Bardwell L. Smith offers a fresh perspective on mizuko kuyo, the Japanese ceremony performed to bring solace to those who have experienced miscarriage, stillbirth, or abortion. Showing how old and new forms of myth, symbol, doctrine, praxis, and organization combine and overlap in contemporary mizuko kuyo, Smith provides critical insight from many angles: the sociology of the family, the power of the medical profession, the economics of temples, the import of ancestral connections, the need for healing in both private and communal ways and, perhaps above all, the place of women in modern Japanese religion. At the heart of Smith's research is the issue of how human beings experience the death of a life that has been and remains precious to them. While universal, these losses are also personal and unique. The role of society in helping people to heal from these experiences varies widely and has changed enormously in recent decades. In examples of grieving for these kinds of losses one finds narratives not only of deep sorrow but of remarkable dignity.

Why do thousands of Mormons devote their summer vacations to following the Mormon Trail? Why does the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Day Saints spend millions of dollars to build monuments and Visitor Centers that believers can visit to experience the history of their nineteenth-century predecessors who fled westward in search of their promised land? Why do so many Mormon teenagers dress up in Little-House-on-the-Prairie-style garb and push handcarts over the highest local hills they can find? And what exactly is a "traveling Zion"? In Pioneers in the Attic, Sara Patterson analyzes how and why Mormons are engaging their nineteenth-century past in the modern era, arguing that as the LDS community globalized in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, its relationship to space was transformed. Following their exodus to Utah, nineteenth-century Mormons believed that they must gather together in Salt Lake Zion - their new center place. They believed that Zion was a place you could point to on a map, a place you should dwell in to live a righteous life. Later Mormons had to reinterpret these central theological principles as their community spread around the globe, but to say that they simply spiritualized concepts that had once been understood literally is only one piece of the puzzle. Contemporary Mormons still want to touch and to feel these principles, so they mark and claim the landscapes of the American West with versions of their history carved in stone. They develop rituals that allow them not only to learn the history of the nineteenth-century journey west, but to engage it with all of their senses. Pioneers in the Attic reveals how modern-day Mormons have created a sense of community and felt religion through the memorialization of early Mormon pioneers of the American West, immortalizing a narrative of shared identity through an emphasis on place and collective memory.

Discusses the significance and the customs of various Jewish holidays including Sukkot, Purim, and Yom Hashoah. Provides activities and crafts for each holiday.

Winner of the 2021 Sheikh Zayed Book Award (category: Arab Culture in Other Languages) Browse a preview of Arabic Oration: Art and Fuction. In Arabic Oration: Art and Function, a narrative richly infused with illustrative texts and original translations, Tahera Qutbuddin presents a comprehensive theory of this preeminent genre in its foundational oral period, 7th-8th centuries AD. With speeches and sermons attributed to the Prophet Muhammad, 'Ali, other political and military leaders, and a number of prominent women, she assesses types of orations and themes, preservation and provenance, structure and style, orator-audience authority dynamics, and, with the shift from an oral to a highly literate culture, oration's influence on the medieval chancery epistle. Probing the genre's echoes in the contemporary Muslim world, she offers sensitive tools with which to decode speeches by mosque-imams and political leaders today.

Buddhism is often portrayed as a universalising religion that transcends the local and directs attention toward a transcendent dharma. Yet, wherever Buddhism spreads, it also sparks local identity discourses that, directly or indirectly, root the dharma in native soil and history, and, in doing so, frame 'the local' in Buddhist discourse. Occasionally, notably in Japanese Shinto and Tibetan Boen, this localising variety of 'framing of discourse'-here tentatively termed 'nativism'-leads to the establishment of independent traditions that break free from Buddhism; yet, in other contexts, localising trends remain firmly embedded within Buddhism. In Challenging Paradigms: Buddhism and Nativism Teeuwen and Blezer offer a comparative study of localising responses to Buddhism in different Buddhist environments in Japan, Korea, Tibet, India and Bali.

