secularist, denomination vs. denomination, liberal vs. conservative -- in the last forty years, American Jews have increasingly found themselves torn apart by their diversity. In this chronicle of the evolution of American Jewry, Samuel G. Freedman illuminates the forces that have undermined the traditional peaceful coexistence among the Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist branches, and secular and unaffiliated Jews. Examining recent headline-making stories as well as less publicized controversies, Freedman discusses the vitriolic battles that have arisen over intermarriage, standards of conversion, the role of women in religious ritual, the Middle East peace process, and the secular influence on religious life. As he weighs the arguments of both extremes, Freedman comes to the controversial conclusion that the Jewish-American community is headed for a Reformation, a permanent fracture of one faith into many.

    When Daphna’s cousin Liam brings home his shiksa girlfriend Melody and declares ownership of their grandfather’s Chai necklace, a vicious and hilarious brawl over family, faith and legacy ensues.

    They shared months of hot passion that neither will ever forget. An emotional difference of opinion created a rift the couple could not overcome.Proud and stubborn, literary agent Kiki moved to New York to work with her father’s publishing company and to put distance between her and the man who controls her heart. Successful entertainment agent,Ty, accepted Kiki’s decision to walk away and moved on with his life--until danger surfaced, threatening her life and the lives of others connected to him. Bound together by uncontrollable forces, Ty and Kiki search for their enemy while trying to resist the passion that burns within--without dying or breaking…The Pendleton Rule.Show more Show less

    It will enrich the classes that current teachers are giving and gives the new teacher confidence and pride when providing that very first class. Practitioners will have a greater understanding of how to apply Reiki and what is actually happening during a session. You will never again be afraid or even worried about teaching a Reiki class or giving the attunement. You will be pleased and your students will be grateful for the rich content in your classes. "The Reiki Teacher's Manual" is a precise step-by-step guide to instruct all three levels or degrees of Reiki. This manual and its format provide you with: A concise manual that is user friendly; A quick reference to answer student's questions; Consecutive steps with time approximations to make sure you teach all the information and still have plenty of time for the hands on practice sessions. How to get the most for your students during their hands on practice; How to increase the power of your attunement; How to teach the attunement to others; Goals for different segments of each class; Detailed descriptions and uses for the symbols; 15 handouts that are concise, informative, and can be copied from the book; Complete written explanations for each handout; A list of supplies for each level and suggestions for your classroom environment; Guidelines in opening your own Reiki practice; Information regarding state licensing needs; How to avoid issues with physicians and the medical community.

     Want Alphas who can't be held back by anything in the galaxy if they've made their choice? The Corgan warlords are made for you then! This anthology includes four full novels from the bestselling Alien Warlord's Conquest series, each following a separate warlord on his quest for justice... and the most maddening woman in the universe! The Corgans are a continuation of the stories told in the Brion Brides series. Each book has a happily ever after ending, no cheating and can and should be read as a standalone! BONUS! This bundle also includes the bonus short story, Brocke: Meeting the Parents, a sweet and saucy story of what happens when a bride meets the scariest in-laws in the galaxy! The boxed set includes: Nadar Having suffered through the humiliation of a failed mission with the Flora and the Brion menace, Mara and the rest of the Terran Union fighter pilots are hungry to prove themselves. But for Mara, that chance comes in the form of something completely unexpected - Nadar Brengen. The rebel Corgan warlord who won't take no for an answer when he sees something he wants. And this time, it's her. Daegon Daegon has had enough of seeing the Corgan people wither away. Though the new chieftain is the last man he'd trust to lead his kin, dangers that surround the proud warlord lead him to tough decisions. Trust his heart and the little Terran smartmouth who seems to have run off with it, or trust his head and do things the Corgan way. By killing everything in sight and taking stock later. Well, maybe there's a way to do both. Get the girl and save the world. Soros Soros is more myth than man. The warrior who has trained all the warlords of note, he is feared and respected, lauded and despised in equal measure. Wanting no part in the wars being waged between his own people with the recent upsets in Corgan society, the warlord still finds himself getting swept away in the madness, held at sword-point by one of his own students. It only takes one woman for this warlord to realize that he can remain neutral no longer. It only takes one night for him to realize what is at stake - not only the universe, but her safety as well. Brocke Brocke is the well-kept secret of Corgan society. As the executioner and guard of the Chieftain's private prison, he is what Corgan parents use to scare their kids into behaving, the Guardian. He is the darkness that comes before the light and no nightmare has ever gotten past him. Until now. With Cora's and their unborn child's life is put in danger, only the heartless warlord can be the one to save them both... Brocke; Meeting the Parents With only a few short months spent together, Brocke already knows that Cora is his mate for life. He feels it as surely as he feels the weight of his swords in his hands. Yet introducing her to his parents, one of them being the Chieftain of the Corgan race, well... Even a fierce warlord is allowed a little bit of trepidation, right?

    She lost hermother at a young age and was only sixteen when herfather was killed in 1880, in a brawl sparked by a familyfeud spanning several generations. Yet Mercy neverdoubts the presence and provision of her heavenly Father.When a house fire claims the lives of her two best friends,leaving their two young sons as orphans, Mercy offers tobe their guardian. It seems simple enough, until the judgemandates that the boys be placed with a married couple.Samuel Connors is a man adrift. Despite the success ofthe blacksmith business he inherited from his father, hesenses a void unaffected by material rewards. His motherkeeps nagging him to find a wife, but the only womanwho comes to mind is Mercy Evans. What would shewant to do with the man whose father is now serving alife sentence for the murder of hers?Mercy is determined to do whatever it takes to wincustody of the Watson boys. But marry a mortal enemyof the Evans family? God alone can give her the heart togo through with it.

