Judaism Books

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisAs child, Meryl Frank was the chosen inheritor of family remembrance. Her aunt Mollie, a formidable and cultured woman, insisted that Meryl never forget who they were, where they came from, and the hate that nearly destroyed them. Over long afternoons, Mollie told her about the city, the theater, and, above all else, Meryl''s cousin, the radiant Franya Winter. Franya was the leading light of Vilna''s Yiddish theater, a remarkable and precocious woman who cast off the restrictions of her Hasidic family and community to play roles as prostitutes and bellhops, lovers and nuns. Yet there was one thing her aunt Mollie would never tell Meryl: how Franya died. Before Mollie passed away, she gave Meryl a Yiddish book containing the terrible answer, but forbade her to read it. And for years, Meryl obeyed. Unearthed is the story of Meryl''s search for Franya and a timely history of hatred and resistance. Through archives across four continents, by way of chance encounters and m

Read more less

Book Synopsis This fresh and contemporary introduction to the Jewish faith, its philosophies and worldviews, explores debates which have preoccupied Jewish thinkers over the centuries and examines their continuing influence in contemporary Judaism.Written by Oliver Leaman, a leading figure in the field, the book surveys the central controversies in Judaism, including the protracted arguments within the religion itself. Topics range from the relations between Judaism and other religions, such as Islam and Christianity, to contemporary issues such as sex, gender and modernity. Central themes such as authority and obedience, the relations between Jewish and Greek thought, and the position and status of the State of Israel are also considered. The debates are further illustrated by reference to the Bible, as a profoundly realistic text in describing the long interaction between the Jews, their ancestors and God, as well as discussions about major thinkers, and passages from the ancient texts:Trade Review'Presents a fascinating overview of Jewish thought and sensibility... For a late modern audience whose affirmations and doubts are often both equally suspended and situated in such a way as to ironically play off each other, this book serves as a superb introduction to Judaism.' - Aryeh Botwinick, Temple University, USA'Leaman's fresh, dynamic and beautifully researched book is a more philosophical endeavour, written for the more informed and academic reader.' -Jewish Chronicle'...fresh, dynamic and beautifully researched...'- Edward Kessler, Jewish ChronicleTable of Contents1. Bible - Obedience vs. Revolt 2. Mishnah & Talmud: A View of Halakhah 3. Jews vs. Greeks 4. Jews vs. Christians 5. Karaites vs. Rabbanites 6. Jews vs. Muslims 7. Philosophers vs. Kabbalists 8. Philosophers vs. Halakhists 9. Maskilim vs. Traditionalists 10. Mitnagdim vs. Hasidim 11. Reform vs. Orthodoxy 12. Particularism vs. Universalism: Zionism vs. Anti-Zionism, Hebrew vs. Yiddish, Assimilation vs. Distinctiveness, Feminism vs. Equal but Different 13. The Future of Jewish Thought in a World without Jews. Guide to Biographical Resources

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe concept of the Jews as a chosen people is a key element of the Jewish faith and identity. This book explores the idea of chosenness from the ancient world, through modernity and into the Post-Holocaust era.Analysing a vast corpus of biblical, ancient, rabbinic and modern Jewish literature, the author seeks to give a better understanding of this central doctrine of the Jewish religion. She shows that although the idea of chosenness has been central to Judaism and Jewish self-definition, it has not been carried to the present day in the same form. Instead it has gone through constant change, depending on who is employing it, against what sort of background, and for what purpose. Surveying the different and sometimes conflicting interpretations of the doctrine of chosenness that appear in Ancient, Modern, and Post-Holocaust periods, the dominant themes of Holiness', Mission', and Survival' are identified in each respective period. The theological, philosophical, and sTrade Review"The concept of the Jews as a chosen people is a key element of the Jewish faith and identity. This book explores the idea of chosenness from the ancient world, through modernity and into the Post-Holocaust era. Analyzing a vast corpus of biblical, ancient, rabbinic, and modern Jewish literature, the author seeks to give a better understanding of this central doctrine of the Jewish religion. She shows that although the idea of chosenness has been central to Judaism and Jewish self-definition, it has not been carried to the present day in the same form. Instead it has gone through constant change, depending on who is employing it, against what sort of background, and for what purpose."-- Joseph Haberer, The Spring 2010 issue of ShofarTable of ContentsIntroduction Part 1. Chosenness as ‘Holiness’ 1. The Biblical Language of Chosenness 2. Ancient Jewish Literature 3. Rabbinic Literature Part 2. Chosenness as ‘Mission’ 4. Universalistic Jewish Philosophies: Spinoza and Mendelssohn 5. Jewish Emancipation and Modern Jewish Movements in Germany 6. Modern Jewish Congregations in America 7. Zionist Understanding Part 3. Chosenness as ‘Survival’ 8. Discourse of ‘Holocaust and Redemption’ 9. The American Experience 10. The Israeli Experience. Conclusion

