DOCSLIB.ORG

1. the Merits of Giving, Rabbeinu Yitzchak Abohav 2. Have a Little

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

JUDAISM (alphabetized by authors last name) 1. The Merits of Giving, Rabbeinu Yitzchak Abohav (2 copies) 2. Have a Little Faith, A True Story, Mitch Albom 3. Life Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This (The Holiness of Little Daily Dramas), Robert A. Alper (2 copies)) 4. God Wears Lipstick, Kabbalah for Women, Karen Berg 5. The Secret, Unlocking the Source of Joy and Fulfillment, Michael Berg 6. The Way, Using the Wisdom of Kabbalah for Spiritual Transformation and Fulfillment, Michael Berg 7. The 72 Names of God, Technology for the Soul, Yehuda Berg 8. The Power of Kabbalah, Technology for the Soul, Yehuda Berg 9. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Jewish History and Culture, Rabbi Benjamin Blech 10. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Understanding Judaism, Rabbi Benjamin Blech 11. Bible Pictures, G. Dore’ (see Oversized Books Section) 12. Saving Remnants, Feeling Jewish in America, Sara Bershtel and Allen Graubard 13. The Jewish Moral Virtues, Eugene B Borowitz and Frances Weinman Schwartz 14. A New Jewish Theology in the Making, Eugene B. Borowitz 15. The Wisdom of Israel Lewis Browne, editor 16. The Torah as God’s Mind, A Kabbalistic Look into the Pentateuch, Nathan T. Lopes Cardozo (pamphlet) 17. The Gifts of the Jews, How a Tribe of Desert Nomads Changed the Way Everyone Thinks and Feels, Thomas Cahill 18. The Quill of the Heart (The Jewish Approach to Human Relations), The Chofetz Chaim Heritage Foundation 19. The Quill of the Heart, The Jewish Approach to Human Relations, 2nd editionYeshiva of Telshe alumni 20. 10 Minute Kabbalah, Blessing, Wisdom, and Guidance from the Tree of LIfe, Shoshanna Cohen 21. American Modernity & Jewish Identity, Steven M. Cohen 22. Introduction to Judaism, Beryl D. Cohon 23. God is a Verb, Kabbalah and the Practice of Mystical Judaism, Rabbi David A. Cooper 24. Invoking Angels, For Blessings, Protection, and Healing, Rabbi David A. Cooper 25. Accessible Judaism, A Concise Guide, Rabbi Jacques Cukierkorn 26. The Emergence of Conservative Judaism, Moshe Davis (2 copies) 27. The Synagogue, Brian de Breffny 28. A Modern Conception of Religion, M.L. Deyo 29. What Christians Should Know About Jews and Judaism, Rabbi Yechel Eckstein 30. What is a Jew? Ira Eisenstein (pamphlet) 31. Abraham’s Children, Race, Identity, and the DNA of the Chosen People, Jon Entine 32. Avos D’Rebbi Nosson Vol.II, Rabbi Avraham Yaakov Finkel, translator 33. Pirkei D’Rebbe Eliezer, Rabbi Avraham Yaakov Finkel, translator 34. Rambam, Maimonides’ Introduction to the Mishnah, translated and annotated by Avraham Yaakov Finkel 35. Rambam, The Eight Chapters, Maimonides Introduction to Ethics of the Fathers, translated and annotated by Avraham Yaakov Finkel 36. Yearos Dvash (The Forest of Honey), Rabbi Avraham Yaakov Finkel, translator 37. Tanna Devei Eliyahu, Volumes II and III, Rabbi Avraham Yaakov Finkel, translator 38. Chofetz Chaim, A Lesson a Day, Rabbi Shimon Finkelman and Rabbi Yitzchak Berkowitz 39. The Receiving, Reclaiming Jewish Women’s Wisdom, Rabbi Tirzah Firestone 40. With Roots in Heaven, One Woman’s Journey into the Heart of Her Faith, Rabbi Tirzah Firestone 41. Moral Issues in Judaism, Arye Forta 42. Sacred Therapy, Jewish Spiritual Teachings