Nefesh HaTzimtzum, Volume 2

Nefesh HaTzimtzum, Volume 2 PDF Author: Avinoam Fraenkel
Publisher: Urim Publications
ISBN: 965524363X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 723

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Book Description
Nefesh HaTzimtzum provides the single most comprehensive and accessible presentation of the teachings and worldview of the Vilna Gaon's primary student, Rabbi Chaim Volozhin. It is focused on Rabbi Chaim's magnum opus, Nefesh HaChaim, a work that has lain in almost total obscurity for nearly two centuries due to its deep Kabbalistic subject matter. Nefesh HaTzimtzum opens up the real depth of the ideas presented in Nefesh HaChaim together with all of Rabbi Chaim's related writings, making them accessible to the public for the first time in any language. In addition to the complete English translation of Nefesh HaChaim, Nefesh HaTzimtzum includes the full Hebrew text of Nefesh HaChaim and many other writings by Rabbi Chaim (with correspondingly hyperlinked English and Hebrew texts), along with in-depth explanations, an informative historical overview, an easily consumable innovative presentation layout and a full index. After centuries of confusion, extensive clarification is provided of the central Kabbalistic concept of Tzimtzum, or the secret of how an infinite God occupies a finite world. Most importantly, it unequivocally demonstrates that the key Kabbalists, including the Vilna Gaon, Rabbi Chaim Volozhin and the Baal HaTanya, all unanimously agreed on the underlying principles of the concept of Tzimtzum and that contrary to widespread historical misunderstanding, there was no fundamental dispute about the philosophical principles of Judaism between the Hasidim and the Mitnagdim. Based on this Nefesh HaTzimtzum shows that both Nefesh HaChaim and Sefer HaTanya present the same methodology for serving God which is rooted in their identical understanding of the concept of Tzimtzum. Nefesh HaTzimtzum is published in two volumes which are sold separately. This companion volume presents a number of important concepts, including the concept of Tzimtzum, which together enable the true depth of Nefesh HaChaim to be understood. It also adds valuable insight by providing the translation of all of Rabbi Chaim Volozhin's published writings which are related to Nefesh HaChaim. Additional related writings are also included together with detailed outlines and a full index for both volumes.

Nefesh HaTzimtzum, Volume 2

Nefesh HaTzimtzum, Volume 2 PDF Author: Avinoam Fraenkel
Publisher: Urim Publications
ISBN: 965524363X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 723

Get Book Here

Book Description
Nefesh HaTzimtzum provides the single most comprehensive and accessible presentation of the teachings and worldview of the Vilna Gaon's primary student, Rabbi Chaim Volozhin. It is focused on Rabbi Chaim's magnum opus, Nefesh HaChaim, a work that has lain in almost total obscurity for nearly two centuries due to its deep Kabbalistic subject matter. Nefesh HaTzimtzum opens up the real depth of the ideas presented in Nefesh HaChaim together with all of Rabbi Chaim's related writings, making them accessible to the public for the first time in any language. In addition to the complete English translation of Nefesh HaChaim, Nefesh HaTzimtzum includes the full Hebrew text of Nefesh HaChaim and many other writings by Rabbi Chaim (with correspondingly hyperlinked English and Hebrew texts), along with in-depth explanations, an informative historical overview, an easily consumable innovative presentation layout and a full index. After centuries of confusion, extensive clarification is provided of the central Kabbalistic concept of Tzimtzum, or the secret of how an infinite God occupies a finite world. Most importantly, it unequivocally demonstrates that the key Kabbalists, including the Vilna Gaon, Rabbi Chaim Volozhin and the Baal HaTanya, all unanimously agreed on the underlying principles of the concept of Tzimtzum and that contrary to widespread historical misunderstanding, there was no fundamental dispute about the philosophical principles of Judaism between the Hasidim and the Mitnagdim. Based on this Nefesh HaTzimtzum shows that both Nefesh HaChaim and Sefer HaTanya present the same methodology for serving God which is rooted in their identical understanding of the concept of Tzimtzum. Nefesh HaTzimtzum is published in two volumes which are sold separately. This companion volume presents a number of important concepts, including the concept of Tzimtzum, which together enable the true depth of Nefesh HaChaim to be understood. It also adds valuable insight by providing the translation of all of Rabbi Chaim Volozhin's published writings which are related to Nefesh HaChaim. Additional related writings are also included together with detailed outlines and a full index for both volumes.