Read more less

Book SynopsisProposes a reconstruction of the Temple, which differs from conventional descriptions in Jewish literary sources during the First and Second Temple eras. This book examines the individual descriptions of the Temple and considers the influence of the descriptions on subsequent ones.Trade Review"'[A]n important contribution to the temple debate. It could well become a standard source of references for this complicated area.' - - Margaret Barker, former President of the Society for Old Testament Study and author of The Great High Priest and The Revelation of Jesus Christ."Table of Contents1. The Meeting-Tent Tabernacle Temple; 2. From Tent to Tent and Tabernacle; 3. The First Temple in Jerusalem; 4. The Temple Scroll; 5. The Second Temple; 6. The Utopian State and the Ideal City; 7. Jewish Design Thinking in the First and Second Temple Periods.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe book brings together the essays on Second Temple Judaism by Moshe Weinfeld, one of the leading figures in comparative literature and the history of religion in ancient Near Eastern studies. This integrated collection centers on the religious debates within Second Temple Judaism between the sectarian Qumran community and the Pharisees. It examines topics such as liturgy, law, theology and ideology; issues that established Jewish religious forms for normative, Rabbinic Judaism. It also sets these debates in the broader context of texts and ideas from the Bible and ancient Near East texts on one hand and the New Testament and Rabbinic Judaism on the other.The book comprises four sections. The first, 'Prayer and Worship' analyzes constitutive ideas reflected in the definitive prayers of Qumran and Pharisaic liturgy. The second, 'The Qumran Scrolls' engages various legal and hermeneutic issues in the literature of the Qumran sect. Section three, 'Theology and Ideology' treats a group ofTrade ReviewTitle mentioned in Expository Times, 2008."a convenient collection of twenty-two papers...The collection is to be commended for its close attention to the sphere of ritual." -- International Review of Biblical Studies * Intl. Review of Biblical Studies *book listed * New Testament Abstracts *Table of ContentsI. Prayer and Worship; 1. The Loyalty Oath in the Ancient Near East; 2. The Heavenly Praise in Unison; 3. Prayer and Liturgical Practice in the Qumran Sect; 4. The Day of the Lord: Aspirations for the Kingdom of God in the Bible and the Jewish Liturgy; 5. The Angelic Song over the Luminaries in the Qumran Texts; 6. Grace After Meals in Qumran; 7. Minchah; 8. The Morning Prayers (Birkoth HaShachar) in Qumran and in Conventional Jewish Liturgy; 9. The Biblical Origins of the Amidah Prayer for Sabbath and Holy Days; II. The Qumran Scrolls; 10. The Temple Scroll or "The Law of the King"; 11. The Royal Guard According to the Temple Scroll; 12. God versus Moses in the Temple Scroll: "I Do Not Speak on My Own but on God's Authority" (Sifre Deuteronomy, Sec. 5; John 12:48f); 13. Sarah and Abimelech (Genesis 20) Against the Background of an Assyrian Law and the Genesis Apocryphon; III. Theology and Ideology; 14. The Covenantal Aspect of the Promise of the Land to Israel; 15. The Day of Atonement and Freedom (deror); The Redemption of the Soul; 16. The Crystallization of the "Congregation of the Exile" () and the Sectarian Nature of Post-exilic Judaism; 17. "You Will Find Favor...in the Eyes of God and Man" (Proverbs 3:4): The History of an Idea; 18. Universalism and Particularism in the Period of Exile and Restoration; IV. New Testament; 19. Pentecost as Festival of the Giving of the Law; 20. The Charge of Hypocrisy in Matthew 23 and in Jewish Sources; 21. Hillel and the Misunderstanding of Judaism in Modern Scholarship; 22. Expectations of the Divine Kingdom in Biblical and Postbiblical Literature