on Emotional Healing and Inner Wholeness, Estelle Frankel 43. The Jewish Religion, Michael Friedlander, Ph.D. 44. Judaism and Ethics, Norman E. Frimer (2 pamphlets) 45. The Mystery of Love, Marc Gafni 46. Tales of the Heavenly City, Menachem Gerlitz 47. A Guide to Torah Hashkofoh, Questions and Answers on Judaism, Rabbi Eliezer (2 copies) 48. Shemittah: What It’s All About, Compiled by Rabbi Elizeer Gevirtz 49. Conservative Judaism, The New Century, Neil Gillman 50. Legends of the Bible, Louis Ginzberg 51. How Do I Decide? Roland B. B. Gittelsohn (2 copies) 52. The Meaning of Judaism, Roland B. Gittelsohn 53. The Jew and His Duties, The Essence of the Kitzur Shulhan Arukh, Hyman E. Goldin (2 copies) 54. A Time to Pray, A Personal Approach to the Jewish Prayer Book, Rose Goldstein 55. Conservative Judaism, And American Philosophy, Robert Gordis 56. Restore My Soul, stories by Rabbi Nachman, translated by Avraham Greenbaum 57. The Sabbath, Dayan Dr. I. Grunfeld 58. Shalom, The Heritage of Judaism in Selected in Writings, Tina Hacker, editor 59. The American Jew, A Zionist Analysis, Ben Halpern 60. The Jewish Book of Days, A Companion for All Seasons, Jill Hammer 61. Holy Days (The World of A Hassidic Family), Lis Harris 62. The Vocabulary of Jewish Life, Abraham Mayer Heller 63. Wake Up, Wake Up, to Do the Work of the Creator, William B. Helmreich 64. Judaism and Modern Man, Will Herberg 65. The Sabbath, Abraham Joshua Heschel 66. Who Is Man? Abraham Joshua Heschel 67. Two Giants Speak, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsh and Rabbi Yisroel Salanter 68. Behold The Jew, Ada Jackson 69. The Jewish Library, Rabbi Leo Jung, Editor 70. The Committed Life, Principles of Good Living from Our Timeless Past, Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis (2 copies) 71. The Jew And The Lotus, Rodger Kamenetz 72. Rays of Jewish Splendor, selected sermons by Rabbi Harold B. Kanotopsky 73. If You Were God, Three Works by Aryeh Kaplan 74. Judaism as a Civilization, Toward a Reconstruction of American Jewish Life, Mordecai M. Kaplan 75. The Synogogue, Uri Kaploun 76. On Nev’im (The Prophets): Joshua, Rabbi Mordechai Katz 77. On Nev’im (The Prophets): Judges, Rabbi Mordechai Katz (2 copies) 78. Matrix Healing, Discover Your Greatest Health Potential through the Power of Kabbalah, 79. Raphael Kellman, M.D 80. What is a Jew? A Guide to the Beliefs, Traditions, and Practices of Judaism that Answers Questions For Both Jew and Non-Jew, Rabbi Morris N. Kertzer, Revised by Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman 81. The Book of Our Heritage, Special edition, The Month of Adar, Eliyahu Kitov 82. The Book of Our Heritage, Special edition The Month of Sivan, Eliyahu Kitov 83. The Book of Our Heritage Vol. I (TIshrey-Shevat), Eliyahu Kitov 84. The Book of Our Heritage Vol.III (Iyara-Elul), Eliyahu Kitov 85. A Sense of Duty, Simcha Kling 86. Our Religion, The Torah, Rabbi J. Kolatch 87. The Jewish Book of Why, Alfred J. Kolatch (Two Volume Boxed Set) 88. Crossing the Narrow Bridge, A Practical Guide to the Teachings of Rebbe Nachman’s Teachings, Chaim Kramer 89. To Life! A Celebration of Jewish Being and Thinking, Harold Kushner (1 paperback, 1 hard cover) 90. When All You’ve Ever Wanted Isn’t Enough, The Search for a Life that Matters, Harold Kushner 91. Who Needs God, Harold Kushner 92. Honey from the Rock, Lawrence Kushner 93. Piety