Modernity has provided more than enough reason to give up believing in holiness, still we have learned that to give up the struggle to achieve it means that we become less human. As we leave the twentieth century, we discover new reasons to return to old faith. We rediscover an urgent need to defend the sacred, even as our understanding differs from our ancestors. We choose not to retreat from the world, but to struggle within it, to stain ourselves with sin even as we seek to establish the good. —from Chapter 13, “Humanity” The cataclysm of the Holocaust seems to forbid speech. Yet even in the heart of that darkness, sparks of sacredness were kept alive. From these sparks, Rabbi Edward Feld suggests, Jews and others can renew a faith and find a language that recovers the holy even after experiencing the reign of a Kingdom of Night unimaginable to previous generations. In a voice that is engaging, often poetic, Rabbi Edward Feld helps the modern reader understand events that span almost 4,000 years of the history of Judaism and the Jewish people. With rare clarity, insight, and gentleness, he offers a thought-provoking yet accessible study of the way tragedy has shaped Jewish history and the self-understanding of Jews. The Spirit of Renewal explores four key events that reshaped religious expression, two ancient and two modern: the Babylonian exile; the Bar Kochba revolution; the Holocaust; and the establishment of the State of Israel. The Spirit of Renewal shows how, even under the most traumatic of circumstances, Judaism survives, renewing itself and flourishing again. This profound and wise meditation opens the way to a powerful new understanding of the nature of God and the spiritual life.
A celebration of Jewish men's voices in prayer—to strengthen, to heal, to comfort, to inspire from the ancient world up to our own day. "An extraordinary gathering of men—diverse in their ages, their lives, their convictions—have convened in this collection to offer contemporary, compelling and personal prayers. The words published here are not the recitation of established liturgies, but the direct address of today's Jewish men to ha-Shomea Tefilla, the Ancient One who has always heard, and who remains eager to receive, the prayers of our hearts." —from the Foreword by Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson, DHL This collection of prayers celebrates the variety of ways Jewish men engage in personal dialogue with God—with words of praise, petition, joy, gratitude, wonder and even anger—from the ancient world up to our own day. Drawn from mystical, traditional, biblical, Talmudic, Hasidic and modern sources, these prayers will help you deepen your relationship with God and help guide your journey of self-discovery, healing and spiritual awareness. Together they provide a powerful and creative expression of Jewish men’s inner lives, and the always revealing, sometimes painful, sometimes joyous—and often even practical—practice that prayer can be. Jewish Men Pray will challenge your preconceived ideas about prayer. It will inspire you to explore new ways of prayerful expression, new paths for finding the sacred in the ordinary and new possibilities for understanding the Jewish relationship with the Divine. This is a book to treasure and to share.
Insights, Ideas and Thoughtful Questions for Discussing with Students the Essential Core of Judaism—the Talmud. A step-by-step guide to creative use of The Wisdom of Judaism: An Introduction to the Values of the Talmud in the classroom. Each lesson includes: • An opening hook to grab students' attention • Intriguing discussion questions to guide students in a personal exploration of the Talmud • Opportunities for students to engage the text This comprehensive teaching tool will help you guide each student to a deeper understanding of the Talmud and its eternal wisdom. Discover the Talmud and its universal values for all people. While the Hebrew Bible is the cornerstone of Judaism, it is the Talmud that provides many central values for living. The Talmud sets out specific guidelines and lyrical admonitions regarding many of life’s ordinary events, and offers profound words of advice for life’s most intractable dilemmas. This accessible introduction to the Talmud explores the essence of Judaism through reflections on the words of the rabbinic sages, from one of American Judaism’s foremost teachers and writers, Rabbi Dov Peretz Elkins. Dr. Elkins provides fresh insight into ancient aphorisms and shows you how they can be applied to your life today. Topics include: Kindness through Giving, Welcoming and Sharing Human Relationships Personal Values Family Values Teaching and Learning Life’s Puzzles Enlightening and inspiring, the values of the Talmud can be appreciated not just by Jews, but by anyone seeking a greater understanding of life and its mysteries.
