What makes someone Jewish?Theodore Ross was nine years old when he moved with his mother from New York City to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Once there, his mother decided, for both personal and spiritual reasons, to have her family pretend not to be Jewish. He went to an Episcopal school, where he studied the New Testament, sang in the choir, and even took Communion. Later, as an adult, he wondered: Am I still Jewish?Seeking an answer, Ross traveled around the country and to...

What makes someone Jewish?Theodore Ross was nine years old when he moved with his mother from New York City to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Once there, his mother decided, for both personal and spiritual reasons, to have her family pretend not to be Jewish. He went to an Episcopal school, where he studied the New Testament, sang in the choir, and even took Communion. Later, as an adult, he wondered: Am I still Jewish?Seeking an answer, Ross traveled around the country and to...

Abraham Lincoln biography, on audiobook — the complete narrative history of America's greatest president, from a dirt-floored Kentucky cabin to Ford's Theatre, covering the Lincoln-Douglas debates, the Emancipation Proclamation, Gettysburg, and the long American reckoning with Lincoln's legacy. Narrated by Diana Donovan. Listen time: 4 hours 51 minutes On November 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln sat in a Springfield telegraph office waiting for returns from the East. When Ohio came in, he walk...

We're stuck. Stuck to the couch. Stuck scrolling. Stuck at work. Stuck in worn-out paths of habitual action. Stuck in carefully curated lives where we've traded our agency for endless comforts that wrap us in existential ennui.As our eyes fixate on a constant parade of images meant to engage us, we notice something in the periphery. We see folks who are just like us, except they are actually, deeply happy and fulfilled. They seem to go through life with ease and grace, overcoming o...

This file includes 11 books: Medieval Hebrew (featuring The Midrash and medieval collections of Jewish biblical lore and legend), Hebraic Literature (translations from the Talmud, Midrashim, and KabbalaTales and Maxims from the Midrash by Samuel Rapaport, The Sayings of the Jewish Fathers (Pirke Abot), Kitab al Khazari by Judah Hallevi, the Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg, Philo-Judaeus of alexandria by Norman Bentwich, The guide for the Perplexed by Moses Maimonides, The Ethics by B...

Here are more than 100 of the best Jewish jokes you'll ever hear, interspersed with perceptive and persuasive insight into what they can tell us about how Jews see themselves, their families, and their friends, and what they think about money, sex, and success. Rabbi Joseph Telushkin is as celebrated for his wit as for his scholarship, and in this immensely entertaining book, he displays both in equal measure. Stimulating, something stinging, and always very, very funny, Jewish Humor offer...

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...

What can Kabbalah teach us about our lives today? What can it teach us about our future?According to the Jewish mystical tradition of Kabbalah, Ehyeh, or I shall be, is the deepest, most hidden name of God. Arthur Green, one of the most respected teachers of Jewish mysticism of his generation, uses this simple Hebrew word to unlock the spiritual meaning of Kabbalah for our lives.When Moses experienced his great moment of call at the Burning Bush, he asked God, When people ...

"The Talmud: Selections" is a book by H. Polano (Henry Polano). This work is a collection of selected passages and stories from the Talmud, a central text in Rabbinic Judaism. The Talmud is a compilation of Jewish law, ethics, customs, and teachings, and it holds a significant place in Jewish religious and legal scholarship.Henry Polano, a 19th-century author, compiled and translated various selections from the Talmud to make its teachings more accessible to English-speaking audiences. His...

In The New American Zionism, Theodore Sasson challenges the conventional view of waning American Jewish support for Israel. Instead, he shows that we are in the midst of a shift from a "mobilization" approach, which first emerged with the new state and focused on supporting Israel through big, centralized organizations, to an "engagement" approach marked by direct and personal relations with the Jewish state.Today, growing numbers of American Jews travel to Israel, consume Israeli n...

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...

Kabbalah: A Guide for the Perplexed is a concise and accessible introduction to the major elements of the prevalent metaphysical system of Judaism, Kabbalah. The book covers the historical and theoretical essence of Kabbalah, offering a clear definition of the term and the limitations of what Kabbalah is and is not. Pinchas Giller provides an overview of the history of the movement, reflecting the sweep of Jewish history as a whole, and examines its metaphysical system, the advanced mythos...