Reconnect with the power and promise of engagement with Torah from a modern men's perspective.

This major contribution to modern biblical commentary addresses the most important concerns of modern men issues like relationships, sexuality, ambition, work and career, body image, aging, and life passages by opening them up to the messages of the Torah. It includes commentaries by some of the most creative and influential rabbis, cantors, journalists, media figures, educators, professors, authors, communal leaders, and musicians in contemporary Jewish life, and represents all denominations in Judaism. Featuring poignant and probing reflections on the weekly Torah portions, this collection shows men how the messages of the Torah intersect with their own lives by focusing on modern men s issues.

Ideal for anyone wanting a new, exciting view of Torah, this rich resource offers perspectives to inspire all of us to gain deeper meaning from the Torah as well as a heightened appreciation of Judaism and its relevance to our lives.

Contributors Rabbi Howard A. Addison Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson Doug Barden Rabbi Tony Bayfield, DD Ariel Beery Rabbi Joseph Black Rabbi Mitchell Chefitz Dr. Norman J. Cohen Rabbi Mike Comins Rabbi Elliot N. Dorff, PhD Rabbi Dan Ehrenkrantz Rabbi Dov Peretz Elkins Rabbi Edward Feinstein Rabbi Mordecai Finley, PhD Wayne L. Firestone Rabbi David J. Gelfand Dr. Sander L. Gilman Ari L. Goldman Rabbi Daniel Gordis, PhD Rabbi Arthur Green Rabbi Steven Greenberg Joel Lurie Grishaver Rabbi Donniel Hartman, PhD Rabbi Hayim Herring, PhD Peter Himmelman Rabbi Walter Homolka, PhD Rabbi Reuven Kimelman Rabbi Elliott Kleinman Cantor Jeff Klepper Rabbi Peter S. Knobel Rabbi Harold S. Kushner Rabbi Daniel Landes Rabbi Steven Z. Leder Prof. Julius Lester Rabbi Robert N. Levine, DD Rabbi Joseph B. Meszler Rabbi John Moscowitz Rabbi Perry Netter Rabbi Kerry M. Olitzky Rabbi Stephen S. Pearce, PhD Rabbi Daniel F. Polish Dennis Prager Rabbi Jack Riemer Rabbi Stephen B. Roberts Rabbi David B. Rosen Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin Rabbi Sidney Schwarz, PhD Rabbi Rami Shapiro Rabbi Charles Simon Rabbi Elie Kaplan Spitz Craig Taubman Rabbi Levi Weiman-Kelman Rabbi Simkha Y. Weintraub Rabbi Avraham (Avi) Weiss Dr. Ron Wolfson Rabbi David J. Wolpe Rabbi David Woznica Rabbi Sheldon Zimmerman Rabbi Daniel G. Zemel"

Blending the deep traditions of Jewish humanism with modern philosophical expressions, this book argues that Jewish values are not fixed propositions embedded in written form that can be easily handed off from one generation to the next.

Although in Second Temple literature we find a variety of songs concerned with the future of Jerusalem, little attempt has been made to analyse these comparatively as a generic group. In this study, three songs have been selected on the basis of their similarity in style, ideas and their apparent original composition in Hebrew. The texts have been subjected to a literary analysis both individually and then comparatively.

Conciliation in the Qur'an addresses an existing imbalanced focus in Islamic Studies on conflict in the Qur'an, and moves beyond a restrictive approach to sulh (reconciliation) as a mediation process in fragmented social contexts. The book offers a critical analysis of conciliation as a holistic concept in the Qur'an, providing linguistic and structural insight based on the renowned pre-modern Arabic exegesis of Al-Razi (d. 1209) and the under-studied contemporary Urdu exegesis of Islahi (d. 1997). This ambitious thematic study of the entire Qur'an includes an innovative examination of the central ethical notion of ihsan (gracious conduct), and a challenging discussion of notorious passages relating to conflict. The author offers solutions to unresolved issues such as the significance of the notion of islah (order), the relationship between conciliation and justice, and the structural and thematic significance of Q.48 (Surat Al-Fath) and Q.49 (Surat Al-Hujurat). Conciliation in the Qur'an offers a compelling argument for the prevalence of conciliation in the Islamic scripture, and will be an essential read for practitioners in Islamic studies, community integration, conflict-resolution, interfaith dialogue and social justice.

