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"

Papers collected in this volume try to illuminate various aspects of philosophical theology dealt with by different Jewish and early Christian authors and texts (e.g. the Acts of the Apostles, Philo, Origen, Gregory of Nazianzus), rooted in and influenced by the Hellenistic religious, cultural, and philosophical context, and they also focus on the literary and cultural traditions of Hellenized Judaism and its reception (e.g. Sibylline Oracles, Prayer of Manasseh), including material culture ("Elephant Mosaic Panel" from Huqoq synagogue). By studying the Hellenistic influences on early Christianity, both in response to and in reaction against early Hellenized Judaism, the volume intends not only to better understand Christianity, as a religious and historical phenomenon with a profound impact on the development of European civilization, but also to better comprehend Hellenism and its consequences which have often been relegated to the realm of political history.

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.

The series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (BZAW) covers all areas of research into the Old Testament, focusing on the Hebrew Bible, its early and later forms in Ancient Judaism, as well as its branching into many neighboring cultures of the Ancient Near East and the Greco-Roman world.

In this volume twelve contributions discuss the relevance, accuracy, potential, and possible alternatives to a literary reading of ancient Jewish writings, especially the Hebrew Bible. Drawing on different academic fields (biblical studies, rabbinic studies, and literary studies) and on various methodologies (literary criticism, rhetorical criticism, cognitive linguistics, historical criticism, and reception history), the essays form a state-of-the-art overview of the current use of the literary approach toward ancient Jewish texts. The volume convincingly shows that the latest approaches to a literary reading can still enhance our understanding of these texts.

This commentary on the Greek text of the Jewish-Hellenistic Sentences of Pseudo-Phocylides, a sapiential poem of the first century BCE or first century CE, offers a full treatment of its sources, structure, perspective, and purpose as well as a verse-by-verse translation and analysis. The Greek text is given in an appendix. The cross-cultural nature of these moral teachings is emphasized through extensive reference to Biblical, Hellenistic Jewish, and Greco-Roman comparative materials. Key Features First commentary on Pseudo-Phocylides in 20 years Standard reference work also for private libraries Third volume of the new series Commentaries on Early Jewish Literature (which also includes Allison: Testament of Abraham; Fitzmyer: Tobit)

New volume in the TNTC revision and replacement programme

An Invitation to Biblical Poetry is an accessibly written introduction to biblical poetry that emphasizes the aesthetic dimensions of poems and their openness to varieties of context. It demonstrates the irreducible complexity of poetry as a verbal art and considers the intellectual work poems accomplish as they offer aesthetic experiences to people who read or hear them. Chapters walk the reader through some of the diverse ways biblical poems are organized through techniques of voicing, lineation, and form, and describe how the poems' figures are both culturally and historically bound and always dependent on later reception. The discussions consider examples from different texts of the Bible, including poems inset in prose narratives, prophecies, psalms, and wisdom literature. Each chapter ends with a reading of a psalm that offers an acute example of the dimension under discussion. Students and general readers are invited to richer and deeper readings of ancient poems and the subjects, problems, and convictions that occupy their imagination.

The essays in this collection fall into three groups. The first group deals with philosophical accounts of interpretation. The second is concerned with the interpretation of scripture with particular reference to the work of the Oxford theologian and philosopher Austin Farrer. The third group provides some examples of interpretative practice relating to Genesis and the book of Psalms. The contributors represent a wide range of academic disciplines and religious traditions, providing significant pointers for further developments in Biblical criticism and interpretation theory.

Since the emergence of disability studies over the last several decades, disability theorists have often settled for sweeping generalizations about "biblical" notions of disability. Yet, academic or critical biblical scholarship has shown that many texts involving disability in the Bible is much more nuanced than a casual reading or isolated proof texting may indicate. A primary goal of this volume is to familiarize a wide audience, including advanced students, scholars, clergy, and interested lay readers, with research on disability and the Bible done by scholars who specialize in biblical studies.

The Quran teaches that "God does not change people's condition unless they change their inner selves. The change has to occur inside us first, in our beliefs and attitudes, only then can it be seen on the outside. It also teaches how we can change our inner selves and thus improve our circumstances.
This book brings together a number of verses from the Quran that teach methods of personal change. Each verse is accompanied by advice on how to use its wisdom in daily life. The principles of personal growth taught in the Quran are simple but they are amazingly powerful, and they can be used by anyone who wishes to transform his or her life from mediocre existence to fulfillment and achievement.
A sentence in the Quran is called an aya, or a sign. It is a sign pointing to a deep truth that we need to focus on, decipher and learn to use in our lives.
The essays in this book were used to teach the Quran at weekly meetings of Muslim Reform Movement in Brookville, New York, www.mrmo.org. Each provides personal tools on how to apply the aya's wisdom to uplift one's life.

Binding Fragments of Tractate Temurah and the Problem of Lishana 'Aharina offers a critical edition of an important Talmud manuscript of tractate Temurah discovered in the library of New York University. Addressing the unique Lishana 'Aharina ("alternative version") phenomenon present in this tractate, the present volume suggests a new approach for understanding the editing and transmission of tractate Temurah. This volume also includes a thorough discussion of the conservation and treatment of the manuscript fragments, a codicological and paleographical analysis of the fragments, and a synopsis of the entire first chapter of this tractate. The present work is relevant for study of the redaction and transmission of tractate Temurah and the Babylonian Talmud, as well as for the study of Hebrew binding fragments.

Stories about gendered social relations permeate the Qur'an, and nearly three hundred verses involve specific women or girls. The Qur'an features these figures in accounts of human origins, in stories of the founding and destruction of nations, in narratives of conquest, in episodes of romantic attraction, and in incidents of family devotion and strife. Overall, stories involving women and girls weave together theology and ethics to reinforce central Qur'anic ideas regarding submission to God and moral accountability. Celene Ibrahim explores the complex cast of female figures in the Qur'an, probing themes related to biological sex, female sexuality, female speech, and women in sacred history. Ibrahim considers major and minor figures referenced in the Qur'an, including those who appear in narratives of sacred history, in parables, in descriptions of the eternal abode, and in verses that allude to events contemporaneous with the advent of the Qur'an in Arabia. Ibrahim finds that the Qur'an regularly celebrates the aptitudes of women in the realms of spirituality and piety, in political maneuvering, and in safeguarding their own wellbeing; yet, women figures also occasionally falter and use their agency toward nefarious ends. Women and Gender in the Qur'an outlines how women and girls - old, young, barren, fertile, chaste, profligate, reproachable, and saintly - enter Qur'anic sacred history and advance the Qur'an's overarching didactic aims.