BACHYE’S “Guide to the Duties of the Heart” is the unique work that first linked the ethical science of the West with the emotional and spiritual morality of the East. It combines, in an artistic unity, elements drawn from the philosophy and contemplative mysticism of the Arabs, from Biblical and Rabbinic Judaism, and from Greek thought. By exhibiting the spiritual foundations of universal Ethics, and of the moral law of the Bible, in the light of pure reason, Bachye prepared the way for finding that common ground on which, wholly or in part, all the moral religions, and all the non religious systems of morality, are rooted. Therefore, although actually written in Spain, a land of the West, it forms a fitting opening volume for the “Wisdom of the East Series.” Only a small part of the original finds a place in the following pages; but I have in my translation—sometimes literal, now and again a summarised —endeavoured to give a selection of passages connected by the author’s central thought, and showing his line of argument and the aim and spirit of his work, instead of a mere collection of pithy sayings and isolated, beautiful, but disconnected reflections. This was the only way of doing justice to an author, some of whose reasonings are out of date, but the spirit of whose main contention is eternally valid; a teacher of virtue and duty, who did not attempt to inculcate this or that individual virtue, but aimed at the formation of character and conditions in which right conduct would be inevitable, so that details might well be left to take care of themselves. If the modern world owes its delight in physical beauty, and much of its sense of the true in Nature and in Art, to Greece; its ideal of goodness, and practically all the spiritual elements in our thought and feeling, our conception of holiness, and every moral characteristic of civilisation and of culture, have come to us from the Orient. For the form and system of Ethics we may be indebted to the few Hellenic thinkers whose sublime intellects raised them above the phenomenal world into a clear atmosphere of ideas, always suffused with the light of truth and justice; but all the permanent and vital contents of Ethics came, living and pulsating, with their vitalising possibilities, both into that atmosphere and into our life of to-day, with the glow of dawn from the East. Indeed, the two cardinal ideas essential to all present and future moral systems—the sanctity of human life as such, and the absolutely universal authority and validity of moral law and obligation—are entirely absent from even the writings of Plato, the greatest of the Greeks. These two are among the most definite colours that the prism of modern thought has enabled us to single out in our perception of the pure white light, from the sun of righteousness, that shone on Sinai. They are specially characteristic of the Hebrew moral teaching which the three great religions—Judaism, Christianity and Islamism—have spread throughout the world.
These ancient stories whisper truth to your soul. Great stories have the power to draw the heart. But certain stories have the power to draw the heart to God and awaken the better angels of our nature. Such are the tales of the rabbis of the Talmud, colorful, quirky yarns that tug at our heartstrings and test our values, ethics, morality—and our imaginations. In this collection for people of all faiths and backgrounds, Rabbi Burton Visotzky draws on four decades of telling and teaching these legends in order to unlock their wisdom for the contemporary heart. He introduces you to the cast of characters, explains their motivations, and provides the historical background needed to penetrate the wise lessons often hidden within these unusual narratives. In learning how and why these oft-told tales were spun, you discover how they continue to hold value for our lives.
Discover the Talmud and its universal values for all people. While the Hebrew Bible is the cornerstone of Judaism, it is the Talmud that provides many central values for living. The Talmud sets out specific guidelines and lyrical admonitions regarding many of life's ordinary events, and offers profound words of advice for life’s most intractable dilemmas. This accessible introduction to the Talmud explores the essence of Judaism through reflections on the words of the rabbinic sages, from one of American Judaism’s foremost teachers and writers, Rabbi Dov Peretz Elkins. Dr. Elkins provides fresh insight into ancient aphorisms and shows you how they can be applied to your life today. Topics include: Kindness through Giving, Welcoming and Sharing; Human Relationships; Personal Values; Family Values; Teaching and Learning; and Life’s Puzzles. Enlightening and inspiring, the values of the Talmud can be appreciated not just by Jews, but by anyone seeking a greater understanding of life and its mysteries.
In short, I believe, a little bit of religion is a good thing whether or not you fully embrace the idea of God. I believe that Judaism should accept this approach and help its adherents translate their deep, inherent religious needs with the symbols and practices of our ancient tradition. Judaism understands that not only does it have to adapt as part of its cultural dance, but it also has to choose and to create in order to complete its mission: to help modern Jews, the children of Spinoza, and the disciples of Einstein, to stay on course, to see the poetry written into the cosmos, and to help one another on the road to contentment with kindness, with concern and with love. Every once in a while, somebody comes to me and says: “Rabbi, I’m so glad I’m Jewish.” “Rabbi, I’m lucky. I have what I need. I have what I want.” And I smile and count my blessings, too.
