Judaism life and practice Books

Book SynopsisShows teens in their own language how Torah addresses the issues in their world. The conversational tone is inviting and dignified, concise and substantial, direct and informative. Each pamphlet includes a general introduction, two model divrei Torah on the weekly Torah portion, and one model davar Torah on the weekly Haftarah portion.Table of ContentsGeneral Introduction Re'eh: Torah Commentary Re'eh: Haftarah Commentary

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Book SynopsisShows teens in their own language how Torah addresses the issues in their world. The conversational tone is inviting and dignified, concise and substantial, direct and informative. Each pamphlet includes a general introduction, two model divrei Torah on the weekly Torah portion, and one model davar Torah on the weekly Haftarah portion.Trade Review“This is a fantastic resource . . . clear, coherent, and easy to understand. It encourages readers to grapple with real issues in the Bible that are relevant to them. It will be incredibly valuable not only to teens preparing to become bar/bat mitzvah but also to adults in navigating, challenging, and connecting to the biblical text.”—Rabbi Danielle G. Eskow, co-founder of onlinejewishlearning.com“Rabbi Jeff Salkin has enabled b’nai mitzvah to learn and teach Torah with a commentary that is wise, helpful, and brilliantly clear.”—Rabbi David Wolpe, senior rabbi at Sinai Temple, Los Angeles, and author of David: The Divided Heart“This is fantastic! It’s a game-changer for b’nai mitzvah, their parents, and their teachers. Salkin’s fresh insights remind us how transformative this experience can be.”—Rabbi Aaron Miller, Washington Hebrew CongregationTable of ContentsGeneral Introduction Shofetim: Torah Commentary Shofetim: Haftarah Commentary

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Book SynopsisShows teens in their own language how Torah addresses the issues in their world. The conversational tone is inviting and dignified, concise and substantial, direct and informative. Each pamphlet includes a general introduction, two model divrei Torah on the weekly Torah portion, and one model davar Torah on the weekly Haftarah portion.Trade Review“This is a fantastic resource . . . clear, coherent, and easy to understand. It encourages readers to grapple with real issues in the Bible that are relevant to them. It will be incredibly valuable not only to teens preparing to become bar/bat mitzvah but also to adults in navigating, challenging, and connecting to the biblical text.”—Rabbi Danielle G. Eskow, co-founder of onlinejewishlearning.com“Rabbi Jeff Salkin has enabled b’nai mitzvah to learn and teach Torah with a commentary that is wise, helpful, and brilliantly clear.”—Rabbi David Wolpe, senior rabbi at Sinai Temple, Los Angeles, and author of David: The Divided Heart“This is fantastic! It’s a game-changer for b’nai mitzvah, their parents, and their teachers. Salkin’s fresh insights remind us how transformative this experience can be.”—Rabbi Aaron Miller, Washington Hebrew CongregationTable of ContentsGeneral Introduction Ki Tavo': Torah Commentary Ki Tavo': Haftarah Commentary

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Book SynopsisShows teens in their own language how Torah addresses the issues in their world. The conversational tone is inviting and dignified, concise and substantial, direct and informative. Each pamphlet includes a general introduction, two model divrei Torah on the weekly Torah portion, and one model davar Torah on the weekly Haftarah portion.Trade Review“This is a fantastic resource . . . clear, coherent, and easy to understand. It encourages readers to grapple with real issues in the Bible that are relevant to them. It will be incredibly valuable not only to teens preparing to become bar/bat mitzvah but also to adults in navigating, challenging, and connecting to the biblical text.”—Rabbi Danielle G. Eskow, co-founder of onlinejewishlearning.com“Rabbi Jeff Salkin has enabled b’nai mitzvah to learn and teach Torah with a commentary that is wise, helpful, and brilliantly clear.”—Rabbi David Wolpe, senior rabbi at Sinai Temple, Los Angeles, and author of David: The Divided Heart“This is fantastic! It’s a game-changer for b’nai mitzvah, their parents, and their teachers. Salkin’s fresh insights remind us how transformative this experience can be.”—Rabbi Aaron Miller, Washington Hebrew CongregationTable of ContentsGeneral Introduction Nitsavim: Torah Commentary Nitsavim: Haftarah Commentary

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Book SynopsisShows teens in their own language how Torah addresses the issues in their world. The conversational tone is inviting and dignified, concise and substantial, direct and informative. Each pamphlet includes a general introduction, two model divrei Torah on the weekly Torah portion, and one model davar Torah on the weekly Haftarah portion.Trade Review“This is a fantastic resource . . . clear, coherent, and easy to understand. It encourages readers to grapple with real issues in the Bible that are relevant to them. It will be incredibly valuable not only to teens preparing to become bar/bat mitzvah but also to adults in navigating, challenging, and connecting to the biblical text.”—Rabbi Danielle G. Eskow, co-founder of onlinejewishlearning.com“Rabbi Jeff Salkin has enabled b’nai mitzvah to learn and teach Torah with a commentary that is wise, helpful, and brilliantly clear.”—Rabbi David Wolpe, senior rabbi at Sinai Temple, Los Angeles, and author of David: The Divided Heart“This is fantastic! It’s a game-changer for b’nai mitzvah, their parents, and their teachers. Salkin’s fresh insights remind us how transformative this experience can be.”—Rabbi Aaron Miller, Washington Hebrew CongregationTable of ContentsGeneral Introduction Ha'azinu: Torah Commentary Ha'azinu: Haftarah Commentary

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Book SynopsisShows teens in their own language how Torah addresses the issues in their world. The conversational tone is inviting and dignified, concise and substantial, direct and informative. Each pamphlet includes a general introduction, two model divrei Torah on the weekly Torah portion, and one model davar Torah on the weekly Haftarah portion.Trade Review“This is a fantastic resource . . . clear, coherent, and easy to understand. It encourages readers to grapple with real issues in the Bible that are relevant to them. It will be incredibly valuable not only to teens preparing to become bar/bat mitzvah but also to adults in navigating, challenging, and connecting to the biblical text.”—Rabbi Danielle G. Eskow, co-founder of onlinejewishlearning.com“Rabbi Jeff Salkin has enabled b’nai mitzvah to learn and teach Torah with a commentary that is wise, helpful, and brilliantly clear.”—Rabbi David Wolpe, senior rabbi at Sinai Temple, Los Angeles, and author of David: The Divided Heart“This is fantastic! It’s a game-changer for b’nai mitzvah, their parents, and their teachers. Salkin’s fresh insights remind us how transformative this experience can be.”—Rabbi Aaron Miller, Washington Hebrew CongregationTable of ContentsGeneral Introduction Ve-zo't ha-berakhah: Torah Commentary Ve-zo't ha-berakhah: Haftarah Commentary

