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."

In 1994 the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Schneerson, died leaving no successor. For many years his followers had maintained that he was Moshiach -the Jewish Messiah and would usher in the Redemption. After his death Lubavitch divided into two opposing groups. While some messianists hold that the Rebbe died but is to be resurrected as the messiah, others hold that he is still alive, but concealed. The anti-messianists maintain that the Rebbe could have been Moshiach if God had willed it, but they disagree vehemently that as such he could come back from the dead. Using ethnographic data obtained by the author through twenty years of fieldwork, this book presents a social-psychological account of Lubavitcher Messianism and moves beyond the typical scholarly preoccupation with belief and dissonance to examine the role of rhetoric, religious experience and ritual in maintaining counterintuitive convictions. Through examining the parallels between early Christianity and messianism in Lubavitch this book provides a comprehensive perspective for examining messianism generally.

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"

Help sustain the Jewish tradition s legacy of community leadership by building strong leaders today.

Great Jewish leadership has helped us survive slavery, guided us to the Promised Land, given us hope through exile and oppression, helped us enjoy membership in a nation of overachievers, and given birth to the State of Israel. Great Jewish leadership generates vision and, as a result, followers. It inspires us and helps us to stretch higher, see farther, and reach deeper. from the Introduction

Drawing on the past and looking to the future, this practical guide provides the tools you need to work through important contemporary leadership issues. It takes a broad look at positions of leadership in the modern Jewish community and the qualities and skills you need in order to succeed in these positions. Real-life anecdotes, interviews, and dialogue stimulate thinking about board development, ethical leadership, conflict resolution, change management, and effective succession planning.

Whether you are a professional or a volunteer, are looking to develop your own personal leadership skills or are part of a group, this inspiring book provides information, interactive exercises, and questions for reflection to help you define leadership styles and theories, expose common myths, and coach others on the importance of leading with meaning.

"An acknowledged classic. Katz has transformed our conception of Jewish history from the 16th to the 18th century. Because of his work, we now understand that the ghetto was no longer sealed off at that time from outside opinions and that the movement towards modernity had begun long before the Jews were actually legally emancipated. Making this work available again in the revised edition is a service to scholarship and to public enlightenment."
--Arthur Hertzberg

"Since it first appeared in Hebrew in 1958, "Tradition and Crisis" has had a tremendous impact on generations of students and scholars. Katz's innovative use of sources has introduced scholars to new methodologies and opened new vistas for research. This new, unabridged translation is therefore highly welcome. It will ensure its continued use in the English-speaking world."
--Jehuda Reinharz, Richard Koret Professor of Modern Jewish History, Brandeis University

"Like a lovingly restored painting, Bernard Cooperman's new, annotated translation of Jacob Katz's classic portrait of early Jewish modernity can now be fully appreciated for the first time. An admirable achievement."
--Ivan G. Marcus

When it first appeared in Hebrew in 1958 and in English in 1961, Tradition and Crisis, Jacob Katz's groundbreaking study of Jewish society at the end of the Middle Ages, dramatically changed our perceptions of the Jewish community prior to the era of modernity. This new, unabridged translation by Bernard Dov Cooperman makes this classic available to new generations of students and scholars, together with Katz's original source notes, and an afterword and an updating bibliographic appendix by Professor Cooperman.

Katz revolutionized the field by tapping into a rich and hitherto unexplored source for reconstructing the sociology of a previous era: the responsa literature of the Rabbinic establishment during the Middle Ages. The self-governing communities of Jews in Europe dealt with issues both civil and religious. The questions and answers addressed to the rabbinic authorities and courts provide an incomparable wealth of insights into life as it was lived in this period and into the social, historical, cultural, and economic issues of the day.

How did European Jewry progress from a socially and culturally segregated society to become a component of European society at large? What were Jewish attitudes toward the Gentile world from which Jewry had been secluded for centuries? What were the bridges from the old to the new era?

Tradition and Crisis traces the roots of modernity to internal developments within the communities themselves. Katz traces the modern movements of the Haskalah (Enlightenment) in the West and Hasidism in the East, to an internal breakdown in the structure of these communities and the emergence of an alternative leadership in the wake of the Sabbatian challenge.
A dynamic work that has radically changed our view of this history, Tradition and Crisis remains the pivotal text for understanding the revolution in the entire conception of Jewish identity in the modern era.