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review'This journal is not only of interest to historians of Jewish exegesis, but is also an essential interpretative optic for Christian exegesis, especially for the exegesis of the Psalms.' Seamus O'Connell * Journal for the Study of the New Testament *Table of ContentsPreface; 1. Craig A. Evans, Introduction; 2. Bradford A. Kirkegaard, Satan in the Testament of Job: A Literary Analysis; 3. Bruce N. Fisk, Gaps in the Story, Cracks in the Earth: The Exile of Cain and the Destruction of Korah in Pseudo-Philo (LAB 16); 4. Theodore A. Bergren, The Tradition History of the Exodus Review in 5 Ezra 1; 5. Andrea Lieber Merwin, Voice and Vision: Song as a Vehicle for Ecstatic Experience in Songs of the Sabbath Sacrifice; 6. Andrei A. Orlov, The Face as the Heavenly Counterpart of the Visionary in the Slavonic Ladder of Jacob; 7. Esther M. Menn, Prayerful Origins: David as Temple Founder in Rabbinic Psalms Commentary (Midrash Tehillim); 8. Natalie B. Dohrmann, Reading as Rhetoric in Halakhic Texts; 9. Jeffrey L. Rubenstein, On the Culture of the Bavli; 10. Judith H. Newman, Holy, Holy, Holy: The Use of Isa 6:3 in AposCon 7.35.1-10 and AposCon 8.12.6-27; 11. Matthias Henze, Patristic Interpretations of the Composition of the Psalter; 12. Rebecca Moore, Jewish Influence on Christian Biblical Interpretation: Hugh of St. Victor and "The Four Daughters of God"

Read more less

Book SynopsisFirst published in 2004. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Read more less