This volume concludes the edition, translation, and commentary of the third order of the Jerusalem Talmud. The pentateuchal expression lqkh 'AAh a oeto take as wifea is more correctly translated either as a oeto acquire as wifea or a oeto select as wifea . The Tractate QidduAin deals with all aspects of acquisition as well as the permissible selections of wives and the consequences of illicit relations.

The addresses presented in this volume were delivered by the first Prime Minister of the State of Israel to a select group of students who comprised the "Prime Minister's Bible Study Circle." The issues with which Mr. Ben-Gurion wrestles, and the resolutions he proposes, will be of interest to all those interested in the sacred text, regardless of religion. Originally published in Hebrew in 1969.

The scholarly study of the texts traditionally regarded as sacred in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam has been an important aspect of Wissenschaft des Judentums and was often conceptualized as part of Jewish theology. Featuring studies on Isaak Markus Jost's Jewish children's Bible, Samson Raphael Hirsch's complex position on the question whether or not the Hebrew Bible is to be understood within the context of the Ancient Orient, Isaac Mayer Wise's "The Origin of Christianity," Ignaz Goldziher's Scholarship on the Qur'an, modern translators of the Qur'an into Hebrew, and the German translation of the Talmud, the volume attempts to shed light on some aspects of this phenomenon, which as a whole seems to have received few scholarly attention, and to contextualize it within the contemporary intellectual currents.

Going beyond Allan BlooM's "The Closing of the American Mind," Paul Eidelberg shows how the cardinal principles of democracy--freedom and equality--can be saved from the degradation of moral relativism by applying Jewish law to these principles. The author attempts to overcome the dichotomy of religion and secularism as well as other contradictions of Western civilization by means of a philosophy of history that uses thoroughly rational concepts and is supported by empirical evidence.

Eidelberg enumerates and elucidates the characteristics that make Jewish law particularly suited to reopening the secular mind and elevating democracy's formative principles. The author compares and contrasts Jewish law with political philosophy. His goal is to derive freedom and equality from a conception of man and society that goes beyond the usual political and social categories, avoiding both relativism and absolutism. In conclusion, Eidelberg attempts to overcome the perennial problem of democracy: how to reconcile wisdom and consent. This he does by sketching the basic institutions of a new community. This unique analysis should be read by political and religious theoreticians alike.

This book explores the possibility of a hermeneutics of the Qur'an. It starts from the presupposition that the Qur'an can be studied as a philosophical book. Thus the analysis is theoretical more than historical. Many philosophers commented the Qur'an and many supported their theories by resorting to the Qur'an. Thinkers like Fakhr al-Din al-Razi connected traditional theology and philosophy in their Qur'anic commentary. Others like Nasr Abu Zayd used philosophy to deconstruct the Qur'an paving the way for a modern humanistic hermeneutics. This book tries to go a step further: it aims to offer a path within the Qur'an that - through philosophy - leads to a fresh understanding of fundamental tenets of Islamic thought, most importantly tawhid - God's oneness - and to a fresh reading of the Qur'anic text. This book applies the phenomenological and ontological hermeneutics of Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger to the study of the Qur'an going far beyond Annemarie Schimmel's phenomenological approach that is neither philosophical nor properly phenomenological (in Husserl's sense).

The Bible contains passages that allow both scholars and believers to project their hopes and fears onto ever-changing empirical realities. By reading specific biblical passages as utopia and dystopia, this volume raises questions about reconstructing the past, the impact of wishful imagination on reality, and the hermeneutic implications of dealing with utopia - "good place" yet "no place" - as a method and a concept in biblical studies. A believer like William Bradford might approach a biblical passage as utopia by reading it as instructions for bringing about a significantly changed society in reality, even at the cost of becoming an oppressor. A contemporary biblical scholar might approach the same passage with the ambition of locating the historical reality behind it - finding the places it describes on a map, or arriving at a conclusion about the social reality experienced by a historical community of redactors. These utopian goals are projected onto a utopian text. This volume advocates an honest hermeneutical approach to the question of how reliably a past reality can be reconstructed from a biblical passage, and it aims to provide an example of disclosing - not obscuring - pre-suppositions brought to the text.

