Portrait of a Reform Rabbi

Portrait of a Reform Rabbi PDF Author: Rabbi Lance J Sussman, PH D
Publisher: Xlibris Us
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
I am a Jew because I believe that Judaism understands that between mercy and justice there is a path of righteousness. I am a Jew because I believe the "saving of a life" is an urgent mitzvah. I am a Jew because I believe Judaism believes that education is an urgent mitzvah. I am a Jew because Judaism rejects the belief that it is superior to other traditions and makes its claim on me only because it is already mine. I am a Jew because in Judaism all of God's children are equally God's children and every life is sacred. I am a Jew because Judaism believes that existence is not an accident and has meaning. I am a Jew because Judaism recognizes holiness in everything beautiful, kind, and just in this world. I am a Jew because Judaism is my spiritual home, and from my home, I can share in the beauty and delights of all creation. I am a Jew because Judaism believes in personal responsibility, forgiveness, and hope. I am a Jew because Judaism values my humanity above my ethnicity and enables me to become a better person by becoming a better Jew. I am a Jew because Judaism recognizes that the world is not complete and that all of us have deep responsibilities in completing it and thereby complete ourselves as human beings and as Jews. - Rabbi Lance J. Sussman, Ph.D.

Portrait of a Reform Rabbi

Portrait of a Reform Rabbi PDF Author: Rabbi Lance J Sussman, PH D
Publisher: Xlibris Us
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
I am a Jew because I believe that Judaism understands that between mercy and justice there is a path of righteousness. I am a Jew because I believe the "saving of a life" is an urgent mitzvah. I am a Jew because I believe Judaism believes that education is an urgent mitzvah. I am a Jew because Judaism rejects the belief that it is superior to other traditions and makes its claim on me only because it is already mine. I am a Jew because in Judaism all of God's children are equally God's children and every life is sacred. I am a Jew because Judaism believes that existence is not an accident and has meaning. I am a Jew because Judaism recognizes holiness in everything beautiful, kind, and just in this world. I am a Jew because Judaism is my spiritual home, and from my home, I can share in the beauty and delights of all creation. I am a Jew because Judaism believes in personal responsibility, forgiveness, and hope. I am a Jew because Judaism values my humanity above my ethnicity and enables me to become a better person by becoming a better Jew. I am a Jew because Judaism recognizes that the world is not complete and that all of us have deep responsibilities in completing it and thereby complete ourselves as human beings and as Jews. - Rabbi Lance J. Sussman, Ph.D.

PORTRAIT OF A REFORM RABBI: CONTINUITY AND CHANGE

PORTRAIT OF A REFORM RABBI: CONTINUITY AND CHANGE PDF Author: Rabbi Lance J. Sussman Ph.D.
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 315

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Book Description
I am a Jew because I believe that Judaism understands that between mercy and justice there is a path of righteousness. I am a Jew because I believe the “saving of a life” is an urgent mitzvah. I am a Jew because I believe Judaism believes that education is an urgent mitzvah. I am a Jew because Judaism rejects the belief that it is superior to other traditions and makes its claim on me only because it is already mine. I am a Jew because in Judaism all of God’s children are equally God’s children and every life is sacred. I am a Jew because Judaism believes that existence is not an accident and has meaning. I am a Jew because Judaism recognizes holiness in everything beautiful, kind, and just in this world. I am a Jew because Judaism is my spiritual home, and from my home, I can share in the beauty and delights of all creation. I am a Jew because Judaism believes in personal responsibility, forgiveness, and hope. I am a Jew because Judaism values my humanity above my ethnicity and enables me to become a better person by becoming a better Jew. I am a Jew because Judaism recognizes that the world is not complete and that all of us have deep responsibilities in completing it and thereby complete ourselves as human beings and as Jews. — Rabbi Lance J. Sussman, Ph.D.

Portrait of American Jews

Portrait of American Jews PDF Author: Samuel C. Heilman
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN: 0295800658
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 210

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Book Description
Has America been a place that has preserved and protected Jewish life? Is it a place in which a Jewish future is ensured? Samuel Heilman, long-time observer of American Jewish life, grapples with these questions from a sociologist’s perspective. He argues that the same conditions that have allowed Jews to live in relative security since the 1950s have also presented them with a greater challenge than did the adversity and upheaval of earlier years. The second half of the twentieth century has been a time when American Jews have experienced a minimum of prejudice and almost all domains of life have been accessible to them, but it has also been a time of assimilation, of swelling rates of intermarriage, and of large numbers ignoring their Jewishness completely. Jews have no trouble building synagogues, but they have all sorts of trouble filling them. The quality of Jewish education is perhaps higher than ever before, and the output of Jewish scholarship is overwhelming in its scope and quality, but most American Jews receive a minimum of religious education and can neither read nor comprehend the great corpus of Jewish literature in its Hebrew (or Aramaic) original. This is a time in America when there is no shame in being a Jew, and yet fewer American Jews seem to know what being a Jew means. How did this come to be? What does it portend for the Jewish future? This book endeavors to answer these questions by examining data gleaned from numerous sociological surveys. Heilman first discusses the decade of the fifties and the American Jewish quest for normalcy and mobility. He then details the polarization of American Jewry into active and passive elements in the sixties and seventies. Finally he looks at the eighties and nineties and the issues of Jewish survival and identity and the question of a Jewish future in America. He also considers generational variation, residential and marital patterns, institutional development (especially with regard to Jewish education), and Jewish political power and influence. This book is part of a stocktaking that has been occurring among Jews as the century in which their residence in America was firmly established comes to an end. Grounded in empirical detail, it provides a concise yet analytic evaluation of the meaning of the many studies and surveys of the last four and a half decades. Taking a long view of American Jewry, it is one of very few books that build on specific sociological data but get beyond its detail. All those who want to know what it means and has meant to be an American Jew will find this volume of interest.