and Power, The World of Jewish Fundamentalism, David Landau 94. Creative Explorations in Judaism, Gilah Lagner and Sara R. Horowitz, co-editors 95. Three Jewish Philosophers, Hans Lewy, Alexander Altmann, Isaak Heinemann, editors 96. The Best of Light Magazine, prepared by Yehoshua Leiman (2 pamphlets) 97. Beginnings in Jewish Philosophy, Meyer Levin 98. Complete Idiot’s Guide to Jewish Spirituality and Mysticism , Michael Levin 99. The Path of the Just, Moshe Chayim Luzzato 100. Sacred Choices, The Right to Contraception and Abortion in Ten World Religions, Daniel C. Maguire 101. The Essential Kabbalah, The Heart of Jewish Mysticism, Daniel C Matt 102. Shabbos Secrets, Rabbi D. Meisels (pamphlet) 103. Falasha Anthology, Yale Judaica Series, Volume VI, Julian Obermann, Editor 104. A Guide to Jewish Knowledge, The Rev. Dr. Chaim Pearl and The Rev. Reuben S. Brookes 105. Cheshbon Ha-Nefesh, Rabbi Mendel of Satanov, Published in 1845 106. Great Jewish Ideas, Abraham Ezra Millgram, editor 107. A Rabbinic Anthology, C.G. Montefiore and H. Loewe 108. The Three Pillars: Thought, Worship, Practice, A Book for Jewish Women, Deborah M. Melamed 109. Karaite Anthology: Excerpts from the Early Literature, Leon Nemoy, editor 110. Learn Talmud, Jacob Neusner 111. Mitzvah, Jacob Neusner 112. The Way of Torah: An Introduction to Judaism, Jacob Neusner 113. The Transformation of a Skeptic, Walter Orenstein 114. Thinkers and Teachers of Modern Judaism, Raphael Patai and Emanuel S. Goldsmith, editors 115. A Guide to Hassidism, Dr. H. Rabinowicz 116. The Obvious Proof, A Presentation of the Classic Proof of Universal Design, Gershon 117. Robinson & Mordechai Steinman 118. Congregation, Contemporary Writers Read the Jewish Bible, David Rosenberg, editor 119. Sidrah Stories A Torah Companion, Steven M Rosman 120. When a Jew Seeks Wisdom, The Sayings of the Fathers, Seymour Rossel, with Hyman Chanover and Chaim Stern 121. A Jewish View of Prayer and Worship, Rabbi Tobias Roth (pamphlet) 122. Blossoms, Rabbi Yisroel Rubin 123. The Hebrew Scriptures, Dr. Samuel Sandmel 124. Judaism and Christianity, Dr. Samuel Sandmel (pamphlet) 125. Christianity Is Jewish, Edith Schaeffer 126. The Lifetime of a Jew, Throughout the Ages of Jewish History, Hayim Schauss 127. Ethics of the Fathers, commentary by Rabbi Nosson Scherman and Rabbi Meir Zlotowitz, editors (Hebrew and English) (2 copies) 128. Early Prophets: Judges, Rabbi Nosson Scherman (Hebrew and English) 129. Defining the Role of the Non-Jew in the Synagogue: A Resource for Congregations, Rabbi Alexander M. Schindleer 130. Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, Gershom G. Scholem 131. The Faith of the Old Testament, A History, Werner H. Schmidt, Translated by John Sturdy 132. The Living Bible, Rabbi Sylvan D. Schwartzman & Rabbi Jack D. Spiro 133. Jerusalem Executive Seminar Readings, Dan V. Segre and Paul Mendes-Flohr 134. The Eternal Fount, Sixty Outstanding Homilies on the Portions of the Week, Harris L. Selig 135. Kabbalistic Healing, A Path to an Awakened Soul, Jason Shulman 136. A Certain People, American Jews and their Lives Today Charles E. Silberman 137. Where Judaism Differed, Abba Hillel Silver 138. The Still Small Voice, The Story of Jewish Ethics, Book I, William B. Silverman 139. A Candle by Day, Shrager Silverstein 140.
Recommended publications
  • The Jewish View of Tolerance and Its Limits

