Book picks similar to
Jewish Ethics & Social Justice by Shmuly M. Yanklowitz
judaism
religion
jewish
social-justice
It's Friday, But Sunday's Comin' [With CD]
Tony Campolo - 1984
This classic book, expanded from the film of the same title, brings you face to face with Dr. Campolo to hear just such a message: an unashamed proclamation that the Gospel of Christ, when taken seriously, is able to meet every human need-the need for psychological health, emotional well-being, self worth and value, love, purpose in life, miracles, and hope. With passion and humor Campolo challenges us to face life's problems with the hope of the resurrection and shout, "It's Friday, but Sunday's comin' "
Muslims and Jews in America: Commonalities, Contentions, and Complexities
Reza Aslan - 2011
Yet, despite their relatively small numbers, the members of these two minority groups often find themselves the focus of a disproportionate amount of media attention, particularly when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Beyond such international issues, American Jews and American Muslims find themselves struggling with similar inter-communal concerns when it comes to matters like education (for example tensions between student populations of Jews and Muslims on university campuses), politics (such as the swearing in of the first Muslim Congressman in the House of Representatives, Keith Ellison, or the omnipresent emails and robo-calls linking President Obama to the Muslim community that emerged during the 2008 Presidential election), or even pop culture (think of such recent Hollywood productions as Kingdom in Heaven, Munich, Paradise Now, and Traitor, to name but a few). In all of these matters, American Jews and American Muslims have consistently engaged each other in conversation – whether directly or indirectly; constructive or not – in ways that have usually eluded their co-religionists throughout the rest of the world. This has partly to do with America’s ethos as a “melting pot” of different religions, ethnicities, and cultures. But it also has to do with the innovative ways in which Judaism and Islam have absorbed, and been radically altered, by the so-called “American experience.”This book is an exploration of contemporary Jewish-Muslim relations in the United States and the distinct and often creative ways in which these two communities interact with one another in the American context. Each essay discusses a different episode from the recent twentieth and current twenty-first century American milieu that links these two groups together. Some deal with case examples of local inter-communal interaction, such as “dialogue groups,” which can help us better understand national trends of similar activities in other parts of the country. Others focus on national trends themselves, thus giving us greater insights into individual incidents.
Nine Talmudic Readings by Emmanuel Levinas
Emmanuel Levinas - 1990
These essays are crucial to the interpretation of Levinas's work more generally, [and] Aronowicz's excellent introduction and occasional notes are very helpful in making this work accessible to those unacquainted with either Talmud or Levinas." --Religious Studies ReviewNine rich and masterful readings of the Talmud by the French Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas translate Jewish thought into the language of modern times. Between 1963 and 1975, Levinas delivered these commentaries at the annual Talmudic colloquia of a group of French Jewish intellectuals in Paris. Here Levinas applies a hermeneutic that simultaneously allows the classic Jewish texts to shed light on contemporary problems and lets modern problems illuminate the texts. Besides being quintessential illustrations of the art of reading, the essays express the deeply ethical vision of the human condition that makes Levinas one of the most important thinkers of our time.
The Abolition of Sanity: C.S. Lewis on the Consequences of Modernism
Steve Turley - 2019
Love is a Rebellious Bird
Elayne Klasson - 2019
Why, for sixty years, did she persist in loving someone who never gave as much as he was given? In her quest for understanding, she writes her story to this exceptional man. Meeting as children in Chicago, they move to opposite coasts. Elliot embarks on a remarkable legal career in Washington and New York while Judith raises her children alone in California, after tragedy. Coming together again and again throughout their lives, their love is never equal, Elliot defining the terms of the relationship.Judith examines the role of Beauty in love, for Elliot's face and form were beautiful. She considers the role of Consolation, how they supported one another in devastating times. Insanity, Magic, Deceit, Sensory Fulfillment, and, finally, Being Seen—Judith looks at these many aspects of her love.Her feelings for this man cost her, impinged on every other relationship in her life: friends, her two husbands, even her three children. After sixty years, however, it all changes. Judith makes one more profound sacrifice, finally achieving a sort of long-awaited happiness in her love.
