This work is an academic pursuit that aims to produce innovative scholarly general interest that explores, through a fresh perspective and from a historical approach and a multidisciplinary angle, an understudied subject of Colonial and Early Independent Mexico’s History: Islam.
Faith in the Future addresses some of the major themes of our time: the fragmentation of our common culture, the breakdown of family and community life, the lack of moral direction, and the waning of religious belief. How, Sacks asks, can we construct a humane social order that honors human dignity and difference, one in which we can be both true to ourselves and a blessing to others? In the confusing state of postindustrial societies in the post-Cold War situation, can we give those who come after us a coherent map of hope? In treating such questions, Faith in the Future is structured in four parts. In the first, The Moral Covenant, Sacks touches on the broadest of issues: morality, the family, and the importance of communities in the life of society. In the second, Living Together, he asks how we can co-exist while remaining faithful to our distinctive identities and traditions. In the third, Jewish Ethics and Spirituality, he sketches some of Judaism's leading themes. There is such a thing, says, as an ecology of hope, and it lies in restoring to our culture a sense of family, community, and religious faith.
In this powerful and timely book, one of the most admired and authoritative religious leaders of our time tackles the phenomenon of religious extremism and violence committed in the name of God. If religion is perceived as being part of the problem, Rabbi Sacks argues, then it must also form part of the solution. When religion becomes a zero-sum conceit—i.e., my religion is the only right path to God, therefore your religion is by definition wrong—and when individuals are motivated by what Rabbi Sacks calls “altruistic evil,” violence between peoples of different beliefs appears to be the inevitable outcome. But through an exploration of the roots of violence and its relationship to religion, and employing groundbreaking biblical analysis and interpretation, Rabbi Sacks shows that religiously inspired violence has as its source misreadings of biblical texts at the heart of all three Abrahamic faiths. By looking anew at the book of Genesis, with its foundational stories of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Rabbi Sacks offers a radical rereading of many of the Bible’s seminal stories of sibling rivalry: Cain and Abel, Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, Joseph and his brothers, Rachel and Leah. Here is an eloquent call for people of goodwill from all faiths and none to stand together, confront the religious extremism that threatens to destroy us all, and declare: Not in God’s Name.
The Shemitah, or Sabbath year, is the seventh year of the seven-year agricultural cycle mandated by the Torah for the land of Israel. Understanding this pattern is essential for understanding the prophecy and mysteries of the Bible that are still applicable today.
This work is an academic pursuit that aims to produce innovative scholarly general interest that explores, through a fresh perspective and from a historical approach and a multidisciplinary angle, an understudied subject of Colonial and Early Independent Mexico’s History: Islam.
The Jewish communities of East and Southeast Asia display an impressive diversity. Jonathan Goldstein’s book covers the period from 1750 and focuses on seven of the area’s largest cities and trading emporia: Singapore, Manila, Taipei, Harbin, Shanghai, Rangoon, and Surabaya. The book isolates five factors which contributed to the formation of transnational, multiethnic, and multicultural identity: memory, colonialism, regional nationalism, socialism, and Zionism. It emphasizes those factors which preserved specifically Judaic aspects of identity. Drawing extensively on interviews conducted in all seven cities as well as governmental, institutional, commercial, and personal archives, censuses, and cemetery data, the book provides overviews of communal life and intimate portraits of leading individuals and families. Jews were engaged in everything from business and finance to revolutionary activity. Some collaborated with the Japanese while others confronted them on the battlefield. The book attempts to treat fully and fairly the wide spectrum of Jewish experience ranging from that of the ultra-Orthodox to the completely secular.
Drawing heavily on Inquisition sources, this book rereads the the nexus of politics, race and religion among three newly and incompletely Christianized groups in the seventeenth-century Iberian Atlantic world: Judeoconversos, Afroiberians and Amerindians.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is constantly in the news, but what about the people who live through it? Their lives are often overlooked, their stories ignored. This is especially true of Israelis and Palestinians who follow the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, and seek to meet with each other and reconcile in the context of brotherly and sisterly love. But they do exist, and they do have a story to tell. They have chosen to seek reconciliation by participating in activities organized by Musalaha, an organization which facilitates Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation, and this book, skillfully written by Jonathan McRay, is an attempt to allow their voices and their stories to be heard. This collection of stories is an excellent introduction to some of the many issues faced by these followers of Christ on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian divide, and chronicles the journey toward reconciliation they have chosen to take. The road to reconciliation is long and difficult, and the struggle is vividly portrayed in these narratives. Reading these stories, and the reflection pieces that follow them, leaves one with a picture of real human interaction which goes beyond the stereotypes and caricatures, and offers an authentic glimpse at the lives of Israeli and Palestinian believers, the lives they live, they challenges they face, their fears and their hopes. The stories told in this book are at times difficult to read, as they indicate how much distance still needs to be covered. But they also inspire hope; the brave example of those few who are working toward reconciliation proves that coexistence is possible, and can serve as a model for the future.