    The Jewish View of Tolerance and Its Limits

    Sat 21 July 2018 – 9 Av 5778 B”H Dr Maurice M. Mizrahi Congregation Adat Reyim Discussion for Tish’a b’Av The Jewish view of tolerance and its limits Tish'a B'Av Saddest day on Jewish calendar. History full of catastrophic events that befell Jews on Tish'a B'Av (accidentally or intentionally): -From Mishnah [Ta'anit 4:6]: -The spies Moses sent to scout the Promised Land brought back a largely negative report which demoralized the Israelites, -Both Temples destroyed (586 BCE and 70 CE), -The Bar Kochba revolt against Rome failed in 135 CE when he was killed and the city of Betar was destroyed, and -Jerusalem was razed a year later, and the Exile began. -Since then… -In 1095, the Pope began the Crusades. On the way to the Land of Israel, the Crusaders slaughtered 30-50% of the Jews of Europe. -In 1242, 24 cartloads of handwritten Talmuds burned in Paris -In 1290, Jews expelled from England -In 1306, Jews expelled from France -In 1492, Jews expelled from Spain, including my own ancestors -In 1626, the false messiah Shabtai Tzvi was born. His apostasy he dashed the hopes of millions of Jews (one-third of the total) and severely disrupted their lives. -In 1914, World War I began: -It led to World War II and the death of 6 million Jews in the Holocaust. -It facilitated the Communist Revolution, spelling 70 years of darkness for Soviet Jews. -In 1941, Nazis ordered the Final Solution: The Holocaust. Why persecute the Jews? These catastrophes happened to us because of intolerance.
  • Download Ji Calendar Educator Guide

    Download Ji Calendar Educator Guide

    xxx Contents The Jewish Day ............................................................................................................................... 6 A. What is a day? ..................................................................................................................... 6 B. Jewish Days As ‘Natural’ Days ........................................................................................... 7 C. When does a Jewish day start and end? ........................................................................... 8 D. The values we can learn from the Jewish day ................................................................... 9 Appendix: Additional Information About the Jewish Day ..................................................... 10 The Jewish Week .......................................................................................................................... 13 A. An Accompaniment to Shabbat ....................................................................................... 13 B. The Days of the Week are all Connected to Shabbat ...................................................... 14 C. The Days of the Week are all Connected to the First Week of Creation ........................ 17 D. The Structure of the Jewish Week .................................................................................... 18 E. Deeper Lessons About the Jewish Week ......................................................................... 18 F. Did You Know? .................................................................................................................
  • Talk About the Passion Yehudah Mirsky Yehudah Mirsky Talk About the Passion

    Talk About the Passion Yehudah Mirsky Yehudah Mirsky Talk About the Passion

    February_shma.qxd:Layout 1 1/22/07 12:48 PM Page 1 37/638 February 2007/Adar 5767 A publication of Inside Haredi Judaism Talk About the Passion Yehudah Mirsky Yehudah Mirsky Talk About the Passion ....... 1 h’ma’s readers, it seems safe to say, share a number of characteristics. University-edu - S cated; economically middle class or better; broadly liberal-minded in outlook and pol - Samuel C. Heilman itics, pluralist with regards to their understandings of Jewish tradition and community; at The Changing Face of Orthodoxy ............................ 2 the very least respectful and regularly outright devoted, passionately, to Jewish tradition and Jewish continuity; spiritually curious and at times adventurous; at home, at least to Nosson Scherman some extent, perhaps conversant with the world of Jewish texts, and the texture of Jewish & Shmuel Goldin rituals; appreciative of the many genuine intellectual, ethical and political benefits of sec - A Conversation on Haredi Life ..................... 4 ular modernity, though not unaware of its fraught relationship with Jewish life; people for whom their Jewish identity is a vital, perhaps the central component in an ongoing process Simon Jacobson of self-creation and expression, by the lights of their understanding of morals, community Divine Sparks ..................... 6 and spirituality, a process they share with other families of humanity, and with concerned Online Diaries ......................... 8 individuals everywhere. This is of course a broadly Sima Zalcberg Who are these people who The Many Shades schematic (though I think roughly ac - of Black ................................ 9 curate) picture. There are, however, choose not to act according some very different pictures of Jewish to the liberal narrative? Asya Vaisman life in our time, deeply at variance Women’s Voice and Song ...........................
  • Beat It! the Ritual Of