The Rabbi’s Wife

The Rabbi’s Wife PDF Author: Shuly Rubin Schwartz
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 0814786901
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 327

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Book Description
2006 National Jewish Book Award, Modern Jewish Thought Long the object of curiosity, admiration, and gossip, rabbis' wives have rarely been viewed seriously as American Jewish religious and communal leaders. We know a great deal about the important role played by rabbis in building American Jewish life in this country, but not much about the role that their wives played. The Rabbi’s Wife redresses that imbalance by highlighting the unique contributions of rebbetzins to the development of American Jewry. Tracing the careers of rebbetzins from the beginning of the twentieth century until the present, Shuly Rubin Schwartz chronicles the evolution of the role from a few individual rabbis' wives who emerged as leaders to a cohort who worked together on behalf of American Judaism. The Rabbi’s Wife reveals the ways these women succeeded in both building crucial leadership roles for themselves and becoming an important force in shaping Jewish life in America.

The American Rabbinate

The American Rabbinate PDF Author: Jacob Rader Marcus
Publisher: KTAV Publishing House, Inc.
ISBN: 9780881250763
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description


Jewish Survival

Jewish Survival PDF Author: Ernest Krausz
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000951251
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 164

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Book Description
These essays address Jewish identity, Jewish survival, and Jewish continuity. The authors account for and analyze trends in Jewish identification and the reciprocal effects of the relationship between the Diaspora and Israel at the end of the twentieth century.Jewish identification in contemporary society is a complex phenomenon. Since the emancipation of Jews in Europe and the major historic events of the Holocaust and the establishment of the State of Israel, there have been substantial changes in the collective Jewish identity. As a result, Jewish identity and the Jewish process of identification had to confront the new realities of an open society, its economic globalization, and the impacts of cultural pluralism. The trends in Jewish identification are toward fewer and weaker points of attachment: fewer Jews who hold religious beliefs with such beliefs held less strongly; less religious ritual observance; attachment to Zionism and Israel becoming diluted; and ethnic communal bonds weakening. Jews are also more involved in the wider society in the Diaspora due to fewer barriers and less overt anti-Semitism. This opens up possibilities for cultural integration and assimilation. In Israel, too, there are signs of greater interest in the modern world culture. The major questions addressed by this volume is whether Jewish civilization will continue to provide the basic social framework and values that will lead Jews into the twenty-first century and ensure their survival as a specific social entity.The book contains special contributions by Professor Julius Gould and Professor Irving Louis Horowitz and chapters on "Sociological Analysis of Jewish Identity"; "Jewish Community Boundaries"; and "Factual Accounts from the Diaspora and Israel."

Chronicle of Jewish History

Chronicle of Jewish History PDF Author: Sol Scharfstein
Publisher: KTAV Publishing House, Inc.
ISBN: 9780881256062
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description
Offers a look at the major events and historical figures in Jewish history, from the first Hebrews and the Exodus to the world Jewry of today.

Portrait of a Rabbi

Portrait of a Rabbi PDF Author: Samuel M. Silver
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Rabbis
Languages : en
Pages : 150

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Book Description


Ethnicity and Beyond

Ethnicity and Beyond PDF Author: Eli Lederhendler
Publisher: OUP USA
ISBN: 0199793492
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 246

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Book Description
Volume 25 of the annual Studies in Contemporary Jewry examines new understandings of ethnicity when applied to the Jewish people.

Jews, Judaism, and Success

Jews, Judaism, and Success PDF Author: Robert Eisen
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 1487548249
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 381

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Book Description
In Jews, Judaism, and Success, Robert Eisen attempts to solve a long-standing mystery that has fascinated many: How did Jews become such a remarkably successful minority in the modern Western world? Eisen argues that Jews achieved such success because they were unusually well-prepared for it by their religion – in particular, Rabbinic Judaism, or the Judaism of the rabbis. Rooted in the Talmud, this form of Judaism instilled in Jews key values that paved the way for success in modern Western society: autonomy, freedom of thought, worldliness, and education. The book carefully analyses the evolution of these four values over the past two thousand years in order to demonstrate that they had a longer and richer history in Jewish culture than in Western culture. The book thus disputes the common assumption that Rabbinic Judaism was always an obstacle to Jews becoming modernized. It demonstrates that while modern Jews rejected aspects of Rabbinic Judaism, they also retained some of its values, and these values in particular led to Jewish success. Written for a broad range of readers, Jews, Judaism, and Success provides unique insights on the meaning of success and how it is achieved in the modern world.