Author: Ruth R. Wisse
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 0743229614
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 244
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Book Description
For over a century, Jews have been identified with liberalism. Not only have they been a driving force behind the spread of liberal politics; they have also been steadfastly loyal to a doctrine that promised them both safety and political acceptance. Recent evidence suggests that their commitment has not waned. But while Jews continue to stand up for other groups and "vote their conscience", contends Ruth Wisse, the liberal commitment to the Jews is not nearly so strong. Whenever Jews have been attacked - from the trial of Captain Dreyfus to the sustained military and political war against Israel - liberals have been slow to defend Jewish rights and have preferred instead to hold the Jews responsible for the persistence of their enemies. The explanation for this liberal default, Wisse argues, is the survival and success of anti-Semitism. This irrational idea continues to flourish throughout the world, despite the destruction of the fascist and communist regimes that were its deadliest twentieth-century allies. Wisse points out that anti-Semitism's astonishing resilience has put liberals - including liberal Jews - in an impossible position. The only reasonable response to such a doctrine, Wisse insists, is not appeasement or avoidance, but steadfast confrontation and rejection. Yet such opposition is alien to liberal ideas of open-mindedness and strikes many as intolerant. Unwilling to suspend their optimistic view of man as a benevolent and rational being in order to combat a mortal enemy, most liberals - including many Jews - conclude that Jews themselves must be responsible for the continuing wars against them - thus implicitly condoning their sacrifice. Wisse's book, inspired by afriend's emigration to Israel, traces the Jewish romance with liberalism from its discovery by Jewish integrationists and Zionists to the acceptance today by many Jews of a moral equivalence between Zionism and the war against it. She also explores, among the many contradictions of modern Jewish politics, the ambiguous question of Jewish "chosenness", and the Jewish longing for acceptance in a larger human family; the successful Arab war of ideas against Israel; and the dilemma of Jewish writers and intellectuals who wish to transcend their parochializing siege. Above all, she shows how and why anti-Semitism became the twentieth century's most successful ideology and reveals what people in liberal democracies would have to do to prevent it from once again achieving its goal.
Author: Mike Marqusee
Publisher: Verso Books
ISBN: 1781683654
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 216
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Book Description
If I Am Not For Myself is a passionate, thought-provoking exploration of what it means to be Jewish in the twenty-first century. It traces the author's upbringing in 1960s Jewish-American suburbia, his anti-war and pro-Palestinian activism on the British left, and life as a Jew among Muslims in Pakistan, Morocco, and Britain. Interwoven with this are the experiences of his grandfather's life in Jewish New York of the 1930s and 40s, his struggles with anti-Semitism and the twists and turns that led him from anti-fascism to militant Zionism. In the course of this deeply personal story, Marqusee refutes the claims of Israel and Zionism on Jewish loyalty and laments their impact on the Jewish diaspora. Rather, he argues for a richer, more multi-dimensional understanding of Jewish history and identity, and reclaims vital political and personal space for those castigated as "self-haters" by the Jewish establishment.
Author: Yitzhak Buxbaum
Publisher: Jason Aronson, Incorporated
ISBN: 0742565874
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 390
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Book Description
The Life and Teachings of Hillel provides the most comprehensive treatment ever published of one of the greatest figures in Jewish tradition. Yitzhak Buxbaum weaves together the various stories about Hillel along with his teachings and sayings to develop this ground-breaking portrait, shedding new light on Hillel's illustrious career, fascinating life, and profound teachings. Hillel is one of the most important and popular of the talmudic sages, yet he is mostly known only in the context of two or three popular stories told about him. Such stories as teaching the 'Golden Rule' of Torah 'while standing on one foot,' and his saying, 'If I am not for myself, who will be for me, and if I am for myself alone, who am I,' have eclipsed a more complete view of Hillel's influence and significance. In the rabbinic tradition, there is much debate between the teachings of the school of Hillel and that of his contemporary, Shammai. Hillel is often seen as the more tolerant, softer teacher, with his teachings representing what we consider 'normative' Judaism. Often, the traditions passed down to modern times are a result of the rabbis' reconciliation of the two schools, so that Hillel's pure teachings have been lost. The Life and Teachings of Hillel separates out Hillel's teachings and looks at them independently of Shammai's. Studied on their own, it becomes evident that Hillel was actually much more radical and 'hasidic' than is commonly thought. While he is known for representing the gentler, more loving side of Judaism, in this work his pious radicalism is also apparent. Readers will be charmed and fascinated by Hillel's fiery gentleness. The Life and Teachings of Hillel offers new information about a radiant religious figure, and it also recovers a side of Jewish tradition that has been lost to most people.
Author: Joseph Telushkin
Publisher: Schocken
ISBN: 0805242899
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 274
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Book Description
Part of the Jewish Encounter series “What is hateful unto you, do not do unto your neighbor. That is the whole Torah, all the rest is commentary. Now, go and study.” This is the most famous teaching of Hillel, one of the greatest rabbis of the Talmudic era. What makes it so extraordinary is that it was offered to a gentile seeking conversion. Joseph Telushkin feels that this Talmudic story has great relevance for us today. At a time when religiosity is equated with ritual observance alone, when few Jews seem concerned with bringing Jewish teachings into the world, and when more than 40 percent of Jews intermarry, Judaism is in need of more of the openness that Hillel possessed two thousand years ago. Hillel’s teachings, stories, and legal rulings can be found throughout the Talmud; many of them share his emphasis on ethical and moral living as an essential element in Jewish religious practice, including his citing the concept of tikkun olam (repairing the world) as a basis for modifying Jewish law. Perhaps the most prominent rabbi and teacher in the Land of Israel during the reign of Herod, Hillel may well have influenced Jesus, his junior by several decades. In a provocative analysis of both Judaism and Christianity, Telushkin reveals why Hillel’s teachings about ethics as God’s central demand and his willingness to encourage the process of conversion began to be ignored in favor of the stricter and less inclusive teachings of his rabbinic adversary, Shammai. Here is a bold new look at an iconic religious leader.