Walter E. A. van Beek draws on over four decades of extensive fieldwork to offer an in-depth study of the religion of the Kapsiki/Higi, who live in the Mandara Mountains on the border between North Cameroon and Northeast Nigeria. Concentrating on ritual as the core of traditional religion, van Beek shows how Kapsiki/Higi practices have endured through the long and turbulent history of the region. Kapsiki rituals reveal a focus on two fundamental concepts: dwelling and belonging. Van Beek examines their sacrificial practices, through which the Kapsiki show a complex and pervasive connection with the Mandara Mountains, as well as the character of their relationships among themselves and with outsiders. Van Beek also explores their rituals of belonging, rites of passage which take place from birth through initiation and marriage - and even death, with the tradition of the ''dancing dead,'' when a fully decorated corpse on the shoulders of a smith ''dances'' with his mourning kinsmen. The Dancing Dead is the result of the author's lifelong study of the Kapsiki/Higi. It gives a unique description of the rituals in an African traditional religion based not upon ancestors, but on a completely relational thought system, where in the end all rituals are integrated into one major cycle.

This unique study is the first systematic examination to be undertaken of the high priesthood in ancient Israel, from the earliest local chief priests in the pre-monarchic period down to the Hasmonaean priest-kings in the first century BCE. Deborah Rooke argues that, contrary to received scholarly opinion, the high priesthood was fundamentally a religious office which in and of itself bestowed no civil responsibilities upon its holders, and that not until the time of the Maccabean revolt does the high priest appear as the sole figure of leadership for the nation. However, even the Maccabean / Hasmonaean high priesthood was effectively a reversion to the monarchic model of sacral kingship which had existed several centuries earlier in the pre-exilic period, rather than being an extension of the powers of the high priesthood itself. The idea that high priesthood per se bestowed the power to rule should therefore be reconsidered.

Everything the engaged couple needs to know about the Jewish marriage ceremony. Welcome new couples into Jewish life and your congregation. Selecting a date and location for the wedding What is a ketubah? A huppah? A step-by-step guide to a Jewish wedding Life as Jewish newlyweds The perfect gift for the soon-to-be-wed couple.

The book analyzes the place of religious difference in late modernity through a study of the role played by Jews and Muslims in the construction of contemporary Spanish national identity. The focus is on the transition from an exclusive, homogeneous sense of collective Self toward a more pluralistic, open and tolerant one in an European context. This process is approached from different dimensions. At the national level, it follows the changes in nationalist historiography, the education system and the public debates on national identity. At the international level, it tackles the problem from the perspective of Spanish foreign policy towards Israel and the Arab-Muslim states in a changing global context. From the social-communicational point of view, the emphasis is on the construction of the Self-Other dichotomy (with Jewish and Muslim others) as reflected in the three leading Spanish newspapers.

Knowing Body, Moving Mind investigates ritualizing and learning in introductory meditation classes at two Buddhist centers in Toronto, Canada. The centers, Friends of the Heart and Chandrakirti, are led and attended by Western (sometimes called "convert') Buddhists: that is, people from non-Buddhist familial and cultural backgrounds. Inspired by theories that suggest that rituals impart new knowledge or understanding, Patricia Campbell examines how introductory meditation students learn through formal Buddhist practice. Along the way, she also explores practitioners' reasons for enrolling in meditation classes, their interests in Buddhism, and their responses to formal Buddhist practices and to ritual in general.
Based on ethnographic interviews and participant-observation fieldwork, the text follows interview participants' reflections on what they learned in meditation classes and through personal practice, and what roles meditation and other ritual practices played in that learning. Participants' learning experiences are illuminated by an influential learning theory called Bloom's Taxonomy, while the rites and practices taught and performed at the centers are explored using performance theory, a method which focuses on the performative elements of ritual's postures and gestures. But the study expands the performance framework as well, by demonstrating that performative ritualizing includes the concentration techniques that take place in a meditator's mind.
Such techniques are received as traditional mental acts or behaviors that are standardized, repetitively performed, and variously regarded as special, elevated, spiritual or religious. Having established a link between mental and physical forms of ritualizing, the study then demonstrates that the repetitive mental techniques of meditation practice train the mind to develop new skills in the same way that physical postures and gestures train the body. The mind is thus experienced as both embodied and gestural, and the whole of the body as socially and ritually informed.

Women's seders have recently emerged as one of the most meaningful and popular rituals in contemporary Jewish life. These two books bring together the voices of over 150 Jewish women -- authors, scholars, activists, rabbis, artists, political leaders, and students -- to share new insights about Passover and to discuss the origins, evolution, and significance of women's seders.

