Search results for ""Jewish Publication Society""

Gain entrance to the world of Rashi via a wide-ranging introduction and a thorough explication of one of his most important commentaries.—Isaac Gottlieb, Review of Biblical Literature In 2004, Mayer Gruber’s landmarkRashi’s Commentary on Psalms made one of the 11th-century scholar’s most important works accessible to a larger audience for the first time. The JPS paperback edition of this exceptional volume includes the complete original Hebrew text and acclaimed linguist Mayer Gruber’s contemporary English translation and supercommentary.Fully annotated by Gruber, Rashi’s Commentary on Psalms places Rashi, the most influential Hebrew biblical commentator of all time, in the larger context of biblical exegesis. Gruber identifies Rashi’s sources, pinpoints the exegetical questions to which Rashi responds, defines the nuances of Rashi’s terminology, and guides the reader to use the English translation as a tool to access the original Hebrew text. Gruber’s extensive introduction takes a critical look at Rashi and his enduring legacy.

Read more less

Named a 2007 National Jewish Book Award Runner-Up in the category of Contemporary Jewish Life and Practice.JPS’s new holiday books take us through the joys, spirit, and meaning of the seasons. Blending the old and the new, they ground us in the origins and traditions of each holiday and open up to us ways we can add our own expression to these special days. Although synagogue ritual is touched upon, the real focus here is on our personal connections to each holiday and our home observance.As we move from season to season, Paul Steinberg shares with us a rich collection of readings from many of the Jewish greats—Maimonides, Rashi, Nachmanides, Shlomo Carlebach, Marge Piercy, Elie Wiesel, Martin Buber, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Arthur Green, and others—and he guides us in discovering for ourselves the many treasures within each text. The readings teach us about the history of each holiday, as well as its theological, ethical, agricultural, and seasonal importance and interpretation; others give us inspiration and much food for thought.These stories, essays, poems, anecdotes, and rituals help us discover how deeply Jewish traditions are rooted in nature’s yearly cycle, and how beautifully season and spirit are woven together throughout the Jewish year.

Read more less

Vanessa Ochs invites her readers to explore how Jewish practice can be more meaningful through renewing, reshaping, and even creating new rituals, such as naming ceremonies for welcoming baby girls, healing services, Miriam’s cup, mitzvah days, egalitarian wedding practices, and commitment ceremonies. We think of rituals—the patterned ways of doing things that have shared and often multiple meanings— as being steeped in tradition and therefore unalterable. But rituals have always been reinvented. When we perform ancient rituals in a particular place and time they are no longer quite the same rituals they once were. Each is a debut, an innovation: this Sabbath meal, this Passover seder, this wedding—firsts in their own unique ways. In the last 30 years there has been a surge of interest in reinventing ritual, in what is called minhag America. Ochs describes the range and diversity of interest in this Jewish American experience and examines how it reflects tradition as it revives Jewish culture and faith. And she shows us how to create our own ritual objects, sacred spaces, ceremonies, and liturgies that can be paths to greater personal connection with history and with holiness: baby-naming ceremonies for girls, divorce rituals, Shabbat practices, homemade haggadahs, ritual baths, healing services. Through these and more, we see that American Judaism is a dynamic cultural process very much open to change and a source of great personal and communal meaning.The ceramic “Tree of Life” spice container that appears on the cover of Inventing Jewish Ritual is by Susan Garson of Garson and Pakele Studios, www.garsonpakele.com

Read more less

Joshua Jacobson’s 2002 edition—the comprehensive 1000-page guide to cantillation—is now available in this condensed, 300-page, user-friendly paperback edition. It is an ideal instructional guide for adult and young-adult students of Torah, for b’nai mitzvah students, and for cantors, rabbis, and Jewish educators of all denominations.Like the original edition, it includes an explanation of the tradition and a description of the practice of chanting, with all its regional variations and grammatical rules. There is detailed instruction, with musical notation, on chanting of Torah, and shorter instructions for chanting the haftarah, the megillot, and readings for the High Holy Days. More than 85 links to the audio CD throughout make it easy for readers to follow examples in sound as well as in print and is invaluable for those who cannot read music. Charts, helpful hints, pronunciation guide, glossary, and indexes to the book and the CD complete the book.Joshua Jacobson, professor of music and conductor of the acclaimed Boston-based Zamir Chorale, has been Torah chanting since he was 10 years old. That life-long experience, combined with an unquenchable desire to reconnect the art of cantillation with the most convincing and accurate treatment of the ancient text possible, led him to create this indispensable teaching tool. Using Jacobson’s highly acclaimed approach, the ancient words come alive in a new, deeply emotional and most accurate way.

