Open Judaism

Open Judaism PDF Author: Barry L. Schwartz
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 0827615248
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 346

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Book Description
Open Judaism is an invitation to the spiritually seeking Jew; a clarion call for a pluralistic, inclusive Judaism; and a dynamic exploration of the remarkable array of thought within Judaism today.

Open Judaism

Open Judaism PDF Author: Barry L. Schwartz
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 0827615248
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 346

Get Book

Book Description
Open Judaism is an invitation to the spiritually seeking Jew; a clarion call for a pluralistic, inclusive Judaism; and a dynamic exploration of the remarkable array of thought within Judaism today.

Open Judaism

Open Judaism PDF Author: Barry L. Schwartz
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 0827619065
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 247

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Book Description
Open Judaism offers a big-tent welcome to all Jews and Judaism. It is at once an invitation to the spiritually seeking Jew, a clarion call for a deeply pluralistic and inclusive Judaism, and a dynamic exploration of the remarkable array of thought within Judaism today. In honest, engaging language Barry L. Schwartz, a practicing rabbi and writer, presents traditional, secular-humanistic, and liberal Jewish views on nine major topics--God, soul, Torah, halakhah, Jewish identity, inclusion, Israel, ethics, and prayer. Teachings from many of Judaism's greatest thinkers organically reveal and embellish foundational ideas of Orthodox, Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist, Renewal, and Humanistic Judaism. The conclusion sets forth core statements of belief in Judaism for believers, atheists, and agnostics, thereby summarizing the full spectrum of thought and enabling readers to make and act on their own choices.

Hidden Heretics

Hidden Heretics PDF Author: Ayala Fader
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691234485
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
"This book concerns a cohort of ultra-orthodox Jews based in the greater New York area who, while retaining membership and close familial and other ties with their strictly observant communities, seek out secular knowledge about the world on the down low (so to speak), both online and via in-person encounters. Ayala Fader conducted her ethnographic research in these rarified social circles for years, developing relationships of trust with the mostly young married men and women who have taken to clandestine methods to find alternative social spaces in which to question what it means to be ethical and what a life of self-fulfillment looks like. Fader's book reveals the stresses and strains that such "double-lifers" experience, including the difficulty these life choices inject into relationships with wives, husbands, and one's children. Not all of these "double-lifers" become atheists. Fader's interlocutors can be placed on a broad spectrum ranging from religiously observant but open-minded at one end to atheism on the other. The rabbinical leadership of these ultra-orthodox communities are well aware of this phenomenon and of how unfiltered internet access makes such alternative forms of seeking an ever-present temptation. (Some ultra-orthodox rabbis have been sounding the alarm for years, claiming that the internet represents more of a threat to community survival today than the Holocaust did in the last century.) Fader's book examines the institutional responses of ultra-orthodox communities to the double-lifers. These include what is typically referred to as a Torah-based type of "religious therapy" conducted by trained members of these communities who as therapists and "life coaches" blend elements of modern psychiatry with ultra-orthodoxy and "treat" troubling, potentially life-altering doubt and skepticism as symptoms of underlying emotional pathology"--

Opening Your Heart with Psalm 27

Opening Your Heart with Psalm 27 PDF Author: Rabbi Debra J. Robbins
Publisher: CCAR Press
ISBN: 0881233463
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 214

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Book Description
This volume is a compelling invitation to meditate on the deeper meaning of the fourteen verses of Psalm 27. During the month of Elul and the High Holy Day and Festival season, we reflect on our relationships, choices, beliefs, and practices, considering where to make repairs, adjustments, and atonement. Opening Your Heart with Psalm 27 provides gentle guidance through this journey of reflection, offering heartfelt insight, profound translation, and an invaluable framework for meaningfully participating in this annual spiritual practice.