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Book SynopsisRabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson was the charismatic leader of the Chabad Hasidic movement and its designated Messiah. Yet when he died in 1994, the messianic fervor he inspired did not subside. Through traditional means and digital technologies, a group of radical Hasidim, the Meshichistim, still keep the Rebbe palpably close—engaging in ongoing dialogue, participating in specific rituals, and developing an ever-expanding visual culture of portraits and videos. With Us More Than Ever focuses on this group to explore how religious practice can sustain the belief that a messianic figure is both present and accessible. Yoram Bilu documents a unique religious experience that is distinctly modern. The rallying point of the Meshichistim—that the Rebbe is "with us more than ever"—is sustained through an elaborate system that creates the sense of his constant and pervasive presence in the lives of his followers. The virtual Rebbe that emerges is multiple, visible, accessible, and highly decentralized, the epicenter of a truly messianic movement in the twenty-first century. Combining ethnographic fieldwork and cognitive science with nuanced analysis, Bilu documents the birth and development of a new religious faith, describing the emergence of new spiritual horizons, a process common to various religious movements old and new.Trade Review"In this fascinating study, Yoram Bilu, Israel's foremost scholar of Jewish popular religion, has succeeded in penetrating the world of Chabad's messianic subculture. He offers a brilliant analysis of how these Hasidim use visual media, apparitions, and letters to their deceased leader to create an 'apotheosis' of the Rebbe." -- David Biale * University of California, Davis *"This ethnographic exploration of the religious imagination in Chabad demonstrates that there is no one better equipped than Yoram Bilu to provide a theoretically sophisticated and phenomenologically sensitive account of the movement's messianic devotion to its deceased yet ever-present Rebbe." -- Thomas J. Csordas * University of California, San Diego *"With Us More than Ever is an important book for readers interested in Chabad, Hasidism, and contemporary Judaism. Its focus on the 'messianic ecology' yields a nuanced and dispassionate image of the acute messianism of the Meshichists—a community, or, perhaps, a state of mind, that has been discussed, criticized, and ridiculed, but hardly ever researched either quantitatively or qualitatively." -- Wojciech Tworek * Association for Jewish Studies Review *Table of ContentsContents and AbstractsIntroduction: Introduction chapter abstractThe messianic surge that swept Chabad in the late 20th century has not subsided following the death in 1994 of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the last president of Chabad and the designated Messiah in the eyes of most Hasidim. Since then, the movement has been able to maintain its popularity and dominance despite the catastrophic loss. Focusing on the Meshichistim ("messianists"), the radical Hasidim who deny the Rebbe's death, the introduction documents the means they employ to fill the void of the Rebbe's "occlusion." The book makes use of a media-studies approach to examine how these means fill the critical role of making the absent Rebbe present. The data are based on interviews with Meshichists, participant observations in their gatherings, and meticulous perusal of messianic publications, primarily periodicals. The discussion includes a description of the charged interrelationships that developed between the author and the Hasidim during fieldwork. 1Chabad and the Messianic Idea chapter abstractThe chapter follows the vicissitudes of the messianic idea in Chabad from the movement's inception to the stormy years of the seventh and last leader, Menachem Mendel Schneerson. As shaped by its founder, Rabbi Schneur Zalman, Chabad was less prone to messianic tension than were other Hasidic sects. The fifth admor, Rabbi Shalom Dov Ber, resorted to messianic discourse in the late 19th century in order to battle the lure of secular ideologies such as communism and Zionism. His son and successor, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak, viewed the horrors of the Holocaust as messianic tribulations. But it was Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson who generated acute messianic turbulence by advancing to his Hasidim the notion of imminent redemption. The Rebbe's messianic vision, kept alive by the Hasidim after his departure, forms the background for the means and practices that constitute the messianic ecology in contemporary Chabad. 2Meshichist Sociology chapter abstractThe chapter presents the major sociological features of the Meshichists. The Meshichists are more prevalent in the movement's periphery. Of Chabad's two main centers, they are more strongly represented in Israel than in the U.S. and more among the younger Hasidim in either place. –. In accord with the enthusiasm and high commitment typically displayed by religious immigrants and converts anywhere, new Chabadniks, coming from secular or other religious backgrounds, are overrepresented among the Meshichists. As a result of their outreach activities, Chabadniks anywhere tend to be more socially and politically involved in the wider society than are other ultraorthodox Jews, and the Meshichists all the more so. One indication of their assimilation into Israeli society is their use of military language in articulating their ideas and activities. 3Writing to the Rebbe: The Holy Letters Oracle chapter abstractThis chapter discusses the bibliomantic device the Hasidim developed to continue the dialogue with the absent Rebbe. The technique is based on inserting a petition randomly into one of the thirty-two volumes of the Rebbe's collected letters. Even though these letters were written to other people at other times, the petitioners maintain that the answers they receive are germane to their own pleas. The veridicality of the answers is redoubled when they play out in the real world. Following the miraculous stories associated with the Holy Letters Oracle, the chapter discusses its growing popularity and accounts for its success. The popularity and success of the technique seem to confirm the assertion of the Meshichistim that despite his occlusion, the invisible Rebbe is more accessible than ever. 4Sensing the Rebbe: Traces and Practices of Embodiment chapter abstractHow do the Hasidim perceive the absent Rebbe as close and involved? This chapter discusses a broad range of signs or "traces" of the Rebbe, such as the Rebbe's abode, his armchair, the dollar bills he distributed for charity, and the water from his ritual bath, which the Hasidim are adamant to keep intact and, where possible, to replicate. Primarily in Chabad headquarters in Crown Heights, but also in Chabad Houses all over the world and in the Meshichists' homes, these artifacts serve as focal points for ritual practices that involve the Rebbe as an active participant. The traces and practices interweave to produce a "messianic ecology" that actualizes the Rebbe among his followers. In the religion-media paradigm, these traces and practices are conductors of his presence. 5Seeing the Rebbe I: Chabad's Visual Culture chapter abstractChapter Five is devoted to Chabad's visual culture as evidenced by the widespread use of still photographs and film footage of the Rebbe, which bolster his visual salience to an unprecedented extent in Judaism. The elaborate cult that has been developing around the Rebbe's images borders on iconophilia. The pictures serve as focal points for this wide-ranging visual cult. They are used as amulets, thwarting threats and curing maladies; as magnets drawing and attaching passersby to the Rebbe; and as icons triggering the elaborate ritual encounters between the Rebbe and his devotees. The chapter discusses the Rebbe's iconic picture, in which he is shown waving his hand in encouragement, and how it has taken on a life on its own. 6Seeing the Rebbe II: Dream and Waking Apparitions chapter abstractChapter Six maps the Rebbe's apparitions in dreams and then moves to reports of apparitions in normal waking states. The author proposes a psychocultural model to account for these apparitions, deeming them evidence of contextual accomplishment rather than psychopathological deficit. Two distinct clusters of apparition experiences emerge, one associated with ritual and the other with mundane settings. In comparison to Christian visionary experiences, the Rebbe's apparitions are hyper-realistic, literal reinforcements of the claim that the Rebbe is alive. While this claim is audacious ontologically, it limits the epistemological horizons of the messianic imaginary and detracts from its significance as a "taste" of the redemption. 7Schneersoncentrism: The Rebbe Steers the World chapter abstractFor the Meshichistim, the invisible Rebbe is the center of the world. Chapter Seven conveys this conviction through the notion of "Schneersoncentrism," the belief that the Rebbe steers the world and navigates its events. It discusses two broad domains where the Rebbe's imprint on the world is indelible, according to the Hasidim: natural disasters, which the Rebbe is able to stop, and manmade political upheavals, which the Rebbe can rectify. According to his followers, the Rebbe's fingerprints are evident in key historical moments such as the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Exodus of its Jews, and the American victory in the second Gulf War. 8The Apotheosis of the Rebbe chapter abstractChapter Eight deals with the sensitive issue of the Rebbe's deification, a corollary of his centrality in the universe. While the Chabad mainstream argues that attempts to deify the Rebbe are limited to the movement's lunatic fringes, it shows that activists in the Meshichist camp are not hostile to these attempts and, under special circumstances, are even willing to give them a voice. The mystical doctrine of the tzadik in Hasidism, which views him as part of the divine system of emanations, and the messianic shturem in Chabad today help attenuate the deep-seated resistance in Judaism to glorifying a human being. 9"To Make Many More Menachem Mendels": Creation and Procreation in Messianic Chabad chapter abstractChapter Nine illustrates the divine role accorded to the Rebbe in the fantasy lives of some of his followers by zooming in on his alleged role in one domain of human misery: infertility and birth problems. Drawing on a small sample of dreaming and waking apparitions, the chapter shows how the childless Rebbe "reproduces" himself by providing childless couples with children in his image. In these reports the Rebbe appears as a creator no less than as a progenitor. 10Holy Place and Holy Time in Meshichist Chabad chapter abstractChapter Ten discusses the spatial and temporal dimensions of holiness in the messianic religion. For the Meshichists, who ordinarily refrain from frequenting the Rebbe's sanctuary in Old Montefiori Cemetery in Queens, the most sacred site is the Rebbe's abode on 770 Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, dubbed "770." Viewed as the house of the Messiah and a wing of the future third Temple, 770 is the Meshichist hub, where the life routine with the Rebbe is kept intact. Replicas of 770 have been built in scores of places across the globe. The Meshichist emphasize two dates in Chabad's ritual calendar: Yod-Aleph (11) Nissan, the Rebbe's birthday, and Gimel Tammuz, the date of the Rabbi's disappearance, euphemistically called the Day of Redemption. 11The Omnipresence of Absence: Messianism in the Technological Age chapter abstractChapter Eleven discusses the present-absent virtual Rebbe, maintained in part by the magic of technology. In analyzing the properties of his virtuality, it is suggested that the Rebbe is multiple (reproduced), close and palpable, visible, accessible, and highly decentralized. The fact that the virtual Rebbe can be directly accessed and equally shared by all Hasidim poses a potential threat to Chabad's hierarchical structure and cohesion. 12Meshichists, Christians, Sabbateans, and Popular Culture Heroes chapter abstractThe dynamic common to past and present messianic movements is the focus of Chapter Twelve. It considers the struggles of Chabad's messianism in light of the Christian and Sabbatean precedents. It also poses a speculative comparison between the cult of the Rebbe that emerges from Chabad's visual culture and the adoration of charismatic entertainment and political celebrities in global popular culture. 13From Tzadik to Messiah: Comparing Chabad and Bratslav chapter abstractChapter Twelve proposes a systematic comparison of Chabad and Bratslav Hasidism. Both of these Hasidic movements lack the defining feature of a classic Hasidic sect, a serving tzadik-admor, yet they are enjoying unprecedented success. Can the flourishing of these two movements be attributed to the messianic expectations they both nurture? In support of this supposition, the chapter seeks to decipher the enigma of the growing popularity of these two "anomalous" Hasidic sects by dwelling on their propensity for border-crossing in various domains. Conclusion chapter abstractThe messianic surge that swept Chabad in the late 20th century has created the opportunity for studying the religious imagination at large, and as a subject in its own right. Messianic movements expand the boundaries of proper religious conduct and bring to the fore modes of action and experience the religious establishment shuns as extreme or subversive. The media and the practices that Meshichists employ to make the absent Rebbe present were born in this fertile, enabling ecology. More daring and pronounced than ordinary institutionalized religious beliefs and rites, they differ only in degree. The conclusion discusses the unprecedented extent to which the Rebbe-cum-Messiah is glorified, the boundless energy his elevated status generates in his followers, and their capacity to cope with the disappointment of his occlusion by sustaining a virtual Rebbe that is palpable and close.

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Book SynopsisFor many belonging to the Jewish diaspora, understanding the holidays means lighting a menorah for Chanukah, maybe hosting a seder during Passover. But, if celebrated with an understanding of the storied customs behind the festivities, these occasions can be so much more than candles and matzah. Following the lunisolar calendar, James Beard Award–winning author Susan Simon and Zoe B Zak devote a chapter to each of the fourteen holidays. From Selichot to Rosh Hashanah, Purim to Pesach, every holiday has history, interpretation and foods, with kosher recipes that reimagine traditional dishes with flair. More than a cookbook, The Cook and the Rabbi is a testament to the resilient versatility of the Jewish people and their traditions. With Zoe’s thoughtful insight and Susan’s inspired recipes, there’s no end to the ways you might celebrate the holidays and make your personal relationship with them uplifting, inspiring and deeply fulfilling. Chag Sameach!Trade Review"For someone like me, who has lived in fear of brisket, here is the book we have been waiting for. Drawing from the broad Jewish Diaspora, these recipes, like the illustrations, sparkle. I can’t wait to try a dozen of them. This is a book to keep." -- Mark Kurlansky, author"Meaningful gatherings. Delicious food. A deep understanding of the human condition. This book warms the heart." -- Maira Kalman, author and artist"A gentle and powerful book that reveals the magical and uplifting arc of the Jewish year through food and food for thought. What’s not to like?" -- Henry Sapoznik, author and producer"When the cook meets the rabbi, the holiday table becomes a feast for body and soul. This beautiful book, with its charming illustrations, is an invitation to celebrate Jewish holidays, not only deliciously, but also meaningfully." -- Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, author"There is so much in this charming, educational (for me) book, which Susan Simon with her recipes and folk art–style illustrations and Rabbi Zoe B Zak with her religious knowledge have created, that I am looking forward to exploring." -- John Derian, designer