Seeing Israeli and Jewish Dance

Seeing Israeli and Jewish Dance PDF Author: Judith Brin Ingber
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
ISBN: 0814333303
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 474

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Book Description
A comprehensive survey of historical and contemporary Jewish dance. In Seeing Israeli and Jewish Dance, choreographer, dancer, and dance scholar Judith Brin Ingber collects wide-ranging essays and many remarkable photographs to explore the evolution of Jewish dance through two thousand years of Diaspora, in communities of amazing variety and amid changing traditions. Ingber and other eminent scholars consider dancers individually and in community, defining Jewish dance broadly to encompass religious ritual, community folk dance, and choreographed performance. Taken together, this wide range of expression illustrates the vitality, necessity, and continuity of dance in Judaism. This volume combines dancers' own views of their art with scholarly examinations of Jewish dance conducted in Europe, Israel, other Middle East areas, Africa, and the Americas. In seven parts, Seeing Israeli and Jewish Dance considers Jewish dance artists of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries; the dance of different Jewish communities, including Hasidic, Yemenite, Kurdish, Ethiopian, and European Jews in many epochs; historical and current Israeli folk dance; and the contrast between Israeli and American modern and post-modern theater dance. Along the way, contributors see dance in ancient texts like the Song of Songs, the Talmud, and Renaissance-era illuminated manuscripts, and plumb oral histories, Holocaust sources, and their own unique views of the subject. A selection of 182 illustrations, including photos, paintings, and film stills, round out this lively volume. Many of the illustrations come from private collections and have never before been published, and they represent such varied sources as a program booklet from the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and archival photos from the Israel Government Press Office. Seeing Israeli and Jewish Dance threads together unique source material and scholarly examinations by authors from Europe, Israel, and America trained in sociology, anthropology, history, cultural studies, Jewish studies, dance studies, as well as art, theater, and dance criticism. Enthusiasts of dance and performance art and a wide range of university students will enjoy this significant volume.

Entry into the Spiritual Degree

Entry into the Spiritual Degree PDF Author: Rav Yehuda Leib Ashlag
Publisher: Laitman Kabbalah Publishers
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 500

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Book Description
Covid-19 required profound changes and quick adaptations from people all over the world. We, too, in Bnei Baruch, quickly responded by adjusting our daily Kabbalah lessons. All over the world, we entered the virtual realm to study together in a single room, and the need for new observations and precise insights led us to choose unique topics for the lessons, to help us focus the spiritual work of each student, and of all of us together as a world group. Every topic is a whole world in itself, with its own nature and a wealth of meaningful perceptions. Every excerpt was selected with care from a wide variety of Kabbalistic texts, with an emphasis on the “two great lights”: Baal HaSulam and RABASH. These excerpts solidify us and strengthen the connections among us students. The excerpts we read helped us grasp the thoughts of the kabbalists and the unique spirit that streams out of their words. This book is a rare collection of excerpts from the writings of the kabbalists that we learned with our teacher, Dr. Michael Laitman. For us, it is a fountain of living water, and reading it arouses a unique spiritual inspiration in us. This collection transcends time and space, and you are invited to join us, quench your thirst with it, and grasp some more of the profound wisdom of Kabbalah.

Sanctified Sex

Sanctified Sex PDF Author: Noam Sachs Zion
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 0827618743
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 584

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Book Description
Sanctified Sex draws on two thousand years of rabbinic debates addressing competing aspirations for loving intimacy, passionate sexual union, and sanctity in marriage. What can Judaism contribute to our struggles to nurture love relationships? What halakhic precedents are relevant, and how are rulings changing? The rabbis, of course, seldom agree. Underlying their arguments are perennial debates: What kind of marital sex qualifies as ideal—sacred self-control of sexual desire or the holiness found in emotional and erotic intimacy? Is intercourse degrading in its physicality or the highest act of spiritual/mystical union? And should women or men (or both) wield ultimate say about what transpires in bed? Noam Sachs Zion guides us chronologically and steadily through fraught terrain: seminal biblical texts and their Talmudic interpretations; Talmud tales of three unusual rabbis and their marital bedrooms; medieval codifiers and mystical commentators; ultra-Orthodox rabbis clashing with one another over radically divergent ideals; and, finally, contemporary rabbis of varied denominations wrestling with modern transformations in erotic lifestyles and values. Invited into these sanctified and often sexually explicit discussions with our ancestors and contemporaries, we encounter innovative Jewish teachings on marital intimacy, ardent lovemaking techniques, and the art of couple communication vital for matrimonial success.