Author: Joyce Antler
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 1479802549
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 462
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Book Description
Finalist, 2019 PROSE Award in Biography, given by the Association of American Publishers Fifty years after the start of the women’s liberation movement, a book that at last illuminates the profound impact Jewishness and second-wave feminism had on each other Jewish women were undeniably instrumental in shaping the women’s liberation movement of the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. Yet historians and participants themselves have overlooked their contributions as Jews. This has left many vital questions unasked and unanswered—until now. Delving into archival sources and conducting extensive interviews with these fierce pioneers, Joyce Antler has at last broken the silence about the confluence of feminism and Jewish identity. Antler’s exhilarating new book features dozens of compelling biographical narratives that reveal the struggles and achievements of Jewish radical feminists in Chicago, New York and Boston, as well as those who participated in the later, self-consciously identified Jewish feminist movement that fought gender inequities in Jewish religious and secular life. Disproportionately represented in the movement, Jewish women’s liberationists helped to provide theories and models for radical action that were used throughout the United States and abroad. Their articles and books became classics of the movement and led to new initiatives in academia, politics, and grassroots organizing. Other Jewish-identified feminists brought the women’s movement to the Jewish mainstream and Jewish feminism to the Left. For many of these women, feminism in fact served as a “portal” into Judaism. Recovering this deeply hidden history, Jewish Radical Feminism places Jewish women’s activism at the center of feminist and Jewish narratives. The stories of over forty women’s liberationists and identified Jewish feminists—from Shulamith Firestone and Susan Brownmiller to Rabbis Laura Geller and Rebecca Alpert—illustrate how women’s liberation and Jewish feminism unfolded over the course of the lives of an extraordinary cohort of women, profoundly influencing the social, political, and religious revolutions of our era.
Author: Loren L. Johns
Publisher: Augsburg Fortress Publishing
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 536
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Book Description
An international group of scholars who met in Jerusalem in 1992 examined and compared the traditions that describe the historical figures Hillel (a prominent first century B.C.E. Rabbinic teacher) and Jesus (early first century C.E.). The fascinating results of the study are compiled in this magnificent work of interest to clergy, professors, students, libraries and general readers alike.
Author: Jack H Bloom
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136431365
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 485
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Book Description
A collection of caregiving tools combining the values of Jewish tradition and self-relations—useful 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 Other’s 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 “selves”—relationship is the basic psychological and religious unit! Jewish Relational Care A-Z: We Are Our Other’s 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 author’s 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 Other’s 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 power—a 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 don’t 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 Other’s Keeper is practical, insightful reading for clergy and caregivers of all denominations, educators, students, and lay people who care about clergy and their work.
Author: Seymour Rossel
Publisher: Behrman House, Inc
ISBN: 9780874410891
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 264
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Book Description
An examination of Jewish tradition and values, using as a basis Pirke Avot, the teachings of rabbis who lived from 300 B.C.E. to 200 C.E.
Author: Paul Goodman
Publisher: David R. Godine Publisher
ISBN: 9780876853566
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 340
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Book Description
In these stories and sketches, written when he was establishing himself as a young man of letters in Greenwich Village, plot, character, and setting are secondary to the narrator's criticism of American life and insights into personal psychology--this is fiction as the record of an inward search toward hard-won self-understanding.
Author: Yitzhak Buxbaum
Publisher: Jason Aronson
ISBN: 1568210493
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 390
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Book Description
The Life and Teachings of Hillel provides the most comprehensive treatment ever published of one of the greatest figures in Jewish tradition. Yitzhak Buxbaum weaves together the various stories about Hillel along with his teachings and sayings to develop this ground-breaking portrait, shedding new light on Hillel's illustrious career, fascinating life, and profound teachings. Hillel is one of the most important and popular of the talmudic sages, yet he is mostly known only in the context of two or three popular stories told about him. Such stories as teaching the "Golden Rule" of Torah "while standing on one foot", and his saying, "If I am not for myself, who will be for me, and if I am for myself alone, who am I", have eclipsed a more complete view of Hillel's influence and significance. In the rabbinic tradition, there is much debate between the teachings of the school of Hillel and that of his contemporary, Shammai. Hillel is often seen as the more tolerant, softer teacher, with his teachings representing what we consider "normative" Judaism. Often, the traditions passed down to modern times are a result of the rabbis' reconciliation of the two schools, so that Hillel's pure teachings have been lost. The Life and Teachings of Hillel separates out Hillel's teachings and looks at them independently of Shammai's. Studied on their own, it becomes evident that Hillel was actually much more radical and "hasidic" than is commonly thought. While he is known for representing the gentler, more loving side of Judaism, in this work his pious radicalism is also apparent. Readers will be charmed and fascinated by Hillel's fiery gentleness. Although The Life and Teachings of Hillel is not abiography, it creates a spiritual profile of the great sage. It offers new information about a radiant religious figure, and it also recovers a side of Jewish tradition that has been lost to most people.