Read more less

Song of Songs is a wondrous collection of love lyrics nestled in the heart of the Hebrew Bible—songs of passion and praise between a young maiden and her beloved. It is religious lyric par excellence. But what is its true meaning? Is it an expression of human love and passion, pure and simple? A celebration of the covenant between God and Israel? Or something else? The latest volume in the Jewish Publication Society’s highly acclaimed Bible Commentary series, Song of Songs provides a line-by-line commentary of the original Hebrew Bible text, complete with vocalization and cantillation marks, alongside the JPS English translation. Unique to this volume are four layers of commentary: the traditional PaRDeS of peshat (literal meaning), derash (midrashic and religious-traditional sense), remez (allegorical level), and sod (mystical and spiritual intimations). Michael Fishbane skillfully draws from them all to reveal the extraordinary range of interpretations and ideas perceived in this beloved biblical book. A comprehensive introduction, extensive endnotes, a full bibliography (traditional and modern), and additional explanatory materials are included to enhance the reader’s appreciation of the work. This original, comprehensive commentary on the Song of Songs interprets historical, critical, and traditional sources drawn from the ancient Near East, the entire spectrum of Jewish sources and commentaries, and modern critical studies.

Read more less

Award-winning author-illustrator Chaya M. Burstein combines her talents as storyteller and artist to bring alive the Bible to young readers. Children and adults will appreciate her Bible people-finder, an index locating dozens of personalities within the text. Unmatched for its engaging art and easily understood rendering of the biblical narrative, The Kids’ Cartoon Bible can be read aloud to pre-schoolers and enjoyed by young readers as well. A lovely gift book, it is also an attractive addition to home and school libraries.

Read more less

A JPS Scholar of Distinction title Noted educator, author, and speaker Eugene Borowitz delivers the fruits of his scholarship with grace in this new addition to the JPS Scholar of Distinction series. Gathered in this single volume are 33 essays covering the themes of modern Jewish theology, education, the history of Reform Judaism in America, Jewish law, ethics, and religious dialogue. This collection will appeal to a wide audience, including rabbis; scholars; and readers of religion, modern Jewish thought, and liturgy.

Read more less

A National Jewish Book Award Finalist The haftarot are an ancient part of Hebrew liturgy. These supplemental readings are excerpted from the Prophets (Nevi'im) and accompany each weekly Sabbath reading from the Torah as well as readings for special Sabbaths and festivals. Noted Bible scholar Michael Fishbane introduces each haftarah with an outline and discussion of how that passage conveys its meaning, and he follows it with observations on how it relates to the Torah portion or special occasion. Individual comments, citing classical rabbinic as well as modern commentators, highlight ambiguities and difficulties in the Hebrew text, which appears in concert with the JPS translation. The haftarot are also put into biblical context by a separate overview of all prophetic books (except Jonah) that are excerpted in the haftarah cycle.

Read more less

Recipient of the Prize of the Minister of Science, Culture, and Sport [of the State of Israel] for classical literature for the year 5762 [2001]. The commentary, which accompanies the Hebrew biblical text and the JPS translation, approaches the Book of Esther from a fresh literary point of view. It includes essays entitled “When and Where Was the Book of Esther Written?,” “Sex and Spies,” and “Rabbinic Interpretation.”

Read more less

Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael is a classic collection of midrash. It contains commentary on a large part of the Book of Exodus (chapters 12 to 23) and represents the two main modes of interpretation: the halakhah (legal doctrine), and the aggadah (moral and religious teachings). The work also contains allusions to historical events and ancient legends not found elsewhere. A new introduction by noted scholar David Stern highlights the work, now published in a convenient two-volume set. It retains the original text from the JPS 1933 edition, reset in a modern, readable typeface, with Hebrew and English on facing pages and the original indexes. This classic work is widely recognized as a model of meticulous and thorough scholarship. Its translation is accurate, straightforward, and usable by scholars, students, and lay readers. Out of print for many years, it will be heralded as an important reissue that should belong to every rabbi, rabbinical school, and Jewish Studies professor, and will be an important addition to synagogue libraries and public libraries with Judaica collections.

Read more less

Borowitz creatively explores his theory of Covenant, linking self to folk and God through the contemporary idiom of relationship.

Read more less

Rose Zar was 19 years old when the Nazis invaded her native Poland. Her father urged her to save herself by hiding “in the mouth of the wolf”—or within the enemy itself. She managed to obtain false papers, secretly changing her identity and surviving the Holocaust as maid and nanny for a Nazi SS colonel.

