Insights, Ideas and Thoughtful Questions for Discussing with Students the Essential Core of Judaism the Talmud. A step-by-step guide to creative use of The Wisdom of Judaism: An Introduction to the Values of the Talmud in the classroom. Each lesson includes: An opening hook to grab students' attention Intriguing discussion questions to guide students in a personal exploration of the Talmud Opportunities for students to engage the text This comprehensive teaching tool will help you guide each student to a deeper understanding of the Talmud and its eternal wisdom. Discover the Talmud and its universal values for all people. While the Hebrew Bible is the cornerstone of Judaism, it is the Talmud that provides many central values for living. The Talmud sets out specific guidelines and lyrical admonitions regarding many of life s ordinary events, and offers profound words of advice for life s most intractable dilemmas. This accessible introduction to the Talmud explores the essence of Judaism through reflections on the words of the rabbinic sages, from one of American Judaism s foremost teachers and writers, Rabbi Dov Peretz Elkins. Dr. Elkins provides fresh insight into ancient aphorisms and shows you how they can be applied to your life today. Topics include: Kindness through Giving, Welcoming and Sharing Human Relationships Personal Values Family Values Teaching and Learning Life s Puzzles Enlightening and inspiring, the values of the Talmud can be appreciated not just by Jews, but by anyone seeking a greater understanding of life and its mysteries."

Hasidic Wisdom: Sayings from the Jewish Sages is among the many lifelong efforts of Rabbi Simcha Raz, one of Jerusalem's leading teachers, writers, and educators. The original book in Hebrew is titled Pitgamay Hasidim. It has been a perennial best-seller in Israel for the past fifteen years and is now in its 8th edition. The book is divided into thirty brief chapters on issues that have relevance to every human being: love and hate, faith, truth, the inner life, heaven and hell, leadership, loneliness, friendship, piety, anger, music, poverty, righteousness, prayer, charity, and repentance. Rabbi Dov Peretz Elkins has been translating various selections of the book for his sermons, lectures, and classes since he first bought the Hebrew book in the mid-1980s. After countless listeners and readers asked him for the source of the hasidic quotations, he decided to translate the entire book into English, to make it available for a more diverse audience. Enlisting the assistance of his son, Jonathan, a freelance writer and television reporter in Israel, the two men collaborated on the project to render the Hebrew into idiomatic English, and to preserve its traditional nuances. The reader will find in this newest and most clearly focused treasure of hasidic doctrine a touching, heartwarming collection of profound revelations on spirituality, Torah, human relationships, and personal growth.

Discover the Talmud and its universal values for all people. While the Hebrew Bible is the cornerstone of Judaism, it is the Talmud that provides many central values for living. The Talmud sets out specific guidelines and lyrical admonitions regarding many of life's ordinary events, and offers profound words of advice for life s most intractable dilemmas. This accessible introduction to the Talmud explores the essence of Judaism through reflections on the words of the rabbinic sages, from one of American Judaism s foremost teachers and writers, Rabbi Dov Peretz Elkins. Dr. Elkins provides fresh insight into ancient aphorisms and shows you how they can be applied to your life today. Topics include: Kindness through Giving, Welcoming and Sharing; Human Relationships; Personal Values; Family Values; Teaching and Learning; and Life s Puzzles. Enlightening and inspiring, the values of the Talmud can be appreciated not just by Jews, but by anyone seeking a greater understanding of life and its mysteries."

A powerful collection of writings about Yom Kippur that will add spiritual depth and holiness to your experience of the Day of Atonement.

As Rosh Hashanah ends and you look ahead to Yom Kippur, what do you think about? The familiar melody of Kol Nidre? The long hours of fasting? The days of self-examination? You know that the Day of Atonement is the holiest on the Jewish calendar, but sometimes it just feels long, tiresome and devoid of personal meaning. The readings in this book are for anyone seeking a deeper level of personal reflection and spiritual intimacy and a clearer understanding of just what makes Yom Kippur so holy.

Drawn from a variety of sources ancient, medieval, modern, Jewish and non-Jewish this selection of readings, prayers and insights explores the opportunities for inspiration and reflection inherent in the themes addressed on the Day of Atonement: sin, forgiveness, repentance, spiritual growth, and being at one with self, family, community and God. These readings enable you to enter into the spirit of Yom Kippur in a personal and powerful way while they uplift and inform. They will add to the benefits of your High Holy Day experience year after year."

The Glory and Grief, Humor and Pride of the Human Experience
Inspiration from a Jewish Perspective

From exile to rebirth, from degradation to renaissance, the Jewish People has undergone every human experience and emotion that God created. In this inspiring collection of stories, award-winning anthologist Dov Peretz Elkins captures the best and worst of Jewish experience in these spine-tingling tales of courage, devotion, passion and extraordinary achievement.

Elkins taps the famous and the not-so-famous, world-renowned figures and the little-known person next door, for stories that illustrate the wonder, meaning, and purpose of life as viewed through the lens of Judaism s core values. Though drawn from the Jewish tradition, these universal stories of kindness, hope, faith and discovery will intrigue the minds and warm the hearts of people from all walks of life.

Description: All the important moral ideas of the modern world are based on the key biblical verses analyzed in this collection. What generally happens when someone picks up a copy of the Bible? Often it is put down within seconds because readers see endless verses which turn them off. Finally, here is an accessible book about the Bible that focuses on its great moral principles: --Human beings are created in the image of God. --""Love your neighbor as yourself."" --""You shall not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor."" --""You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might."" --""Justice, justice shall you pursue."" Dov Peretz Elkins believes that if a reader understands fifty verses of the five thousand in the Bible (only 1 percent), he or she will begin to grasp the essence of the Bible. This remarkable explanation of the Bible shows readers how it can serve as a light that illuminates a path through the confusion and problems in their personal and communal lives. The result is a life that is better and more serious--a life with meaning, purpose, and direction. The Bible's Top 50 Ideas: --Presents the Bible's essential ideas in readable, engaging fashion. --Focuses on the contemporary value of the Bible. --Uses commentaries and explanations from sources that are modern as well as ancient, Christian as well as Jewish, and popular as well as scholarly. Elkins not only simplifies the Bible but also demonstrates how its fundamental ideas and concepts have inspired four thousand years of civilization to follow its teachings. The result is a moral, legal, and literary foundation that remains the basis of all democratic and principled societies to this day.

Nuggets of Ethical Teachings and Wise Insights: In the course of many generations a host of edifying stories about the spiritual giants of the Jewish People have accumulated. This collection in "Heart and Scroll" assembles the acumen and vision of a multitude of teachers of the Jewish People, in many generations: men of piety, righteousness, unquestionable integrity, high principles and moral values. They cover subjects such as relations between people, between humans and their Maker, and between an individual and his own soul. Eli Wiesel, author and Nobel Prize Laureate, said "The telling of the Hasidic tale is a special skill and one that Simcha Raz knows well. It is truly a pleasure to observe how he has regenerated and restored legends and tales drawn from the wellspring of Hasidic lore."

In this important book, Rabbi Dov Peretz Elkins reminds us all of the perils that our environment faces today, and he specifically challenges us to look to our heritage as a guide to becoming better stewards of our earth. As God commands Adam in the Book of Genesis to protect the garden, Rabbi Elkins too challenges us to be protectors of God's good earth and everything that exists on it. Senator Joseph Lieberman ----- This is the only book which focuses on specific ACTIONS to take to make our planet more sustainable.