Book SynopsisA collection of caregiving tools combining the values of Jewish tradition and self-relationsuseful for practitioners of ANY faith!Self-relations, a powerful framework for doing respectful and humane caregiving for oneself and for others is here brought into relationship with Jewish thought. Jewish Relational Care A-Z: We Are Our Otherâs Keeper is an extensive resource for caregiving tools and approaches. Using Jewish tradition and Self-Relations as take-off points, experts from many fields provide insightful perspectives and effective strategies for caregiving.In the language of self-relations each of us is not referred to as a Self. Instead, each of us is more accurately described as a relationship between selvesrelationship is the basic psychological and religious unit! Jewish Relational Care A-Z: We Are Our Otherâs Keeper sensitively centers on relationships and the healing process, using the understanding that to spark healing in others, a loving, respectful relationship must first be present between every aspect of our selves. Thirty-six categories of caregiving are comprehensively presented, allowing its use as a helpful resource for any clergy considering any of the included topics. Each authorâs personal reflections, and personal experiences using care tools clearly illustrate how love-respect relationships within oneself can transcend into effective care for others.Jewish Relational Care A-Z: We Are Our Otherâs Keeper provides helpful tools and explores: the use of language as a relational care tool time management for optimum performance for oneself and for others compassion fatigue, the need for self-care, and nurturing your own spiritual and psychological development purposeful visiting as a sacred task silence as an important part of spiritual care the profound difference made in lives through relational listening music as sacred powera communion between humans and the Divine chanting as an intimate expression of the soul creative ritual in relational healing spontaneous prayer, and its place in relational care relational care with other faiths inside and outside of the community care for those going through divorce care when a pregnancy is unwelcome relational care for sexual orientation and gender identity issues successful caring for those who donât care about you dealing with traumatic loss care for those who have sinned sexually fragile relationships care with the healthy aging relational care and retired clergy care for those traumatized by sexual abuse care for the cognitively impaired, mentally ill, and developmentally disabled care for the final moments of life care for the sick and dying care within the grieving process Jewish Relational Care A-Z: We Are Our Otherâs Keeper is practical, insightful reading for clergy and caregivers of all denominations, educators, students, and lay people who care about clergy and their work.Table of Contents About the Editor Contributors Acknowledgments A Guide for the Reader (Jack H Bloom) THE ABCS OF JEWISH RELATIONAL CARE 1. Premises of Jewish Relational Care (Jack H Bloom) 2. Language As a Relational Tool: Using Your Mouth with Your Head? (Jack H Bloom) CARING FOR THE CAREGIVER’S RELATIONAL SELF 3. Taking Care of Ourselves: It’s About Time! (David J. Zucker) 4. Managing Compassion Fatigue (David J. Stern) 5. Maintaining Balance: The Kabbalah As a Resource (Susan Gulack) HEALING MUSES FOR JEWISH RELATIONAL CARE 6. The Muse of Visiting (David J. Zucker and Bonita E Taylor) 7. The Muse of Silence (Jeffery M. Silberman) 8. The Muse of Relational Listening (Samuel Chiel) 9. The Muse of Music and Song (Shira Stern) 10. The Muse of Chanting (Bonita E Taylor) 11. The Muse of Creative Ritual for Relational Healing (Marcia Cohn Spiegel) 12. The Muse of Spontaneous Prayer for All the [TzelemÛN’shamah] Relationships (Charles P. Rabinowitz) HOW SPACIOUS IS OUR TENT? 13. Caring for the Non-Jews Within Our Community (Gordon M. Freeman and Stuart Kelman) 14. Caring for Non-Jews Outside Our Community (Judith B. Edelstein) 15. What We Gentiles Need in Jewish Relational Care: A Minister’s Perspective (Richard L. Rush) WHEN LIFE CHALLENGES OUR HUMAN BEING 16. Caring for and Supporting Those Going Through Divorce (Judith Levitan) 17. When a Pregnancy Is Unwelcome (Bonnie Margulis and Douglas Maben) 18. Caring for Those Whose Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Vary (Nancy H. Wiener) JEWISH RELATIONAL CARE WHEN THE RELATIONSHIP IS FRAGILE 19. Relating to and Caring for Those Who Don’t Care About You (Stephen Bayar) 20. Blessing Those We Have Trouble Blessing (Jack H Bloom) 21. A Story of Brokenness and Healing: The Relationship of Rabbi and Congregant (Rena Halpern Kieval and Dan Ornstein) 22. T’Shuvah in Sexual Violations with Direct Implications for Other Situations: Relational Care for Those Who Have Sinned and Wish to Return (Jack H Bloom) 23. Jewish Relational Thinking and a Difficult Text: Amalek and Us (Jack H. Bloom) JEWISH RELATIONAL CARE IN THE GOLDEN YEARS 24. Jewish Relational Care with the Healthy Aging (Richard F. Address) 25. Jewish Relational Care and Retired Clergy (Jack H Bloom) JEWISH RELATIONAL CARE WITH THE TRAUMATIZED 26. There and Back AgainJourney into the Death Zone: Jewish Relational Care and Disabilities (Judith Z. Abrams) 27. When the Rabbi Needs Care (Andrew R. Sklarz) 28. Caring for Those Violated by Child Sexual Abuse and Incest (Rachel Lev) JEWISH RELATIONAL CARE WITH THE IMPAIRED 29. Relating Gently and Wisely with the Cognitively Impaired (Cary Kozberg) 30. Caring for the Mentally Ill (Judith Brazen) 31. Caring for the Institutionalized Developmentally Disabled (Bernie Robinson) JEWISH RELATIONAL CARE AT LIFE’S END 32. Relating to the Sick and Dying (Steven Moss) 33. The Vidui: Jewish Relational Care for the Final Moments of Life (Alison Jordan and Stuart Kelman) 34. Jewish Relational Care with the Grieving (Mel Glazer) Healing Notes. Frames for Blessing All Selves As [Breath-TakingÛModels of Divinity] (Jack H Bloom) Index Reference Notes Included