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Book SynopsisLeon Kellner was part of the intellectual and cultural elite of imperial Austria. Engaged in politics, a member of his regional parliament, and an essayist of repute, he was also a Zionist leader and confidant of Theodor Herzl. He created an institution for Jews’ cultural, educational, and social advancement modelled on London’s Toynbee Hall, which spread across east-central Europe to great effect. He was also an internationally recognized Shakespeare scholar. Yet for all this, today he is little known.How did someone born into a lower-middle-class Orthodox Jewish family from the province of Galicia come to gain such prominence in the Habsburg empire? Kellner’s is a thoroughly Habsburg Jewish story, spanning east and west and shaped by the empire’s history, politics, and culture. He was a singular character: a Galician Jew at home in Vienna and in Czernowitz, eyes towards Zion, yet content also in London, and never more so than when absorbed in the minutiae of Shakespeare’s texts. Kellner’s world was destroyed twice over: Habsburg Austria came to an end in 1918, east-central European Jewry in 1945. This biography recovers at least part of what was lost.Trade Review‘A fascinating and innovative investigation of the situation of the Jews in the Habsburg monarchy, based on material from archives and libraries in Vienna, Jerusalem, and New York.’ Antony Polonsky, Professor Emeritus of Holocaust Studies at Brandeis University‘The lives of individuals whom Jewish historiography has ignored, like Leon Kellner, teach us much about how Jews experienced larger historical currents. His life reflected two of the most distinctive trends in Habsburg Jewish history: the movement of Galician Jews to the imperial capital, and their upward mobility via education and literature. So despite Kellner’s obscurity, his historical trajectory is well known. This biography makes it concrete and specific, and in so doing deepens our understanding of the Habsburg Jewish world.’ Todd Endelman, Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Michigan, Ann ArborTable of ContentsIntroduction1. The Education of Young Leon2. The Making of an Intellectual3. Herzl and Zionism4. The Jewish Toynbee Hall5. The Czernowitz Years6. Post-Habsburg TwilightConclusionBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisChanges in childhood and children’s roles in society, and in how children participate in determining their own lives, have long been of interest to historians. Recent years have seen the emergence of new perspectives on the study of childhood, both in historical scholarship and in literary and cultural studies. Children’s experiences are now scrutinized not only as a means of examining the lives and self-representation of young individuals and their families, but also to investigate how the early experiences of individuals can shed light on larger historical questions. This volume applies both approaches in the context of Jewish eastern Europe. Historian Gershon Hundert has argued that studying the experience of children and attitudes towards coming of age offers an important corrective to the way we think of the Jewish past. This volume proves the potential of this approach in exploring many areas of historical interest. Among the topics investigated here are changes in perceptions of childhood and family, progress in the medical treatment of children, and developments in education. The work of charitable institutions is also considered, along with studies of emotion, gender history, and Polish–Jewish relations. From the First World War until after the Holocaust and the Second World War, countless children experienced traumatizing events. A special section is dedicated to their fate.Table of ContentsIntroduction Natalia Aleksiun, François Guesnet, and Antony Polonsky 1. Childhood and Family Children and Childhood in Hasidic Courts before 1939 Gadi Sagiv Representations of Boyhood in Nineteenth-Century Hebrew Literature Roten Preger-Wagner The Beautiful Manor House: Glimpses of Jewish Childhood in the Galician Countryside Yehoshua Ecker Advocacy and Practice in CENTOS Journals Sean Martin 2. The Medical Treatment of Children The Child in Traditional Jewish Medicine around 1900 Marek Tuszewicki Newborn Care and Survival among Jews in Early Modern Poland Zvi Eckstein and Anat Vaturi Who Nursed the Jewish Babies? Wet-Nursing among Jews in the Late Russian Empire Ekaterina Oleshkevich TOZ Summer Camps: Modern Welfare for Weak and Exhausted Jewish Children in Poland, 1924–1939 Rakefet Zalashik 3. The Educational Experience What Kind of Self Can a Pupil’s Letter Reveal? The Tarbut School in Nowy Dwór, 1934–1935 David Assaf and Yael Darr State Schools as Polish–Jewish Contact Zones: The Case of Tarnów Agnieszka Wierzcholska Working Children and young People as Seen by Contributors to Mały Przegląd Anna Landau-Czajka Through Their Own Eyes: Jewish youngsters Describe Their Holidays in Interwar Poland Ula Madej-Krupitski Autograph Books of Polish Jewish Schoolgirls as Historical Documents Natalia Aleksiun From Relief to Emancipation: Cecylia Klaftenowa’s vision for Jewish Girls in Interwar Lwów Sarah Ellen Zarrow 4. Children and Trauma, 1914-1947 Zionist Care and Education for Galician Refugee Children in Austria during the First World War Jan Rybak Jewish Children Seeking Help from Catholic Institutions in Kraków during the Holocaust Joanna Sliwa It was easier with a child than without’: Creating and Caring for Polish Jewish Families in the Wartime Soviet Union, 1939–1946 Sarah A. Cramsey Voices of Soviet Jewish Children Documenting the Second World War Anna Shternshis Jewish Child Survivorsin the Aftermath of the Holocaust Joanna Michlic The Rehabilitation of Jewish Child Holocaust Survivors, Poland, 1944–1947 Boaz Cohen 5. Childhood in Post-1945 Poland Beyond Post-Holocaust Trauma: Polish Jewish Childhood in Dzierżoniów, Lower Silesia, 1945–1950 Kamil Kijek Blurred Spots of Revolution: Polish Communists of Jewish Origin and Their Early Political Socialization Łukasz Bertram Index

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Book SynopsisChanges in childhood and children’s roles in society, and in how children participate in determining their own lives, have long been of interest to historians. Recent years have seen the emergence of new perspectives on the study of childhood, both in historical scholarship and in literary and cultural studies. Children’s experiences are now scrutinized not only as a means of examining the lives and self-representation of young individuals and their families, but also to investigate how the early experiences of individuals can shed light on larger historical questions. This volume applies both approaches in the context of Jewish eastern Europe. Historian Gershon Hundert has argued that studying the experience of children and attitudes towards coming of age offers an important corrective to the way we think of the Jewish past. This volume proves the potential of this approach in exploring many areas of historical interest. Among the topics investigated here are changes in perceptions of childhood and family, progress in the medical treatment of children, and developments in education. The work of charitable institutions is also considered, along with studies of emotion, gender history, and Polish–Jewish relations. From the First World War until after the Holocaust and the Second World War, countless children experienced traumatizing events. A special section is dedicated to their fate.Table of ContentsIntroduction Natalia Aleksiun, François Guesnet, and Antony Polonsky 1. Childhood and Family Children and Childhood in Hasidic Courts before 1939 Gadi Sagiv Representations of Boyhood in Nineteenth-Century Hebrew Literature Roten Preger-Wagner The Beautiful Manor House: Glimpses of Jewish Childhood in the Galician Countryside Yehoshua Ecker Advocacy and Practice in CENTOS Journals Sean Martin 2. The Medical Treatment of Children The Child in Traditional Jewish Medicine around 1900 Marek Tuszewicki Newborn Care and Survival among Jews in Early Modern Poland Zvi Eckstein and Anat Vaturi Who Nursed the Jewish Babies? Wet-Nursing among Jews in the Late Russian Empire Ekaterina Oleshkevich TOZ Summer Camps: Modern Welfare for Weak and Exhausted Jewish Children in Poland, 1924–1939 Rakefet Zalashik 3. The Educational Experience What Kind of Self Can a Pupil’s Letter Reveal? The Tarbut School in Nowy Dwór, 1934–1935 David Assaf and Yael Darr State Schools as Polish–Jewish Contact Zones: The Case of Tarnów Agnieszka Wierzcholska Working Children and young People as Seen by Contributors to Mały Przegląd Anna Landau-Czajka Through Their Own Eyes: Jewish youngsters Describe Their Holidays in Interwar Poland Ula Madej-Krupitski Autograph Books of Polish Jewish Schoolgirls as Historical Documents Natalia Aleksiun From Relief to Emancipation: Cecylia Klaftenowa’s vision for Jewish Girls in Interwar Lwów Sarah Ellen Zarrow 4. Children and Trauma, 1914-1947 Zionist Care and Education for Galician Refugee Children in Austria during the First World War Jan Rybak Jewish Children Seeking Help from Catholic Institutions in Kraków during the Holocaust Joanna Sliwa It was easier with a child than without’: Creating and Caring for Polish Jewish Families in the Wartime Soviet Union, 1939–1946 Sarah A. Cramsey Voices of Soviet Jewish Children Documenting the Second World War Anna Shternshis Jewish Child Survivorsin the Aftermath of the Holocaust Joanna Michlic The Rehabilitation of Jewish Child Holocaust Survivors, Poland, 1944–1947 Boaz Cohen 5. Childhood in Post-1945 Poland Beyond Post-Holocaust Trauma: Polish Jewish Childhood in Dzierżoniów, Lower Silesia, 1945–1950 Kamil Kijek Blurred Spots of Revolution: Polish Communists of Jewish Origin and Their Early Political Socialization Łukasz Bertram Index