Read more less

Wasteland is the story of Jacob Braunowitz, a young Jewish man who, tortured by self-doubts and nightmare fears, turns his back on his heritage, his home, and even his name. Guided by a radical sister who is “half like a man and half like a woman” and a wise and compassionate psychiatrist, Jacob makes the arduous journey back to his authentic identity, his family, and his people.

Read more less

The Wars of the Lord is the major treatise of Levi ben Gershom of Provence, one of the outstanding philosophers of the medieval world. This work examines in detail most of the controversial issues that had preoccupied the medieval mind: immortality of the human soul, prophecy, human freedom, divine providence, creation of the world, miracles.

Read more less

The Jews of Poland tells the story of the development and growth of Polish Jewry from its beginnings, around the year 1200, when it numbered a few score people, to about six hundred years later, when it totaled a million or more people. This books records the development of this Jewish community. It attempts to capture the uniqueness of each period in the history of this community. In recounting the saga of Polish Jewry, the book endeavors to see Polish Jews as human beings acting and reacting humanly to the exigencies of life with courage and weakness, high ideals, beliefs, and sacrifices, on one hand, and human frailty, passions, and ambitions, on the other.

Read more less

2021 National Jewish Book Award Finalist for Con­tem­po­rary Jew­ish Life and Practice Judaism offers us unique—and often divergent—insights into contemporary moral quandaries. How can we use social media without hurting others? Should people become parents through cloning? Should doctors help us die? The first ethics book to address social media and technology ethics through a Jewish lens, along with teaching the additional skills of analyzing classical Jewish texts, The Jewish Family Ethics Textbook guides teachers and students of all ages in mining classical and modern Jewish texts to inform ethical decision-making. Both sophisticated and accessible, the book tackles challenges in parent-child relationships, personal and academic integrity, social media, sexual intimacy, conception, abortion, and end of life. Case studies, largely drawn from real life, concretize the dilemmas. Multifaceted texts from tradition (translated from Hebrew and Aramaic) to modernity build on one another to shed light on the deliberations. Questions for inquiry, commentary, and a summation of the texts’ implications for the case studies deepen and open up the dialogue. In keeping with the tradition of maḥloket, preserving multiple points of view, “We need not accept any of our forebears’ ideas uncritically,” Rabbi Neal Scheindlin explains. “The texts provide opportunities to discover ideas that help us think through ethical dilemmas, while leaving room for us to discuss and draw our own conclusions.”

Read more less

Haggadah & History is much more than a history of the Passover story. It is also a mirror of the last five centuries in Jewish history as reflected in the haggadah itself. Two hundred facsimile plates reproduce representative pages from rare printed haggadot in two of the world's outstanding Judaica collections: the libraries of Harvard University and The Jewish Theological Seminary. This visual history is complemented by Professor Yerushalmi’s fascinating historical introduction and richly detailed place descriptions. The result is a rare blend of scholarship and art.

Read more less

2023 National Jewish Book Award Finalist in Modern Jewish Thought and ExperienceWho Are the Jews—And Who Can We Become? tackles perhaps the most urgent question facing the Jewish people today: Given unprecedented denominational tribalism, how can we Jews speak of ourselves in collective terms? Crucially, the way each of us tells our “shared” story is putting our collective identity at risk, Donniel Hartman argues. We need a new story, built on Judaism’s foundations and poised to inspire a majority of Jews to listen, discuss, and retell it. This book is that story. Since our beginnings, Hartman explains, the Jewish identity meta-narrative has been a living synthesis of two competing religious covenants: Genesis Judaism, which defines Jewishness in terms of who one is and the group to which one belongs, independent of what one does or believes; and Exodus Judaism, which grounds identity in terms of one’s relationship with an aspirational system of values, ideals, beliefs, commandments, and behaviors. When one narrative becomes too dominant, Jewish collective identity becomes distorted. Conversely, when Genesis and Exodus interplay, the sparks of a rich, compelling identity are found. Hartman deftly applies this Genesis-Exodus meta-narrative as a roadmap to addressing contemporary challenges, including Diaspora Jewry’s eroding relationship with Israel, the “othering” of Israeli Palestinians, interfaith marriage, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and—collectively—who we Jews can become.

