Languages and Literatures in Jewish Education
The Shambhala Guide to Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism
by Perle Besserman
Jewish mystics from biblical times to the present have explored the hidden secrets of the Torah in quest of a single goal: to lose the self in the Infinite "No-thingness" (Ein Sof) and be at one with God. In language accessible to the layperson, this Shambhala Guide provides a detailed introduction to the complex world of Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism. With an extensive background in meditation practice, Perle Besserman emphasizes Kabbalah's spiritual disciplines, grounded in righteous living, d...
Much of Jewish life, observance, and customs are structured around the Jewish holy days, which consecrate not only something of the past but, also, something that is eternally recurring. The Jewish Holy Days in Chasidic Philosophy by Noson Gurary demonstrates the understanding of the unique and eternal ideas that each Jewish holiday possesses. Chasidic thought has its own particular perspective on Judaism, and on the holidays in particular. This scholarly volume explores the Jewish holy days th...
Judaica embraces those objects associated with the celebration of and adherence to Jewish rituals. This book presents clear explanations and beautiful color pictures of candlesticks, boxes, plates cups, toys, and foods which celebrate Jewish traditions. These objects of creative design display, honor and rekindle the spirit of a 5000-year-old religion to reflect 20th-century modernism.
An exciting new treasury of Jewish stories and storytellers, from ancient tales and classics re-imagined to contemporary family stories, parables, and humor "Why were human beings created?" goes a traditional Jewish saying. "Because God loves stories." Storytelling has been part of Jewish religion and custom from earliest times and it remains a defining aspect of Jewish life. In Because God Loves Stories, folklorist Steve Zeitlin assembles the work of thirty-six Jewish storytellers, each of wh...
Laws and Customs of Israel (Kiraz Theological Archive)
Entering Jewish Prayer: A Guide to Personal Devotion and the Worship Service
by Rabbi Reuven Hammer
Praying by the Book (Early Judaism and Its Literature, #14)
by Judith H Newman
Through this comprehensive study of the Menorah, Carol Meyers demonstrates that its symbolic value comes to exceed its function as a source of light, for it symbolizes plant life, cosmic power, and ultimately the reality of the presence of the deity in the tabernacle.
Credit, Law Enforcement, Taxation (Jewish Law and Jewish Life; Selected Rabbinical Responsa, 5,6)
by Jacob Bazak
Jews and humour is, for most people, a natural and felicitous collocation. In spite of, or perhaps because of, a history of crises and living on the edge, Jews have often created or resorted to humour. But what is "humour"? And what makes certain types, instances, or performances of humour "Jewish"? These are among the myriad queries addressed by the fourteen authors whose essays are collected in this volume. And, thankfully, their observations, always apt and often witty, are expressed with a l...
Studies in Medieval Thought and Learning from Abelard to Wyclif
by Beryl Smalley FBA
The Russian Jewish Diaspora and European Culture, 1917-1937 (IJS Studies in Judaica, #13)
The Jewish emigration from Russia after the Revolution of 1917 changed the face of Jewish culture in Western Europe. Russian Jews brought with them the visions of a national Jewish literature in Hebrew, Yiddish or Russian, and new concepts of secular Jewish music and art. Often they acted as intermediaries between Jewish centres in Europe, which resulted in the creation of a single sphere of Jewish culture common to all parts of the European diaspora. Although some stayed in Western Europe for o...
Focusing on the secular society of contemporary Israel, this collection of essays examines the way civil religion invents collective rites for turning points in community life, and personal definitional rites for ratification of identity change in the individual's life cycle.
First published in 1993, Israel and Zion in American Judaism: The Zionist Fulfillment is a collection of 24 essays exploring the concept of who or what is "Israel" following the establishment of the Jewish State in 1948 and the subsequent crisis of self-definition in American Jewry.
This work focuses on the conception of God of the medieval Jewish philosopher and legal scholar, Hasdai Crescas (1340-1410/11). It demonstrates that Crescas’ God is infinitely creative and good and explores the parallel that Crescas implicitly draws between God as creator and legislator, which is rooted in his understanding of the Deity as continuously involved in generative activity through the outpouring of goodness and love as manifest by multiple, simultaneous and successive worlds and a per...