Nishida Kitaro, Japan's premier modern philosopher, was born in 1870 and grew to intellectual maturity in the final decades of the Meiji period (1868-1912). He achieved recognition as Japan's leading establishment philosopher during his tenure as professor of philosophy at Kyoto University. After his retirement in 1927, and until his death in 1945, Nishida published a continuous stream of original essays that can best be described as intercivilizational, a meeting point of East and West. His final essay, ""The Logic of the Place of Nothingness and the Religious Worldview,"" completed in the last few months before his death, is a summation of his philosophy of religion and has come to be regarded as the foundational text of the Kyoto school. It is one of the few places in his writings where Nishida draws openly and freely on East Asian Buddhist sources as analogs of his own ideas. Here Nishida argues for the existential primordiality of the religious consciousness against Kant, while also critically engaging the thought of such authors as Aristotle, the Christian Neo-Platonists, Spinoza, Fichte, Hegel, Barth, and Tillich. He makes it clear that he is also indebted to Pascal, Kierkegaard, and Dostoievsky as well as to Nagarjuna, the Ch'an masters, Shinran, Dogen, and other Buddhist thinkers. This book--a translation of the most seminal work of Nishida's career--also includes a translation of his ""Last Writing"" (Zeppitsu), written just two days before his death.

Decolonial Judaism: Triumphal Failures of Barbaric Thinking explores the relationship among geopolitics, religion, and social theory. It argues that during the postcolonial and post-Holocaust era, Jewish thinkers in different parts of the world were influenced by Global South thought and mobilized this rich set of intellectual resources to confront the assimilation of normative Judaism by various incipient neo-colonial powers. By tracing the historical and conceptual lineage of this overlooked conversation, this book explores not only its epistemological opportunities, but also the internal contradictions that led to its ultimate unraveling, especially in the post-9/11 world.

The present volume is the eleventh in the series of the Jerusalem Talmud, the first in a three volume edition, translation, and commentary of the Fourth Order Neziqin. The thirty chapters of Neziqin that deal with most aspects of Civil Law are usually divided into three parts, or "gates", known as the First Gate, Bava qamma, the Middle Gate, Bava mesi'a, and the Last Gate, Bava batra. In contrast to the Babylonian Talmud, the treatment in the Jerusalem Talmud is fragmentary. The reason for this is a matter of controversy, discussed in the Introduction to the Tractate.

Praeger, in collaboration with the distinguished International Center for University Teaching of Jewish Civilization, Jerusalem, and in association with Israeli's Open University, has undertaken the publication of this multi-volume series. Binah brings together for the first time in English seminal articles in Jewish history, thought, and culture. This landmark series, edited by Joseph Dan and under the general supervision of Moshe Davis, will provide resource materials for students enrolled in courses in Jewish studies, religion, history, literature, sociology, cultural anthropology, and philosophy. Binah includes topics from the Biblical period through the 20th century. Each volume of articles is approximately 300 pages in length. An introduction explains the criteria for selecting the articles and indicates their contribution to Jewish history, thought, and culture. The articles, not previously translated, are adapted from their original Hebrew sources in order to make them more accessible to the undergraduate reader, but the editors have made every effort to remain faithful to the intent of the original authors. Each article is preceded by a statement that indicates the original source, a brief biographical sketch of the author placing the article within the framework of his life-work, and the name of the translator/adaptor. The series is bound in both a hardcover library version and in a loose-leaf format, allowing the instructor maximum flexibility in utilizing the materials. By special agreement, purchasers acquire the right to make copies of the articles for student use. Thus, instructors can virtually build a package of readings for their students.

The first state-of-the-art, comprehensive resource to encompass the wide breadth of the rapidly growing field of Judaism and health.

For Jews, religion and medicine (and science) are not inherently in conflict, even within the Torah-observant community, but rather can be friendly partners in the pursuit of wholesome ends, such as truth, healing and the advancement of humankind. from the Introduction

This authoritative volume part professional handbook, part scholarly resource and part source of practical information for laypeople melds the seemingly disparate elements of Judaism and health into a truly multidisciplinary collective, enhancing the work within each area and creating new possibilities for synergy across disciplines. It is ideal for medical and healthcare providers, rabbis, educators, academic scholars, healthcare researchers and caregivers, congregational leaders and laypeople with an interest in the most recent and most exciting developments in this new, important field."

The first state-of-the-art, comprehensive resource to encompass the wide breadth of the rapidly growing field of Judaism and health.

For Jews, religion and medicine (and science) are not inherently in conflict, even within the Torah-observant community, but rather can be friendly partners in the pursuit of wholesome ends, such as truth, healing and the advancement of humankind. from the Introduction

This authoritative volume part professional handbook, part scholarly resource and part source of practical information for laypeople melds the seemingly disparate elements of Judaism and health into a truly multidisciplinary collective, enhancing the work within each area and creating new possibilities for synergy across disciplines. It is ideal for medical and healthcare providers, rabbis, educators, academic scholars, healthcare researchers and caregivers, congregational leaders and laypeople with an interest in the most recent and most exciting developments in this new, important field."

