Today there are more than seven million Jews in the United States. As with Americans of all ethnicities and religious persuasions, Jews can identify with and embrace their heritage in any number of ways. Alternatively, they can choose to distance themselves from anything distinctively Jewish.For millennia, the Torah – literally, instruction – the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, has been a centerpiece of Jewish study, thought, and action. Throughout the years, the Torah has bee...

Exploring the enduring dialogue between Jewish law and the law of the state.For the Jewish community, the end of the Middle Ages and the emergence of the modern nation-state brought the promise of equal citizenship as well as the possible loss of Jewish corporate identity. The legal maxim dina de-malkhuta dina (the law of the State is law) invoked in Talmidic times to justify the acceptance of the king’s law and qualified in the Middle Ages by Mai...

From the man who became Pope Francis, Jorge Mario Bergoglio shares his thoughts on religion, reason, and the challenges the world faces in the 21st century with Abraham Skorka, a rabbi and biophysicist.For years Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, archbishop of Argentina, and Rabbi Abraham Skorka were tenacious promoters of interreligious dialogues on faith and reason. They both sought to build bridges among Catholicism, Judaism, and the world at large. On Heaven and E...

I AND THOU is one of the most important books of Western Theology. In it, Martin Buber, heavily influenced by the writings of Nietzsche, unites the proto-Existentialist currents of modern German thought with the Judeo-Christian tradition, powerfully updating faith for modern times. Since its first appearance in Germany in 1923, this slender volume has become one of the epoch-making works of our time.This work is the centerpiece of Buber's philosophy. It lays out a view of the world in whic...

Joseph B. Soloveitchik, the rabbi known as “The Rav” by his followers worldwide, was a leading authority on the meaning of Jewish law and prominent force in building bridges between traditional Orthodox Judaism and the modern world. In THE LONELY MAN OF FAITH, a soaring, eloquent essay first published in Tradition magazine in 1965, Soloveitchik investigates the essential loneliness of the person of faith in our narcissistic, materially oriented, utilitarian society. In this modern...

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 fig...

Covenant & Conscience—A Groundbreaking Journey to the Heart of Halakha"Anyone curious about the Jewish way of life, yet dissatisfied with much of contemporary Jewish theology and practice—repelled, perhaps, by the cheap and vulgar apologetics of those who seek to justify and sustain some of the tradition's systematic immoralities, who smugly deny expression to any doubt or uncertainty, claiming a monopoly on absolute truth—is invited to join me on this pilgrimage."...

An essential volume of Judaic thought from the renowned theologian, "a truly great prophet" (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.)This first collection of Abraham Joshua Heschel's essays—compiled, edited and with an introduction by his daughter Susannah Heschel, is a stunning reminder of the virtuosity of one of the most well-respected minds in Judaic studies.

"[An] original point of view. . . . A way of finding new meaning in . . . talking about God. It succeeds brilliantly on all counts." ― Jewish Book CouncilThe love of God is the most essential element in Judaism—but also the most confounding. In biblical and rabbinic literature, the obligation to love God appears as a formal commandment. Yet most people today think of love as a feeling. How can an emotion be commanded? How could one ever fu...

A challenging look at two great Jewish philosophers, and what their thinking means to our understanding of God, truth, revelation and reason.Moses Maimonides (11381204) is Jewish historys greatest exponent of a rational, philosophically sound Judaism. He strove to reconcile the teachings of the Bible and rabbinic tradition with the principles of Aristotelian philosophy, arguing that religion and philosophy ultimately must arrive at the same truth.Baruch Spinoza (163277) is Jew...

How much does our perception of God really matter? Many of us aren't conscious of our image of a "higher power." For some of us, that unspoken image is a Judgmental Parent or an exacting Old Man in the Sky. For others, God is an Imaginary Friend who is there to fix problems after we create them.David Aaron can help you discover a mature, new understanding of God and lead you to discover the wellspring of Divinity within you. By drawing on teachings of Kabbalah that were secret for ...

Symbols of the Kabbalah: Philosophical and Psychological Perspectives provides a philosophical and psychological interpretation of the major symbols of the theosophical Kabbalah. It shows that the Kabbalah, particularly as it is expressed in the school of Isaac Luria, provides a coherent and comprehensive account of the cosmos, and humanity's role within it, that is intellectually, morally, and spiritually significant for contemporary life.