Theological Encounters at a Crossroads

Theological Encounters at a Crossroads PDF Author: Daniel Lasker
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004380310
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 820

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Book Description
Judah Hadassi was the most prominent Karaite Jewish author of twelfth-century Byzantium, steeped in Karaite and Byzantine Greek traditions. In Theological Encounters at a Crossroads: An Edition and Translation of Judah Hadassi’s Eshkol ha-kofer, First Commandment, and Studies of the Book’s Judaeo-Arabic and Byzantine Contexts, a scientific edition of the first quarter of the Hebrew text of Hadassi’s magnum opus is presented with an English translation, a summary of his theology, a discussion of his use of the Greek language, and a linguistic analysis and transcription of all the Greek terms which appear in Hebrew letters in the entire treatise. This book should be of interest to students of Jewish thought, Hebrew literature and medieval Byzantine culture and language.

From Judah Hadassi to Elijah Bashyatchi

From Judah Hadassi to Elijah Bashyatchi PDF Author: Daniel Lasker
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 904744227X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
This study challenges the oft-repeated assertion that Karaite thought remained unchanged throughout the Middle Ages. It discusses major Karaite thinkers and their writings, in addition to the impact of Karaism on Rabbanite Judaism, especially on the thought of Maimonides.

Jewry in Music

Jewry in Music PDF Author: David Conway
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139505351
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 357

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Book Description
David Conway analyses why and how Jews, virtually absent from Western art music until the end of the eighteenth century, came to be represented in all branches of the profession within fifty years as leading figures – not only as composers and performers, but as publishers, impresarios and critics. His study places this process in the context of dynamic economic, political, sociological and technological changes and also of developments in Jewish communities and the Jewish religion itself, in the major cultural centres of Western Europe. Beginning with a review of attitudes to Jews in the arts and an assessment of Jewish music and musical skills, in the age of the Enlightenment, Conway traces the story of growing Jewish involvement with music through the biographies of the famous, the neglected and the forgotten, leading to a radical contextualisation of Wagner's infamous 'Judaism in Music'.

Tracing Your Jewish Ancestors

Tracing Your Jewish Ancestors PDF Author: Rosemary Wenzerul
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1526712989
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 201

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Book Description
This fully revised second edition of Rosemary Wenzerul's lively and informative guide to researching Jewish history will be absorbing reading for anyone who wants to find out about the life of a Jewish ancestor. In a clear and accessible way she takes readers through the entire process of research. She provides a brief social history of the Jewish presence in Britain and looks at practical issues of research – how to get started, how to organize the work, how to construct a family tree and how to use the information obtained to tell the story of a family. In addition she describes, in practical detail, the many sources that researchers can go to for information on their ancestors, their families and Jewish history.

Ceremonial Synagogue Textiles

Ceremonial Synagogue Textiles PDF Author: Bracha Yaniv
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
ISBN: 178962505X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 489

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Book Description
A richly illustrated and documented survey of the evolution of synagogue textiles spanning fifteen centuries, offering a detailed analysis of the design and production of mantles, wrappers, Torah scroll binders, and the Torah ark curtain and valance, including the text of inscriptions marking the circumstances of donation.

Waste Not

Waste Not PDF Author: Tanhum S. Yoreh
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 1438476698
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
Traces the development of bal tashḥit, the Jewish prohibition against wastefulness and destruction, from its biblical origins to the contemporary environmental movement. Bal tashḥit, the Jewish prohibition against wastefulness and destruction, is considered to be an ecological ethical principle by contemporary Jewish environmentalists. Waste Not provides a comprehensive intellectual history of this concept, charting its evolution from the Bible through classical rabbinic literature, commentaries, codes of law, responsa, and the works of modern environmentalists. Tanhum S. Yoreh uses the methodology of tradition histories to identify pivotal moments in the development of the prohibition—in particular, its transition into an economic framework. He finds that bal tashḥit’s earliest stages of conceptualization connect the prohibition against wastefulness with avoidance of self-harm. This connection is commonplace within contemporary environmental thought and a universalizing Jewish principle with important contributions to be made to Jewish and general societal ecological discourse. Yoreh’s narrative provides a foundation for understanding bal tashḥit as an environmental ethic for today and tomorrow. “The book’s argument, well grounded as it is in firm textual evidence, displays a sound familiarity with rabbinic sources and communicates it in a manner suitable for readers whose familiarity with those sources may vary. There is a drama implicit in the presentation, having to do with the religiously and environmentally pressing question of how Jewish sources show up under close historical and environmental examination.” — Martin D. Yaffe, University of North Texas