Read more less

JEWels is the first of its kind: the living tradition of Jewish stories and jokes transformed into poems, recording and reflecting Jewish experience from ancient times through the present day. In this novel hybrid—jokes and stories boiled down to their essence in short poems—Jewish witticism is preserved side by side with evocative storytelling and deepened with running commentary and questions for discussion. Illuminated here are jewels from journeys, from the Old Country, from Torah, shaped by the Holocaust, in glimpses of Jewish American lives, in Jewish foods, in conversations with God, and on the meaning of life. Jewish comedians (Lenny Bruce, Jackie Mason) appear alongside writers and musicians (Elie Wiesel, Sholem Aleichem, Itzhak Perlman) and Hasidic rabbis (the Baal Shem Tov, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov), yet most of the tellers are ordinary Jews. In this cacophony of ongoing dialogue, storytellers, rabbis, poets, and scholars chime in with interpretations, quips, and related stories and life experiences. In JEWels each of us can see our own reflection.

Read more less

Night 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. Unlike both traditional and new haggadahs, which do not contain a full recounting of the biblical story, Night of Beginnings presents the Exodus narrative in its entirety, providing a direct connection to the ancient origins of the holiday. This retelling highlights the actions of its female characters, including Moshe’s sister, Miriam; Pharaoh’s daughter, who adopts the baby Moshe; and the midwives Shifrah and Pu’ah, who save the Hebrew male infants. Falk’s revolutionary new blessings, in Hebrew and English, replace the traditional, patriarchal seder blessings, and her kavanot—meditative directions for prayer—introduce a genre new to the seder ritual. Poems, psalms, and songs are arranged to give structural coherence to the haggadah. A new commentary raises interpretive questions and invites us to bring personal reflections into the discussion. Like the author’s widely acclaimed previous prayer books, The Book of Blessings and The Days Between, Falk’s poetic blessings for the seder envision the divine as a Greater Whole of which we are an inseparable part. The inclusive language of Falk's blessings makes room for women to find and use their voices more full-throatedly than they were able to do with the male-centered prayers inherited from the early rabbis. Men, too, will encounter here a spiritually moving and thought-provoking experience.

Read more less

Saying No to Hate grounds readers contextually in the history of antisemitism in America by emphasizing the legal, political, educational, communal, and other strategies American Jews have used through the centuries to address high-profile threats. Norman H. Finkelstein shows how antisemitism has long functioned in America in systemic, structural, and interpersonal ways, from missionaries, the KKK, and American Nazis to employment discrimination, social media attacks, and QAnon. He explains how historic antisemitic events such as General Ulysses S. Grant’s General Order No. 11 (1862); the Massena, New York blood libel (1928); and the mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue (2018) galvanized the Jewish community. Finkelstein shines light on Jews such as Louis Brandeis and Admiral Hyman Rickover who succeeded despite discrimination and on individuals and organizations that have tackled legal and security affairs, from the passage of Maryland’s Jew Bill

Read more less

This comprehensive intellectual biography of Judah Magnes—the Reform rabbi, American Zionist leader, and inaugural Hebrew University chancellor—offers novel analysis of how theology and politics intertwined to drive Magnes’s writings and activism—especially his championing of a binational state—against all odds. Like a prophet unable to suppress his prophecy, Magnes could not resist a religious calling to take political action, whatever the cost. In Palestine no one understood his uniquely American pragmatism and insistence that a constitutional system was foundational for a just society. Jewish leaders regarded his prophetic politics as overly conciliatory and dangerous for negotiations. Magnes’s central European allies in striving for a binational Palestine, including Martin Buber, credited him with restoring their faith in politics, but they ultimately retreated from binationalism to welcome the new State of Israel. In candidly portraying the complex Magnes as he understood himself, David Barak-Gorodetsky elucidates why Magnes persevered, despite evident lack of Arab interest, to advocate binationalism with Truman in May 1948 at the ultimate price of Jewish sovereignty. Accompanying Magnes on his long-misunderstood journey, we gain a unique broader perspective: on early peacemaking efforts in Israel/Palestine, the American Jewish role in the history of the state, binationalism as political theology, an American view of binationalism, and the charged realities of Israel today.

Read more less

One night, one lightOne shining Hanukkah lightIn the great silver menorah The same menorah that shone in Bubby and Zaidy’s house so long ago now glistens in a modern home. Children sing Hanukkah songs, make latkes, and act out historic scenes. For each night there is a new form of celebration as a new candle is added to the great silver menorah. Aidel Backman has written and illustrated a lively, full-color treasure. In this warm book, Hanukkah traditions pass from one generation to the next, from an Eastern European shtetl to America. This colorful work looks at the many ways families can celebrate this joyous holiday. Young children will most likely ask their adult friends to reread this rhythmical text at least every night of Hanukkah and probably long after the eight days are over.