    Beat It! the Ritual Of

    Beat It! The Ritual of H avatat A m vot Bradley ShavitArtson O ne of Judaism’s oddest rituals is that of beating the amvot (willow fronds) during the services for Hoshanah Rabbah, the final Hoi ha-Mo’ed day of Sukkot. While there is no explicit commandment in the Torah, the rab­ bis of the Mishnah and Talmud understand the ritual of the aravah to be d’o- raita} A ritual which was originally distinctive to the Temple, in which the aravot were laid by the sides of the altar and paraded around that altar on each day of Sukkot, its transfer and transformation to the synagogue (in which the aravah is no longer paraded, but beaten) leaves us with a series of unanswered questions: there is an ancient dispute about how it is to be performed (and where). Most perplexing of all, there is no persuasive explanation for why it is contemporary practice to beat the aravot against the floor. As anthropologist and folklorist Theodor Gaster notes: “so different a meaning is now read into it [the ritual of the willow] that its original purport can no longer be recog­ nized.”2 A similar admission of ignorance, from a more traditionally-religious source, affirms that “this custom of beating the aravah on the ground con­ tains profound esoteric significance, and only the Great of Israel merit the knowledge of those secrets. The uninitiated should intend merely to abide by the custom of the Prophets and the Sages of all the generations.”3 Why do we beat the willow? 1 See Sukkah 43b.
  • Wertheimer, Editor Imagining the Seth Farber an American Orthodox American Jewish Community Dreamer: Rabbi Joseph B

    Wertheimer, Editor Imagining the Seth Farber an American Orthodox American Jewish Community Dreamer: Rabbi Joseph B

    Imagining the American Jewish Community Brandeis Series in American Jewish History, Culture, and Life Jonathan D. Sarna, Editor Sylvia Barack Fishman, Associate Editor For a complete list of books in the series, visit www.upne.com and www.upne.com/series/BSAJ.html Jack Wertheimer, editor Imagining the Seth Farber An American Orthodox American Jewish Community Dreamer: Rabbi Joseph B. Murray Zimiles Gilded Lions and Soloveitchik and Boston’s Jeweled Horses: The Synagogue to Maimonides School the Carousel Ava F. Kahn and Marc Dollinger, Marianne R. Sanua Be of Good editors California Jews Courage: The American Jewish Amy L. Sales and Leonard Saxe “How Committee, 1945–2006 Goodly Are Thy Tents”: Summer Hollace Ava Weiner and Kenneth D. Camps as Jewish Socializing Roseman, editors Lone Stars of Experiences David: The Jews of Texas Ori Z. Soltes Fixing the World: Jewish Jack Wertheimer, editor Family American Painters in the Twentieth Matters: Jewish Education in an Century Age of Choice Gary P. Zola, editor The Dynamics of American Jewish History: Jacob Edward S. Shapiro Crown Heights: Rader Marcus’s Essays on American Blacks, Jews, and the 1991 Brooklyn Jewry Riot David Zurawik The Jews of Prime Time Kirsten Fermaglich American Dreams and Nazi Nightmares: Ranen Omer-Sherman, 2002 Diaspora Early Holocaust Consciousness and and Zionism in Jewish American Liberal America, 1957–1965 Literature: Lazarus, Syrkin, Reznikoff, and Roth Andrea Greenbaum, editor Jews of Ilana Abramovitch and Seán Galvin, South Florida editors, 2001 Jews of Brooklyn Sylvia Barack Fishman Double or Pamela S. Nadell and Jonathan D. Sarna, Nothing? Jewish Families and Mixed editors Women and American Marriage Judaism: Historical Perspectives George M.
  • The Memory of the Yom Kippur War in Israeli Society

