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One of the pillars of chasidic thought is the idea that people can comprehend God better through their actions - specifically, by performing mitzvos (sacred deeds) - than by meditation. This concept is the basis for the beliefs and observances of Chasidism, founded by the Ba'al Shem Tov in the eighteenth century. Rabbi Noson Gurary discusses Chasidism in a straightforward and authentic manner, without diluting the profound teachings of this unique tradition.
A heartfelt and inspiring personal account of a woman raised as a Lubavitcher Hasid who leaves that world without leaving the family that remains within it. Even as a child, Chaya Deitsch felt that she didn’t belong in the Hasidic world into which she’d been born. She spent her teenage years outwardly conforming to but secretly rebelling against the rules that tell you what and when to eat, how to dress, whom you can befriend, and what you must believe. Loving her parents, grandparents, and extended family, Chaya struggled to fit in but instead felt angry, stifled, and frustrated. Upon receiving permission from her bewildered but supportive parents to attend Barnard College, she discovered a wider world in which she could establish an independent identity and fulfill her dream of an unconfined life that would be filled with the secular knowledge and culture that were largely foreign to her friends and relatives in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. As she gradually shed the physical and spiritual trappings of Hasidic life, Chaya found herself torn between her desire to be honest with her parents about who she now was and her need to maintain a loving relationship with the family that she still very much wanted to be part of. Eventually, Chaya and her parents came to an understanding that was based on unqualified love and a hard-won but fragile form of acceptance. With honesty, sensitivity, and intelligence, Chaya Deitsch movingly shows us that lives lived differently do not have to be lives lived apart.
Jews and Gender features sixteen authors exploring the history and culture of the intersection of Judaism and gender from the biblical world to today. Topics include subversive readings of biblical texts; reappraisal of rabbinic theory and practice; women in mysticism, Chasidism, and Yiddish literature; and women in contemporary culture and politics. Accessible and comprehensive, this volume will appeal to the general reader in addition to engaging with contemporary academic scholarship.
An examination of Jewish mysticism through the ages. Ten selections drawn mainly from the Zohar challenge and enlighten readers.
"The prayer book is our Jewish diary of the centuries, a collection of prayers composed by generations of those who came before us, as they endeavored to express the meaning of their lives and their relationship to God. The prayer book is the essence of the Jewish soul." This stunning work, an empowering entryway to the spiritual revival of our times, enables all of us to claim our connection to the heritage of the traditional Jewish prayer book. It helps rejuvenate Jewish worship in today's world, and makes its power accessible to all. Vol. 8—Kabbalat Shabbat (Welcoming Shabbat in the Synagogue) features the authentic Hebrew text with a new translation designed to let people know exactly what the prayers say. Introductions tell the reader what to look for in the prayer service, as well as how to truly use the commentaries and to search for—and find—meaning in the prayer book. Framed with beautifully designed Talmud-style pages, commentaries from many of today’s most respected Jewish scholars from all movements of Judaism examine Kabbalat Shabbat from the perspectives of ancient Rabbis and modern theologians, as well as feminist, halakhic, Talmudic, linguistic, biblical, Chasidic, mystical, and historical perspectives.
"Eighteen months after it was published, it was banned by the Nazis, who had occupied the region and labeled the book a monstrosity of art, copies being confiscated as a result of house-to-house searches. Yet, this exceptional example of spiritual autobiography continues to live, having since been translated into several languages, including Italian and German. Part of the special quality of Nine Gates to the Chasidic Mysteries is that despite its being deeply rooted in the world of mystical Judaism, the sketches of chasidic life and the folktales that Langer learned during his life among the chasidim are written for the reader who is not familiar with the esoteric theology of Kabbalah. As the author's brother remarks in his insightful and revealing foreword to the book, "Their purpose was to tell . . . something different about the Jews from that which Nazi anti-Semitism was endeavoring to smuggle across the Czechoslovak frontier."" "Jiri Langer was indeed a remarkable individual. A friend of Franz Kafka (he taught Kafka Hebrew) and Max Brod (who writes in his own autobiography that some of his work would never have been written without Langer's help), he was also one of Sigmund Freud's earliest admirers, and he wrote a number of studies of Jewish ritual and literature, applying Freud's ideas along the way.".
A must-read book for understanding this vibrant and influential modern Jewish movement Hasidism originated in southeastern Poland, in mystical circles centered on the figure of Israel Ba’al Shem Tov, but it was only after his death in 1760 that a movement began to spread. Today, Hasidism is witnessing a remarkable renaissance around the world. This book provides the first comprehensive history of the pietistic movement that shaped modern Judaism. Written by an international team of scholars, its unique blend of intellectual, religious, and social history demonstrates that, far from being a throwback to the Middle Ages, Hasidism is a product of modernity that forged its identity as a radical alternative to the secular world.
In 1980, Sholom Groesberg changed his life's course. He resigned as dean of engineering at Widener University in order to pursue a career in the rabbinate. Accepted at the Academy for Jewish Religion, he was ordained in 1984. Ten years later Rabbi Groesberg encountered the Jewish Renewal movement Its approach to creating an authentic identity within the context of living as a Jew resonated strongly within him. He became an ardent adherent of the movement. Jewish Renewed: A Journey is a combination academic study and personal memoir written for the educated lay reader. It traces the movement's history, explicates its ideology and practices, and examines the future challenges facing the movement Among others, this book will interest: History buffs*****Educators*****Spiritual seekers*****Environmentalists Alienated Jews seeking a "home"*****Practitioners in the helping professions This book will also appeal to those of a philosophical bent searching for answers to questions of Ultimate Concern; answers that invest our lives with meaning Why bother to be Jewish? Can secularism and religiosity be bridged? Why do new religious movements survive-or fail? Are the Kabbalah's teachings relevant to contemporary times? How can a modernist Jew conceptualize the significance of God?
In 1913, just before the outbreak of the First World War, a 19-year-old Czech Jew named Jiri Langer left his assimilated family to live in the remote village of Belz, Galicia (now Ukraine). He had gone to live under the Chassidic (or Hasidic) Rokeach dynasty, a line of Rabbis that survives to this day. Nine Gates is the autobiographical tale of Langer's time amongst these isolated Chassidic mystics of Eastern Galicia. He tells of their enthusiasm, their simple faith, their ecstasies, their austerities, their feasts, their wonder-working Holy Rabbis and their esoteric wisdom. Alongside this narrative sits a collection of shrewd and earthy folk tales told by the holy men who ruled these little spiritual kingdoms for generation after generation. Over 80 years since its original publication in Czech, this translation by Stephen Jolly remains the definitive English version of this towering work of Jewish introspection. Nine Gates is a document from another time and place, and yet it captures the same spirit of religious longing and exploration that attracts a growing number of seekers today.