Coincidence can color our experiences in ways that cannot be predicted. When the ordinary becomes the extraordinary, it transforms commonplace happenings and gives them new signifi cance and wonder. For half a century, Rabbi David H. Chanofsky has witnessed these transformative miracles, and here, he shares some of his favorite memories and lessons. He shares tales from his years of fighting anti-Semitism in America and of his efforts to defend the rights of Jews everywhere. Through the prism of humor and pathos as they relate to Jewish life, his experiences seek to inspire thought, laughter, tears, and debate. Is there such a thing as conservative and reform Judaism? How does Judaism view intermarriage? Why do so many people feel alone in a crowded synagogue? Is there a solution? What happens when religion and politics intersect in Israel? Who are your Jewish superheroes? The rabbis early experiences gave him a lifelong commitment to Jewish survival and a zealous love of the United States. Judaism is central to his insights, and he approaches these issues with strong, often controversial points of view that he hopes will challenge your perceptions.
Modernity has provided more than enough reason to give up believing in holiness, still we have learned that to give up the struggle to achieve it means that we become less human. As we leave the twentieth century, we discover new reasons to return to old faith. We rediscover an urgent need to defend the sacred, even as our understanding differs from our ancestors. We choose not to retreat from the world, but to struggle within it, to stain ourselves with sin even as we seek to establish the good. —from Chapter 13, “Humanity” The cataclysm of the Holocaust seems to forbid speech. Yet even in the heart of that darkness, sparks of sacredness were kept alive. From these sparks, Rabbi Edward Feld suggests, Jews and others can renew a faith and find a language that recovers the holy even after experiencing the reign of a Kingdom of Night unimaginable to previous generations. In a voice that is engaging, often poetic, Rabbi Edward Feld helps the modern reader understand events that span almost 4,000 years of the history of Judaism and the Jewish people. With rare clarity, insight, and gentleness, he offers a thought-provoking yet accessible study of the way tragedy has shaped Jewish history and the self-understanding of Jews. The Spirit of Renewal explores four key events that reshaped religious expression, two ancient and two modern: the Babylonian exile; the Bar Kochba revolution; the Holocaust; and the establishment of the State of Israel. The Spirit of Renewal shows how, even under the most traumatic of circumstances, Judaism survives, renewing itself and flourishing again. This profound and wise meditation opens the way to a powerful new understanding of the nature of God and the spiritual life.
A rabbi’s lifelong journey to discover the source and inspiration of Hasidism. As a student of Abraham Joshua Heschel’s at Jewish Theological Seminary sixty years ago, Burt Jacobson was moved to devote his life to the study of Israel Baal Shem Tov—the founder of Hasidism. Heschel considered the Baal Shem the greatest Jewish teacher and communal leader of the last 1,000 years. Living in the Presence: A Personal Quest for the Baal Shem Tov is a wide-ranging portrait, revealing numerous facets of the Baal Shem Tov’s biography and revolutionary thought previously unknown. Through his knowledge of the world’s wisdom traditions, and personal journey, Rabbi Jacobson is able to place the Baal Shem in the company of the great world spiritual teachers. He reveals the Baal Shem’s vision as an ecstatic mystical encounter that opened to the transcendent unity of existence. It was this that inspired his love and compassion for all creation, especially for the people he met. His disciples testified that their experience of these truths transformed how they understood their own identities as manifestations of the Divine, altered how they lived as spiritual leaders of their communities, and laid the foundations for Hasidism as a movement. Throughout his book Jacobson presents and evaluates insights of historians and scholars, but it is also filled with personal stories about Jacobson’s own struggle with his Jewish identity and his encounter with the Baal Shem as his spiritual teacher. Both a tour de force and a labor of love, this book will quickly become the most essential work on the subject ever published in English.
October 7, 2023 was not just one of the most tragic days in modern Jewish history; it represented a profound moral and spiritual challenge to liberal Jewish denominations in America. It’s a challenge Jews have faced before, and we rose to the occasion; but are Jews of today up to the challenge? We have the opportunity—and the obligation—to reclaim a Jewish vocabulary of sanctity, activism, and the desire to stand apart from today’s world. Tikkun Ha’am/Repairing Our People is a cry from the heart by one of American Judaism’s most prolific voices. His message: the role of faith is to challenge us as individuals and to challenge society. Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin challenges us to rethink contemporary Jewish identity, Israel, spirituality, and popular culture. Rabbi Salkin invites readers to think deeply about the contemporary world, showing that Judaism has a stake in our world’s political, religious, and cultural battles.
