Are you hesitant to reveal your Christian faith in the world today? Do you sit in silence as others ridicule church and Jesus Christ? Do you cringe but turn a deaf ear when others curse and take the name of the Lord in anger? You are not alone. Christians everywhere are shrinking into the background of life to avoid confrontation with a world that is blind to the ways of the Kingdom of God. Roberta Palmer Grummond's Christianity Is Not for Cowards offers a wealth of ways to combat unbelievers and remain grounded in faith even during trying times, including doing good works, spending time alone with God's Word, and facing fear head-on. Realizing that the world has been shaken to its core in these last days, she reveals signs that will identify Christians and encourages believers everywhere in a time when Christians inevitably face challenges to their faith in God. Christianity is not a religion for wimps and milquetoasts. It takes courage to be a Christian today, along with strength of character, wisdom, and a whole lot more, as outlined in this thought-provoking book. Indeed, Christianity Is Not for Cowards! My faith has been visited by this powerful book and has been strengthened. Now I feel compelled to be a more vocal and active Christian—a soldier for my Father, Jesus. —Pat Robbins
A myth exists that Jews can embrace the cultural components of Judaism without appreciating the legal aspects of the Jewish tradition. This myth suggests that law and culture are independent of one another. In reality, however, much of Jewish culture has a basis in Jewish law. Similarly, Jewish law produces Jewish culture. A cultural analysis paradigm provides a useful way of understanding the Jewish tradition as the product of both legal precepts and cultural elements. This paradigm sees law and culture as inextricably intertwined and historically specific. This perspective also emphasizes the human element of law's composition and the role of existing power dynamics in shaping Jewish law. In light of this inevitable intersection between culture and law, The Myth of the Cultural Jew: Culture and Law in Jewish Tradition argues that Jewish culture is shallow unless it is grounded in Jewish law. Roberta Rosenthal Kwall develops and applies a cultural analysis paradigm to the Jewish tradition that departs from the understanding of Jewish law solely as the embodiment of Divine command. Her paradigm explains why both law and culture must matter to those interested in forging meaningful Jewish identity and transmitting the tradition.
One of the most talked about books in the Jewish community when it originally appeared, Remix Judaism: Preserving Tradition in a Diverse World offers an eloquent and thoughtful new vision for all Jews seeking a sense of belonging in a changing world, regardless of their current level of observance. Roberta Kwall sets out a process of selection, rejection, and modification of rituals that allow for a focus on Jewish tradition rather than on the technicalities of Jewish law. Her goal is not to sell her own religious practices to readers but, rather, to encourage them to find their own personal meaning in Judaism outside the dictates of Commandment, by broadening their understanding of how law, culture, and tradition fit together. She inspires readers to be intentional and mindful about the space they allocate for these elements in defining their individual Jewish journeys and identities. The paperback edition includes a new preface addressing recently released findings, including the Pew Report on the American Jewish Community, exploring the challenges of practicing Judaism today.
Spiritual transformation is the process of changing one's beliefs, values, attitudes, and everyday behaviors related to a transcendent experience or higher power. Jewish adults who adopt Orthodoxy provide a clear example of spiritual transformation within a religious context. With little prior exposure to traditional practice, these baalei teshuvah (literally, "masters of return" in Hebrew) turn away from their former way of life, take on strict religious obligations, and intensify their spiritual commitment. This book examines the process of adopting Orthodox Judaism and the extensive life changes that are required. Based on forty-eight individual interviews as well as focus groups and interviews with community outreach leaders, it uses psychological developmental theory and the concept of socialization to understand this journey. Roberta G. Sands examines the study participants' family backgrounds, initial explorations, decisions to make a commitment, spiritual struggles, and psychological and social integration. The process is at first exciting, as baalei teshuvah make new discoveries and learn new practices. Yet after commitment and immersion in an Orthodox community, they face challenges furthering their education, gaining cultural knowledge, and raising a family without parental role models. By showing how baalei teshuvah integrate their new understandings of Judaism into their identities, Sands provides fresh insight into a significant aspect of contemporary Orthodoxy.
Too often we make Christianity into a faith filled with rules. What was it that intrigued so many people to follow Jesus and sit at His feet? As you read through this book, you will be challenged to re-explore the meaning of the Sermon on the Mount and how it frees us to be followers of Jesus.
