Despite the recent explosion of research on ancient synagogues, investigators in the field have hitherto been forced to cull relevant evidence from a vast assortment of scholarly publications. This volume gathers for the first time all of the primary source material on the early synagogues up through the Second Century C. E. In the case of literary, epigraphic and papyrological evidence, catalog entries contain the texts in their original language and in English translation. For archaeological remains, entries provide technical descriptions along with plans and photographs. All listings are accompanied by bibliographic citations and interpretative comments. An Introduction frames the current state of synagogue research, while extensive indices and cross-references allow for easy location of specific allusions. An appendix to the catalog contains source materials on Jewish temples outside of Jerusalem.

Paul Foster Case was an American occultist of the early 20th century and author of numerous books on occult tarot and Qabalah. Perhaps his greatest contributions to the field of occultism were the lessons he wrote for associate members of Builders of the Adytum. The Knowledge Lectures given to initiated members of the Chapters of the B.O.T.A. were equally profound, although the limited distribution has made them less well known. Case was early on attracted to the occult. While still a child he reported experiences that today are called lucid dreaming. He corresponded about these experiences with Rudyard Kipling who encouraged him as to the validity of his paranormal pursuits. In the year 1900, Case met the occultist Claude Bragdon while both were performing at a charity performance. Bragdon asked Case what he thought the origin of playing cards was. After pursuing the question in his father's library, Case discovered a link to tarot, called 'The Game of Man, ' thus began what would become Case's lifelong study of the tarot, and leading to the creation of the B.O.T.A. tarot deck, a "corrected" version of the Rider-Waite cards. Between 1905 and 1908 (aged 20-24), Case began practicing yoga, and in particular pranayama, from what published sources were available. His early experiences appear to have caused him some mental and emotional difficulties and left him with a lifelong concern that so called "occult" practice be done with proper guidance and training.

The messianic festivals are the Biblical rituals God commanded the ancient Israelites to observe. These ancient rites give great detail on the first coming of the Messiah including the date on which He would arrive, the manner of His death, and the birth of His church. You will also learn of the many disasters that befell the Jews though the centuries on the ninth of Av. The rituals speak of a Natzal, or rapture of believers, and a terrible time called the Yamin Noraim. They give a rather complete outline of this seven-year tribulation period, including the rise of a false messiah. They also tell of a time when the earth will be at peace in the Messianic Kingdom. In addition to the seven messianic festivals, you will learn the prophetic outline of other ceremonies like Hanukkah, the new moon ceremony, the wedding ceremony, the ashes of the red heifer, and the ancient origins of Halloween. You will also learn of other prophetical types and shadows mentioned in the Bible. Brought to you by Biblefacts Ministries, Biblefacts.org

Based on several years of research on Jewish intellectual life in the Renaissance, this book tries to distinguish the coordinates of "modernity" as premises of Jewish philosophy, and vice versa. In the first part, it is concerned with the foundations of Jewish philosophy, its nature as philosophical science and as wisdom. The second part is devoted to certain elements and challenges of the humanist and Renaissance period as reflected in Judaism: historical consciousness and the sciences, utopian tradition, the legal status of the Jews in Christian political tradition and in Jewish political thought, aesthetic concepts of the body and conversion.

With the seemingly insurmountable pressures placed on families today, many parents lack the spiritual foundation and practical knowledge to chart a clear-cut course in child-rearing. Parents question whether nurturing their children's souls is even possible in the fast-paced materialistic culture in which we live. Utilizing the insight that springs from her knowledge of Torah wisdom, her personal experiences and the experiences of those she has counseled, Slovie Jungreis-Wolff, a longtime parenting coach and advisor to young couples and families teaches in detail how to approach the entire gamut of issues, with a special emphasis on strengthening the child's morality and character. Parents will learn how to:
- Instill "simchas hachayim," "true joy," in their children
- Value "chessed," kindness, in a self-absorbed world
- Create a "mikdash me'at," a home filled with calm and reflection
- Teach children gratitude and appreciation
- And much more...
From discipline to sibling rivalry to effective communication skills, this book offers unique concepts and pragmatic ideas that can be understood and applied to both Jewish and non-Jewish households.