Read more less

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

Read more less

Book Synopsis“To Make the Hands Impure”: Art and Ethical Adventure, the Difficult and the Holy proposes a wholly original model for the ethics of reading. With the image of the book lying in the hands of its readers as insistent refrain, this innovative and ambitious work explores “ethics” as a matter of readerly tact—in the sense of both touch and regard.Trade Review"To Make the Hands Impure brings together Newton's impressive and successful academic/scholarly writing career. But it does not do so in a way that merely repeats and organizes what he has already done. The book is new and expansive and shows that Newton has not stopped rethinking the questions that have engaged him throughout his career." -- -Tsvi Blanchard National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership "This is criticism as literature, literature as anthropology, anthropology as ethics. Ambitious and generous, it is a profoundly creative step in the renewal and integration of Jewish and critical discourses." -- -Jonathan Boyarin Mann Professor of Modern Jewish Studies, Cornell University "In its important achievement, this book offers a profound rethinking of the postmodern meanings of Jewish tradition. Adam Zachary Newton's privileged tropes of the tactile also stand for his 'tact' of reading as secular midrash. His ethics of reading shows us that the boundaries separating Jewish and other texts ultimately connect the foreign with the native, the distant with the near, without collapsing the two, through an impurity inseparable from the revelation of the other. The utter originality of this book thus consists of its conception of impurity as the redemptive effect of the sacred and its prescient reassertion of Jewish sources in postmodern critical form." -- -David Suchoff Colby College "Adam Zachary Newton's incisive insights into 'holding the book in hand' shed light on the esthetic and ethical implications encapsulated in the act of reading. Based on a broad spectrum of disciplines and sources--Emmanuel Levinas' Talmudic Readings, literary criticism (Edward Said, Mikhail Bakthin, Roland Barthes...), Analytical philosophy (Stanley Cavell), Medieval Jewish and Arabic philosophy (Ibn Hazm, Ibn Ezra...) to cite but a few--his 'ethics of reading' is an invitation to reconsider the interplay between the hand and the text not as grasping or appropriating but rather as 'proximity'; i.e. as a situation where 'one is drawn out of oneself, toward the elsewhere, toward the other.'" -- -Joelle Hansel Societe Internationale de Recherche Emmanuel Levinas (SIREL, Paris) "Newton's new book, a tapestry of readings that becomes a contrapuntal symphony, heuristically suggests it is no longer the case that reading the Bible is the same as reading any other piece of literature, as Spinoza suggested, but rather that reading any piece of literature is like reading the Bible, if one reads it the way rabbis do." -- -Sergey Dolgopolski University at Buffalo SUNYTable of ContentsPrologue: Meaningful Adjacencies Introduction: Laws of Tact and Genre Part one / Hands 1. Pledge, Turn, Prestige: Worldliness and Sanctity in Edward Said and Emmanuel Levinas 2. Sollicitation and Rubbing the Text: Reading Said and Levinas Reading 3. Henry Darger, Blaise Pascal, and the Book in Hand Part two / Genres 4. Ethics of Reading I: Levinas and the Talmud 5. Ethics of Reading II: Bakhtin and the Novel 6. Ethics of Reading III: Cavell and Theater/Cinema Part three / Languages 7. Abyss, Volcano, and the Frozen Swirl of Words: The Difficult and the Holy in Agnon, Bialik, and Scholem Epilogue: The Book in Hand, Again Notes Bibliography Index of Proper Names Index of Topics