An Intellectually Rich and Challenging Exploration of Modern Jewish Theology "How we deal with revelation determines how we handle the issue of authority in belief and practice. How we understand authority determines how we deal with the claims of the tradition on us; how we deal with those claims determines how we shape our own Judaism. That conclusion opens the gate to a reconsideration of all of Judaism's theology, in particular how we understand God, for God is at the heart of Torah." —from the Introduction With clarity and passion, award-winning teacher, author and theologian Neil Gillman captures the power of Jewish theological claims and reveals extraordinary insights into Jewish identity, the purpose of religion, and our relationship with God. Drawing from Judaism’s sacred texts as well as great thinkers such as Mordecai Kaplan, Abraham Joshua Heschel, and Paul Tillich, Gillman traces his theological journey over four decades of study, beginning with his own understanding of revelation. He explores the role of symbol and myth in our understanding of the nature of God and covenant. He examines the importance of community in both determining authority and sanctifying sacred space. By charting the development of his own personal theology, Gillman explores the evolution of Jewish thought and its implications for modern Jewish religious identity today and in the future.
Sometime, somewhere, someone is searching for answers . . . . . . in a thirteenth-century castle . . . on a train to a concentration camp . . . in a New York city apartment Hidden within the binding of an ancient text that has been passed down through the ages lies the answer to one of the heart’s eternal questions. When the text falls into the hands of Rabbi Kalman Stern, he has no idea that his lonely life of intellectual pursuits is about to change once he opens the book. Soon afterward, he meets astronomer Isabel Benveniste, a woman of science who stirs his soul as no woman has for many years. But Kalman has much to learn before he can unlock his heart and let true love into his life. The key lies in the mysterious document he finds inside the Zohar, the master text of the Kabbalah.
The first female Conservative rabbi in the U.S. reflects on ancient Jewish traditions as a guide to reconciliation and peacebuilding in our lives, our communities, and our world.
A treasury of insight from one of the most creative spiritual thinkers in America. Whether you are new to Kushner or a devoted fan, this is the place to begin. At once deeply human and profoundly spiritual, Lawrence Kushner’s books are a treat for the soul. For nourishment and inspiration— Eyes Remade for Wonder opens wide the gates of Jewish mysticism and spirituality, helping us peel back the layers of meaning that animate our lives. Few writers are more closely identified with the boom of spirituality in America in the past twenty-five years than Lawrence Kushner. With his first book—the now-classic introduction to Jewish mysticism, The Book of Letters—Kushner established himself as one of the most creative religious thinkers in America. He is now read worldwide by people searching to understand the connection between the sacred and the ordinary. With an inspiring Introduction by Thomas Moore, author of the best-selling books Care of the Soul and The Soul of Sex, Eyes Remade for Wonder offers something unique to both the spiritual seeker and the committed person of faith, and is a collection to be treasured and shared.
“Suppose there is something going on in the universe which is to ordinary, everyday reality as our unconcious is to our daily lives? Softly, but unmistakably guiding it. Most of the time, we are unaware of it. Yet, every now and then, on account of some ‘fluke,’ we are startled by the results of its presence. We realize we have been part of something with neither consciousness nor consent. It is so sweet—and then it is gone. You say, ‘But I don’t believe in God.’ And I ask, ‘What makes you think it matters to God?"’ —from Lawrence Kushner, whose previous books have opened up new spiritual possibilities, now tells us stories in a new literary form. Through his everyday encounters with family, friends, colleagues and strangers, Kushner takes us deeply into our lives, finding flashes of spiritual insight in the process. Such otherwise ordinary moments as fighting with his children, shopping for bargain basement clothes, or just watching a movie are revealed to be touchstones for the sacred. This is a book where literature meets spirituality, where the sacred meets the ordinary, and, above all, where people of all faiths, all backgrounds can meet one another and themselves. Kushner ties together the stories of our lives into a roadmap showing how everything “ordinary” is supercharged with meaning—if we can just see it.
An accessible introduction to the concepts of Jewish mysticism, their religious and spiritual significance, and how they relate to our lives. The Way Into Jewish Mystical Tradition allows us to experience and understand mysticism's inexpressible reverence before the awe and mystery of creation, and celebrate this rich tradition's quest to transform our ordinary reality into holiness.