“Explore[s] the Jewish past via letters that reflect connections and collisions between old and new worlds.” —Jewish Book Council At the turn of the 20th century, Jewish families scattered by migration could stay in touch only through letters. Jews in the Russian Empire and America wrote business letters, romantic letters, and emotionally intense family letters. But for many Jews who were unaccustomed to communicating their public and private thoughts in writing, correspondence was a challenge. How could they make sure their spelling was correct and they were organizing their thoughts properly? A popular solution was to consult brivnshtelers, Yiddish-language books of model letters. Dear Mendl, Dear Reyzl translates selections from these model-letter books and includes essays and annotations that illuminate their role as guides to a past culture. “Covers a neglected aspect of Jewish popular culture and deserves a wide readership. For all serious readers of Yiddish and immigrant Jewish culture and customs.” —Library Journal “Delivers more than one would expect because it goes beyond a linguistic study of letter-writing manuals and explicates their genre and social function.” —Slavic Review “Reproductions of brivnshtelers form the core of the book and comprise the majority of the text, providing a ground-level window into a largely obscured past.” —Publishers Weekly “The real delight of the book is in reading the letters themselves . . . Highly recommended.” —AJL Reviews
Written by a veteran liturgy planner for her own parish bulletin, these short articles and reflections on Catholic liturgy, sacraments, and devotions are helpful for individuals, liturgy teams, and parishes interested in learning more about the rituals they celebrate.
Hannah Senesh, poet and Israel?s national heroine, has come to be seen as a symbol of Jewish heroism. Safe in Palestine during World War II, she volunteered for a mission to help rescue fellow Jews in her native Hungary. She was captured by the Nazis, endured imprisonment and torture, and was finally executed at the age of twenty-three.Like Anne Frank, she kept a diary from the time she was thirteen. This new edition brings together not only the widely read and cherished diary, but many of Hannah?s poems and letters, memoirs written by Hannah?s mother, accounts by parachutists who accompanied Hannah on her fateful mission, and insightful material not previously published in English.Timed to coincide with the release of the first-ever documentary feature on the extraordinary human being behind the diary and writings. Described by a fellow parachutist as ?a spiritual girl guided almost by mysticism,? Hannah?s courage and nobility will inspire a new generation of people to follow their own inner voice just as she followed hers.
Although hopelessness surfaces from every area of our world, governments and their leaders would have you believe they are adept at crisis management. They would have you think they possess the ability to get everything under control, solve the world’s problems and manage chaos. However, the evidence of their failure expands. Everything around the globe is shifting positions, dismantling law and order. Anyone can search the daily news and see for themselves mankind’s foolishness. Our sin is not hidden. The church must wake up, repent and use the spiritual authority Jesus Christ invested to believers (Matthew 28:18-20). Right-Side-Up in an Upside-Down World imparts practical wisdom and offers hope through God’s Word. This daily journal will help the reader use their God-given authority in their daily lives. This work stresses the importance of seeking the Word of God and prayer in every situation. Christians can view the world’s calamities with the peace of God that is beyond understanding. Anxiety will not overcome us nor have place in our lives if we seek God and His wisdom in prayer (Philippians 4:6-7). We live in uncertain times. Right-Side-Up supplies insight from God’s Word to direct us through the dark maze the world creates. Without true light, mankind will continue to stumble and fail. As believers, our hope springs from our assurance that nothing takes God by surprise (Romans 8:28). We know He is in control of all things. God ordains individuals in leadership roles for good or for bad to accomplish His plan (2 Chronicles 7:14; 1 Timothy 2:1-4). Nothing happens without His knowledge. In a world inundated with information and change, only the Bible, the inerrant Word of God, contains God’s wisdom that can offer mankind true hope for a better tomorrow (Colossians 2:2-3).
A wide array of renowned scholars and practitioners share their ideas for teaching about God from a Jewish perspective in this comprehensive collection. This enlightening yet practical resource includes ready-to-use lessons for preschool through adult and family education as well as background material to enrich the teacher's own sense of God and spirituality. Chapters include: "Writing a Personal Theology," by Dr. Neil Gillman; "The Changing Perceptions of God in Judaism," by Rabbi Rifat Sonsino; "The Spiritual Condition of American Jews," by Dr. David Ariel; "The Image of God as Teacher," by Dr. Hanan Alexander; "Spiritual Mentoring," by Dr. Carol Ochs; "Tell Me a Story," by Rabbi Sandi Eisenberg Sasso.