    The Memory of the Yom Kippur War in Israeli Society

    The Myth of Defeat: The Memory of the Yom Kippur War in Israeli Society CHARLES S. LIEBMAN The Yom Kippur War of October 1973 arouses an uncomfortable feeling among Israeli Jews. Many think of it as a disaster or a calamity. This is evident in references to the War in Israeli literature, or the way in which the War is recalled in the media, on the anniversary of its outbreak. 1 Whereas evidence ofthe gloom is easy to document, the reasons are more difficult to fathom. The Yom Kippur War can be described as failure or defeat by amassing one set of arguments but it can also be assessed as a great achievement by marshalling other sets of arguments. This article will first show why the arguments that have been offered in arriving at a negative assessment of the War are not conclusive and will demonstrate how the memory of the Yom Kippur War might have been transformed into an event to be recalled with satisfaction and pride. 2 This leads to the critical question: why has this not happened? The background to the Yom Kippur War, the battles and the outcome of the war, lend themselves to a variety of interpretations. 3 Since these are part of the problem which this article addresses, the author offers only the barest outline of events, avoiding insofar as it is possible, the adoption of one interpretive scheme or another. In 1973, Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, fell on Saturday, 6 October. On that day the Egyptians in the south and the Syrians in the north attacked Israel.
  • Below Are Recommendations of Non-Fiction Books of Jewish Content from a Small Group of People Involved in Jewish Engagement and Education

    Below Are Recommendations of Non-Fiction Books of Jewish Content from a Small Group of People Involved in Jewish Engagement and Education

    Below are recommendations of non-fiction books of Jewish content from a small group of people involved in Jewish engagement and education. The authors of these books span most of the range of Jewish practice and ideology. The list may look extensive, but there is much more to choose from. Feel free to ask your friends, neighbors and clergy for recommendations. Ports of Entry: Introductory Jewish Books Shimon Apisdorf, Judaism in a Nutshell (series: Passover, Israel, G-D etc.) Thomas Cahill, The Gifts of the Jews Arthur Green, Judaism's 10 Best Ideas: A Guide for Seekers Esther Jundgreis, The Committed Life Kerry M. Olitzky, Introducing My Faith and My Community: The Jewish Outreach Institute Guide for the Christians in a Jewish Interfaith Relationship Dennis Prager and Joseph Telushkin, Nine Questions People Ask About Judaism Mayer Schiller, The Road Back Joseph Telushkin, Jewish Literacy Shmuel Waldman, Beyond A Reasonable Doubt American Jewish Experience Stephen Birmingham, “Our Crowd:” The Great Jewish Families of New York Arnold Eisen, The Chosen People in America Arnold Eisen & Steve Cohen , The Jew Within: Self, Family, and Community in America Eli N. Evans, Judah P. Benjamin: The Jewish Confederate Irving Howe, World of Our Fathers: The Journey of the East European Jews to America and the Life They Found and Made Michael Krasny, Let There Be Laughter: A Treasury of Great Jewish Humor And What It All Means Jonathan Sarna, American Judaism: A History Ron Wolfson, The Spirituality of Welcoming: How to Transform Your Congregation into
  • Grantees and Their Funders How Professionals at Jewish Not-For-Profits Experience Working with Grantmakers

    Grantees and Their Funders How Professionals at Jewish Not-For-Profits Experience Working with Grantmakers