This work, by the author of "Who Wrote the Bible?" probes a chain of mysteries that concern the presence or absence of God. It begins with a reading of the Hebrew Bible, revealing the mystery and significance of the disappearance of God there. Why does the God who is known through miracles and direct interaction at the beginning of the Bible gradually become hidden, leaving humans on their own by the Bible's end? The book then investigates this phenomenon's place in the formation of Judaism and Christianity. It goes on to explore the forms this feeling of the disappearance of God has taken in recent times, focusing on a connection between Nietzsche and Dostoevsky, who each independantly developed the idea of the death of God. The author then relates all of this to a contemporary spiritual and moral ambivalence. He notes the current interest in linking discoveries in modern physics and astronomy to God and creation, and explores the connection between the mysticism of the Kabbalah and "Big Bang" cosmology, relating the findings to the age-old quest for a hidden God.

My People s Passover Haggadah
Traditional Texts, Modern Commentaries

In two volumes, this empowering resource for the spiritual revival of our times enables us to find deeper meaning in one of Judaism s most beloved traditions, the Passover Seder. Rich Haggadah commentary adds layer upon layer of new insight to the age-old celebration of the journey from slavery to freedom and makes its power accessible to all.

This diverse and exciting Passover resource features the traditional Haggadah Hebrew text with a new translation designed to let you know exactly what the Haggadah says. Introductory essays help you understand the historical roots of Passover, the development of the Haggadah, and how to make sense out of texts and customs that evolved from ancient times.

Framed with beautifully designed Talmud-style pages, "My People s Passover Haggadah " features commentaries by scholars from all denominations of Judaism. You are treated to insights by experts in such fields as the Haggadah s history; its biblical roots; its confrontation with modernity; and its relationship to rabbinic midrash and Jewish law, feminism, Chasidism, theology, and kabbalah.

No other resource provides such a wide-ranging exploration of the Haggadah, a reservoir of inspiration and information for creating meaningful Seders every year.

The Haggadah is a book not just of the Jewish People, but of ordinary Jewish people. It is a book we all own, handle, store at home, and spill wine upon Pick up a Siddur, and you have the history of our People writ large; pick up a Haggadah, and you have the same but also the chronicle of Jewish life writ small: the story of families and friends whose Seders have become their very own local cultural legacy.... "My People s Passover Haggadah" is for each and every person looking to enrich their annual experience of Passover in their own unique way.

A window into the Jewish idea of responsibility to care for the world
written especially for Christians.

The concept of repairing the world ("tikkun olam") is an integral part of Jewish life. It helps shape Jewish social and family relationships, and even mandates how Jews should speak to others. But why is it important for Christians to understand this Jewish approach to life? And what kind of impact can understanding this fundamental aspect of Judaism have on Christians seeking to develop a deeper understanding of their own faith? With insight and wisdom, award-winning author Rabbi Elliot Dorff provides an accessible, honest and thorough exploration of this important Jewish concept. With easy-to-understand explanations of Jewish terms, practices and history, each chapter explores a different facet touched by the tradition of "tikkun loam." Rabbi Dorff also addresses parallel themes and practices in the Christian tradition, helping you better understand the roots of Christianity and how the fundamentals of Judaism relate and reflect your own aspirations to repair the world. Caring for the Poor The Power of Words The Ministry of Presence Duties of Spouses to Each Other Children s Duties to Their Parents Parent s Duties to Their Children The Traditional Jewish Vision of the Ideal World

During the high Middle Ages, the tosafists flourished in northern Europe and revolutionized the study of the Talmud. These Jewish scholars did not participate in the philosophical and religious thought that concerned Christendom, and today they are seen as having played a limited role in mystical or esoteric studies. Ephraim Kanarfogel now challenges this conventional view of the tosafists, showing that many individuals were influenced by ascetic and pietistic practices and were involved with mystical and magical doctrines. He traces the presence of these disciplines in the pre-Crusade period, shows how they are intertwined, and suggests that the widely available Hekhalot literature was an important conduit for this material. He also demonstrates that the asceticism and esotericism of the German Pietists were an integral part of Ashkenazic rabbinic culture after the failure of Rashbam and other early tosafists to suppress these aspects of pre-Crusade thinking. The identification of these various forms of spirituality places the tosafists among those medieval rabbinic thinkers who sought to supplement their Talmudism with other areas of knowledge such as philosophy and kabbalah, demonstrating the compatibility of rabbinic culture and mysticism. These interests, argues Kanarfogel, explain both references to medieval Ashkenazic rabbinic figures in kabbalistic literature and the acceptance of certain ascetic and mystical practices by later Ashkenazic scholars. Drawing on original manuscript research, Kanarfogel makes available for the first time many passages produced by lesser known tosafists and rabbinic figures and integrates the findings of earlier and contemporary scholarship, much of it published only in Hebrew. "Peering through the Lattices" provides a greater appreciation for these texts and opens up new opportunities for scholarhship in Jewish history and thought.

