In a comprehensive examination of how Christian scholars in the United States received, interpreted, and understood Hebrew texts and the Jewish experience, Shalom Goldman explores Hebraism's relationship to American society. By linking history, theology, and literature from the colonial period through the twentieth century, Goldman illuminates the religious and cultural roots of American interest in the Middle East. God's Sacred Tongue is structured around a sequence of biographical and intellectual portraits of individuals including Jonathan Edwards, Isaac Nordheimer, Professor George Bush (an ancestor of President George W. Bush), and twentieth-century literary critic Edmund Wilson. Since the colonial period, America has been perceived as a western Promised Land with emotional, spiritual, and physical links to the Promised Land of biblical history. Goldman gives evidence from scholarship, diplomacy, journalism, the history of higher education, and the arts to show that this perception is linked to the role Hebrew and the Bible have played in American cultural history. The book's final section takes up the story of American Christian Zionism, among whose Protestant adherents political Zionism found much of its strongest support. Religious and cultural figures such as William Rainey Harper and Reinhold Niebuhr are among those who exemplify the centuries-old ties between America, the Land of Promise, and Israel, the Promised Land.
This book tells the stories of twentieth century Jewish intellectuals and activists who converted to Islam. Some were motivated by religious reasons, others by political considerations. The book reveals whether the geopolitical events of the twentieth century confirmed, complicated, or refuted their aspirations.
One of the world's oldest recorded folktales tells the story of a handsome young man and the older woman in whose house he resides. Overcome by her feelings for him, the woman attempts to seduce him. When he turns her down she is enraged, and to her husband she accuses the young man of attacking her. The husband, seemingly convinced of his wife's innocence, has the young man punished. But it is precisely that punishment that leads to the hero's vindication and eventual rise to power and prominence. In the West we know this tale--classified in folklore as the Potiphar's Wife motif--from its vivid narration in the Hebrew Bible. But as Shalom Goldman demonstrates in this book, the Bible's is only one telling of a story that appears in the scriptures and folklore of many peoples and cultures, in many different eras, including ancient Egypt, classical Greece, and ancient Mesopotamia, as well as post-Biblical Jewish literature, the Qur'an, and Inuit culture. Goldman compares and contrasts the treatment of this motif especially in the literature and lore of the ancient Near East, Biblical Israel, and early Islam, at the same time touching on gender issues--the status of women in Middle Eastern societies and the varying constructions of male-female relationships--and the vexed question of "originality" in the narratives of the monotheistic traditions.
The standard histories of Zionism have depicted it almost exclusively as a Jewish political movement, one in which Christians do not appear except as antagonists. In the highly original Zeal for Zion, Shalom Goldman makes the case for a wider and m
This book is an exploration of what would seem to be a simple question, but is actually the object of a profound quest—“who is a Jew?” This is a deeply complex issue, both within Judaism, and in interactions between Jews and Christians. Jewish–Christian Difference and Modern Jewish Identity: Seven Twentieth-Century Converts contends that in the twentieth century the Jewish–Christian relationship has changed to the extent that definitions of Jewish identity were reshaped. The stories of the seven influential and creative converts that are related in this book indicate that the borders dividing the Jewish and Christian faiths are, for many, more fluid and permeable than ever before.
Jewish-Christian Difference and Modern Jewish Identity: Seven Twentieth-Century Converts contends that in the twentieth century the borders dividing the Jewish and Christian faiths have, for many people, become fluid.
Life as Creation: A Jewish Way of Thinking about the World is a collection of aphorisms centered around the biblical concept of creation. It is a collection of provocative thoughts centered on themes such as Creation and Chosenness, Ultimate Limitations in Human Creative Powers, and Creation as Making One's Own Life in Freedom. It is a meditation intended to help the reader understand the purpose of life as a creative being.
KEEPER OF THE FLAME is the true story of an immigrant's journey from poverty to fortune and his hand in the salvation of a nation. It is also the story of the Sephardim, almost unknown in the West. An inspiring tale for all readers.
The tradition of the Maggid the speaker, storyteller, and profound ethicist has been best exemplified by Rabbi Shalom Schwadron, the great Maggid of Jerusalem. This book captures his eloquence and humor.
After many years of learning about the spiritual meaning of the Jewish holidays according to the wisdom of Kabbalah, we thought it was judicious to bind together selected source excerpts on the topic from the greatest kabbalists throughout the ages, and primarily Rav Yehuda Leib HaLevi Ashlag (Baal HaSulam), and his firstborn son and successor, my teacher, Rav Baruch Shalom HaLevi Ashlag (RABASH). Landmarks was compiled so as to pave the way for all our friends, Kabbalah students from around the world, who aspire to be Israel—Yashar El [directly to the Creator], namely to aim themselves directly to the upper force, the power of bestowal and love. In Hebrew, the word Hag [holiday/festival] comes from the word Hug, meaning a circle. As the hands of a clock repeatedly return to the same numbers, we, too, experience spiritual states in a cyclical process. It begins with the exodus from Egypt, which we celebrate on Passover, symbolizing the beginning of the process, and ends with the final correction on the holiday of Purim. Each holiday and festival in the cycle of the year is like a landmark symbolizing an important stage in the development of the soul. Through these stages, we come to know ourselves, build ourselves, and experience the spiritual process over and over again. I am thankful to my devoted students who collected the excerpts herein for those already on the path, and for those who are yet to come, and I hope that reading them will help us advance the entire world toward redemption.