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Book SynopsisTraditional Jewish religious belief speaks of a divinely revealed, perfect text, authoritatively expounded. The question this book addresses is one with which the author has struggled all his life: in the light of historical criticism, advances in knowledge, and changing moral attitudes, is the traditional notion of divine revelation and authoritative interpretation still valid? The focus is on Judaism and the examples are mostly drawn from that tradition, but the arguments are easy to transpose to other religions. Norman Solomon's discussion will appeal to those who seek to identify with a religious community but who are troubled by the claim of divine authority made for the scriptures of that community. Ranging across several academic disciplines, it is addressed to people of all religions who find their heads and their hearts are not in accord with each other. It is accessible to a general readership interested in the relationship of scripture, interpretation, and religious authority, though scholars will find original observations and historical interpretations in many areas. It should find a ready place in university and popular programmes in Jewish studies, general theology, and philosophy of religion.Trade ReviewReviews 'Solomon intends that his book appeal to both popular and academic readership, a task he rather successfully fulfils. His literary style is characterized by the art of brevity . . . Footnotes are concise and not burdened with endless bibliographic citations. For the interested reader, references throughout the book lead to further reading . . . Theologians will benefit from a plentitude of thought-provoking critique and insight. It is for these reasons that I recommend the book . . . interesting and successful in giving a broad historical perspective as well as provoking thought.' Dan Baras, Academia.edu'An excellent resource for researching Jewish intellectual discussion about the Bible.' Zvi Grumet, Bookjed'A courageous new book . . . has an impressive range, from scholarship about biblical times to twenty-first century theology and almost all periods in between . . . despite all the detail in the book, it is very readable and comprehensible even for the beginner. It should be required reading for any modern woman or man who thinks seriously about Jewish theology in general and the question of Torah from heaven in particular.'Martin Lockshin, Canadian Jewish News'An important book for anyone grappling with traditional Judaism . . . stands with Marc Shapiro's The Limits of Orthodox Theology as a seminal work that delves into the richness of our heritage to show that there is more than one way of looking at core religious ideas . . . This book gives us a history of the issues and how different thinkers over the centuries have dealt with the challenges of the Torah. It is a major contribution.' Jeremy Rosen's blog'Judicious and erudite.' Lawrence Grossman, Jerusalem Post'A scholarly book, it is not written in a difficult style. And for a hardback of this print quality, it is a bargain. On one level, it is an invaluable source book on what he calls the “central doctrine” of Judaism.' Simon Rocker, Jewish Chronicle'In this refreshingly fair, sophisticated, and engaging analysis of the doctrine of Torah from Heaven (the Jewish belief in the inerrancy and divinity of scripture), Solomon surveys the history of Jewish biblical interpretation, and concludes that every prior conception of this doctrine is lacking in either intellectual honesty or in its capacity to foster religious conviction. [He] concludes that the only religiously meaningful and intellectually coherent conception of this notion is that of myth . . . can be read by members of any religion whose faith in scripture is challenged by modern archaeological, literary, and scientific evidence . . . The book is sorely needed in Orthodox circles; it should be required reading for all Jewish seminary students, and is highly recommended for any religious individual seeking to establish intellectually stable grounds for belief in the sanctity of scripture.' Daniel Goodman, Religious Studies ReviewTable of ContentsNote on Transliteration Introduction Orientation Orientation Where I Come From - The Seduction of ‘True Belief’ - What Does It All Mean? - Philosophical Beginnings - Facing the Questions - Pulpit and Prejudice - Interfaith Dialogue - Academic Detachment? Part I Revelation Torah from Heaven: Growth of a Tradition 1 Holy Books What is ‘Torah’? - The ‘Sacred Canon’ - Why the Five Books are Special - Philo on Moses and the Ancestral Books - Conclusion 2 Two Torahs? Scripture and the Rabbis Divine Revelation: The Story - Mythic accounts of Torah - The Written Torah and the Oral Torah - Rules of Interpretation - Interpretation Against the Plain Meaning - Conclusion 3 Mystics and Kabbalists Pythagoras, Numerology, and the Book of Creation - Mystical Significance of the Mitzvot - Prophets after the Bible - Nahmanides (Ramban) the Mystic - Conclusion 4 The Great Chain of Being: Philosophers and Kabbalists Platonists and Aristotelians - The Ascent of the Soul - The Descent and the ‘Shells’ - Reasons for the Mitzvot - Conclusion 5 Maimonides: The ‘Classical’ Position Revelation as History - The Oral Torah - Torah and Dogma - Conclusion: Maimonides the Minimalist 6 Oral Torah: What Does It Contain? Does the Torah Teach Science? - The Torah of Kabbalists and Rationalists - Conclusion Summary of Part I Part II Attack The Counter-Tradition: Hard Questions 7 The Counter-Tradition The Alexandrians - Sadducees and Pharisees - Pagan Philosophical Critiques - Gnosticism - Later Developments - Conclusion 8 The Original Torah How Texts Were Written - Evidence of the Scrolls and the Ancient Versions - The Severus Scroll - Can the Original Text be Recovered? - The Masoretes - Rabbinic Responses to Textual Variation - Modern Editions of the Bible - Conclusion 9 Contradictions, Moral Problems, Factual Errors The Reconciling Hermeneutic - Interpreting Aggadah - Historical and Archaeological Problems - Moral Issues - Scientific Inaccuracy - Fantasy, Arbitrariness, Superstition - Conclusion 10 The Rise of Historical Criticism The Beginnings of Biblical Criticism - Deists and Sceptics - The Bible as Literature - From History to Myth - Source Theory - Archaeology - Higher Criticism = Higher Antisemitism? - Conclusion Summary of Part II Part III Defenders of the Faith Repairing the Breach: In Defence of Tradition 11 Defenders of the Faith What Must Be Defended - Ancient Wisdom Restored: The Renaissance - Jewish Bible Commentary Rekindled - Conclusion 12 The Transformation of Judaism: Interpretation, Interpretation, Interpretation Elijah, the ‘Vilna Gaon’ (1720–1799) - Moses Mendelssohn (1729–1786) - Torah— Mystical Code, or Source of Values? 13 Mendelssohn’s Influence I. S. Reggio (1784–1855) - S. D. Luzzatto (1800–1865) - Heinrich Graetz (1817–1891) - Umberto Cassuto (1883–1951) 14 Independents Jacob Zevi Mecklenburg (1785–1865) - Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808–1888) - Meir Loeb ben Yehiel Michael Malbim (1809–1879) 15 In the Steps of the Gaon: Written and Oral Torah Are One N. Z. Y. Berlin (1816–1893) - Meir Simha Ha-Kohen of Dvinsk (1843–1926) - Barukh Ha-Levi Epstein (1860–1942) 16 Hoffman and German Orthodoxy David Hoffman (1843–1921) - Hayyim Hirschenson (1857–1935) - Benno Jacob (1862–1945) and A. S. Yahuda (1877–1951) - Isaac Breuer (1883–1946) - Yehiel Jacob Weinberg (1885–1966) - J. H. Hertz (1872–1946) Summary of Part III Part IV New Foundations Torah from Heaven: The Reconstruction of Belief 17 Non-Orthodox Reconstructions Moses Mendelssohn (1729–86): Revealed Legislation - S. L. Steinheim (1789–1866): Empiricist of Revelation - Samuel Holdheim (1806–1860) - Progressive Revelation: Krochmal, Formstecher, Hirsch, Cohen - Leo Baeck (1873–1956) - Martin Buber (1878–1965) - Franz Rosenzweig (1886–1929) - A. J. Heschel (1907–1972) - Emmanuel Levinas (1905/6-1995) - Review 18 Joseph Dov Soloveitchik and the a priori Torah The Hermeneutics of ‘Torah’ - Historical Criticism - The Oral Torah Problem - Conclusion 19 Feminist Critiques The Sinai Covenant - Language and Gender - Images of God - Equality before the Law - The Need for Change 20 Four Defences of Traditional Belief Halivni: The Maculate Torah - Jacobs: Liberal Supernaturalism - Kellner: Rejection of the Dogmatic Approach - Ross: Cumulative Revelation - Strengths of the Four Approaches 21 Divided by a Common Scripture The Reform Torah - The Orthodox Torah - The Conservative Torah - Go Compare Denominations Summary of Part IV Part V Torah from Heaven 22 Options Justifications - The Community: Costs and Benefits of Belief - The Individual: Costs and Benefits of Belief 23 What Is Truth? What Is Truth? - Excursus: Consistency and ‘Double Truth’ - In What Sense Is ‘Torah from Heaven’ True? - On ‘Narrative Theology’ - Conclusion. ‘Torah from Heaven’: A Myth of Origin 24 Myth of Origin: Opportunities and Dangers What ‘Torah from Heaven’ May Signify - History and Myth Do Not Conflict - ‘Torah from Heaven’: Uses and Abuses - Benefits of Understanding ‘Torah from Heaven’ as Mythos Rather than Logos - Dangers from Understanding ‘Torah from Heaven’ as Logos Rather than Mythos - Things That Worry People 25 Demography versus Reason: The Future of Jewish Religion Does Reason Matter? - ‘Authentic Judaism’ - Survival of the Fittest - Conclusion 26 Confronting Change A Meditation at the Mountains of Fire (January 2004) - Coming to Terms with Modernity - Intellectual Violence - Who Decides? - What I Have Dealt With - What I Have Not Dealt With Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisNational Jewish Book Awards Finalist for the Visual Arts Award, 2017. The carved wooden Torah arks found in eastern Europe from the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries were magnificent structures, unparalleled in their beauty and mystical significance. The work of Jewish artisans, they dominated the synagogues of numerous towns both large and small throughout the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, inspiring worshippers with their monumental scale and intricate motifs. Virtually none of these superb pieces survived the devastation of the two world wars. Bracha Yaniv’s pioneering work therefore breathes new life into a lost genre, making it accessible to scholars and students of Jewish art, Jewish heritage, and religious art more generally. Making use of hundreds of pre-war photographs housed in local archives, she develops a vivid portrait of the history and artistic development of these arks, the scope and depth of her meticulous research successfully compensating for the absence of physical remains. In this way she has succeeded in producing a richly illustrated and comprehensive overview of a classic Jewish religious art form. Professor Yaniv’s analysis of the historical context in which these arks emerged includes a broad survey of the traditions that characterized the local workshops of Lithuania, Belarus, and Ukraine. She also provides a detailed analysis of the motifs carved into the Torah arks and explains their mystical significance, among them representations of Temple imagery and messianic themes—and even daring visual metaphors for God. Fourteen arks are discussed in particular detail, with full supporting documentation; appendices relating to the inscriptions on the arks and to the artisans’ names will further facilitate future research. This seminal work throws new light on long-forgotten traditions of Jewish craftsmanship and religious understanding.Trade Review'Bracha Yaniv has made a meticulous study of lost arks and of the lost Jewish crafts of joinery, woodcarving, painting and gilding that made them possible. She demonstrates that these arks cannot be dismissed as mere folk art. They exhibit a high level of artistic accomplishment.’Sharman Kadish, Jewish Chronicle'Bracha Yaniv’s book addresses a wide audience; for scholars it is an excellent source book, a cradle of new ideas, but it is accessible to readers who are less familiar with Judaism and Jewish visual culture... This book is not only a pleasure to hold, see, and read, but it opens new horizons for many professionals who research Jewish visual culture.'Prof. Rudolf Klein, BRILL'Bracha Yaniv’s book addresses a wide audience; for scholars it is an excellent source book, a cradle of new ideas, but it is accessible to readers who are less familiar with Judaism and Jewish visual culture. The large-format book is graphically coherent, with only historic photographs that were edited to be similar in tonal gamut and micro-contrast, all black and white. On pages without illustrations beautiful portrayals of the Torah arks adorn the pages, in abstracted form, enriching the aesthetically pleasing layout and well chosen typography. This book is not only a pleasure to hold, see, and read, but it opens new horizons for many professionals who research Jewish visual culture.'Prof. Rudolf Klein, IMAGESTable of ContentsNote on TransliterationIntroductionPART I HISTORY AND CULTURE, FUNCTION AND DESIGN1. The Emergence of the Torah Ark from Antiquity to the Seventeenth Century2. Historical and Cultural BackgroundThe Polish–Lithuanian CommonwealthThe Rise of Hasidism and the Influence of Kabbalah3. Construction and DesignCrafts, Artisans, and Workshops The Lithuanian Workshop of Jacob ben Solomon of Raseinai The Workshop of the Vase in a Niche The Rococo-Style Workshop The Belarusian Workshop The Ukrainian WorkshopConstructing the Ark Building Materials and Techniques Style and DesignPART II FORM AND CONTENTIntroduction: The Architectural Structure of the Torah Ark4. The Kingdom of God in the Little SanctuaryThe Throne of GloryThe Eagle as a Metaphor for GodThe Three CrownsPraise of God Perek shirahMusic in the Temple5. The TempleThe Gateway to Heaven The Passageway The Inscription Avinu Malkenu Yakhin and BoazThe Ark of the Covenant and the Temple Appurtenances The Kaporet and the Cherubim The Tree of Life: Symbol of the TorahThe Seven-Branched Menorah Introduction The Menorah and the Showbread Table The Menorah as a Solitary Motif The Menorah in Zechariah’s Vision The Menorah as a Mystical SymbolThe Temple Rituals: Avodat Hakodesh The Sacrificial Offerings The Priestly Blessing Offering of the First Fruits6. Messianic ExpectationsPersonal Redemption: The Leviathan and the OxNational Redemption Aaron’s Rod, the Manna Jar, and the Jug of Anointing Oil The Four Species and the ShofarPART III APPENDICESI. Fourteen Torah Arks: Comprehensive Description, Technical Data, and Supporting DocumentationIntroduction1. Kamyanka-Buzka, Western Ukraine, c.17752. Vyzˇuonos, Central Lithuania, 17843. Zabłudów, North-East Poland, 17654. Druya, Northern Belarus, 1774/55. Zelva, Western Belarus, 1849/506. Lukiv, Western Ukraine, c.17817. Hrodna, Western Belarus, Late Eighteenth Century8. Nowe Miasto nad Pilica˛, East-Central Poland, after 18009. Sˇauke˙nai, Central Lithuania, 1885/610. Przedbórz, Central Poland, c.177511. Valkininkai, South-East Lithuania, 180412. Ke˛pno, West-Central Poland, 1816/1713. Vowpa, Western Belarus, 178114. Unidentified Ark, Ukraine, Nineteenth CenturyII. Biblical Quotations and Liturgical Phrases Adorning the ArksIII. Carpenters and Woodcarvers of ArksIV. Alphabetical List of the Arks Comprising the Visual Database for This StudyList of IllustrationsList of InstitutionsBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisFollowing current developments in contemporary art history, historians of Jewish art increasingly redefine themselves as studying Jewish visual culture and also distance themselves from any single definition of ‘Jewish’. Focusing instead on the range and flexibility of both individual and collective Jewish self-identification, the trend today is to consider artistic creativity, messages, and reception in multiple intracultural settings. Reflecting this trend, the volume presents a round-table discussion and selected papers from Constructing and Deconstructing Jewish Art, an international symposium held at Bar-Ilan University in 2015. Accordingly, Steven Fine questions the role of ideologies and the limits of semantic analysis in contemporary readings of ancient Jewish art. Sergey Kravtsov traces the transmission of legends about the Jewish past through cultures and artistic practices. Larry Silver proposes that in modern societies, all artists of Jewish origin are marked by their Jewishness and develop a minority self-consciousness. Ben Schachter notes how criticism of religious art has neglected the material and artistic process and focused only on spirituality and theology. Kathrin Pieren discusses the role of public displays in negotiating the relationship between art and identities. The volume also includes two articles on the effects of displacement on the art of twentieth-century Jewish artists of Russian origin; description of a forgotten masterpiece by Hermann Struck; and book reviews. Ars Judaica is an annual publication of the Department of Jewish Art at Bar-Ilan University. It showcases the Jewish contribution to the visual arts and architecture from antiquity to the present from a variety of perspectives, including history, iconography, semiotics, psychology, sociology, and folklore. As such it is a valuable resource for art historians, collectors, curators, and all those interested in the visual arts.Contributors: Ziva Amishai-Maisels, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Maya Balakirsky Katz, Touro College, New York, Samantha Baskind, Cleveland State University, Asher Biemann, University of Virginia, Monika Czekanowska-Gutman, University of Warsaw, Marina Dmitrieva, Leibniz-Institut für Geschichte und Kultur des Östlichen Europa, Leipzig, Steven Fine, Yeshiva University, New York, Eva Frojmovich, University of Leeds, Batsheva Goldman-Ida, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, William L. Gross, collector, Tel Aviv, Felicitas Heiman-Jelinek, independent scholar and curator, Vienna, Ahuva Klein, independent researcher, Tel Aviv, Rudolf Klein, Szent István University, Budapest, Lola Kantor Kazovsky, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Katrin Kogman-Appel, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Münster, Sergey R. Kravtsov, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Shulamit Laderman, Schechter Institute for Jewish Studies, Jerusalem, Irit Miller, University of Haifa, Kathrin Pieren, University of Southampton, Mirjam Rajner, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Ilia Rodov, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Ben Schachter, Saint Vincent College, Pennsylvania, Larry Silver, University of Pennsylvania, Daniel Sperber, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Annette Weber, Hochschule für Jüdische Studien, Heidelberg, Gil Weissblei, National Library of Israel, Jerusalem, Bracha Yaniv, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-GanVolumes of Ars Judaica are distributed by the Littman Library of Jewish Civilization throughout the world, except Israel. Orders and enquiries from Israeli customers should be directed to:Ars JudaicaDepartment of Jewish ArtBar-Ilan UniversityRamat-Gan 52900telephone 03 5318413fax 03 6359241 email ajudaica@mail.biu.ac.ilTable of ContentsSymposium: Constructing and Deconstructing Jewish Art 1. The Round Table Discussion 2. From Synagogue Furnishing to Media Event: The Magdala Ashlar Steven Fine 3. Polish-Jewish Discourse in Art History: Standpoints, Objectives, Methodologies Sergey R. Kravtsov 4. Jewish Art and Modernity 5. Contemporary Jewish Art Criticism Ben Schachter The Role of Exhibitions in the Definition of Jewish Art and the Discourse on Jewish Identity Kathrin Pieren Articles 6. In Search for a New Jewish Art: Leonid Pasternak in Jerusalem Gil Weissblei 7. Evacuation Amination: Jewish Geographies and Sindbad the Sailor in Crimea Maya Balakirsky Katz Special Item The Wanderings of Hermann Struck's 'Ahasver' Mirjam Rajner and Ahuva Klein Book Reviews Elana Shapira, Style and Seduction: Jewish Patrons, Architecture, and Design in Fin de Siècle Vienna Asher Biemann Carol Zemel, Looking Jewish Samantha Baskind Lola Kantor-Kazobsky, Grobman (in Russian) Marina Dmitrieva PRIZES REVIEWS