This is the second volume of the projected four-volume history of the Second Temple period. It is axiomatic that there are large gaps in the history of the Persian period, but the early Greek period is possibly even less known. This volume brings together all we know about the Jews during the period from Alexander's conquest to the eve of the Maccabaean revolt, including the Jews in Egypt as well as the situation in Judah. Based directly on the primary sources, which are surveyed, the study addresses questions such as administration, society, religion, economy, jurisprudence, Hellenism and Jewish identity.These are discussed in the context of the wider Hellenistic world and its history. A strength of the study is its extensive up-to-date secondary bibliography (approximately one thousand items).

Only a few decades after the Holocaust, Belgian Jews, like most European Jewries, are under the attack of forces stemming from a variety of sources. How do they confront and stand these new hardships? Research done all over Europe from 2012 through 2013 tried to answer this question. Among the cases investigated, the Belgian Jewry is one of the most interesting. It is both versatile and representative, revealing essential components of the general experience of European Jews today. Conceptual considerations pave the way to the study of their plight that has been, by any criterion, anything but "usual". Belgian Jews, it appears, are "like" many other Jewries in Europe but "a little more". They highlight the question: is allosemitism at all surmountable?

Norbert M. Samuelson is Harold and Jean Grossman Chair of Jewish Studies and Professor of Religious Studies at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. Trained as an analytic philosopher, he went on to establish the Academy of Jewish Philosophy in 1980, which contributed greatly to the professionalization of Jewish philosophy in America. An ordained Reform rabbi, a constructive theologian, and a public intellectual, Samuelson has insisted that philosophy is the very heart of Judaism and that in order to survive in the 21st century Judaism must rethink itself in light of contemporary science. Through his scholarship and organizational work he has brought a Jewish voice to the dialogue of religion and science. Viewing Jewish philosophy as central to the understanding of the Jewish past, Samuelson has explicated the philosophical dimension of Judaism, from the Bible to the present.

The second edition of" Kosher Food Production" explores the intricate relationship between modern food production and related Kosher application. Following an introduction to basic Kosher laws, theory and practice, author Blech details the essential food production procedures required of modern food plants to meet Kosher certification standards. Chapters on Kosher application include ingredient management; rabbinic etiquette; Kosher for Passover; and the industries of fruits and vegetables, baking, biotechnology, dairy, fish, flavor, meat and poultry, oils, fats, and emulsifiers, and food service. New to this edition are chapters covering Kosher application in the candy and confections industries and the snack foods industry. A collection of over 50 informative commodity-specific essays - specifically geared to the secular audience of food scientists - then follows, giving readers insight and understanding of the concerns behind the Kosher laws they are expected to accommodate. Several essays new to the second edition are included. "Kosher Food Production, Second Edition" serves as an indispensable outline of the issues confronting the application of Kosher law to issues of modern food technology.

Norbert M. Samuelson is Harold and Jean Grossman Chair of Jewish Studies and Professor of Religious Studies at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. Trained as an analytic philosopher, he went on to establish the Academy of Jewish Philosophy in 1980, which contributed greatly to the professionalization of Jewish philosophy in America. An ordained Reform rabbi, a constructive theologian, and a public intellectual, Samuelson has insisted that philosophy is the very heart of Judaism and that in order to survive in the 21st century Judaism must rethink itself in light of contemporary science. Through his scholarship and organizational work he has brought a Jewish voice to the dialogue of religion and science. Viewing Jewish philosophy as central to the understanding of the Jewish past, Samuelson has explicated the philosophical dimension of Judaism, from the Bible to the present.