In a comprehensive examination of how Christian scholars in the United States received, interpreted, and understood Hebrew texts and the Jewish experience, Shalom Goldman explores Hebraism's relationship to American society. By linking history, theology, and literature from the colonial period through the twentieth century, Goldman illuminates the religious and cultural roots of American interest in the Middle East. God's Sacred Tongue is structured around a sequence of biographical and intellectual portraits of individuals including Jonathan Edwards, Isaac Nordheimer, Professor George Bush (an ancestor of President George W. Bush), and twentieth-century literary critic Edmund Wilson. Since the colonial period, America has been perceived as a western Promised Land with emotional, spiritual, and physical links to the Promised Land of biblical history. Goldman gives evidence from scholarship, diplomacy, journalism, the history of higher education, and the arts to show that this perception is linked to the role Hebrew and the Bible have played in American cultural history. The book's final section takes up the story of American Christian Zionism, among whose Protestant adherents political Zionism found much of its strongest support. Religious and cultural figures such as William Rainey Harper and Reinhold Niebuhr are among those who exemplify the centuries-old ties between America, the Land of Promise, and Israel, the Promised Land.
One of the world's oldest recorded folktales tells the story of a handsome young man and the older woman in whose house he resides. Overcome by her feelings for him, the woman attempts to seduce him. When he turns her down she is enraged, and to her husband she accuses the young man of attacking her. The husband, seemingly convinced of his wife's innocence, has the young man punished. But it is precisely that punishment that leads to the hero's vindication and eventual rise to power and prominence. In the West we know this tale--classified in folklore as the Potiphar's Wife motif--from its vivid narration in the Hebrew Bible. But as Shalom Goldman demonstrates in this book, the Bible's is only one telling of a story that appears in the scriptures and folklore of many peoples and cultures, in many different eras, including ancient Egypt, classical Greece, and ancient Mesopotamia, as well as post-Biblical Jewish literature, the Qur'an, and Inuit culture. Goldman compares and contrasts the treatment of this motif especially in the literature and lore of the ancient Near East, Biblical Israel, and early Islam, at the same time touching on gender issues--the status of women in Middle Eastern societies and the varying constructions of male-female relationships--and the vexed question of "originality" in the narratives of the monotheistic traditions.
This book is an exploration of what would seem to be a simple question, but is actually the object of a profound quest—“who is a Jew?” This is a deeply complex issue, both within Judaism, and in interactions between Jews and Christians. Jewish–Christian Difference and Modern Jewish Identity: Seven Twentieth-Century Converts contends that in the twentieth century the Jewish–Christian relationship has changed to the extent that definitions of Jewish identity were reshaped. The stories of the seven influential and creative converts that are related in this book indicate that the borders dividing the Jewish and Christian faiths are, for many, more fluid and permeable than ever before.
This book is in a category of its own. It is the authoritative handbook of Jewish meditation. This invaluable technique was nearly lost in the holocaust of European Jewry, but R' Sterne has brought it back from the edge of extinction by translating this seminal work from the Chasidic master, the Rebbe Rashab of Lubavitch (1860-1920). Features a full English translation, many diagrams and tables to clarify spiritual levels, a full commentary bringing the esoteric material closer to our modern consciousness, and two appendices with extensive scholarly notes. A must for the serious Jewish English library, now for the first time available in softback format.
The world was reeling from the unimaginable calamity of the Holocaust. Yet, another tragedy was unfolding, centuries in the making. Along the shores of the Mediterranean languished a vast Jewish population in spiritual hibernation, barely aware of their heritage. The forgotten million had to be awakened, reclaimed for the Jewish people, and Isaac Shalom dedicated his life and fortune to that task. Keeper of the flame is the true story of an immigrant's journey from poverty to fortune and his hand in the salvation of a nation. It is also the story of the Sephardim, almost unknown in the West. An inspiring tale for all readers."--Back cover.
This novel is not about the rich, famous, or over privileged but rather the common everyday people of all ages and walks of life who are and have struggled with racism, broken hearts, lost loves, along with several other burdens that have destroyed many people. But by the hand of God and people with a persistent faith, they find a way to overcome tragedy not just to exist but to thrive, help others to have peace and joy beyond all human understanding. The title When Circles End was chosen to put a focus on the things that take place in people's lives by pure chance that are a repetition of a previous events, circumstances, or happenings, small or large, in a previous time. Some completed in days, some months, some years, some a century, or more. The things the readers of this have to decipher is: are the circles that are completed in this writing and in their own lives really just a coincidence, or was the hand of God involved? Just an example in my own life, my parents bought a farm the year I was born (1954). Within a year, we were in a bad car crash while my mother was pregnant with me and a new pickup truck was purchased. Twenty-five years later, my wife and I bought a small farm, were in a bad car crash while she was pregnant, and we bought a new pickup truck. In both crashes, the other drivers were at fault. Look back in your life and see if this type of thing took place in you or your family's life without you even spotting it. It may be something big or as small as a few spoken words that resurface at a later date. If you do or don't believe in God or his kingdom, hopefully after you see the circles that have been completed in your lives, your faith will be strengthened or you will start a walk of faith. The most important circle for mankind is nearing competition when Jesus returns as he said he would. What does the name Selah Shalom mean? Forever peace. When you get to the point in your life that you have true peace, I guarantee you will have a whole new outlook on your problems and struggles. Many of the material things, even money, will play a much smaller part in your security.
This is the first comprehensive philosophical-theological study of the mystical thought of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook (1865-1935), the Chief Rabbi of Palestine prior to the establishment of the state of Israel, and the great representative of the most significant renewal of the Jewish mystical thought in modern times. Rav Kook was the spiritual and hallachic authority who laid the foundation of religious Zionism. Discontent with "Hamizrakhi" political pragmatism, he envisioned Zionism as a movement of return and all-encompassing Jewish renaissance. This book dissolves the mist enveloping Rav Kook's writings and offers an understanding of his spiritual world. It presents and analyzes the systematic elements in his teaching and reveals the spiritual interests and fundamental approaches of his religious thought.
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