Give your students a taste of Torah! Let them thrill with the excitement of reading and understanding text in the original Hebrew and help them develop the skills for a lifetime of talmud Torah.
Samuel Wesley Gathing: A Closer Look is the moving true story of Sam and Beatrice Gathing and the struggles they faced rearing their fourteen children during the era of the Jim Crow laws. These laws meant that both society and the system enforced the damaging view that their children were just stupid black kids. In this climate of institutionalized discrimination, Sam had to maneuver his way through a massive minefield of irrational hatred intended to destroy him and his family. Sam and Beatrice began their life together in December, 1929, in Desoto County, Mississippi, taking the gift of a mule named Rock and a big red cow to start their farm. Over the years, as their family expanded, so did the land that they farmed. Sam learned to live by the rules of the day but was always a true leader to both his family and to his friends. Through all of the challenges that Sam encountered, his faith in God never waveredhe believed that the truth could be found in Gods words and actions, not in the laws that were meant to harm him and his people.
Samuel Wesley Gathing: A Closer Look is the moving true story of Sam and Beatrice Gathing and the struggles they faced rearing their fourteen children during the era of the Jim Crow laws. These laws meant that both society and the system enforced the damaging view that their children were just stupid black kids. In this climate of institutionalized discrimination, Sam had to maneuver his way through a massive minefield of irrational hatred intended to destroy him and his family. Sam and Beatrice began their life together in December 1929, in Desoto County, Mississippi, taking the gift of a mule named Rock and a big red cow to start their farm. Over the years, as their family expanded, so did the land that they farmed. Sam learned to live by the rules of the day but was always a true leader to both his family and to his friends. Through all the challenges that Sam encountered, his faith in God never wavered he believed that the truth could be found in God's words and actions, not in the laws that were meant to harm him and his people.
Hannah and Isaac return in this opulent, riveting, and suspenseful tale--a continuation of Roberta Rich's thrilling debut The Midwife of Venice. The Imperial Harem, Constantinople, 1579: Hannah and Isaac Levi, Venetians in exile, have set up a new life for themselves in Constantinople. Isaac runs a newly established business in the growing silk trade, while Hannah, the best midwife in all of Constantinople, plies her trade within the opulent palace of Sultan Murat III, tending to the thousand women of his lively and infamous harem. But one night, when Hannah is unexpectedly summoned to the palace, she's confronted with Zofia, a poor Jewish peasant girl who has been abducted and sold into the sultan's harem. The sultan favors her as his next conquest and wants her to produce his heir, but the girl just wants to return to her home and the only life she has ever known. Will Hannah risk her life and livelihood to protect this young girl, or will she prioritize her high esteem in the eye of the sultan? An adventurous, opulent and deliciously exciting read, peopled with fascinating, unforgettable characters (a court eunuch; the calculating sultan's mother-in-law; the beguiling harem ladies; and a very mysterious young beauty from Venice who shows up on Hannah's doorstep, causing much havoc), this novel is sure to please fans of The Midwife of Venice and extend Roberta's reputation as a beloved historical fiction author"--
Achva was astounded at the request he had heard. He, the quiet, unassuming star-gazer was to go on a mission for the great Adam. Achva knew all of the stories of his heritage. He knew that Adam and Eve had been the first people placed on this earth by God the Father. He had been carefully taught about the sin committed in the Garden and the wily way that the Evil one could deceive. He remembered that when Cain had killed his brother, Abel, then the sacred line was passed through Seth. He knew all of the stories: Cain and his wicked city; Aluma who had escaped; Tubal-Cain his own ancestor and the valiant Shalomshamars. But now here was the father of all man-kind sending him, a nobody, to the great city of Ur. He had only heard about Ur and had certainly never been there. Ur was hundreds of miles away. How in the world could he get there, and how could he possibly fulfill his mission? “Bring Enoch home,” Adam had ordered. Just as simply as if he were asking nothing harder than bringing a fish from the market. Achva shook his head in wonder. Somehow he had found himself agreeing to this impossible and probably very dangerous mission. His thoughts ran wildly through his head. How could he have refused the Patriarch? How could he look into the depth of those eyes that had looked upon this world for over 600 years and say “no”. Of course he couldn’t refuse, but what in the world had he gotten himself into?