Read more less

Judaism and Its Bible explores the profoundly deep and complex relationship between Jews, Judaism, and the Hebrew Bible. The Hebrew Bible has been ubiquitous in Jewish life and thought: Jews read it, interpret it, and debate it. They translate the Bible even as they deem those translations inadequate, and they cite the Bible as the basis for observances that are not even mentioned in it. Jews quote the Bible as authority for their tradition’s preservation and innovation, as both the word of God and the language of humans, and as justification for both pro- and anti-rabbinic movements. Fascinating and comprehensive, Judaism and Its Bible describes the extraordinary two-and-a-half-millennia journey of a people and its book that has changed the world.

Read more less

The Selected Prose and Poetry of Danny Siegel This first anthology of the most important writings by Danny Siegel, spanning and renewing fifty years of his insights intersperses soulful Jewish texts with innovative Mitzvah ideas to rouse individuals and communities to transform our lives, communities, neighborhoods, and world. As a renowned teacher Siegel describes the creative—often startling—ways individuals from different walks of life have brought compassion into the world, recognizes them as Mitzvah heroes, and suggests how we can apply their life lessons. He also plumbs how giving enriches living and presents Jewishly informed best principles for doing more world repair (Tikkun Olam). As a scholar of rabbinic literature Siegel offers translations and commentaries on Jewish texts illuminating Tzedakah, values, caring, and leadership. In addition he tops off a half-century of his thought with five new essays reflecting on his visions for a better world. The selected poetry asks religious and theological questions in the face of oppression and war, gives voice to personal moments often neglected by ritual, and exults at the wonders of modern Israel and the revelation of love. Both inspirational and pragmatic, this anthology offers practical guidance on using Siegel’s classic and novel works in personal living and in Jewish organizational settings. Ultimately, in exploring the dynamic interaction between heroes, texts, and ourselves, Siegel seeks to engage each of us in discovering our own radiant potential for creative Mitzvah living.

Read more less

Based on recently discovered documents, The Jews Should Keep Quiet reassesses the hows and whys behind the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration’s fateful policies during the Holocaust. Rafael Medoff delves into difficult truths: With FDR’s consent, the administration deliberately suppressed European immigration far below the limits set by U.S. law. His administration also refused to admit Jewish refugees to the U.S. Virgin Islands, dismissed proposals to use empty Liberty ships returning from Europe to carry refugees, and rejected pleas to drop bombs on the railways leading to Auschwitz, even while American planes were bombing targets only a few miles away—actions that would not have conflicted with the larger goal of winning the war. What motivated FDR? Medoff explores the sensitive question of the president’s private sentiments toward Jews. Unmasking strong parallels between Roosevelt’s statements regarding Jews and Asians, he connects the administration’s policies of excluding Jewish refugees and interning Japanese Americans. The Jews Should Keep Quiet further reveals how FDR’s personal relationship with Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, American Jewry’s foremost leader in the 1930s and 1940s, swayed the U.S. response to the Holocaust. Documenting how Roosevelt and others pressured Wise to stifle American Jewish criticism of FDR’s policies, Medoff chronicles how and why the American Jewish community largely fell in line with Wise. Ultimately Medoff weighs the administration’s realistic options for rescue action, which, if taken, would have saved many lives.

Read more less

In this first one-volume English-language full biography of Abraham Joshua Heschel, Edward K. Kaplan tells the engrossing, behind-the-scenes story of the life, philosophy, struggles, yearnings, writings, and activism of one of the twentieth century’s most outstanding Jewish thinkers. Kaplan takes readers on a soulful journey through the rollercoaster challenges and successes of Heschel’s emotional life. As a child he was enveloped in a Hasidic community of Warsaw, then he went on to explore secular Jewish Vilna and cosmopolitan Berlin. He improvised solutions to procure his doctorate in Nazi-dominated Berlin, escaped the Nazis, and secured a rare visa to the United States. He articulated strikingly original interpretations of Jewish ideas. His relationships spanned not only the Jewish denominational spectrum but also Catholic and Protestant faith communities. A militant voice for nonviolent social action, he marched with Martin Luther King Jr. (who became a close friend), expressed strong opposition to the Vietnam War (while the FBI compiled a file on him), and helped reverse long-standing antisemitic Catholic Church doctrine on Jews (participating in a secret meeting with Pope Paul VI during Vatican II). From such prodigiously documented stories Heschel himself emerges—mind, heart, and soul. Kaplan elucidates how Heschel remained forever torn between faith and anguish; between love of God and abhorrence of human apathy, moral weakness, and deliberate evil; between the compassion of the Baal Shem Tov of Medzibozh and the Kotzker rebbe’s cruel demands for truth. “My heart,” Heschel acknowledged, is “in Medzibozh, my mind in Kotzk.”