Combines Jewish tradition, contemporary sciences and world spiritual writings with practical contemplative exercises. Will help you balance and integrate mind, body, heart and spirit, reach out to the Divine, and be more fully present and effective in your life.
A comprehensive, inspiring and fascinating discovery of what Jews believe about the Messiah—and why you might believe in the Messiah, too. "The conviction that the Messiah is coming is a promise of meaning. It is a source of consolation. It is a wellspring of creativity. It is a reconciliation between what is and what should be. And it is perhaps our most powerful statement of faith—in God, in humanity and in ourselves." —from Chapter 1, “The Messiah Is Coming!” The coming of the Messiah—the promise of redemption—is among Judaism's gifts to the world. But it is a gift about which the world knows so little. It has been overshadowed by Christian belief and teaching, and as a result its Jewish significance has been all but lost. To further complicate matters, Jewish messianic teaching is enthralling, compelling, challenging, exhilarating—yet, up until now, woefully inaccessible. This book will change that. Rabbi Elaine Rose Glickman brings together, and to life, this three-thousand-year-old tradition as never before. Rather than simply reviewing the vast body of Jewish messianic literature, she explores an astonishing range of primary and secondary sources, explaining in an informative yet inspirational way these teachings’ significance for Jews of the past—and infuses them with new meaning for the modern reader, both Jewish and non-Jewish.
PMA Best Religion Book of the Year! The inspiring guide to spiritual celebration used in hundreds of congregations—Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist—revised and expanded! "Parents and their children acutely feel the social pressures that surround bar and bat mitzvah. But they want to feel the spiritual promise of the event, the pull of the divine, and the knowledge that they are participating in an event that has meaning both in the ancient past and in the very immediate present. They want to know that the steep incline before them is their family's own version of Sinai, the summit where, in every generation, Jews meet God, individually and as a people. They want to know that bar and bat mitzvah can be a path to that summit. And they want to know how to get there. . . . This book can be their guide." —from "Why This Book Was Born" Helps people find core spiritual values in American Jewry's most misunderstood ceremony—bar and bat mitzvah. In a joining of explanation, instruction and inspiration, Rabbi Salkin helps both parent and child truly be there when the moment of Sinai is recreated in their lives. Rabbi Salkin asks and answers questions that make parents and children more comfortable with the event and able to experience it more joyfully. How did bar and bat mitzvah originate? What is the lasting significance of the event? What are the ethics of celebration? What specific things can you do to reclaim the spiritual meaning of the event? How to further develop spirituality? What spiritual values can parents and young people build together? To help guide friends and family who are not Jewish through this important Jewish life cycle event, Rabbi Salkin provides a brief, welcoming overview: "What Non-Jews Should Know About the Bar and Bat Mitzvah Service.
Selected as a Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC) “Significant Jewish Book” Jacob was running away from home. One night he lay down in the wilderness to sleep and had one of the great mystical experiences of Western religion. He dreamed there was a ladder, with angels ascending and descending, stretched between heaven and earth. For thousands of years, people have tried to overhear what the messengers came down to tell Jacob, and us. Now in a daring blend of scholarship and imagination, psychology and history, Lawrence Kushner gathers an inspiring range of interpretations of Genesis 28:16 given by sages, from Shmuel bar Nachmani in third-century Palestine to Hannah Rachel Werbermacher of Ludomir who lived in Poland two hundred years ago. Through a fascinating new literary genre and Kushner’s creative reconstruction of the teachers’ lives and times, we enter the study halls and sit at the feet of these spiritual masters to learn what each discovered about God’s Self and ourselves as they ascend and descend Jacob’s ladder. In this illuminating journey, our spiritual guides ask and answer the fundamental questions of human experience: Who am I? Who is God? What is God’s role in history? What is the nature of evil? How should I relate to God and other people? Could the universe really have a self? Rabbi Lawrence Kushner brilliantly reclaims a millennium of Jewish spirituality for contemporary seekers of all faiths and backgrounds. God Was in This Place & I, i Did Not Know is about God and about you; it is about discovering God’s place in the universe, and yours.