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Book SynopsisNational Jewish Book Awards Finalist for the Barbara Dobkin Award for Women’s Studies, 2017.The ‘Jewish mother’ figure is a hallmark of Jewish culture, one which appears in the works of rabbis, artists, poets, and activists across time and place. While depictions of mothers and motherhood abound in Jewish writings, they vary significantly according to social context. These representations therefore offer important insights into the Jewish cultural imagination, and the ways in which writers resort to the figure of the Jewish mother to comprehend and construct their world. The contributors to this volume highlight the complex network of symbols and images associated with Jewish mothers and motherhood as well as the vast array of social, historical, and cultural patterns that characterizations of mothers reflect. Each essay treats the topic from a specific perspective, spanning from mother--daughter relationships in the Talmud to depictions of mothers in twentieth-century American Jewish children’s literature. Collectively, they present a provocative examination of the ways mothers shape and problematize Jewish identity. This volume seeks to give the figure of the mother a new and enhanced place at the heart of Judaism: not only as a central figure in family life, but also as a key agent in the transmission of Jewish religion and culture.Table of ContentsNote on TransliterationIntroduction: Reimagining Jewish Mothers Marjorie Lehman, Jane L. Kanarek, and Simon J. BronnerPART I . IDEALIZED MOTHERS1 Cooking, Cuddling, and Candle-Lighting: Motherhood in Award-Winning Jewish Children’s Literature Emily Sigalow2 The Jewish Mother’s Prayer: Mothers in Late Nineteenth-Century Hungarian Jewish Women’s Prayer Books Krisztina Frauhammer3 Nene Mesl-e Na¯n—‘Mother is Like Bread’: The Perception of Motherhood and Folklore Expressions among the Jews of Afghanistan Tsila Zan-Bar Tsur4 Mothers and Children in Ottoman Jewish Society as Reflected in Hebrew Sources of the Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries Ruth LamdanPART II . CONSTRUCTIONS AND CONTESTATIONS OF MOTHERS5 Like Mother Like Daughter: Mother–Daughter Relations in Babylonian Talmudic Stories Moshe Lavee6 The (Re)production of a Maskilah: The Mother–Daughter Bond between Menuhah and Hava Shapiro Carole B. Balin and Wendy I. Zierler7 Maurice Sendak’s Jewish Mother(s) Jodi Eichler-Levine8 The Jewish Mother as Metonym for Community in Postwar America Josh LambertPART III . ACTIVIST MOTHERS9 The ‘Mothers’ Who Were Not: Motherhood Imagery and Childless Women Warriors in Early Jewish Literature Caryn Tamber-Rosenau10 Motherhood as Motivation: American Jewish Women in Action, 1890–1940 Melissa R. Klapper11 ‘Two Voices Heard in Castile’: Rachel and Mary Weep for Their Children in the Age of the Zohar Sharon Koren12 ‘Where Was Sarah?’ Depictions of Mothers and Motherhood in Modern Israeli Poetry on the Binding of Isaac Dalia MarxPART IV . RE-EMBODYING MOTHERS13 Depictions of Childbirth in Rabbinic Literature: The Innovation of a Genizah Midrashic Text Shana Strauch Schick14 Upending the Curse of Eve: A Reframing of Maternal Breastfeeding in BT Ketubot Miriam-Simma Walfish15 The Biblical Root ’mn: Retrieval of a Term and Its Household Context Deena AranoffPART V . RECASTING MOTHERS16 Mothers and Ma’asim: Maternal Roles in Medieval Hebrew Tales Elisheva Baumgarten17 On Teachers, Rabbinic and Maternal Mara H. BenjaminContributorsIndex