In the 1970s, New York City hit rock bottom. Crime was at its highest, the middle class exodus was in high gear, and bankruptcy loomed. Many people credit New Yorks ''master builder'' Robert Moses with turning Gotham around, despite his brutal, undemocratic. and demolition-heavy ways. Urban critic and journalist Roberta Brandes Gratz contradicts this conventional view. New York City, Gratz argues, recovered precisely because of the waning power of Moses. His decline in the late 1960s and the drying up of big government funding for urban renewal projects allowed New York to organically regenerate according to the precepts defined by Jane Jacobs in her classic, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, and in contradiction to Mosess urban philosophy. As American cities face a devastating economic crisis, Jacobss philosophy is again vital for the redevelopment of metropolitan life. Gratz who was named as one of Planetizens Top 100 Urban Thinkers gives an on-the-ground account of urban renewal and community success.
Heavy footsteps stomped up the wooden step and onto the back porch. The screen door banged behind him. Bright blue eyes sparkled with excitement. In a booming voice, he asked, 'Does anyone here want to move to Kansas?'' Ephraim Von Horne felt the longing to search for new lands, much as his own grandfather had done some years previous when he left Europe with his family to find a new home in America. On a trip to Kansas in 1869, Ephraim found the perfect spot northwest of the small village of Wichita. Proudly, he planted his sign: 'Homestead.' After returning home full of hope, he, his wife, and his family put their departure plans in motion. Inspired by the journey of an actual family, The Homestead Trail takes the reader on an exciting and enlightening trip across the United States. Learn of the Golden Spike era of the railroads; an adventuresome riverboat trip up the Missouri River; the excitement of the Pony Express; the heart-stopping nearness of the Longhorn cattle drives; the glamour of the 'wind wagons, ' and the stark reality of the Santa Fe Trail.
Mi'kal is a young Bedouin prince--half Jew and half Arab--who leaves his camp after being threatened with death by his jealous half-brother. Fleeing toward Galilee, Mi'kal seeks a man named Jesus, who he believes to be his mother's long-awaited Messiah. Both Mi'kal and the reader will recognize the truth about this Galilean in this odyssey of a desert prince's search for eternal life.
It has long been said that a woman's hair is her crowning glory. Indeed, throughout history, hair has remained an important cultural symbol of femininity. In medieval art, iconic images of long, flowing locks can express sexuality, and the cutting of a woman's hair often signals her feminine misbehavior. Artists of all kinds in the Middle Ages used women's long hair to manipulate their audience's estimation of their female figures. This interdisciplinary work explores the significance of women's hair in literature and art from the medieval period through 1525, putting into historical context the ways in which hair participates in construction of the female identity.
Combining her storytelling skills with theological insights and reflections, Bondi here tells the story of the stray cat Nick, who wheedled his way into her family's life, home, and heart. At first almost nothing but a pathetic bag of torn, matted bones, Nick arrived unexpectedly but quickly won their hearts. Under the care of a vet and the Bondis, he regained his health while receiving a home and much affection. His coming and going, his health and its decline, his insanity and death are gently told. Nick's presence prompts Bondi to reflect on the unexpected way grace comes into our lives and how we push away the Other, be it stranger, one who is sick, or a person of different orientations and beliefs. She also comments on evil and mental illness; on suffering and the atonement; on the unexpected nature of love; on the training of the heart and mind and the discipline of the Christian life for dealing with otherness; on the pervasive and persistent nature of sin; and, on the nature of embodiment, mortality, and loss.
What would it be like to journey back to biblical times and talk with the mother of Jesus? To hear of Jesus' ministry firsthand from the one on earth who loved him the most? In this remarkable book, bestselling author Roberta Kells Dorr explores the person of Mary through the eyes of the physician Luke, the author of the third Gospel.Determined to find answers to his many questions, Luke travels to Jerusalem with John and Peter to meet Mary. As he talks with this beautiful woman who is aged by time and sorrow, Luke hears the story of Mary's betrothal to Joseph, her visitation by an angel, and other events from Scripture. Captivated by her story, Luke travels with her to Bethlehem to reminisce about the events surrounding Jesus' birth. Rich in cultural details, warm and personal in narrative, this imaginative novella will make the Gospel story of Jesus newly relevant for contemporary readers of all denominations. It is a beautiful gift for Easter and Mother's Day, and a timeless story that will appeal to fiction aficionados all year round.
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