A Novice's Guide Through the Jewish Holidays explores the traditions, historical events along with Hebrew blessings in transliteration of the holidays for all people of diverse faiths and learning skills. The book engages and encourages the reader to become comfortable practicing the observances of the holidays. This guide will inspire and enlighten multi-generational and interfaith families to learn together. There are recipes and decorations to enhance the richness and beauty of each holiday. The special gift of this book is to bring a better understanding of the Jewish people's rich heritage. May your thirst for knowledge never be quenched

In these modern times, we are easily distracted by the cares of the world. We quickly forget those who have died, even those souls who were once so very dear to us in life. We even fail to be mindful of our own salvation and our entire purpose to love, serve, and know God through His Catholic Church. Draw Us after Thee was lovingly compiled in the hopes of helping us to remember these urgent realities. This collection organizes together many of the beautiful practices which Catholics could reap so many spiritual rewards from, whether for the merit of their own souls or for the holy souls in purgatory, and in a way that is simple and manageable, even to those with very busy lives. It includes daily prayers and devotions that carry indulgences-taken word-for-word from The Raccolta-as well as a place to record personal traditions and important events, such as birthdays, anniversaries, and feast days. Draw Us after Thee will hopefully aid us to a much closer relationship to God, Our Blessed Mother, the saints, the angels, and our dear friends in purgatory. Blessed be His Holy Name

In his academic career, that by now spans six decades, Daniel J. Lasker distinguished himself by the wide range of his scholarly interests. In the field of Jewish theology and philosophy he contributed significantly to the study of Rabbinic as well as Karaite authors. In the field of Jewish polemics his studies explore Judeo-Arabic and Hebrew texts, analyzing them in the context of their Christian and Muslim backgrounds. His contributions refer to a wide variety of authors who lived from the 9th century to the 18th century and beyond, in the Muslim East, in Muslin and Christian parts of the Mediterranean Sea, and in west and east Europe. This Festschrift for Daniel J. Lasker consists of four parts. The first highlights his academic career and scholarly achievements. In the three other parts, colleagues and students of Daniel J. Lasker offer their own findings and insights in topics strongly connected to his studies, namely, intersections of Jewish theology and Biblical exegesis with the Islamic and Christian cultures, as well as Jewish-Muslim and Jewish-Christian relations. Thus, this wide-scoped and rich volume offers significant contributions to a variety of topics in Jewish Studies.

How do you know what God's direction is for your life? How can you find and more clearly understand the wondrous plans "He" has for you? Would you like to uncover the hidden passion that's lying in wait inside of you?

In any economy-good or bad-do you ever fret about bills and money? Do you experience troubling nagging stressful life issues? Have you been skeptical or had a careless attitude about whether dark, evil forces are real or not? Would you like to encounter a fresh and enlightening simplistic perspective concerning this issue and spiritual warfare?

Finally, here is an inspiring, modern-day true story of discovery that will give thought-provoking insight and answers to these and other important questions and problematic dilemmas. Author Jack Kovnas does not tell you how to pray as much as he shows you through his own teaching examples of actual prayer events.

With deep humility, he candidly reveals how sinfully and shamefully he lived the beginning stages of his Christian life-without prayer-but then turned completely around as he uncovered genuine happiness "with" prayer.

Inside this book you will find a declaration by somebody who learned the value of praying and trusting God-who willingly gave up house and possessions, and then watched in amazement as they returned.

This informative prayer-ride journey is a testimony to what God can and will do for any and all of us. As Jack humbly and assuredly attests-even though it is his own true life story, every sincere, caring word on each and every page is not about him-it is about "you" ""Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not upon thine own understanding.In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.""
Proverbs 3:5-6 (KJV)

Today the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, India, is a major Hindu religious pilgrimage and the largest religious gathering in the world. In 2001, according to the government of Uttar Pradesh, 30 million pilgrims were drawn to the confluence of the rivers Ganga and Yamuna on the most auspicious day for bathing. In an impressive feat of organization and administration, the first mela of the new millennium was managed to the overwhelming satisfaction of most, with an impressive health and safety record. The loudest complaint had to do with the intrusive presence of the media. Journalists, largely representing foreign media outlets, had swarmed to the mela, intent on broadcasting to a global audience sensational images of naked (or wet-sari-clad) Indians taking part in "ancient" religious rituals.
Resistance to foreign interference with the mela has roots that go back 200 years. The British colonial state and the colonized had different ideas about what the Kumbh Mela represented: for the former, it was a potentially dangerous gathering that demanded tight regulation and control, but for the latter it was a sacred sphere in which foreign domination and interference were intolerable. In this book Kama Maclean examines this tension and the manner in which it was negotiated by each side. She asks why and how the colonial state tried to manipulate the mela and, more important, how the mela changed as Indians responded to the colonial power. In recent years many scholars have emphasized the extent to which the Kumbh Mela has been monopolized by the Hindu nationalist movement. Maclean seeks to situate the history of the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad within a much broader context. She explores the role ofa pilgrimage fair like the Kumbh Mela in disseminating ideas, particularly political ones like nationalism and ideas about social reform.
Kama Maclean tells the mesmerizing and important story of the Kumbh Mela with exciting detail as well as careful scholarly attention, illuminating for the reader the full scope of the event's historical and socio-political context.

"Cloud by Day, Fire by Night" offers a modern-day parable of one man's choices and the attitudes that can make the difference between success and failure. Sportsman, businessman, entrepreneur, devoted husband, and father, author Dennis Hurst found himself in the depths of despair following a devastating divorce. From the thrills of an early professional soccer career to the life of a high-flying business executive and head of a start-up retail business, he suddenly had to begin his life anew at the age of fifty-two. Sitting alone on the only piece of furniture in an apartment hurriedly rented with his last two thousand dollars, he pondered his fate.

Staring vacantly out the curtainless window as the drizzle outside turned into a steady downpour, he began to take stock of his life. As one who had experienced the exhilaration and rewards of professional sports, the perks and privileges of being a business executive, along with the prestige and position that such a lifestyle allows, he found his new, lowly station in life both unexpected and depressing. Or was it? To the world's way of thinking, it seemed to be; it was one step away from living out on the street, under a bridge, fighting for survival-a total unmitigated disaster.

Fortunately for Hurst, God had him exactly where he needed him and set him off on his personal journey of rediscovery.

"No Longer Alone" tells the inspirational true story of the son of a survivor of Auschwitz and Mauthausen death camps who battled and conquered abandonment, mental illness, attempted suicide, imprisonment, and hopelessness through the coming of Jesus Christ into his life.