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe best-selling songster found in homes throughout the world. Includes Shabbat and Holiday blessings, Z'mirot, Hebrew songs, Grace after Meals, Songs of Israel, Wedding Blessings. Personalized covers are available for your organization or family celebrations. To order personalized B'kol Echad benchers, visit www.haggadahsrus.com.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe Israeli kibbutz, the twentieth century's most interesting social experiment, is in the throes of change. Instrumental in establishing the State of Israel, defending its borders, creating its agriculture and industry, and setting its social norms, the kibbutz is the only commune in history to have played a central role in a nation's life. Over the years, however, Israel has developed from an idealistic pioneering community into a materialistic free market society. Consequently, the kibbutz has been marginalized and is undergoing a radical transformation. The egalitarian ethic expressed in the phrase, From each according to ability, to each according to need, is being replaced by the concept of reward for effort. Cooperative management is increasingly giving way to business administration. Kibbutz members, who were obligated to and dependent on their community, are now responsible for running their own lives and earning their own living. Through distinguished journalist Daniel GavronTrade ReviewAn important historical study, a book that will be read and reread for years to come. I know of no book that equals it as a study of the Kibbutz movement. No student of Israel should be without this book. It is inspiring and quite wonderful. -- Howard FastThe kibbutz movement produced a miracle. Yet even miracles cannot ignore changing times. Having had the privilege of being a kibbutz member for many years, I know that the savor of the experience never fades. Daniel Gavron has written an amazing story about a living wonder. -- Shimon PeresThe early history he tells through the story of some of the Kibbutz pioneers is fascinating. . . . The most illuminating parts of the book come in his interviews with contemporary kibbutz members—some of whom are very ready to admit the flaws of the system—and in his exploration of the effects of the communal child rearing that used to be a kibbutz hallmark. * Publishers Weekly *This book is full of penetrating interviews with kibbutz members from which Gavron assembles an enthralling picture of today's life on those collectives. If you are interested in Israel's kibbutzim, their past, present and future presented with a very human touch, this book is for you. * Washington Jewish Week *Gavron has succeeded in writing an important historical study of the kibbutz movement. . . . [He] brings a keen and sensitive eye to the current revolution in the Israeli kibbutz. It is an excellent read for kibbutz lovers and worriers! * Bulletin of the International Communal Studies Association *A fascinating look at the story of the best-known communal movement in the world, as told through the words of many participants. . . . A superb book, offering hope to those who believe that intentional community can be a healthy, viable lifestyle while also warning of many of the problems. The excellent writing makes this book an enjoyable as well as an informative read. * Communities Magazine *For anyone interested in Kibbutz this is a timely and up-to-date Guide to the Perplexed. The author constructs a picture rich in specifics, arranged to present a remarkably lucid display of complex and at times contradictory developments. * Kibbutz Trends *Revealing and educational, Gavron's snapshot is a valuable account of a unique social movement. * Kirkus *Daniel Gavron thoroughly examines the question of the future of the Kibbutz in this work. His book lets us hear not only the voices of Kibbutz veterans and the younger generation, who do not share the ideals of their forefathers, but also of the newcommers, who advocate the idea of civic Kibbutzim. * Die Tagespost *[Gavron's] book offers a good basic overview of today's transitional period, and places an important collective experience within its historical setting. * Ha'aretz *One of the most lucid, objective, and entertaining books on the kibbutz to come out. * Hakibbutz *Daniel Gavron's clearsighted new book . . . gives his readers not only a fascinating survey of kibbutz history, but also a close look at ten collective settlements that differ greatly from one another. -- Nechemia Meyers, Heritage Southwest Jesish PressGavron gives his readers not only a fascinating survey of kibbutz history, but also a close look at ten collective settlements that differ greatly from one another. * Jewish News *In his fascinating The Kibbutz journalist and former kibbutznik Daniel Gavron candidly and sensitively discusses the changes in kibbutz life since its inception and demonstrates how they affect individual members. * Na'amat Woman: Magazine Of Na'amat Usa *Valuable new book. * Utopian Studies *Gavron's book is one of the best descriptions of the kibbutz in this phase of uncertainty. It is credible and compassionate, interesting and simple to read and, above all—it even dares to predict the future. * Journal of Israeli History: Politics, Society, Culture *Table of ContentsChapter 1 Introduction: Uncertain Future Part 2 Part I: What Happened? Chapter 3 Degania: Starting Out Chapter 4 Givat Brenner: Flagship in Stormy Seas Chapter 5 Hasolelim: Repairs in Midflight Chapter 6 Neve Yam: Surviving Collapse Chapter 7 Hatzerim: Proving It Can Work Part 8 Part II: What Went Wrong? Chapter 9 The Collapse of 1985 Chapter 10 The Limits of Education Part 11 Part III: Faces of the Future Chapter 12 Maagan Michael: Divorce Settlement Chapter 13 Kfar Ruppin: Capitalist Kibbutz Chapter 14 Ein Tzurim: No Immunity Chapter 15 Tammuz: Urban Commune Chapter 16 Samar: Touching Utopia Part 17 Conclusion Part 18 Glossary Part 19 Selected Biblography Part 20 Index Part 21 About the Author

Read more less

Book SynopsisArgues for the importance of the Old Testament prophets for the modern world.Trade Review'This study of old Testament kings and prophets is framed within an evolutionary idea of the humanisation of consciousness. His argument is that the key figures reveal themseles as progressive metamorphoses prefiguring and leading up to the incarnation of Christ.'-- Scientific and Medical Network Review, Summer 2007

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe Mystic Quest explains the major ideas and concepts of Jewish mystical thought in a way that the general reader can clearly understand. Drawing upon his own extensive research as well as on the growing body of scholarly material on the subject, Dr. David Ariel, president of the Cleveland College of Jewish Studies, presents the extremely difficult and complex elements of Jewish mysticism in language that makes it accessible to the layperson. Jewish mysticism is as old as the Bible itself. It is a rich and subtle web of secret teachings and practices that has been part of Judaism since antiquity and has sought to keep the original spark of religious experience alive through the centuries. It is the relatively unknown, esoteric dimension of Judaism that has nourished a deep spiritual power within a tradition of law, ritual, and observance. A central element in Judaism, the mystic quest has shaped both Judaism and Jews throughout history, generating the kabbalistic tradition and Hasid

Read more less