    "Fallmerayer the Stationmaster" and "The Bust of the Emperor" are Roth's most acclaimed works of shorter fiction.

    Now the prison is being re-opened, but as a new generation of prisoners arrive to fill the cells, something evil is waiting in the shadows. Amanda Weir doesn't remember killing her children. All she knows is that she woke up with their bloody bodies in her arms. Sentenced to life in prison, she arrives at Hardstone and tries to adjust to her new life. All she wants is to forget her old self, and to find some way to live with what she did. After all, there's no way she could be innocent... There's something else at Hardstone, however. Something lost and alone, something angry. The ghost of a little girl has been spotted several times, and the prisoners have learned a valuable lesson: whenever the ghost is seen, anyone who looks into its eyes will be dead within a matter of days. But what does the ghost want, and exactly how far has its influence spread in the lives of the prisoners? The Prison is a dark horror story about a woman who finds herself facing the truth about her own past, and about a dead little girl who refuses to accept that her life is over.

    Especially when it's personal. Former FBI profiler, Oliver Quick, has spent the past six years obsessed with catching a serial killer known as the Silencer. But the trail’s gone cold. Until the FBI asks for his help on a case involving a mutilated woman found beneath the pier of a local tourist attraction. The chase is on, with Oliver hunting not one but two serial killers. The Silencer is back, and he’s toying with Quick. Oliver finds himself trapped in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with one of the most notorious serial killers to ever live. Will he finally catch the Silencer and put his demons to rest, or is the Hunter about to become the Hunted…

    But when the president of the synagogue absconds with a small fortune, far deeper—and more troubling—rifts emerge...In "The Closet," Evelyn's sister flees her family to take up residence in the attic—while the shunned Evelyn finds herself slipping into the waters of her sister's soul....In "Wish List," an expert on terrorism, vacationing at an academic retreat in England,receives a late-night phone call from National Public Radio. Asked for commentary on a hostage situation of which he is ignorant, Ed can whisper only: "It's unspeakable."Total ImmersionIn these and other exquisite stories, Allegra Goodman fills rooms with laughter and voices, captures dinner parties, seaside picnics, academic grudges, shul politics, and the kind of hurts that only families and lovers can know. Featuring two new stories previously published in The New Yorker, Total Immersion is Allegra Goodman's first collection of short fiction—a masterful work from one of the most powerful and eloquent voices on the American literary landscape.

    This study guide includes the following sections: Plot Summary, Chapter Summaries & Analysis, Characters, Objects/Places, Themes, Style, Quotes, and Topics for Discussion.

    Rooted in an honest, harrowing, but ally ecstatic confrontation of the mother / daughter relationship in all its complexity and intimacy, it is at the same time an affirmation of continuity and identification."The Chuppah" comprises poems actually used in her wedding ceremony with Ira Wood. This section sings with powerfully female love poetry. There is also a sustained and direct use of her Jewish identity and faith in these poems, as there is in a number of other poems throughout the volume.Readers of Piercy's previous collections will not be surprised to encounter her mixture of the personal and the political, her love of animals and the Cape landscape. There are poems about doing housework, about accidents, about dreaming, about bag ladies, about luggage, about children's fears of nuclear holocaust; about tomcats, insects in the rafters, the influence of a name, appleblossoms and blackberries, pollution, and some of the ways women objectify one another. In "Does the light fail us, or do we fail the light?" Piercy writes with lacerating honesty about our relationships with the elderly and about hers with her father.Some of the most moving poems are domestic, as in the final sequence, "Six underrated pleasures," which finds in daily women's tasks both pleasure and mystery, affirmation of serf and connection with the mother.In all, My Mother's Body is one of Piercy's most powerful and balanced collections.

    An actor, phased out of Hollywood for his Communist ties during McCarthyism, tries to share a meaningful moment with his son. An Israeli soldier comes of age when his brother is maimed on their communal farm. A gallerist, swept up by the 1970s dissident art movement, begins smuggling paintings out of Moscow and curating underground shows in her Jerusalem home. This is a rare collection as accomplished at capturing our soaring triumphs as it is our crippling defeats--a hopeful reminder that we are all closer and more capable than we sometimes feel.

    Then, just when he's convinced his life has passed him by, Sonny, by a stroke of fate, is given a second chance at living. Can he get it right?  Will he be able to evade the grinding loneliness that stalks him? Will he find a way to overcome the unbearable regret that haunts him? Will he ever risk loving again, to find someone with no good-byes in her heart? And, most of all, will he become the man he always could have been?

    She’s there to explore the risqué world of strippers, not her own sexuality. But when wickedly sexy Vince Gray orders a drink and a private audience with her one night, Rebecca soon finds herself having the hottest sex of her life. Unbeknownst to her, Vince has been lying about his true identity. Will Rebecca’s discovery of his deception spell the end of their scorching love affair?Falling Into You is a 26,000 word erotic novella that was originally published in 2007.