Read more less

The JPS B’nai Mitzvah Torah Commentary shows 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. Jewish learning—for young people and adults—will never be the same. The complete set of weekly portions is available in Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin’s book The JPS B’nai Mitzvah Torah Commentary (JPS, 2017).

Read more less

Pekudei (Exodus 38:21-40:38) and Haftarah (1 Kings 7:40-50): The JPS B’nai Mitzvah Torah Commentary shows 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. Jewish learning—for young people and adults—will never be the same. The complete set of weekly portions is available in Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin’s book The JPS B’nai Mitzvah Torah Commentary (JPS, 2017).

Read more less

Tetsavveh (Exodus 27:20-30:10) and Haftarah (Ezekiel 43:10-27): The JPS B’nai Mitzvah Torah Commentary shows 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. Jewish learning—for young people and adults—will never be the same. The complete set of weekly portions is available in Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin’s book The JPS B’nai Mitzvah Torah Commentary (JPS, 2017).

Read more less

Va-yakhel (Exodus 35:1-38:20) and Haftarah (1 Kings 7:40-50): The JPS B’nai Mitzvah Torah Commentary shows 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. Jewish learning—for young people and adults—will never be the same. The complete set of weekly portions is available in Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin’s book The JPS B’nai Mitzvah Torah Commentary (JPS, 2017).

Read more less

Va-yehi (Genesis 47:28-50:26) and Haftarah (1 Kings 2:1-12): The JPS B’nai Mitzvah Torah Commentary shows 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. Jewish learning—for young people and adults—will never be the same. The complete set of weekly portions is available in Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin’s book The JPS B’nai Mitzvah Torah Commentary (JPS, 2017).

Read more less

Va-yetse' (Genesis 28:10-32:3) and Haftarah (Hosea 12:13-14:10): The JPS B’nai Mitzvah Torah Commentary shows 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. Jewish learning—for young people and adults—will never be the same. The complete set of weekly portions is available in Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin’s book The JPS B’nai Mitzvah Torah Commentary (JPS, 2017).

Read more less

Hayyei Sarah (Genesis 23:1-25:18) and Haftarah (1 Kings 1:1-31): The JPS B’nai Mitzvah Torah Commentary shows 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. Jewish learning—for young people and adults—will never be the same. The complete set of weekly portions is available in Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin’s book The JPS B’nai Mitzvah Torah Commentary (JPS, 2017).

Read more less

Va-yera' (Genesis 18:1-22:24) and Haftarah (2 Kings 4:1-37): The JPS B’nai Mitzvah Torah Commentary shows 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. Jewish learning—for young people and adults—will never be the same. The complete set of weekly portions is available in Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin’s book The JPS B’nai Mitzvah Torah Commentary (JPS, 2017).

Read more less

The JPS Jewish Heritage Torah Commentary shows Jews of all ages and backgrounds that the Jewish people’s most significant book is not dusty and irrelevant but an eternally sacred text wholly pertinent to our modern lives. Designed to keep the attention of all readers, each lively essay is both brief enough to be read in minutes and deep and substantive enough to deliver abundant food for thought. Its cornerstone is its unique four-part meditation on the Jewish heritage. After briefly summarizing a Torah portion, the commentary orbits that portion through four central pillars of Jewish life—the Torah (Torat Yisrael), the land of Israel (Eretz Yisrael), the Jewish people (Am Yisrael), and Jewish thought (Mahshevet Yisrael)—illuminating how the four intersect and enrich one another. Furthering the Jewish thought motif, every essay ends with two questions for thought well suited for discussion settings. Each commentary can be used as the launchpad for a lesson, a sermon, a d’var Torah, or a discussion. Readers from beginners to experts will come away with new understandings of our Jewish heritage—and be inspired to draw closer to its four dimensions.