This first-of-its-kind resource provides in The Women's Passover Companion a complete exploration of the questions at the heart of this contemporary ritual, and in The Women's Seder Sourcebook over 200 texts and ideas for a women's seder and practical guidance for planning the event. These innovative readings can be easily incorporated into a family seder as well.
-- Presents an inspiring collection of Jewish women's writings on Passover, the Exodus story, and women's seders.
-- Provides readers with textual resources to compile their own women's Haggadah and a practical guide to planning a women's seder, based on information from successful seder organizers around the world.
-- Offers a wide variety of women's writings that can be incorporated into the family seder to bring women's voices to the table.
-- Includes a formal curriculum of texts, discussion questions, and writing exercises for further study, to transform the planning process for a women's seder into a community-building and Jewish learning experience.

Islam in the School of Madina Mufid al-'Ibad, of which this book is a translation, is a summation of all the previous commentaries on the work of Ibn 'Ashir on Ash'ari 'aqida, Maliki fiqh and Junaydi tasawwuf and is augmented not infrequently by the author's own subtle understanding of the finer aspects of the 'amal of the people of Madina. Ahmad ibn al-Bashir al-Qalawi ash-Shinqiti Shaykh Ahmad bin al-Bashir al-Qalawi ash-Shinqiti (1216 AH/1802 CE- 1276 AH/1853 CE), whose lineage can be traced to Abu Bakr as-Siddiq, came from a family and tribe in present day Mauritania renowned for its knowledge and active implementation of the deen. Although he himself refrained from any sufic commentary on Ibn Ashir's work, he was recognised as a wali by the men of this science around him. Dr. Asadullah Yate Dr Yate (Cantab.) has translated works from Arabic, Persian, German and French, and, in collaboration with others, from Turkish. He teaches Arabic and Fiqh at the Weimar Institute, is a Founding fellow of The Muslim Faculty of Advanced Studies, and is active on the shariat board of the World Islamic Mint.

The Iranian city experienced a major transformation when the Pahlavi Dynasty initiated a project of modernization in the 1920s. The Rite of Urban Passage investigates this process by focusing on the spatial dynamics of Muharram processions, a ritual that commemorates the tragic massacre of Hussein and his companions in 680 CE. In doing so, this volume offers not only an alternative approach to understanding the process of urban transformation, but also a spatial genealogy of Muharram rituals that provides a platform for developing a fresh spatial approach to ritual studies.

In Truly Beyond Wonders Alexia Petsalis-Diomidis investigates texts and material evidence associated with healing pilgrimage in the Roman empire during the second century AD. Her focus is upon one particular pilgrim, the famous orator Aelius Aristides, whose Sacred Tales, his fascinating account of dream visions, gruelling physical treatments, and sacred journeys, has been largely misunderstood and marginalized. Petsalis-Diomidis rehabilitates this text by placing it within the material context of the sanctuary of Asklepios at Pergamon, where the author spent two years in search of healing. The architecture, votive offerings, and ritual rules which governed the behaviour of pilgrims are used to build a picture of the experience of pilgrimage to this sanctuary. Truly Beyond Wonders ranges broadly over discourses of the body and travel and in so doing explores the place of healing pilgrimage and religion in Graeco-Roman society and culture. It is generously illustrated with more than 80 drawings and photographs, and four colour plates.

Often when people have become alienated from their religious backgrounds, they access their traditions through lifecycle events such as marriage. At times, modern values such as gender equality may be at odds with some of the traditions; many of which have always been in a state of flux in relationship to changing social, economic and political realities. Traditional Jewish marriage is based on the man acquiring the woman, which has symbolic and actual ramifications. Grounded in the traditional texts yet accessible, this book shows how the marriage is an acquisition and contextualises the gender hierarchy of marriage within the rabbinic exclusion of women from Torah study, the highest cultural practice and women's exemption from positive commandments. Melanie Landau offers two alternative models of partnership that partially or fully bypass the non-reciprocity of traditional Jewish marriage and that have their basis in the ancient rabbinic texts.

Create a meaningful and happy Hanukkah in your home with story, celebration, food and song.

This newly-designed, easy-to-use edition of a classic spiritual sourcebook offers updated information, more family ideas, and new resources for every aspect of your holiday celebration.