To Be a Jew deals with the question of the meaning and rationale that the writer Joseph Chayim Brenner attributes to Jewish existence. Many of Brenner's readers assumed that Brenner completely negated Jewish existence and sought to form a new way of life completely disconnected from the traditional Jewish existence. In contrast to this perception, Avi Sagi proves that not only did Brenner not reject the value of the Jewish existence, but the core of his creation was written out of a deep Jewish commitment. Brenner's greatest innovation is found in his new conception of Jewish existence. To be a Jew, according to Brenner, involves the willingness to discover solidarity with actual Jews, to participate in a society in which Jews can live a free life and to fashion their culture as they wish. Sagi presents the idea that Brenner's is not a Utopian, but a realistic, conception of Jewish existence. Thus this unique conception of Jewish existence is founded on an infrastructure of existential thought.

What have women to do with the rise of canon-consciousness in early Judaism? Quite a lot, Claudia Camp argues, if the book written by the early second-century BCE scribe, Ben Sira, is any indication. One of the few true misogynists in the biblical tradition, Ben Sira is beset with gender anxiety, fear that his women will sully his honor, their shame causing his name to fail from the eternal memory of his people. Yet the same Ben Sira appropriates the idealized figure of cosmic Woman Wisdom from Proverbs, and identifies her with 'the book of the covenant of the most high God, the law that Moses commanded us'. This, then, is Ben Sira's dilemma: a woman (Wisdom) can admit him to eternity but his own women can keep him out. It is Camp's thesis that these conflicted perceptions of gender are fundamental to Ben Sira's appropriation and production of authoritative religious literature.

Basing himself on Christian sources-literally "from Saint Paul to Meister Eckhart"-Wolfgang Smith formulates what he terms an "unexpurgated" account of gnosis, and demonstrates its central place in the perfection of the Christ-centered life. He observes, moreover, that the very conception of a "supreme knowing," as implied by the aforesaid sources, has a decisive bearing upon cosmology, which moreover constitutes the underlying principle upon which his earlier scientific and philosophical work-beginning with his ground-breaking treatise on the interpretation of quantum mechanics-has been based. The "fact of gnosis," however, has a decisive bearing on the theological notion of creatio ex nihilo as well, and it is this imperative that Smith proposes to explore in the present work. What is thus demanded, he contends, is the inherently Kabbalistic notion of a creatio ex Deo et in Deo, not to replace, but to complement the creatio ex nihilo. This leads to an engagement with Christian Kabbalah (Pico de la Mirandola, Johann Reuchlin, and Cardinal Egidio di Viterbo especially) and with Jacob Boehme, culminating in an exegesis of Meister Eckhart's doctrine. The author argues, first of all, that Eckhart does not (as many have thought) advocate a "God beyond God" theology: does not, in other words, hold an inherently Sabellian view of the Trinity. Smith maintains that Eckhart has not in fact transgressed a single Trinitarian or Christological dogma; what he does deny implicitly, he shows, is none other than the creatio ex nihilo, which in effect Eckhart replaces with the Kabbalistic creatio ex Deo. In this shift, moreover, Smith perceives the transition from "exoteric" to "esoteric" within the integral domain of Christian doctrine. Wolfgang Smith brings to his writing a rare combination of qualities and experiences, not the least his ability to move freely between the somewhat arcane worlds of science and traditional metaphysics. Alongside Dr. Smith's imposing qualifications in mathematics, physics, and philosophy, we find his hard-earned expertise in Platonism, Christian theology, traditional cosmologies, and Oriental metaphysics. His outlook has been enriched both by his diverse professional experiences in the high-tech world of the aerospace industry and in academia, and by his own researches in the course of his far-reaching intellectual and spiritual journeying. Here is that rare person who is equally at home with Eckhart and Einstein, Heraclitus and Heisenberg Harry Oldmeadow, La Trobe University]

The Western Sephardic communities came into being as a result of confessional migration. However, in contrast to the other European confessional communities, the Sephardic Jews in Western Europe came to Judaism after a separation of generations from the religion of their ancestors. The contributions in this volume detail those transformations in the Early Modern Western Sephardic communities.