Celebrating Jesus in the Biblical Feasts: Discovering Their Significance to You as a Christian
Richard Booker - 2008
RECLAIM YOUR SPIRITUAL HERITAGEThrough God?s carefully ordered system of ceremonialworship,He revealed Himself most clearly to thenation of Israel.This is especially evident in the seven?Feasts of the LORD? as detailed in Leviticus 23:Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, Pentecost,Trumpets,Atonement, and Tabernacles.These feasts arepictures of a person, the Messiah, and represent sevenphases of spiritual growth in the life of the believer.JESUS REVEALED IN THE FEASTSGod gave these festivals as foreshadowings of Jesus andHis various works of grace in the lives of all believers.The author clearly depicts the unity found in God?sunfolding purposes for His people, be they Jew orGentile, from the new birth found in Passover and theCrucifixion, all the way to entering God?s rest found in
Renovate or Die: 10 Ways to Focus Your Church on Mission
Bob Farr - 2011
Bob Farr asserts that to change the world, we must first change the Church. As Adam Hamilton says in the Foreword, "Read [this book] carefully with other leaders in your church. . . . You'll soon discover both a desire to renovate your church and the tools to effectively lead your church forward." If we want to join Robert Schnase and claim radical hospitality, passionate worship, intentional faith development, risk-taking mission and service, and extravagant generosity, we must also engage pastors and motivate churches. We must renovate and overhaul our churches and not merely redecorate and tinker with our church structure. With straightforward language and practical tips, this book will inspire and help you organize your church for new life on the mission field. Learn how to grow your church and discover the commitments that denominational leaders must make to guarantee the fruitfulness of local congregations.
The Tent of Abraham: Stories of Hope and Peace for Jews, Christians, and Muslims
Joan D. Chittister - 2006
Written by three leaders belonging to different faiths, the book explores in accessible language the mythic quality and the teachings of reconciliation that are embedded in the Torah, the Qur'an, and the Bible.
If a Place Can Make You Cry: Dispatches from an Anxious State
Daniel Gordis - 2002
They planned to be there for a year, during which time Daniel would be a Fellow at the Mandel Institute in Jerusalem. This was a euphoric time in Israel. The economy was booming, and peace seemed virtually guaranteed. A few months into their stay, Gordis and his wife decided to remain in Israel permanently, confident that their children would be among the first generation of Israelis to grow up in peace.Immediately after arriving in Israel, Daniel had started sending out e-mails about his and his family’s life to friends and family abroad. These missives—passionate, thoughtful, beautifully written, and informative—began reaching a much broader readership than he’d ever envisioned, eventually being excerpted in The New York Times Magazine to much acclaim. An edited and finely crafted collection of his original e-mails, If a Place Can Make You Cry is a first-person, immediate account of Israel’s post-Oslo meltdown that cuts through the rhetoric and stridency of most dispatches from that country or from the international media. Above all, Gordis tells the story of a family that must cope with the sudden realization that they took their children from a serene and secure neighborhood in Los Angeles to an Israel not at peace but mired in war. This is the chronicle of a loss of innocence—the innocence of Daniel and his wife, and of their children. Ultimately, through Gordis’s eyes, Israel, with all its beauty, madness, violence, and history, comes to life in a way we’ve never quite seen before.Daniel Gordis captures as no one has the years leading up to what every Israeli dreaded: on April 1, 2002, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared that Israel was at war. After an almost endless cycle of suicide bombings and harsh retaliation, any remaining chance for peace had seemingly died.If a Place Can Make You Cry is the story of a time in which peace gave way to war, when childhood innocence evaporated in the heat of hatred, when it became difficult even to hope. Like countless other Israeli parents, Gordis and his wife struggled to make their children’s lives manageable and meaningful, despite it all. This is a book about what their children gained, what they lost, and how, in the midst of everything, a whole family learned time and again what really matters.From the Hardcover edition.
