Louis Ginzberg's great compendium of Jewish legends, myths and ancient lore challenge readers to understand the civilization behind the greatest prophecies and holy writings ever written. Volume One begins with the years of creation, detailing God's creation of the Earth and all the lands and creatures upon it. Man's creation, and the story of Adam and Eve, are duly related, as are the ten generations which separated Adam from Noah. Volume Two, roughly corresponding with the Biblical Books of Exodus and Job, begins with the life and death of Joseph. His life and the lives of Jacob's sons - the founders of the Jewish tribes - are likewise told. Volume Three commences with Moses finally deciding to lead the Jews out of Egypt, the oppression of the Pharaoh having become too much to bear. Volume Four opens with the story of Joshua, who was the servant of Moses and one of the twelve spies who scouted the lands of Canaan at Moses' behest.

No matter what we would make of Jesus, says Schalom Ben-Chorin, he was first a Jewish man in a Jewish land. Brother Jesus leads us through the twists and turns of history to reveal the figure who extends a "brotherly hand" to the author as a fellow Jew. Ben-Chorin's reach is astounding as he moves easily between literature, law, etymology, psychology, and theology to recover "Jesus' picture from the Christian overpainting." A commanding scholar of the historical Jesus who also devoted his life to widening Jewish-Christian dialogue, Ben-Chorin ranges across such events as the wedding at Cana, the Last Supper, and the crucifixion to reveal, in contemporary Christianity, traces of the Jewish codes and customs in which Jesus was immersed. Not only do we see how and why these events also resonate with Jews, but we are brought closer to Christianity in its primitive state: radical, directionless, even pagan. Early in his book, Ben-Chorin writes, "the belief of Jesus unifies us, but the belief in Jesus divides us." It is the kind of paradox from which arise endless questions or, as Ben-Chorin would have it, endless opportunities for Jews and Christians to come together for meaningful, mutual discovery.

A Muslim curator and archivist who preserves in his native Timbuktu the memory of its rabbi. An evangelical Kenyan who is amazed to meet a living ""Israelite."" Indian Ocean islanders who maintain the Jewish cemetery of escapees from Nazi Germany. These are just a few of the encounters the author shares from his sojourns and fieldwork. An engaging read in which the author combines the rigors of academic research with a ""you are there"" delivery. Conveys thirty-five years of social science fieldwork and reverential travel in Sub-Saharan Africa. A great choice for the ecumenical-minded traveller.

Ezekiel's Visionary Temple in Babylonian Context examines evidence from Babylonian sources to better understand Ezekiel's vision of the future temple as it appears in chapters 40-48. Tova Ganzel argues that Neo-Babylonian temples provide a meaningful backdrop against which many unique features of Ezekiel's vision can and should be interpreted. In pointing to the similarities between Neo-Babylonian temples and the description in the book of Ezekiel, Ganzel demonstrates how these temples served as a context for the prophet's visions and describes the extent to which these similarities provide a further basis for broader research of the connections between Babylonia and the Bible. Ultimately, she argues the extent to which the book of Ezekiel models its temple on those of the Babylonians. Thus, this book suggests a comprehensive picture of the book of Ezekiel's worldview and to contextualize its visionary temple by comparing its vision to the actual temples surrounding the Judeans in exile.

This book focuses on Abraham Abulafia's esoteric thought in relation to Maimonides, Maimonideans, and Islamic thought in the line of Leo Strauss' theory of the history of philosophy. A survey of Abulafia's sources leads into an analysis of the esoteric meaning on the famous parable of the three rings, considering also the possible connection between this parable, which Abdulafia inserted into a book dedicated to his student, the 13th century rabbi Nathan the wise, and the Lessing's Play "Nathan the Wise." The book also examines Abulafia's universalistic understanding of the nature of the Bible, the Hebrew language, and the people of Israel (or the Sinaic revelation). The universal aspects of Abulafia's thought have been put in relief against the more widespread Kabbalistic views which are predominantly particularistic. A number of texts have also been identified here for the first time as authored by Abulafia.