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Book SynopsisWith its five thematic sections covering genres from cantorial to classical to klezmer, this pioneering multi-disciplinary volume presents rich coverage of the work of musicians of Jewish origin in the Polish lands. It opens with the musical consequences of developments in Jewish religious practice: the spread of hasidism in the eighteenth century meant that popular melodies replaced traditional cantorial music, while the greater acculturation of Jews in the nineteenth century brought with it synagogue choirs. Jewish involvement in popular culture included performances for the wider public, Yiddish songs and the Yiddish theatre, and contributions of many different sorts---technical and commercial as well as creative---in the interwar years. Chapters on the classical music scene cover Jewish musical institutions, organizations, and education; individual composers and musicians; and a consideration of music and Jewish national identity. One section is devoted to the Holocaust as reflected in Jewish music, and the final section deals with the afterlife of Jewish musical creativity in Poland, particularly the resurgence of interest in klezmer music. The essays in this collection do not attempt to to define what may well be undefinable---what ‘Jewish music’ is. Rather, they provide an original and much-needed exploration of the activities and creativity of ‘musicians of the Jewish faith’.CONTRIBUTORS: Eliyana R. Adler, Michael Aylward, Sławomir Dobrzański, Paula Eisenstein-Baker, Beth Holmgren, Sylwia Jakubczyk-Ślęczka, Daniel Katz, James Loeffler, Michael Lukin, Filip Mazurczak, Bożena Muszkalska, Julia Riegel, Ronald Robboy, Robert Rothstein, Joel E. Rubin, Adam J. Sacks, Amanda (Miryem-Khaye) Seigel, Eleanor Shapiro, Carla Shapreau, Tamara Sztyma, Bella Szwarcman-Czarnota, Joseph Toltz, Maja Trochimczyk, Magdalena Waligórska, Bret Werb, Akiva Zimmerman Trade Review"The essays in Jews and Music-Making in the Polish Lands offer rich examinations of a vast and under-studied scholarly terrain. [...] Future scholarship that embraces both the particularity of the Polish-Jewish context and the broad resonance of its themes will best advance the admirable work of this volume’s editors and contributors."J. Mackenzie Pierce, Music and LettersReviews"This is an essential contribution to the fields of musicology, ethnomusicology, Jewish studies, cultural studies, and European studies. The publication indeed explores Jews and music-making in Poland that is engaging and accessible."Mark Kligman, Yearbook of Traditional MusicTable of ContentsIntroduction François Guesnet, Benjamin Matis, and Antony Polonsky PART I. CANTORIAL AND RELIGIOUS MUSIC A Chestnut, a Grape, and a Pack of Lions: A Shabbos in Płock with a Popular Synagogue Singer in the Early Nineteenth Century Daniel Katz Moshe Koussevitzky (1899–1966) in Vilna, Warsaw, and Russia Akiva Zimmerman The Art of Cantorial Singing in the Polish Territories Bożena Muszkalska PART II. JEWS IN POPULAR MUSICAL CULTURE IN POLAND Musical Afterthoughts on Shmeruk’s Mayufes Bret Werb Servant Romances: Eighteenth-Century Yiddish Lyric and Narrative Folk Songs Michael Lukin Broder Singers: Forerunners of the Yiddish Theatre Amanda (Miryem-Khaye) Seigel Gimpel’s Theatre, Lwów: The Sounds of a Popular Yiddish Theatre Preserved on Gramophone Records, 1904–1913 Michael Aylward The Polish Tin Pan Alley—A Jewish Street Robert Rothstein On the Dance Floor, on the Screen, on the Stage. Popular Music in the Interwar Period: Polish, Jewish, Shared Tamara Sztyma The Jews in the Band: Anders Army’s Special Troupes Beth Holmgren Szpilman, Bajgelman, and Barsht: The Legacy of an Extended Polish Jewish Klezmer Family Joel E. Rubin Władysław Szpilman’s Post-War Career in Poland Filip Mazurczak Abraham Ellstein’s Film Scores: Some Less Obvious Sources Ronald Robboy PART III. JEWS IN THE POLISH CLASSICAL MUSIC SCENE The ‘Lust Machine’: Recording and Selling the Jewish Nation in the Late Russian Empire James Loeffler Leo Zeitlin and the Flourishing of Jewish Art Music in Early 1920s Vilna Paula Eisenstein-Baker ‘Jewish musicians are the crowning achievements of foreign nations’: Jewish Identity and Yiddish Nationalism in the Writings of Menachem Kipnis Julia Riegel Ostbahnhof Berlin: Jewish Music Students of East European Origin at the Berlin Conservatory, 1918–1933 Adam J. Sacks Jewish Music Institutions and Organizations in Interwar Galicia Sylwia Jakubczyk-Ślęczka Jewish Composers of Polish Music after 1939: A Story in Lists and Numbers Maja Trochimczyk Tadeusz Zygfryd Kassern’s American Years Sławomir Dobrzański PART IV. THE HOLOCAUST REFLECTED IN JEWISH MUSIC ‘My song, you are my strength’: Personal Repertories of Polish and Yiddish Songs from Young Survivors of the Łódź Ghetto Joseph Toltz Singing Their Way Home Eliyana R. Adler The Nazi-Era Confiscation of Wanda Landowska’s Musical Collection and Its Aftermath Carla Shapreau Music as a ‘Paper Bridge’ between Generations before and after the Holocaust Bella Szwarcman-Czarnota PART V. KLEZMER IN POLAND TODAY The Klezmer Revival in Poland as a Contact Zone Magdalena Waligórska The Sound of Change: Performing ‘Jewishness’ in Small Polish Towns Ellie Shapiro