People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present
Dara Horn - 2021
Often asked by major publications to write on subjects related to Jewish culture—and increasingly in response to a recent wave of deadly antisemitic attacks—Horn was troubled to realize what all of these assignments had in common: she was being asked to write about dead Jews, never about living ones. In these essays, Horn reflects on subjects as far-flung as the international veneration of Anne Frank, the mythology that Jewish family names were changed at Ellis Island, the blockbuster traveling exhibition Auschwitz, the marketing of the Jewish history of Harbin, China, and the little-known life of the "righteous Gentile" Varian Fry. Throughout, she challenges us to confront the reasons why there might be so much fascination with Jewish deaths, and so little respect for Jewish lives unfolding in the present.Horn draws upon her travels, her research, and also her own family life—trying to explain Shakespeare’s Shylock to a curious ten-year-old, her anger when swastikas are drawn on desks in her children’s school, the profound perspective offered by traditional religious practice and study—to assert the vitality, complexity, and depth of Jewish life against an antisemitism that, far from being disarmed by the mantra of "Never forget," is on the rise. As Horn explores the (not so) shocking attacks on the American Jewish community in recent years, she reveals the subtler dehumanization built into the public piety that surrounds the Jewish past—making the radical argument that the benign reverence we give to past horrors is itself a profound affront to human dignity.
Choosing Judaism
Lydia Kukoff - 1983
By sharing her own story, Lydia Kukoff creates a remarkable work about what it means to make this significant choice. Years after her own conversion she continues to question, grow, and learn, and encourages others to do the same.
Exodus and Revolution
Michael Walzer - 1985
"Walzer knows his Bible. He stands in the growing ranks of contemporary academicians who are discovering in biblical and rabbinic sources a literature rich with significance for modern man".--Chaim Potok, "Philadelphia Inquirer".
Path of the Just
Moshe Chayim Luzzatto - 2004
Ever since it was first published in 1740 in Amsterdam, it has enjoyed great renown and was eventually adopted as a basic text for ethical study. Throughout the long history of its publication, Mesillat Yesharim fell prey to many printers' errors. A breakthrough in its restoration occurred with the remarkable discovery by Ofeq Institute of a manuscript of an earlier version in the form of a dialogue, in the author's own hand. With this discovery and the aid of the first edition, Mesillat Yesharim was restored to its original state. Over the last decade, Ofeq Institute has published both versions of Mesillat Yesharim, the Dialogue and the Thematic, in Hebrew, twin editions. For although the two versions share the same content, they each supplement elements missing in the other. Of pivotal importance are the added chapters at the beginning of the Dialogue Version. These shed light on the profound nature of the work as a whole. It has now become common practice to study the two versions together, for the Dialogue Version reveals the brilliance of Mesillat Yesharim for all who seek to deepen their understanding of it. Ofeq has now published a new Hebrew-English edition of both versions in one volume utilizing an innovative facing-column format. With its completely new translation, invaluable commentary, Introduction and Epilogue (Bein Hamesilot), and extensive cross-referencing, this new edition allows the brilliance of the original to shine through. Available in two bindings: Hebrew-bound, i.e. right-to-left as with a standard Hebrew book, and English-bound, i.e. left-to-right as with a standard English book.
Where the Soul Hungers: One Doctor’s Journey from Atheism to Faith
Samuel Morris Brown - 2021
Brown was an atheist from an early age and proud of it. Yet, by his own account, God became an undeniable presence in his life. Now a faithful Latter-day Saint, this practicing research physician narrates some of the waypoints on his journey into believing and belonging. Some are dramatic—his wife’s cancer diagnosis or working in a hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic—while many are simple yet profound: being mistaken for a homeless person while a student at Harvard, growing to like little children and opera, and learning to bake cookies for others. With gentle, self-critical humor and a generous regard for those who have accompanied him on his way, Brown’s book is an offer to walk with you a while on your own journey of faith.