Approaches to Modern Judaism

Approaches to Modern Judaism PDF Author: Marc Lee Raphael
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description


Open Secrets

Open Secrets PDF Author: Rabbi Rami M. Shapiro
Publisher: Monkfish Book Publishing
ISBN: 1939681111
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 128

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Book Description
“. . . a rare jewel, a powerhouse of spiritual wisdom that you can read and reread.”—Joan Borysenko, Ph.D. author of A Woman’s Journey to God and Seven Paths to God “[Open Secrets] invites us into the most intimate of settings, the whispered wisdom passed from an authentic Hasidic master to his student. It radiates warmth, passion for the divine, and earthy confidence in sacredness. A treasure for the spiritual seeker of any tradition.” —Judith Simmer-Brown, Naropa University, author of Dakini’s Warm Breath “Open Secrets is my favorite way to introduce readers to the essence and depth of Judaism.”—Bo Lozoff, author and founder of the Human Kindness Foundation “A master teacher.”—Thomas Keating "A prophetic voice for a 21st-century Judaism”—Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi The fictional East European Hasidic Master Reb Yerachmeil writes to his hasid Herschel who has moved to America, in response to his student’s perennial questions about God, what it means to be Jewish, whether all religions are true, about death, the soul, good deeds, intermarriage and more. The rebbe writes, “My Judaism seeks only the heart of the teaching and the essence of the practice and leaves the details to others.” At the urging of his own rebbe, Shapiro, through these letters, creates a “. . . a Judaism for people who wish to learn from it as they do from Buddhism or Sufism, a Judaism for everyone.” Rabbi Rami M. Shapiro is regarded as one of the most creative voices in contemporary American Judaism. He is an award-winning poet and essayist, and his liturgies are used in prayer services throughout North America. His previous books include Minyan: 10 Principles for Living a Life of Integrity and The Way of Solomon: Finding Joy and Contentment in the Wisdom of Ecclesiastes.

The Banner of Israel

The Banner of Israel PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 658

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Book Description


The Future of Judaism

The Future of Judaism PDF Author: Dan Cohn-Sherbok
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 0567292673
Category : Jews
Languages : en
Pages : 246

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Book Description


How I Stopped Being a Jew

How I Stopped Being a Jew PDF Author: Shlomo Sand
Publisher: Verso Books
ISBN: 1781686149
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 113

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Book Description
Shlomo Sand was born in 1946, in a displaced person’s camp in Austria, to Jewish parents; the family later migrated to Palestine. As a young man, Sand came to question his Jewish identity, even that of a “secular Jew.” With this meditative and thoughtful mixture of essay and personal recollection, he articulates the problems at the center of modern Jewish identity. How I Stopped Being a Jew discusses the negative effects of the Israeli exploitation of the “chosen people” myth and its “holocaust industry.” Sand criticizes the fact that, in the current context, what “Jewish” means is, above all, not being Arab and reflects on the possibility of a secular, non-exclusive Israeli identity, beyond the legends of Zionism.

Judaism's Great Debates

Judaism's Great Debates PDF Author: Barry L. Schwartz
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 0827609329
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 125

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Book Description
Thanks to these generous donors for making the publication of this book possible: David Lerman and Shelley Wallock; D. Walter Cohen, Wendy and Leonard Cooper; Rabbi Howard Gorin; Gittel and Alan Hilibrand; Marjorie and Jeffrey Major; Jeanette Lerman Neubauer and Joe Neubauer; Gayle and David Smith; and Harriet and Donald Young. Ever since Abraham’s famous argument with God, Judaism has been full of debate. Moses and Korah, David and Nathan, Hillel and Shammai, the Vilna Gaon and the Ba’al Shem Tov, Spinoza and the Amsterdam Rabbis . . . the list goes on. Jews debate justice, authority, inclusion, spirituality, resistance, evolution, Zionism, and more. No wonder that Judaism cherishes the expression machloket l’shem shamayim, “an argument for the sake of heaven.” In this concise but important survey, Rabbi Barry L. Schwartz presents the provocative and vibrant thesis that debate and disputation are not only encouraged within Judaism but reside at the very heart of Jewish history and theology. In his graceful, engaging, and creative prose, Schwartz presents an introduction to an intellectual history of Judaism through the art of argumentation. Beyond their historical importance, what makes these disputations so compelling is that nearly all of them, regardless of their epochs, are still being argued. Schwartz builds the case that the basis of Judaism is a series of unresolved rather than resolved arguments. Drawing on primary sources, and with a bit of poetic license, Schwartz reconstructs the real or imagined dialogue of ten great debates and then analyzes their significance and legacy. This parade of characters spanning three millennia of biblical, rabbinic, and modern disputation reflects the panorama of Jewish history with its monumental political, ethical, and spiritual challenges.