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Book SynopsisAda Rapoport-Albert has been a key player in the profound transformation of the history of hasidism that has taken shape since the 1970s. She has never lacked the courage to question conventional wisdom, but neither has she overturned it lightly. The essays in this volume show the erudition and creativity of her contribution to rewriting the master-narrative of hasidic history. Thanks to her we now know that eighteenth-century hasidism evolved in a context of intense spirituality rather than political, social, economic, or religious crisis. It did not represent the movement’s ‘classic period’ and was not a project of democratization, ameliorating the hierarchical structuring of religion and spirituality. Eighteenth-century hasidism is more accurately described as the formative and creative prelude to the mature movement of the nineteenth century: initially neither institutionalized nor centralized, it developed through a process of differentiation from traditional ascetic-mystical hasidism. Its elite leaders only became conscious of a distinctive group identity after the Ba’al Shem Tov’s death, and they subsequently spent the period from the late eighteenth to the early nineteenth century experimenting with various forms of doctrine, literature, organization, leadership, and transfer of authority. Somewhat surprisingly there was no attempt to introduce any revision of women’s status and role; in the examination of this area of hasidism Rapoport-Albert’s contribution has been singularly revealing. Her work has emphasized that, contrary to hasidism’s thrust towards spiritualization of the physical, the movement persisted in identifying women with an irredeemable materiality: women could never escape their inherent sexuality and attain the spiritual heights. Gender hierarchy therefore persisted and, formally speaking, for the first 150 years or so of hasidism’s existence women were not counted as members of the group. Twentieth-century Habad hasidim responded to modernist feminism by re-evaluating the role of women, but just as Habad appropriated modern rhetorical strategies to defend tradition, so it adopted certain feminist postulates in order to create a counter-feminism that would empower women without destabilizing traditional gender roles. The essays in this volume are a fitting statement of Professor Rapoport-Albert’s importance to the study of hasidism, to Jewish studies as a whole, and to the academic scrutiny of religion. Written over a period of forty years, they have been updated for this volume with regard to significant detail and to take account of important works of scholarship written after they were originally published.Trade Review'Ada Rapoport-Albert is one of the most striking figures on the field of modern Judaic studies.'Galina Zelenina, Judaic-Slavic Journal Table of ContentsNote on Transliteration and Conventions Used in the Text Introduction Moshe Rosman PART I HISTORY Becoming a Movement 1. Hasidism After 1772: Structural Continuity and Change Conceptualizing Leadership 2. God and the Tsadik as the Two Focal Points of Hasidic Worship 3. Confession in the Circle of R. Nahman of Braslav Fashioning the Past 4 Hagiography with Footnotes: Edifying Tales and the Writing of History in Hasidism PART II GENDER Women Out? 5. From Prophetess to Madwoman: The Displacement of Female Spirituality in the Post-Sabbatian Era 6. On Women in Hasidism: S. A. Horodecky and the Maid of Ludmir Tradition Women In? 7. The Emergence of a Female Constituency in Twentieth-Century Habad Hasidism 8. From Woman as Hasid to Woman as ‘Tsadik’ in the Teachings of the Last Two Lubavitcher Rebbes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisFor Louis Jacobs, the quest—the process of engaging with and thinking about Jewish faith—was a lifelong pursuit. He offered a model in the 1960s, a period characterized by general religious crisis, of an observant, committed, but intellectually curious Judaism that empowered individual seekers to address challenges to faith. In Orthodox Judaism at the time a battle was under way for religious control. Generating a widespread controversy in British Jewry known as the ‘Jacobs Affair’, his thought offers a lens for examining the trajectory of Orthodoxy. In a contemporary context marked by the changing cultural and intellectual concerns of a ‘post-secular’ age, the focus of some of these debates over religious control has shifted. Yet Jacobs’ emphasis on a personal quest is as relevant as ever, perhaps more so. This first book-length analysis of his theology unpacks the building blocks of his thought. It argues that, despite its particularities and limitations, his approach can provide a powerful model for contemporary religious seekers in the context of a growing impetus away from established, denominationally bound forms of religion. Many orthodox believers across a range of faiths continue to prefer the certainty of unquestionable religious truth claims rather than pursuing a subjective search for religious meaning. For those seeking alternative models for the contemporary Jewish quest, a reconsideration of Jacobs’ theology can offer valuable tools.Trade Review‘A major study of an important twentieth-century Jewish thinker and religious leader, whom I was privileged to know and learn from.’ David Novak, Fellow of St. Michael's College, University of TorontoTable of ContentsIntroductionPart I. The Grinning Cheshire Cat 1. The Making of Louis Jacobs2. Tradition vs. Orthodoxy3. The Jew in the PewPart II. Liberal Supernaturalism: The Theology of Louis Jacobs 4. God5. Torah6. IsraelPart III. The Contemporary Jewish Quest: From Cheshire Cat to Tinkerer7. Revelation in Context: From Louis Jacobs to TheTorah.com8. The Tyranny of Labels9. Mysticism and the New Age10. Truth and FaithConclusion: Reconsidering Jacobs for the Contemporary Jewish Quest Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisWinner of the 2021 Gierowski-Shmeruk PrizeShortlisted for the Folklore Society's Katharine Briggs Award 2021Jews have been active participants in shaping the healing practices of the communities of eastern Europe. Their approach largely combined the ideas of traditional Ashkenazi culture with the heritage of medieval and early modern medicine. Holy rabbis and faith healers, as well as Jewish barbers, innkeepers, and pedlars, all dispensed cures, purveyed folk remedies for different ailments, and gave hope to the sick and their families based on kabbalah, numerology, prayer, and magical Hebrew formulas. Nevertheless, as new sources of knowledge penetrated the traditional world, modern medical ideas gained widespread support. Jews became court physicians to the nobility, and when the universities were opened up to them many also qualified as doctors. At every stage, medicine proved an important field for cross-cultural contacts.Jewish historians and scholars of folk medicine alike will discover here fascinating sources never previously explored—manuscripts, printed publications, and memoirs in Yiddish and Hebrew but also in Polish, English, German, Russian, and Ukrainian. Marek Tuszewicki's careful study of these documents has teased out therapeutic advice, recipes, magical incantations, kabbalistic methods, and practical techniques, together with the ethical considerations that such approaches entailed. His research fills a gap in the study of folk medicine in eastern Europe, shedding light on little-known aspects of Ashkenazi culture, and on how the need to treat sickness brought Jews and their neighbours together.Trade ReviewReviews'A brilliant resource and an inevitable point of reference for further studies of Jewish medical customs and beliefs in late Ashkenaz. The author has compiled a wide range of material and presents it as an enthralling story about a world that is no more . . . a fascinating book, certainly a recommended read not only for academics but for anyone with an interest in eastern European Jewry.'Agata Paluch, The Polish Review'Marek Tuszewicki’s book is impressive in its broad scope and ambition . . . written in an engaging manner, it offers a synthetic picture while not stinting on detail.'Monika Adamczyk-Garbowska, Central Europe'When people's health is on the line, what people do is a very good indication of what they think. Behaviour related to health gives exceptional insights into the thought world of otherwise inarticulate, 'simple' Jews, as well of the more educated strata of society. The cures Jews used in nineteenth-century eastern Europe demonstrate how they understood the material world, while the frequent exchange of ideas and methods with non-Jews shows their openness to different perspectives when they felt it was necessary to achieve vital goals. Marek Tuszewicki's study should be required reading for anyone dealing seriously with east European Jewish social history and the history of modernization, especially the relations between Jews and non-Jews and how world-views change. By the way, it is also fascinating.'Shaul Stampfer, Hebrew University of Jerusalem'This is a meticulous study of the traditional Jewish medical practices of eastern Europe. The source base in Polish and Yiddish is impressive, as is the comprehensive survey of secondary literature. The approach is very original, combining nineteenth-century ethnography with modern anthropological interpretative methods. This makes the book rich with material, but analytical and interpretative at the same time.'Marcin Wodziński, University of Wrocław'A Frog Under the Tongue is a triumph of archival excavation and academic interpretation. It is a work of clear interest not only to folklorists, but also to scholars of religious practice and of linguistics, and to researchers across the broad field of medical humanities ... Tuszewicki shows how important a knowledge of medical beliefs is in understanding how a society and culture functions — and what role folklore can play in discovering this.' Ross MacFarlane, Folklore‘[A]n erudite cataloging of the varied ways Eastern European Jews dealt with treating and warding off illness... Tuszewicki provides a highly documented, rich glimpse into a remarkable aspect of a lost world.’ S. V. Greenberg, ChoiceTable of ContentsIntroduction PART I. HEALTH AND SICKNESS IN THE CULTURE OF ASHKENAZI JEWS 1. Health as a Value 2. Biblical and Talmudic Tradition 3. In the Family Circle 4. Feldshers and Healers 5. Tsadikim and Physicians PART II. A WORLD OF SIMILARITIES AND SIGNS 6. Microcosm and Macrocosm 7. Humoral Pathology 8. Astrology PART III. Redemption and Festivals 9. Sin and Redemption 10. Festivals and Rituals PART IV. UNCLEAN FORCES 11. Diseases as Demonic Beings 12. Demons and Witches 13. The Evil Eye 14. Fright Conclusion Bibliography Index

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisA guide to the objects associated with Jewish rituals, such as candlesticks, plates, and cups. The text includes a price guide.

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Book SynopsisThe Rich Go to Heaven: Giving Charity in Jewish Thought focuses on how tzedekah can connect an individual with God and reveal the spirituality of the physical world.

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Book SynopsisBen Katchor retells the history of where we choose to eat—a history that starts with the first man who was allowed to enter a walled garden and encouraged by the garden's owner to enjoy its fruits. He examines the biblical milk-and-meat taboo, the first vegetarian practices, and the invention of the restaurant. Through text and drawings, Katchor illuminates the historical confluence of events and ideas that led to the development of a “milekhdike (dairy) personality” and the proliferation of dairy restaurants in America, and he recollects his own experiences in many of these iconic restaurants just before they disappeared.PART OF THE JEWISH ENCOUNTERS SERIES

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Book SynopsisKosher? That means the rabbi blessed it, right? Not exactly. In this captivating account of a Bible-based practice that has grown into a multibillions-dollar industry, journalist Sue Fishkoff travels throughout America and to Shanghai, China, to find out who eats kosher food, who produces it, who is responsible for its certification, and how this fascinating world continues to evolve. She explains why 86 percent of the 11.2 million Americans who regularly buy kosher food are not observant Jews—they are Muslims, Seventh-day Adventists, vegetarians, people with food allergies, and consumers who pay top dollar for food they believe “answers to a higher authority.” Fishkoff interviews food manufacturers, rabbinic supervisors, and ritual slaughterers; meets with eco-kosher adherents who go beyond traditional requirements to produce organic chicken and pasture-raised beef; sips boutique kosher wine in Napa Valley; talks to shoppers at an upscale kosher supermar

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Book SynopsisThe Hasidic masters of Eastern Europe in the eighteenth century reinterpreted the ancient rabbis' insistence that the patriarchs lived within the Law. Green uses this Hasidic debate on the patriarchs and the commandments as a point of departure for a wide-ranging consideration of the relationship between piety and commandment in Hasidic Judaism.