The crisis in the Middle East is not a political issue. It's a spiritual issue. Rapidly unfolding events in the Middle East will shape the future, not just of Israel but of our entire world. This insightful commentary by Rabbi Jonathan Bernis combines historical, biblical, and prophetic teaching to help you understand what's happening and how Believers should respond to these events. Drawing from the perspective of a Jewish Believer in Jesus, this book provides a biblical understanding of the complex issues continuing to unfold in the Middle East today and how they relate to key prophecy in Scripture. Discover why there is constant upheaval in the Middle East, what to watch for in the days ahead, and whether peace is really possible. Other books by Rabbi Jonathan Bernis include: Unlocking the Prophetic Mysteries of Israel A Hope and A Future
The Unconverted Self proposes that questions of difference inside Christian Europe not only are inseparable from the painful legacy of colonialism but also reveal Christian domination to be a fragile construct. Boyarin compares the Christian efforts aimed toward European Jews and toward indigenous peoples of the New World, bringing into focus the intersection of colonial expansion with the Inquisition and adding significant nuance to the entire question of the colonial encounter."--Publisher description
Jewish Life in Medieval Spain is a detailed exploration of the Jewish experience in medieval Spain from the dawn of Sephardic society in the ninth century to the expulsion of 1492. An important contribution of the book is the integration of the rise and fall of Jewish life in Muslim al-Andalus into the history of the Jews in medieval Christian Spain. It traces the collapse of Jewish life in Muslim Spain, the emigration of Andalusi Jewry to the lands of Christian Iberia, and the long and difficult confluence of these two distinct Jewish subcultures. Focusing on internal developments of Jewish society, it offers a narrative of Jewish history from the inside out, bringing to light the various divisions and rivalries within the Jewish community. This approach, in turn, allows for a deeper understanding of the complex relations between Spanish Jews and their Muslim and Christian neighbors. Jonathan Ray's original perspective on the Jewish experience is particularly instructive when considering the widescale anti-Jewish riots of 1391. The combination of violence and mass conversion of the Jews irrevocably shifted the dynamics of inter-religious relations as well as those within the Jewish community itself. Yet even in the wake of these tragic events, the Jews of Spain continued to flourish, fostering a culture that they would carry into exile and that would preserve the memory of Jewish Spain for centuries to come.
Published to mark the 100th anniversary of The Jewish Publication Society, Jonathan Sarna’s engaging blend of anecdote and analysis presents the personalities and the controversies, the struggles and the achievements behind a century of publishing by the oldest English-language publisher of Jewish books in the world. Includes black and white photographs and extensive listings of JPS officers and editors, governing boards, and authors, translators, and illustrators, up to 1988.
This collection of essays examines the politicization and the politics of the Jewish people in the Russian empire during the late tsarist period. The focal point is the Russian revolution of 1905, when the political mobilization of the Jewish youth took on massive proportions, producing a cohort of radicalized activists - committed to socialism, nationalism, or both - who would exert an extraordinary influence on Jewish history in the twentieth-century in Eastern Europe, the United States, and Palestine. Frankel describes the dynamics of 1905 and the leading role of the intelligentsia as revolutionaries, ideologues, and observers. But, elsewhere, he also looks backwards to the emergent stage of modern Jewish politics in both Russia and the West and forward to the part played by the veterans of 1905 in Palestine and the United States.
In Mindfulness: A Jewish Approach, Dr. Jonathan Feiner does a masterful job educating our minds and hearts in the understanding and practice of Jewish mindfulness. In an age of distraction and fragmentation this book uses Jewish wisdom, coupled with secular approaches in an integrated manner that serves as a road map to living life with greater awareness, purpose, and ability to live more fully in the present.
One of the most respected religious thinkers of our time makes an impassioned plea for the return of religion to its true purpose—as a partnership with God in the work of ethical and moral living. What are our duties to others, to society, and to humanity? How do we live a meaningful life in an age of global uncertainty and instability? In To Heal a Fractured World, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks offers answers to these questions by looking at the ethics of responsibility. In his signature plainspoken, accessible style, Rabbi Sacks shares with us traditional interpretations of the Bible, Jewish law, and theology, as well as the works of philosophers and ethicists from other cultures, to examine what constitutes morality and moral behavior. “We are here to make a difference,” he writes, “a day at a time, an act at a time, for as long as it takes to make the world a place of justice and compassion.” He argues that in today’s religious and political climate, it is more important than ever to return to the essential understanding that “it is by our deeds that we express our faith and make it real in the lives of others and the world.” To Heal a Fractured World—inspirational and instructive, timely and timeless—will resonate with people of all faiths.
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