The rich lessons of the Bible can be your leadership guidebook. Successful leaders don’t rely solely on natural charisma and organizational authority as their tickets to success. Successful leadership is a learned art form and a developed discipline. You can master the art of leadership by examining the pitfalls and achievements of past leaders and penetrating the stories of our cultural and religious heritage. The Bible is the ultimate resource for learning by example: its stories of family relationships, political beginnings and even divine encounters provide valuable lessons about leading effectively. In this empowering guidebook, Nathan Laufer walks you through the stories at the very beginning of the Bible to examine the portraits of leadership success—and failure—they contain. He reveals the life-affirming values that the Bible uses to measure its leaders beginning in the Garden of Eden; analyzes the ups and downs in Abraham’s, and later Joseph’s, leadership journeys; and scrutinizes the many challenges faced by Moses—and God—in the books of Exodus and Numbers. Laufer draws out from Bible stories the lessons we can use every day—lessons not only of exemplary leadership, but also of failing to lead, leading with no direction and leading in the wrong direction or to a destructive destination. Through Laufer’s interpretive lenses, these ancient stories come alive to inform and inspire our leadership today and offer us direction for the future. “Nathan Laufer helps us see the stories of the [Bible] in new ways, he turns them into universal paradigms that relate to situations we all face every day, and he distills his insights into practical and powerful guidelines. There is no algorithm for leadership, no cookbook recipe, but it is hard to imagine a leader at any level of an enterprise whose capabilities will not be enhanced by studying this book.” —from the Preface by Dr. Michael Hammer
Wake up to the divine abundance that is all around you! This inspirational companion helps you recognize God’s gifts in the everyday world around you. For each day of the year, an inspiring quote from a Jewish source and a personal reflection on it help you focus on your spiritual life and all the things you have to be grateful for. Using both the secular and Jewish calendar as a framework, this daily devotional helps you honor the special and holy events of the year as well as identify the sacred in the mundane moments of your life. It draws on the wisdom of Jewish sources and teachings, and ancient and contemporary spiritual thinkers, to gain perspective on the abundance that is all around you—in your achievements and challenges, relationships and personal time, joy and suffering, job and home. It will help you elevate the ordinary to the extraordinary every day of the year.
You can understand your Jewish friends and loved ones more fully. A hands-on guide to the most important questions. Introducing My Faith and My Communityprovides an introduction to both the basics and complexities of Judaism and Jewish life through the lens of an interfaith relationship. Rather than providing stock answers to questions about Jewish rituals or values, or giving a broad overview of Jewish history and theology, Rabbi Kerry M. Olitzky addresses topics that will encourage understanding and stimulate discussion between you and your Jewish partner, relative, or friend. Topics include: Beliefs, Religion, and the Place of God in the Jewish Faith Study, Learning, and Charity as Core Values in Jewish Life Food, Holidays, Humor, and Ethnicity as Part of Jewish Culture The Importance of Synagogue, Israel, and Community to American Jews
A Probing and Powerful Look at the Role You Play in Shaping Your Relationship with God “No matter how hard we look, the God of Israel cannot be seen. Looking is not seeing, and seeing God is not like seeing an apple. It is much more like making a medical diagnosis on the basis of looking at a complex set of symptoms. Each of the symptoms is a dot. We can look at the dots and still miss the pattern.” —from Part I The Torah is replete with references to hearing God but precious few references to seeing God. Seeing is complicated. What we look for and see are traces of God’s presence in the world and in history, but not God. In order to identify those traces as reflections of divine presence, we need to re-examine how we see, what we see, and how we interpret that information. In this challenging and inspiring look at the dynamics of the religious experience, award-winning author and theologian Neil Gillman guides you into a new way of seeing the complex patterns in the Bible, history, and everyday experiences and helps you interpret what those patterns mean to you and your relationship with God. Examining faith and doubt, revelation and law, suffering and redemption, Gillman candidly deconstructs familiar biblical moments in order to help you develop and refine your own spiritual vision, so that you are able to discern the presence of God in unanticipated ways.
Enrich Your Passover Seder with Renewed Meaning and Significance Whether you are planning to participate in, contribute to, or lead a Passover Seder, Leading the Passover Journey will help you relive the Jewish People’s legacy of survival, hope, and redemption, and reconnect with the rich heritage celebrated in this special event. Reclaim the hidden meaning of the Passover Seder. Connect the pieces of the Haggadah narrative into one meaningful, cohesive story. From preparing for Passover to understanding the order of the Seder, from eating the meal of freedom in the house of slavery to reenacting the saga at the sea, this fascinating exploration of the texts and traditions surrounding the most celebrated event in the Jewish calendar will awaken latent knowledge and provide new understanding. It will empower you to fully understand and identify with the complete story of the Jewish People’s journey of liberation.
