the ultimate text and intertext for modern Jewish writers.Baer begins by introducing several early manifestations of the golem legend, including texts from the third and fourth centuries and from the medieval period; Prague’s golem legend, which is attributed to the Maharal, Rabbi Judah Loew; the history of the Josefov, the Jewish ghetto in Prague, the site of the golem legend; and versions of the legend by Yudl Rosenberg and Chayim Bloch, which informed and influenced modern intertexts. In the chapters that follow, Baer traces the golem first in pre-Holocaust Austrian and German literature and film and later in post-Holocaust American literature and popular culture, arguing that the golem has been deployed very differently in these two contexts. Where prewar German and Austrian contexts used the golem as a signifier of Jewish otherness to underscore growing anti-Semitic cultural feelings, post-Holocaust American texts use the golem to depict the historical tragedy of the Holocaust and to imagine alternatives to it. In this section, Baer explores traditional retellings by Isaac Bashevis Singer and Elie Wiesel, the considerable legacy of the golem in comics, Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, and, finally, “Golems to the Rescue” in twentieth- and twenty-first-century works of film and literature, including those by Cynthia Ozick, Thane Rosenbaum, and Daniel Handler.By placing the Holocaust at the center of her discussion, Baer illustrates how the golem works as a self-conscious intertextual character who affirms the value of imagination and story in Jewish tradition. Students and teachers of Jewish literature and cultural history, film studies, and graphic novels will appreciate Baer’s pioneering and thought-provoking volume.

The Gaon of Vilna and His Messianic Vision


Arie Morgenstern - 2012
    

Memory, Metaphor, and Aby Warburg's Atlas of Images


Christopher D. Johnson - 2012
    This book is the first in English to focus on his last project, the encyclopedic Atlas of Images: Mnemosyne. Begun in earnest in 1927, and left unfinished at the time of Warburg's death in 1929, the Atlas consisted of sixty-three large wooden panels covered with black cloth. On these panels Warburg carefully, intuitively arranged some thousand black-and-white photographs of classical and Renaissance art objects, as well as of astrological and astronomical images ranging from ancient Babylon to Weimar Germany. Here and there, he also included maps, manuscript pages, and contemporary images taken from newspapers. Trying through these constellations of images to make visible the many polarities that fueled antiquity's afterlife, Warburg envisioned the Atlas as a vital form of metaphoric thought.While the nondiscursive, frequently digressive character of the Atlas complicates any linear narrative of its themes and contents, Christopher D. Johnson traces several thematic sequences in the panels. By drawing on Warburg's published and unpublished writings and by attending to Warburg's cardinal idea that "pathos formulas" structure the West's cultural memory, Johnson maps numerous tensions between word and image in the Atlas. In addition to examining the work itself, he considers the literary, philosophical, and intellectual-historical implications of the Atlas. As Johnson demonstrates, the Atlas is not simply the culmination of Warburg's lifelong study of Renaissance culture but the ultimate expression of his now literal, now metaphoric search for syncretic solutions to the urgent problems posed by the history of art and culture.

Pledges of Jewish Allegiance: Conversion, Law, and Policymaking in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Orthodox Responsa


David Ellenson - 2012
    This book examines a wide array of legal opinions written by nineteenth- and twentieth-century orthodox rabbis in Europe, the United States, and Israel. It argues that these rabbis' divergent positions—based on the same legal precedents—demonstrate that they were doing more than delivering legal opinions. Instead, they were crafting public policy for Jewish society in response to Jews' social and political interactions as equals with the non-Jewish persons in whose midst they dwelled. Pledges of Jewish Allegiance prefaces its analysis of modern opinions with a discussion of the classical Jewish sources upon which they draw.

Anne Frank Unbound: Media, Imagination, Memory


Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett - 2012
    Anne Frank Unbound looks beyond this young girl's words at the numerous ways people have engaged her life and writing. Apart from officially sanctioned works and organizations, there exists a prodigious amount of cultural production, which encompasses literature, art, music, film, television, blogs, pedagogy, scholarship, religious ritual, and comedy. Created by both artists and amateurs, these responses to Anne Frank range from veneration to irreverence. Although at times they challenge conventional perceptions of her significance, these works testify to the power of Anne Frank, the writer, and Anne Frank, the cultural phenomenon, as people worldwide forge their own connections with the diary and its author.

The Formation of the Jewish Canon


Timothy H. Lim - 2012
    Timothy Lim here presents a complete account of the formation of the canon in Ancient Judaism from the emergence of the Torah in the Persian period to the final acceptance of the list of twenty-two/twenty-four books in the Rabbinic period. Using the Hebrew Bible, the Scrolls, the Apocrypha, the Letter of Aristeas, the writings of Philo, Josephus, the New Testament, and Rabbinic literature as primary evidence he argues that throughout the post-exilic period up to around 100 CE there was not one official “canon” accepted by all Jews; rather, there existed a plurality of collections of scriptures that were authoritative for different communities. Examining the literary sources and historical circumstances that led to the emergence of authoritative scriptures in ancient Judaism, Lim proposes a theory of the majority canon that posits that the Pharisaic canon became the canon of Rabbinic Judaism in the centuries after the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple.

Sundays at Sinai: A Jewish Congregation in Chicago


Tobias Brinkmann - 2012
    Its founders were upwardly mobile and civically committed men and women, founders and partners of banks and landmark businesses like Hart Schaffner & Marx, Sears & Roebuck, and the giant meatpacking firm Morris & Co. As explicitly modern Jews, Sinai’s members supported and led civic institutions and participated actively in Chicago politics. Perhaps most radically, their Sunday services, introduced in 1874 and still celebrated today, became a hallmark of the congregation.In Sundays at Sinai, Tobias Brinkmann brings modern Jewish history, immigration, urban history, and religious history together to trace the roots of radical Reform Judaism from across the Atlantic to this rapidly growing American metropolis.  Brinkmann shines a light on the development of an urban reform congregation, illuminating Chicago Sinai’s practices and history, and its contribution to Christian-Jewish dialogue in the United States. Chronicling Chicago Sinai’s radical beginnings in antebellum Chicago to the present, Sundays at Sinai is the extraordinary story of a leading Jewish Reform congregation in one of America’s great cities.