Read more less

An unprecedented annotated anthology of the most important Jewish mystical works, A Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism Reader is designed to facilitate teaching these works to all levels of learners in adult education and college classroom settings. Daniel M. Horwitz’s insightful introductions and commentary accompany readings in the Talmud and Zohar and writings by Ba'al Shem Tov, Rav Kook, Abraham Joshua Heschel, and others. Horwitz’s introduction describes five major types of Jewish mysticism and includes a brief chronology of their development, with a timeline. He begins with biblical prophecy and proceeds through the early mystical movements up through current beliefs. Chapters on key subjects characterize mystical expression through the ages, such as Creation and deveikut (“cleaving to God”); the role of Torah; the erotic; inclinations toward good and evil; magic; prayer and ritual; and more. Later chapters deal with Hasidism, the great mystical revival, and twentieth-century mystics, including Abraham Isaac Kook, Kalonymous Kalman Shapira, and Abraham Joshua Heschel. A final chapter addresses today’s controversies concerning mysticism’s place within Judaism and its potential for enriching the Jewish religion.

Read more less

This fiftieth anniversary edition of W. Gunther Plaut’s classic second volume on the history of the Jewish Reform Movement is a sourcebook of the original writings that shaped the second century of organized liberal Judaism. The Growth of Reform Judaism features a new introduction, a new epilogue, and important additional primary sources documenting the profound changes of the last fifty years.Although the emphasis in this volume is chiefly on the American scene, where the movement had its most notable advances, selections of representative liberal Jewish thought in Europe and to a lesser degree in Israel are included as well. These selections help us to understand the emergence and character, problems and tensions of Reform Judaism as it developed and grew in modern times. In addition to the primary texts new to this edition, David Ellenson’s epilogue considers the developments of the last fifty years that have continued to shape the course of Reform Judaism.

Read more less

The great Jewish ethical tradition through a contemporary lensIn this new edition of the well-known Jewish classic, Berkson helps us see that Pirke Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) is more than just a fundamental religious text; it is also a compelling, contemporary ethical guide.Berkson looks at the individual sayings, or mishnayot, through the interpretations of the great Jewish commentators and also within the broader context of Western thought—through views found in the Bible, the ancient Greeks, the Enlightenment, Buddhism, Confucianism, and American culture today.The book’s most important and innovative feature is its exploration of the relationship between the beliefs of the ancient Sages and modern psychology, particularly the key to good relationships: ethical conduct. The result is a book that goes far beyond the plain meaning of the sayings to explore their ethical, psychological, and religious significance for us today.Included are an extensive index and the full text of Pirke Avot in English and Hebrew on facing pages.

Read more less

A fascinating memoir of one of Judaism’s earliest female writers, translated from the original YiddishGlückel of Hameln was a marvel of her time: an accomplished businesswoman as well as the mother of twelve. Devastated by the death of her beloved husband in 1689, she proceeded to write the riveting memoir that would become a timeless classic, revealing much about Jewish life in seventeenth-century Germany.This volume also features an introduction by translator Beth-Zion Abrahams that provides a fuller background of the author's life and tells how Glückel came to write the memoir that would provide insight for centuries to come into Jewish, European, and women’s history.Glückel (1646–1724) was born to a prominent family in Hamburg, Germany. At the age of fourteen, she was married to a wealthy gems dealer in an arranged marriage and became his business and financial adviser while bearing and raising their twelve children. She continued to manage his enterprises even after his death in 1689, until her second husband, a successful banker, lost all their money, and her life ended in near poverty.

Read more less

There is a poetic quality to the writing, and the ideas are original, provocative, and enriching.—Library JournalCircling the Jewish calendar from Rosh Hashanah to Tisha B’Av, this lively, accessible guide provides rituals, recipes, songs, prayers, and suggestions for new approaches to holiday observance. Rabbi Arthur O. Waskow explores the meaning of each holiday in relation to the history of the Jewish people and individual spirituality, examines how the place of each holiday in the cycle of the moon and the changing seasons affects the mood of the day, and suggests ritual and spiritual ways to prepare for each festival.In his extensive afterword to this new edition of Seasons of Our Joy, Rabbi Waskow addresses the many changes Judaism has undergone in the last thirty years, as feminist Judaism, neo-Chassidic mysticism, eco-Judaism, and Jewish meditation have newly colored our understanding of the festivals.

Read more less

In this vivid collection, Judaic scholar Vanessa Ochs brings the legends of the biblical matriarchs to new life. Intimate, familiar and wise, the heroines in Sarah Laughed are revealed to be inspiring role models for women today. From Eve's rebellious taste of wisdom to the righteous anager of Job's wife, each woman's story is retold in imaginative prose and accompanied by real-life rituals that can help us gain insight into various aspects of our everyday lives.