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Book SynopsisNight of Beginnings is a groundbreaking new haggadah for the Passover seder from acclaimed poet, translator, and liturgist Marcia Falk, beautifully designed and illustrated with original color drawings by the author.Trade Review"With orig­i­nal bless­ings and read­ings, gen­der-inclu­sive trans­la­tions, and text-inspired illus­tra­tions, Mar­cia Falk’s Night of Begin­nings offers an inno­v­a­tive adap­ta­tion of the Passover Haggadah . . . [that] encour­ages read­ers to break free from the tra­di­tion­al Hag­gadah text and explore retelling the Passover sto­ry in a bold new way."—Jewish Book Council"By me, Jewish patriarchal prayer is obsolete, even criminal, so the nagging feminist question remains: How can we throw out the bathwater but keep the baby? . . . Marcia Falk's Haggadah brings us . . . life-saving steps in the right direction: She retains some of the original patriarchal conceits, jettisons others, and, most effectively, makes the Haggadah personal and very accessible to those with little formal Jewish background. It is also a physically gorgeous book, spare and breathing on the page, and illustrated with Falk's own balletic drawings of spring flora. Her annotated retelling of the first 15 chapters of the Book of Exodus in itself makes Night of Beginnings worth buying. Falk remediates the perennial problem of the traditional Haggadah—that it weirdly doesn't actually tell the biblical story of Hebrew enslavement and liberation—and she gives us all we need in order to conduct our own terrific seders, helping us both remember the originary telling, and also instilling it with freshness, April'itude, and relevance."—Lilith magazine"Night of Beginnings . . . [by] Marcia Falk, liturgist and poet extraordinaire, fashioner of nonhierarchical and non-patriarchal blessings and prayers . . . can serve rabbis as a haggadah for their congregations or their own family seders. . . . Especially her Maggid with commentary is also a great text for adult education classes and study groups to prepare for the holiday or to address topics such as Jewish feminism, women in the Bible, and social justice. . . . We [spiritual leaders] might even employ Falk's haggadah for periodic inspiration and meditation on the larger themes she has elucidated. Certainly, the b'rakhot, kavanot, poems, psalms, songs, and commentary from this work can each serve to stimulate our heart and our soul."—CCAR Journal: The Reform Jewish Quarterly"A substantial work, worthy of close attention. . . . Falk's poems, interpretations and selections of additional material can enrich your Seder tremendously."—Forward"Admirers of poet Marcia Falk's bold and evocative feminist rewriting of Jewish liturgy have long hoped she would produce a work they could read at the Seder table. Their wish is now a reality, with the recent publication of Falk's Night of Beginnings: A Passover Haggadah."—Times of Israel"Bold . . . elegant, and eloquent. . . . With the publication of this Haggadah, the North American Jewish community is getting its best chance yet of being exposed to Falk's innovative and deeply thoughtful approach to liturgy. . . . Falk is a wonderful poet and wordsmith in both Hebrew and English . . . the holiday ritual that she has set forth for us to celebrate is . . . described in . . . wonderfully rich and memorable words. . . . The excellent commentary . . . must satisfy those of us who want to talk about enslavement and liberation in non-theological terms."—Herbert Levine, Tikkun"I genuinely love this new haggadah. It speaks to me very deeply. It is beautiful not only in its colorful design, which is superb, but in its theology as well as in its profound liturgical innovations. It has already helped me to begin to prepare for Pesach this year with some new meaning. I will definitely bring it with me to my seder this year."—Rabbi Ron Kronish, Times of Israel "The acclaimed poet, liturgist and Judaic scholar [Marcia Falk] skillfully traverses that delicate balance between modern perspective and traditional views, inviting readers to explore centuries-old seder night customs as well as her own fresh reflections on hymns, psalms and Passover motifs."—Leah F. Finkelshteyn, Hadassah Magazine"When a Haggadah is written by a founding mother of feminist Judaism, as poet and author Marcia Falk is described, the reader can rest assured a fresh view of Jewish worship complete with beauty, artistic creativity, and love will fill the Seder. This Haggadah brings radical new blessings that turn from the traditional patriarchal-themed Seder, affording those who delve into it a revolutionary meditative direction for prayer."—Michael R. Mantell, San Diego Jewish World"Read this [article] with care, since I'm writing about something that promises to enhance the arrival of the Pesach Seder this year. . . . [and] deserves to live in the homes of many of our Jewish households soon. . . . A brand-new Passover Haggadah, a substantial and beautiful volume."—Texas Jewish PostTable of ContentsIntroduction xiii Notes for the Reader Transliterations xxi Proper Names xxii Translations and Adaptations xxii Tinted Pages xxiii פתיחת החג OPENING THE FESTIVAL Hadlakat Nerot Ḥag Hapésaḥ: Lighting the Pesach Candles 2 The Journey: Lighting the Way (Kavanah) 7 Birkat Haz’man: Blessing of Time and Renewal (Sheheḥeyánu) 8 Change: The Flow of Life (Kavanah) 11 Birkat Habat, Birkat Haben: Blessing the Children 12 תחילת הסדר BEGINNING THE SEDER The Seder Plate 17 The Seder Table 18 Kadesh Urḥatz: Order of the Night Kadesh: Sanctification (Kiddush) Birkat P’ri Hagéfen, K’dushat Hayom: Fruit of the Vine, Hallowing the Day (First Cup) 22 Fruit of the Vine (Kavanah) 27 Urḥatz: Washing Washing the Hands 29 Karpas: Spring Greens T’vilat Karpas Va’akhilato: Dipping and Eating the Spring Greens 30 Spring: The Birth of the Year (Kavanah) 33 Shirey Aviv Mim’gilat Shir Hashirim: Spring Poems from the Song of Songs 35 Yáḥatz: Breaking Breaking the Matzah, Hiding the Afikoman 45 Brokenness and Wholeness (Kavanah) 47 לקראת המגיד BEFORE THE MAGGID: PREPARING TO LISTEN Arba Hakushyot: The Four Questions 51 The Four Children 54 Sh’faḥot Va’avadim Hayínu: Once We Were Slaves 59 Ha Laḥma Anya: This Is the Bread of Affliction 63 Open Door (Kavanah) 66 Freedom and the Lives of Others (Kavanah) 68 B’khol Dor Vador: In Every Generation 71 Telling Oneself into the Story 75 ד MAGGID: THE TELLING Presentation of the Text 79 Overview and Themes 80 One: Enslavement in Egypt 82 Two: Miriam and the Women 82 Three: Moshe’s Calling 85 Four: Moshe, God, and Pharaoh—Confrontations 89 Five: Exodus from Egypt 93 Six: Miriam the Prophetess 98 Maggid: The Telling, Abbreviated 100 אחרי המגיד AFTER THE MAGGID: CELEBRATING THE STORY Kos Miryam: Miriam’s Cup 106 Dayénu: It Would Have Been Enough 108 Nonetheless 111 What Is Enough? (Kavanah) 113 Birkat P’ri Hagéfen: Fruit of the Vine (Second Cup) 114 Hallel 1, T’hilot Ḥadashot: New Poems of Praise 117 Song of Joy 118 The Feast 119 Nishmat Kol Ḥay: The Breath of All Life 120 Hal’lu, Yif’at Tevel: Hal’lu, Beauty of the World ג THE FESTIVAL MEAL Roḥtzah: Washing Washing the Hands 126 Motzi’ah/Matzah: Unleavened Bread Birkat Haléḥem, Akhilat Matzah: Blessing before the Meal, Blessing for Eating Matzah 128 Maror: Bitter Herb T’vilat Maror Va’akhilato: Dipping and Eating the Bitter Herb 130 Sweet and Salt, Bitter and Sweet 133 Korekh: Sandwich Eating the “Hillel Sandwich” 134 Shulḥan Orekh: Setting the Table The Meal Is Served 135 Tzafun: Hidden Eating the Afikoman 137 Concealment and Revealment (Kavanah) 139 Barekh: Blessing Birkat Hamazon: Blessing after the Meal 140 Birkat P’ri Hagéfen: Fruit of the Vine (Third Cup) 142 סיום CONCLUDING THE SEDER Kos Eliyáhu: Elijah’s Cup 146 Who Was Elijah? (Kavanah) 148 The Promise of Elijah Hallel 2, Mizmorey T’hilim: Psalms 153 B’tzet Yisra’el: When Israel Went Forth 154 Mah-l’kha Hayam: O Sea, What Alarms You 156 Y’varekh et-Bet Yisra’el: May the House of Israel Be Blessed 158 Hal’lu et-Adonay: Praise God, All You Nations 160 Min-Hametzar Karáti Yah: In Distress, I Called Out 162 Kol Rinah Vishu’ah: The Voice of Rejoicing 162 Pitḥu-li Sha’arey-tzédek: Open the Gates of Justice 162 Od’kha Ki Anitáni: I Give Thanks 164 Birkat P’ri Hagéfen: Fruit of the Vine (Fourth Cup) 166 Nirtzah: Fulfillment of the Seder Birkat Hagéfen Ufiryah: Blessing of Fruitfulness 168 שירים SONGS About the Songs 175 Ḥad Gadya: One Little Kid 176 Eḥad Mi Yodé’a?: Who Knows One? 188 Adir Hu: Mighty Is God 190 Karev Yom: Bring Near the Day 192 Acknowledgments

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Book SynopsisIntroducing a weekly spiritual practice for developing a strong and open heart—drawn from Judaism''s Mussar tradition   Mussar is a practice that draws from the vast storehouse of Jewish wisdom, law, revelation, and text, bringing it right home in a way that is completely practical. Judaism teaches that Torah (the collective wisdom of the tradition) provides the blueprint for human experience—and so the more of it we acquire, the more we gain a clearer, truer perspective on life and learn how to navigate its pathways. The phrase “acquiring Torah” is code for the process of internalizing this wisdom to bring about a genuine transformation of the inner self.   In short, accessible chapters, this book describes forty-eight methods through which we can acquire Torah—and turns them into a straightforward practice. These methods include cultivating humility, joy, awe, good-heartedness, closeness with friends, not taking credit for oneself, judging others favorably, and so on. The fruit of working through each quality or method is a refined soul and a strong and open heart.

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Book SynopsisTen-year-old Avery Green loves science. He loves football. He is crazy about Star Wars. But Hebrew school? No, thank you. Avery would rather have his arms sliced off with a lightsaber than sit through one more day of Hebrew School. He’s only asked about a million times why he has to go, but no one in his family has managed to convince him. And then one day, Rabbi Bob shows up. He is strange, but how strange? And strange how? Piecing together some unusual clues, Avery begins to suspect that this new rabbi might be a Jedi master. Armed with something more powerful than a lightsaber, he sets out to reveal the surprising truth. Going Rogue (at Hebrew School) is a hilarious tale about the deep passions of a ten-year-old boy, Judaism, family, big questions and the surprising journey one can have in pursuit of truth and understanding. A book for any child who questions the purpose of religious school and any parent who has run out of answers.

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Book SynopsisThis volume offers a broad view on the statutes of Ashkenazic communities in their seventeenth and eighteenth century heyday. For the first time it enables researchers to have an overview on more than 150 years of Jewish legal history in its most prominent Yiddish and Hebrew sources.

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Book SynopsisErste umfassende Darstellung des jÃdischen Bildungswesens in Wien nach der Schoa

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