This book investigates the re-discovery of Maimonides' Guide of the Perplexed by the Wissenschaft des Judentums movement in Germany of the nineteenth and beginning twentieth Germany. Since this movement is inseparably connected with religious reforms that took place at about the same time, it shall be demonstrated how the Reform Movement in Judaism used the Guide for its own agenda of historizing, rationalizing and finally turning Judaism into a philosophical enterprise of 'ethical monotheism'. The study follows the reception of Maimonidean thought, and the Guide specifically, through the nineteenth century, from the first beginnings of early reformers in 1810 and their reading of Maimonides to the development of a sophisticated reform-theology, based on Maimonides, in the writings of Hermann Cohen more then a hundred years later.

Where Judaism and health intersect, healing may begin.

Essential reading for people interested in the Jewish healing, spirituality and spiritual direction movements, this groundbreaking volume explores the Jewish tradition for comfort in times of illness and Judaism s perspectives on the inevitable suffering with which we live.

Pushing the boundaries of Jewish knowledge, scholars, teachers, artists and activists examine the aspects of our mortality and the important distinctions between curing and healing. Topics discussed include: The Importance of the Individual Health and Healing among the Mystics Hope and the Hebrew Bible From Disability to Enablement Overcoming Stigma Jewish Bioethics

Drawing from literature, personal experience, and the foundational texts of Judaism, these celebrated thinkers show us that healing is an idea that can both soften us so that we are open to inspiration as well as toughen us like good scar tissue in order to live with the consequences of being human.

Forgiveness is not an emotion or a destination but the restoration of what you have lost. It's a spiritual path that you embark on with intention and vision, purposefully seeking to bridge the gap between your hurt and suffering and your sense of wholeness and resilient inner light?the light of God. In this inspiring guide for healing and wholeness, Karyn Kedar supplies you with a map to help you along your forgiveness journey. Through heartfelt stories and comforting prayers, she gentle guides you through the loss, anger, acceptance, learning, forgiveness, and restoration that is the evolution of forgiving. She tells eloquent, personal stories from the lives of ordinary people who, like all of us, wrestle with the darkness and hurt that forgiveness so often involves, and taps both ancient and contemporary sources for the strength we need to nourish our souls as we seek to rekindle inner peace. More than a self-help guide, this deeply moving book is a spiritual companion that you w

This book is a study of the parables unique to the Third Gospel, aiming in particular to establish a link between Luke's choice of these parables and his overall purpose in writing. In comparison to the synoptic kingdom parables, one distinguishing feature of the Lukan parables is their more personal portrait of the character and the nature of God himself. Luke's desire is to demonstrate to his readers, whoever they are, that in Christianity the realization of the Jewish hope has occurred. The parables promote this idea by offering both continuity (OT) and contrast (contemporary Judaism) in their portrait of God. Thus, as well as operating in a parenetic sense, the parables also help to legitimize Luke's argument regarding fulfilment.

An accessible introduction to the Jewish concept of our responsibility
to care for others and repair the world.

For everyone who wants to understand the meaning and significance of "tikkun olam" (repairing the world) in Jewish spiritual life, this book shows the way into an essential aspect of Judaism and allows you to interact directly with the sacred texts of the Jewish tradition.

Guided by Dr. Elliot N. Dorff, Rector and Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of Judaism, this comprehensive introduction explores the roots of the beliefs and laws that are the basis of the Jewish commitment to improve the world. It looks at the various motivations that the sacred texts provide for caring for others, the ways the Jewish tradition seeks to foster such concerns in our social and family relationships, and the kind of society that Jews should strive to create as partners with God. What "tikkun olam" is. Ancient idea? New concept? The underlying theory has developed over time and branched into related terms and concepts that Judaism has used over thousands of years to describe the duties we now identify as acts of "tikkun loam." Why we engage in acts of "tikkun loam." Reasons include, but go far beyond, a general humanitarian feeling that we might have or the hope that if we help others, others will be there to help us. How we repair the world. The concrete expressions of "tikkun olam" in our families, our communities, the wider Jewish community, and the world at large help shape one of the most important aspects of the Jewish tradition.

By illuminating Judaism s understanding of the components of an ideal world, and the importance of justice, compassion, education, piety, social and familial harmony and enrichment, and physical flourishing for both the individual and society, we see how this ancient quest for a world with all these elements helps us define Jewish identity and mission today.

This volume suggests that reading and writing about literature are ways to gain an ethical understanding of how we live in the world. Postmodern narrative is an important way to reveal and discuss who are society's victims, inviting the reader to become one with them. A close reading of fiction by Toni Morrison, Patrick Suskind, D.M. Thomas, Ian McEwan and J.M. Coetzee reveals a violence imposed on gender, race and the body-politic. Such violence is not new to the postmodern world, but reflects Western culture's religious traditions, as this book demonstrates through a reading of stories from the Hebrew Bible and the Christian New Testament.