Here in one compact volume is the "cream of Hindu philosophical thought," a collection of aphorisms, sayings, and proverbs culled from the Upanishads, the sacred writings of India, and assembled by one of the most influential writers and editors of the New Thought movement of the early 20th century, the adherents of which were profoundly interested in the collective spiritual wisdom of all humanity. This 1907 volume features the fruit of Hindu thinking on: . The Real Self . The Way . The Student . The Teacher . The Law of Karma . Spiritual Knowing . and more. American writer WILLIAM WALKER ATKINSON (1862-1932) was editor of the popular magazine New Thought from 1901 to 1905, and editor of the journal Advanced Thought from 1916 to 1919. He authored dozens of New Thought books under numerous pseudonyms, some of which are likely still unknown today, including "Yogi Ramacharaka" and "Theron Q. Dumont."

This book studies the absolute reality of the Qur'an, which is signified by the struggle of truth against falsehood in the framework of monotheistic unity of knowledge and the unified world-system induced by the consilience of knowledge. In such a framework the absolute reality reveals itself not by religious dogmatism. Rather, the methodology precisely comprises its distinctive parts. These are namely the 'primal ontology' as the foundational explained axiom of monotheistic unity; the 'secondary ontologies' as explanatory replications of the law of unity in the particulars of the world-system; 'epistemology' as the operational model; and 'phenomenology' as the structural nature of events induced by the monotheistic law, that is by knowledge emanating from the law. The imminent methodology remains the unique explanatory reference of all events that take place, advance, and change in continuity across continuums of knowledge, space, and time.

The I Ching has influenced thinkers and artists throughout the history of Chinese philosophy. This new, accessible translation of the entire early text brings to life the hidden meanings and importance of China's oldest classical texts. Complemented throughout by insightful commentaries, the I Ching: A Critical Translation of the Ancient Text simplifies the unique system of hexagrams lying at the centre of the text and introduces the cultural significance of key themes including yin and yang, gender and ethics. As well as depicting all possible ethical situations, this new translation shows how the hexagram figures can represent social relationships and how the order of lines can be seen as a natural metaphor for higher or lower social rank. Introduced by Hon Tze-Ki, an esteemed scholar of the text, this up-to-date translation uncovers and explains both the philosophical and political interpretations of the text. For a better understanding of the philosophical and cosmological underpinning the history of Chinese philosophy, the I Ching is an invaluable starting point.

Jessica M. Keady uses insights from social science and gender theory to shed light on the Dead Sea Scrolls and the community at Qumran. Through her analysis Keady shows that it was not only women who could be viewed as an impure problem, but also that men shared these characteristics as well. The first framework adopted by Keady is masculinity studies, specifically Raewyn Connell's hegemonic masculinity, which Keady applies to the Rule of the Community (in its 1QS form) and the War Scroll (in its 1QM form), to demonstrate the vulnerable and uncontrollable aspects of ordinary male impurities. Secondly, the embodied and empowered aspects of impure women are revealed through an application of embodiment theories to selected passages from 4QD (4Q266 and 4Q272) and 4QTohorot A (4Q274). Thirdly, sociological insights from Susie Scott's understanding of the everyday - through the mundane, the routine and the breaking of rules - reveal how impurity disrupts the constructions of daily life. Keady applies Scott's three conceptual features for understanding the everyday to the Temple Scroll (11QTa) and the Rule of the Congregation (1QSa) to demonstrate the changing dynamics between ordinary impure males and impure females. Underlying each of these three points is the premise that gender and purity in the Dead Sea Scrolls communities are performative, dynamic and constantly changing.