Information on every aspect of Hanukkah is covered, including: The story of Hanukkah Celebrating for families of every constellation Songs and prayers in English, Hebrew, and Yiddish (with clear transliterations) Recipes for traditional and modern Hanukkah foods December Dilemmas coping with other traditions celebrations Firsthand explanations and ideas from real-life families around America

Hands-on advice and practical suggestions invite families into Hanukkah s spirituality and joys, from the making of luscious latkes and Hanukkah crafts to the stories of the heroism and the miracle that are remembered every year with the lighting of the "hanukkiyah."

Celebrate the Mystery, Compassion Wonder and Beauty of Animals

Take a spiritual journey through this beautiful collection of blessings, prayers and meditations about the creatures, wild and tame, that inhabit our world. These moving contributions about all types of animals playful dogs and beloved cats, giant whales and powerful elephants, tiny insects and delicate birds are drawn from many faith traditions, including Native American, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu and Buddhist.

A special section also provides animal blessing ceremonies you can use to memorialize the loss of a companion animal, offer prayers for an animal suffering illness or injury or simply recognize the spiritual connection we create when we fully appreciate another member of God's creation.

Contributors include: Basho Elizabeth Barrett Browning Feng Chih James Dickey Meister Eckhart St. Francis of Assisi Joy Harjo Stanley Hauerwas Jane Hirshfield Galway Kinnell D. H. Lawrence John Muir Rumi Albert Schweitzer Rabindranath Tagore Evelyn Underhill Walt Whitman and many more"

Many people are reluctant to approach prayer on a personal level, speaking directly to God, because we have never been encouraged to do so or are intimidated by the prospect of creating spontaneous prayer. But as we grow spiritually, it becomes clear that traditional or rote prayers are not sufficient to express the deepest longings and feelings of our connection with the Divine. Whatever your faith tradition, this unique and inspiring book helps you connect by giving you the tools you need to speak directly to God in prayer, without relying on traditional written prayers or formulas. Accessible and from a multifaith perspective, it distinguishes among prayer, contemplation, and meditation, and then encourages you to engage in various forms of prayer involving the spirit and the physical body. It draws on prayer practices from many different traditions and offers concrete suggestions and exercises for how to incorporate those practices into your own tradition on a regular basis.

Women rabbis are changing the face of Judaism. Discover how their interpretations of the Torah can enrich your perspective. "Rich and engaging makes available to a wide readership the collective wisdom of women who have changed the face of Judaism." Judith Plaskow, author, Standing Again at Sinai: Judaism from a Feminist Perspective; Professor of Religious Studies, Manhattan College Here, for the first time, women's unique experiences and perspectives are applied to the entire Five Books of Moses, offering all of us the first comprehensive commentary by women. In this groundbreaking book, more than 50 women rabbis come together to offer us inspiring insights on the Torah, in a week-by-week format. Included are commentaries by the first women ever ordained in the Reform, Reconstructionist and Conservative movements, and by many other women across these denominations who serve in the rabbinate in a variety of ways. This rich resource offers new perspectives to inspire all of us to gain deeper meaning from the Torah and a heightened appreciation of Judaism. A major contribution to modern biblical commentary. The gift of choice for every young woman s bat mitzvah, and for anyone wanting a new, exciting view of Torah. Contributing Rabbis: Rebecca T. Alpert Lia Bass Miriam Carey Berkowitz Elizabeth Bolton Analia Bortz Sharon Brous Judith Gary Brown Nina Beth Cardin Diane Aronson Cohen Sandra J. Cohen Cynthia A. Culpeper Lucy H.F. Dinner Lisa A. Edwards Amy Eilberg Sue Levi Elwell Rachel Esserman Helaine Ettinger Susan Fendrick Lori Forman Dayle A. Friedman Elyse D. Frishman Nancy Fuchs-Kreimer Shoshana Gelfand Laura Geller Elyse M. Goldstein Julie K. Gordon Claire Magidovitch Green Rosette Barron Haim Jill Hammer Karyn D. Kedar Sarra Levine Valerie Lieber Ellen Lippmann Sheryl Nosan Stacy K. Offner Sara Paasche-Orlow Barbara Rosman Penzner Hara E. Person Audrey S. Pollack Sally J. Priesand Geela-Rayzel Raphael Laura M. Rappaport Debra Judith Robbins Rochelle Robins Gila Colman Ruskin Sandy Eisenberg Sasso Ilene Schneider Rona Shapiro Michal Shekel Beth J. Singer Sharon L. Sobel Ruth H. Sohn Julie Ringold Spitzer z l Shira Stern Pamela Wax Nancy Wechsler-Azen Nancy H. Wiener Elana Zaiman"

A window into Judaism s sacred days throughout history and today.
Written especially for Christians.