    Grantees and Their Funders How Professionals at Jewish Not-for-Profits Experience Working with Grantmakers JACK WERTHEIMER March 8, 2021 Dear Friend, “Grantees and Their Funders” by Professor Jack Wertheimer was first published a year ago, but we are re-issuing it now to mark the launch of the project it inspired: GrantED. GrantED: Stronger Relationships, Greater Impact is a joint project of Jewish Funders Network and UpStart designed to strengthen relationships between Jewish philanthropists and the Jewish nonprofit sector, specifically between grantmakers and grantseekers, so we can share in the work of building and sustaining a vibrant Jewish community. GrantED (jgranted.org) creates and curates articles, tools, and other materials to inspire and inform grantmakers and grantseekers in the Jewish community, organizing around four core interdependent components of successful grantmaking partnerships: strengthening relationships, understanding and addressing power dynamics, sustaining impact, effective communication. GrantED also offers workshops, facilitated conversations and other programs. To learn more visit jgranted.org and sign up for its email list here. Based on interviews with 140 senior professionals at North American Jewish not-for-profits, “Grantees and Their Funders” provides a rare opportunity to hear honest feedback from those who might otherwise be reluctant to speak openly. While these professionals reported largely positive experiences with funders, they also shared feedback that we believe is important to address to ensure that Jewish resources are used as efficiently as possible and that the Jewish nonprofit sector is adequately supported in its important work serving the Jewish community. Funders and Jewish professionals are interdependent; while the community cannot function without philanthropic support, funders rely on the expertise and hard work of nonprofit professionals as partners in bringing goals and dreams to fruition.
  • Vayeishev 5758 Volume V Number 12

    Vayeishev 5758 Volume V Number 12

    Balak 5781 Volume XXVIII Number 41 Toras Aish Thoughts From Across the Torah Spectrum and Midian, suffered a self-inflicted tragedy by allowing RABBI LORD JONATHAN SACKS Z"L themselves to be enticed by the women of the land. Covenant & Conversation God’s anger burns against them. Several chapters later Rabbi Sacks zt"l had prepared a full year of Covenant & (Num. 31:16) it emerges that it was Bilaam who Conversation for 5781, based on his book Lessons in devised this strategy: “They were the ones who Leadership. The Office of Rabbi Sacks will continue to followed Bilaam’s advice and were the means of turning distribute these weekly essays, so that people all around the the Israelites away from the Lord in what happened at world can keep on learning and finding inspiration in his Peor, so that a plague struck the Lord’s people”. Having Torah. failed to curse the Israelites, Bilaam eventually s leadership a set of skills, the ability to summon and succeeded in doing them great harm. command power? Or does it have an essentially I So the picture that emerges from the Jewish moral dimension also? Can a bad person be a good sources is of a man with great gifts, a genuine prophet, leader, or will their badness compromise their a man whom the Sages compared with Moses himself leadership? That is the question raised by the key – yet at the same time a figure of flawed character that figure in this week’s parsha, the pagan prophet Bilaam. eventually led to his downfall and to his reputation as First, by way of introduction, we have an evil-doer and one of those mentioned by the independent evidence that Bilaam actually existed.
  • Posmvist Rhetoric and Its Functions in Haredi Orthodoxy

