When Jewish neoconservatives burst upon the political scene, many people were surprised. Conventional wisdom held that Jews were uniformly liberal. This book explodes the myth of a monolithic liberal Judaism. Michael Staub tells the story of the many fierce battles that raged in postwar America over what the authentically Jewish position ought to be on issues ranging from desegregation to Zionism, from Vietnam to gender relations, sexuality, and family life. Throughout the three decades af...

"If Mr. Mitchell gives an eloquent account of the effects of Job's poetry in his introduction, in the translation itself he does even better: he makes those effects come alive. Writing with three insistent beats to the line, and hammering home a succession of boldly defined images, he achieves a rare degree of vehemence and concentration." — John Cross, New York TimesA timeless work of wisdom literature, Book of Job, The pulses with moral energy, outrage, and spiritual ins...

"It all happened so fast that even now, a month later, I still have trouble believing it, and I have to tell myself over and over again: Leszli, you have been kidnapped."On April 12, 1999, Leszli Kálli boarded a plane in Colombia to work on a kibbutz in Israel, but she never made it. The plane was hijacked by a leftist guerrilla group and forced to land on an abandoned runway in the jungle. Leszli, along with her father and the other passengers, were held hostage f...

Essays analyze the major traditional texts of Judaism from literary, historical, philosophical, and religious points of view.

Chanukah, the Festival of Lights, will be a whole new experience after reading these thirty-six stories - one for each Chanukah candle - from the Chassidic tradition. Join the Baal Shem Tov, Rabbi Zusya of Hanipoli, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, the Chozeh of Lublin, and many others as they share their timeless wisdom for how to stay happy and optimistic during even the darkest times.

This powerful memoir chronicles the life of one of America’s most celebrated rabbis—Rabbi Zalman M. Schachter-Shalomi, or “Reb Zalman” as he is fondly known to friends and followers. The book traces his life from a youth in the shadow of the Nazis through the tumultuous 1960s in America to his position as a renowned religious leader today.Often controversial for his attraction to cultural mavericks and religious rebels, Reb Zalman’s colorful lifetime includes a striking cast of cha...

Explore your experiences, relationships, and feelings through this guided tour ofjournal-keeping in Jewish tradition.Journaling has been, and remains, an inherently Jewish activity. From the Kabbalist mystics who recorded their practices of reaching altered states of consciousness, to the more recent journals of those who lived during the Holocaust, to the spiritual precedent for Jewish journal-keeping at holy times of the year, writing, recording, and refle...

"Illuminating . . . 24 academic essays covering Wiesel's interpretations of the Bible, retellings of Talmudic stories . . . his post-Holocaust theology, and more." — Publishers WeeklyNobel Peace Prize recipient Elie Wiesel, best known for his writings on the Holocaust, is also the accomplished author of novels, essays, tales, and plays as well as portraits of seminal figures in Jewish life and experience. In this volume, leading scholars in the fields of B...

Jews, Christians, and Muslims in the Middle Ages were divided in many ways. But one thing they shared in common was the fear that God was offended by wrong belief. Medieval Heresies: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam is the first comparative survey of heresy and its response throughout the medieval world. Spanning England to Persia, it examines heresy, error, and religious dissent - and efforts to end them through correction, persuasion, or punishment - among Latin Christians, Greek Christi...

In False Facts and True Rumors, Rabbi Daniel Feldman undertakes the vital task of examining the halakhic sources regarding lashon hara, derogatory speech, and applying them to today’s technology-driven world. Combining erudite knowledge of rabbinic texts, philosophy, and psychology, Rabbi Feldman explores this uncharted territory of contemporary Jewish life. Among the questions addressed are: How can it be prohibited to convey facts that are true? How can the innocent be protected and soci...

Philosophy and Rabbinic Culture is a study of the great, and curiously underappreciated, engagement of a Medieval European Jewish community with the philosophic tradition. This lucid description of the Languedocian Jewish community's multigenerational cultivation of - and acculturation to - scientific and philosophic teachings into Judaism fulfils a major desideratum in Jewish cultural history.In the first detailed account of this long-forgotten Jewish community and its cu...

Today there is a desperate search to find the key to overcome anxiety, anger, and depression; to master those negative feelings which incapacitate thousands of intelligent, capable individuals, and drain the joy of life from many others.For more than two centuries, individuals who have lived by the teachings of Jewish mysticism and Chassidus have been recognized as people full of joy and inspiration, radiating life and energy. This genuine joy comes from profound spiritual awarenes...