Holy days and holidays provide the peak experiences of Jewish life. These moments speak deeply to the Jewish soul and animate Judaism s culture. They encourage Jews to participate in their shared historical experience, which reflects their covenantal relationship with God, and articulate Jewish values that have allowed for the survival of the Jewish people. But what can they mean to Christians seeking to understand their own faith?

In this special book, Rabbis Olitzky and Judson guide you through the major Jewish holidays and what they mean for the Jewish people. Each chapter explores a different holiday and explains the origin, historical background, customs and rituals that are part of observance and the holiday s Christian parallels. Examining observance in both home and synagogue and in all Jewish denominations this easy-to-use guide to the Jewish holidays will be a valuable resource for your own understanding of Jewish sacred time throughout the year. And by linking the Jewish holidays to familiar Christian holidays and practices, you will be better able to appreciate the roots of Christianity and how the fundamentals of Judaism relate to and reflect your own spiritual foundation. Rosh Hashanah New Year Yom Kippur Day of Atonement Sukkot Feast of Booths (Fall Harvest Festival) Simchat Torah Rejoicing in the Torah Hanukkah Rededication Purim (Festival of Survival) Pesach Passover Shavuot (Receiving the Torah) Tisha B Av (Mourning and Commemoration) and Other Special Days Shabbat (Day of Rest)

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.""

An accessible introduction to the reasons for and the ways of Jewish prayer.

"The Way Into Jewish Prayer" helps us to explore the reasons for and the ways of Jewish prayer. It opens the door to 3,000 years of Jewish prayer, making available all you need to feel at home in the Jewish way of communicating with God.

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.

With diverse and robust voices, women are reclaiming their place at the seder table. This complete sourcebook and guide shows you how to do it, too. For the first time, contemporary Jewish women's writings on the Passover seder are gathered in one comprehensive and compelling sourcebook an unprecedented and powerful resource for those planning a women s seder and those seeking to infuse their Passover celebration with the creative and courageous voices of Jewish women. Arranged according to the order of the seder, this practical guide gathers the voices of more than one hundred women in readings, personal and creative reflections, commentaries, blessings and ritual suggestions that can be incorporated into your Passover celebration as supplements to or substitutes for traditional passages of the haggadah. It also includes a detailed guide to planning a women s seder, based on information from successful seder organizers around the world. Whether you are organizing a women s seder in your community or planning a family seder in your home, this inspiring and accessible resource will help you take an active role in re-creating the educational and spiritual experience of Passover and in shaping Judaism s future. Contributors include: Dr. Rachel Adler Dr. Rebecca T. Alpert Rabbi Renni S. Altman Zoe Baird Dr. Evelyn Torton Beck Susan Berrin Senator Barbara Boxer Dr. Esther Broner Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin Tamara Cohen Anita Diamant Dr. Carol Diament Rabbi Sue Levi Elwell, PhD Eve Ensler Dr. Marcia Falk Merle Feld Rabbi Susan P. Fendrick Rabbi Tirzah Firestone Dr. Ellen Frankel Nan Fink Gefen Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb Dr. Susannah Heschel Rabbi Karyn D. Kedar Rabbi Naamah Kelman Naomi Klein Irena Klepfisz Maxine Kumin Rabbi Noa Rachel Kushner Rabbi Joy Levitt Hadassah Lieberman Ruth W. Messinger Dr. Faye Moskowitz Joan Nathan Dr. Alicia Suskin Ostriker Dr. Judith Plaskow Marge Piercy Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen Anne Roiphe Danya Ruttenberg Rabbi Sandy Eisenberg Sasso The Honorable Jan Schakowsky Rabbi Susan Schnur Rabbi Susan Silverman Dr. Ellen M. Umansky Rabbi Sheila Peltz Weinberg Dr. Chava Weissler Cantor Lorel Zar-Kessler"