    Posmvist Rhetoric and Its Functions in Haredi Orthodoxy

    posmviST rhetoric and its functions in haredi orthodoxy AlanJ. Yuter Haredi, or so-called "ultra-Orthodox/ Jewry contends that it is the most strictand thereforethe most authenticexpression of JewishOrtho doxy. Its authenticity is insured by the devotion and loyalty of its adherents to its leading sages or gedolim, "great ones." In addition to the requirementsof explicit Jewish law, and, on occasion, in spite of those requirements, theHaredi adherent obeys theDaas Torah, or Torah views ofhis or hergedolim. By viewingDaas Torah as a normwithin theJewish legal order,Haredi Judaismreformulates the Jewish legal order inorder to delegitimize thosehalakhic voiceswhich believe thatJewish law does not a require radical countercultural withdrawal from the condition ofmoder nity.According toHaredi Judaism,the culture which Eastern European Jewryhas createdto safeguardthe Torah must beguarded so thatthe Torah observance enshrined in that culture is not violated. Haredi Judaism, often called "ultra-Orthodox Judaism,"1 projects itself as the most strict and most authentic expression in contempo as rary Jewish life. This strictness is expressed in behavior patterns well as in the ideology which supports these patterns. Since Haredi as in culture regards itself the embodiment of the Judaism encoded canon the "Book," or the sacred literary of Rabbinic Judaism, the JewishPolitical Studies Review 8:1-2 (Spring 1996) 127 This content downloaded by the authorized user from 192.168.72.231 on Tue, 20 Nov 2012 06:41:14 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 128 Alan /. Yuter canon explication of the Haredi reading of Rabbinic Judaism's yields a definition of Haredi Judaism's religious ideology.
  • Shavuot in Talmud and Midrash (Mostly Soncino Translation and Commentary; Emphasis Mine; Some Language Tweaks)

    Shavuot in Talmud and Midrash (Mostly Soncino Translation and Commentary; Emphasis Mine; Some Language Tweaks)

    22 May 2007 [Shavuot 5767] Dr Maurice M. Mizrahi Congregation Adat Reyim Tikkun Lel Shavuot Shavuot in Talmud and Midrash (Mostly Soncino translation and commentary; emphasis mine; some language tweaks) Only Israel accepted the Torah Mechilta de Rabbi Ishmael, Exodus 20:2 It was for the following reason that the ancient nations of the world were asked to accept the Torah, in order that they should have no excuse for saying, 'Had we been asked we would have accepted it'. For, behold, they were asked and they refused to accept it, for it is said, "He said, the Lord came from Sinai...) (Deut. 33:2). He appeared to the children of Esau, the wicked, and said to them, "Will you accept the Torah?" They said to Him, "What is written in it?" He said to them, "You shall not murder" (Deut. 5:17) They then said to Him, "The very heritage which our father left us was 'By the sword you shall live' (Gen. 27:40). He then appeared to the children of Ammon and Moab. He said to them, "Will you accept the Torah?" They said to Him, "What is written in it?" He said to them, "You shall not commit adultery" (Deut. 5:17) They, however, said to Him that they were, all of them, the children of adulterers, as it is said, "Thus the two daughters of Lot came to be with child by their father" (Gen. 19:36) He then appeared to the children of Ishmael. He said to them, "Will you accept the Torah?" They said to Him, "What is written in it?" He said to them, "You shall not steal" (Deut.
  • The History of an Interpretation of Sixteen Drops of Wine at the Seder

    The History of an Interpretation of Sixteen Drops of Wine at the Seder

    237 “Our Own Joy is Lessened and Incomplete”: The History of an Interpretation of Sixteen Drops of Wine at the Seder By: ZVI RON Explaining the custom to remove sixteen drops of wine from the cup as we recite the ten plagues and words associated with them, the Artscroll Youth Haggadah writes that “we don't want our cups to be full when we tell about other people's pain.”1 The idea that we remove some wine to show that we cannot fully rejoice when our enemies are destroyed is also found in the Artscroll Mesorah Series Haggadah: “Abarbanel, however, explains that we should remove the wine because “You should not rejoice when your enemy falls” (Mishlei 24:17).”2 This idea does not actually appear in the Abarbanel's commentary to the Haggadah, or in any of his writings. In fact, this explanation for the custom of removing sixteen drops from the cup of wine is a recent innovation. By now it is so entrenched in Haggadot that it is often the only explanation offered. A typical presentation of this idea is, “By spilling a drop of wine from the Pesach cup for each plague, we acknowledge that our own joy is lessened and incomplete, for our redemption had to come by means of the punishment of other human beings. Even though these are just punishments for evil acts, it says, “Do not rejoice at the fall of your enemy” (Proverbs 24:17).”3 In this article we will trace the development of this interpretation of this cherished Seder-night custom.