Quite simply, the easiest introduction to Jewish mysticism you can read. An insightful and absorbing introduction to the ten gates of Jewish mysticism and how they apply to daily life. "There is a place that is as far from here as breathing out is from breathing in. For the word is very near to you. Where life forever holds gentle sway over death, where people are human with the same grace that a willow is a willow, where the struggle and the yearning between male and female is at last resolved.... It is to begin with, all inside us." —from the Introduction "In the past decade I’ve read Honey from the Rock at least half a dozen times. Every time I read it I wonder if I have ever read it before. Either it keeps changing, or I do. Maybe it’s both.... As someone told me: 'Lawrence Kushner is a mystic. He gives you flashes of insight.'” —from the Publisher’s Preface to the Anniversary Edition
An ancient spiritual practice rediscovered—and re-imaginated—for today. This fascinating introduction to an ancient spiritual practice is for all of us who are searching for fresh spiritual insight. People of all faiths—and even those with no particular religious involvement—are discovering spiritual direction. Traditionally identified with Christianity, but also resembling the relationship between teacher and student in Buddhism, sheikh and disciple in Islam, and rebbe and Hasid in Judaism, spiritual direction is a distinct kind of relationship for enhancing spiritual growth. And its renewed popularity has led to a now uniquely accessible modern phenomenon: interfaith spiritual direction. Howard Addison presents personal accounts from the lives of people representing a broad spectrum of religious and spiritual traditions to show how we can find guidance and inspiration from people of other faiths—without ever leaving our own. This one-of-a-kind guide explores: Where to find spiritual guidance within your own faith community or beyond it. How spiritual direction can help you, even if you come from no formal religious background. Why and when it may be appropriate to seek a spiritual guide from a faith other than your own. What interfaith spiritual direction means for the future of religion and spirituality in our world.
Breathe New Life into Your Prayer with the Wisdom of Kabbalah and the Hasidic Masters Jewish mystics teach that every word a person utters in prayer should radiate light. Even the letters of the words of prayer carry sparks of the Divine that yearn to join together in holiness. In this inspiring spiritual companion, Reform rabbi Lawrence Kushner and Orthodox rabbi Nehemia Polen join together to provide a window into the liturgy for people of all backgrounds by offering fresh insights and meditations that bring the traditional prayerbook to life. Drawing from the Torah, Zohar, and ancient and contemporary Hasidic masters, Kushner and Polen reflect on the joy, gratitude, compassion, mystery, and awe embedded in traditional prayers and blessings, and show how you can imbue these familiar sacred words with your own sense of holiness. Insightful, fresh, and wise, Filling Words with Light will enrich your understanding of the prayer book and guide you on how to put more of yourself into the holy words of the Jewish tradition.
“Jewish thinkers don’t talk all that much about love. All too often we leave that to Christian theologians. But in this excellent volume, Rabbi Joseph Telushkin puts the commandment to love at the center of Jewish theology and experience. This is a book that will change the way you think about–and practice–Judaism.” –Professor Ari L. Goldman, Columbia University, and author of The Search for God at Harvard “Love your neighbor as yourself” is the best-known commandment in the Bible. Yet we rarely hear anyone talk about how to apply these words in daily life. In this landmark work, Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, one of the premier scholars and thinkers of our time, gives both Jews and non-Jews an extraordinary summation of what Jewish tradition teaches about putting these words into practice. Writing with great clarity and simplicity as well as with deep wisdom, Telushkin covers topics such as love and kindness, hospitality, visiting the sick, comforting mourners, charity, relations between Jews and non-Jews, compassion for animals, tolerance, self-defense, and end-of-life issues. This second volume of the first major code of Jewish ethics written in the English language is breathtaking in its scope and will undoubtedly influence readers for generations to come. It offers hundreds of practical examples from the Torah, the Talmud, the Midrash, and both ancient and modern rabbinic commentaries–as well as contemporary anecdotes–all teaching us how to care for one another each and every day. A Code of Jewish Ethics, Volume 2: Love Your Neighbor as Yourself is a consummate work of scholarship. Like its acclaimed predecessor, which received the National Jewish Book Award, it is rich with ideas to contemplate and discuss, while being primarily a book to live by. Nothing could be more important in these strife-torn times than learning how to love our neighbors as ourselves. The message of this book is as vital and timely now as it has been since time immemorial.
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