Read more less

In his 1976 Maimonides: Torah and Philosophical Quest, David Hartman departs from traditional scholarly views about Maimonides by offering a new way of understanding the great man and his work. This expanded edition contains Hartman’s new postscript. A 12th-century rabbi, scholar, physician, and philosopher, Moses Maimonides is best known for his two great works on Judaism: Mishneh Torah and Guide to the Perplexed. They have often been viewed by scholars as having different audiences and different messages, together reflecting the two sides of the author himself: Maimonides the halakhist, who focused on piety through obedience to Jewish law; and Maimonides the philosopher, who advocated closeness with God through reflection and knowledge of nature. Hartman argues that while many scholars look at one aspect of Maimonides to the exclusion or dismissal of the other, the way to really understand him is to see both adherence to the law and philosophical pursuits as two essential aspects of Judaism. Hartman’s 2009 postscript sheds new light on his argument and indeed on Judaism as Maimonides interpreted it. In it Hartman explains that while Maimonides never envisioned the integration of halakhah with philosophy, he did view them as existing in a symbiotic relationship. While the focus of the Mishneh Torah was halakha and obedience to Jewish law, Guide to the Perplexed spoke to individuals whose love of God grew through their passion, devotion and yearning to understand God’s wisdom and power in nature. Both modes of spiritual orientation lived in the thought of Maimonides.

Read more less

How do we expand health care coverage to more Americans? Are hate crimes legislation and affirmative action fair? What sacrifices must we make to protect the environment? Is the death penalty morally acceptable? Contributors include Jill Jacobs, of Jewish Funds for Justice; Arthur Waskow, director of The Shalom Center; and TV commentator and UCLA law professor Laurie Levenson. Each volume in this series presents hypothetical cases on specific topics, followed by traditional and contemporary sources. Supplementing these are brief essays, written by contributors of various ages, backgrounds, and viewpoints to provoke lively thought and discussion. These voices from Jewish tradition and today’s Jewish community present us with new questions and perspectives, encouraging us to consider our own moral choices in a new light.

Read more less

In the newest addition to the Jewish Choices, Jewish Voices series, co-editors Elliot Dorff and Danya Ruttenberg have brought together a diverse group of Jews to comment on how Judaism affects their views and actions regarding sex. Contributors range from adult movie actor Ron Jeremy, to renowned feminist scholar Martha Ackelsberg, to noted writer and blogger Esther Kustanowitz, as well as rabbis, doctors, social workers, and activists. They discuss issues of monogamy, honesty, and communication in dating and marriage; testing for and disclosure of STDs; abortion, sex education, sex work, and sexuality. Each volume in this series presents hypothetical cases on specific topics, followed by traditional and contemporary sources. Supplementing these are brief essays, written by contributors of various ages, backgrounds, and viewpoints to provoke lively thought and discussion. These voices from Jewish tradition and today’s Jewish community present us with new questions and perspectives, encouraging us to consider our own moral choices in a new light.

Read more less

Masterpieces of Hebrew Literature is a true masterpiece of its own—one of the few collections in which readers can find important works of Jewish tradition and culture by such authors as Rashi, Maimonides, Judah Halevi, and Joseph Caro, all in one place. Curt Leviant includes literature that spans many genres, from fiction and poetry to legal, ethical, and midrashic works; from responsa and Biblical commentary to histories and letters. His brief introductions place the works and their authors in historical perspective.

Read more less

An Israeli and a Palestinian girl struggle to maintain their friendship in the face of conflict; Noa, an Israeli Jew, and Maha, a Palestinian Muslim, are two very different teenage girls—who may not be so different after all. They’ve become good friends, but after a tragic incident that changes Noa and her family forever, Noa’s beliefs about Palestinian and Israeli relations are put to the test. Shocking secrets are revealed that affect both Noa’s and Maha’s lives and test their blossoming relationship. Checkpoints brings to life the realities teenagers in the Middle East face today, as politics and prejudice threaten to tear lives and relationships apart. At the same time, it serves as a testament to the power of love and friendship in an often chaotic world.

Read more less

This JPS ethics series deals with some of the most critical moral issues of our time. How do we use power once we’ve gained it? Is it completely for our individual benefit, or do we use it to help our neighborhoods, or society at-large? What kinds of decisions must CEOs and business owners make regarding suppliers and customers? How should bosses treat workers? Teachers treat students? Parents treat children? Government treats citizens? Power dynamics affect people on a political level, a social level, and a deeply personal level as well. The newest volume in the Jewish Choices, Jewish Voices series examines these dynamics and includes essays by such fine contributors as U.S. Representative Henry Waxman, NBC Universal Television-West Coast President Marc Graboff, and author and scholar James Diamond.

Read more less