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She is feared and desired. She is the symbol of a family's failure and a culture's dissolution. She is a courageous ally, a loyal fellow traveler, and a mother struggling for the survival of the same family and culture whose destruction she supposedly seeks. The gentile woman has been all these things and more to the Jewish people. Her almost mythic status has its roots in the dawn of Jewish history and repercussions that extend beyond our own time to shape the Jewish future. It also entails more baggage than any woman could possibly hope to carry. Shiksa: The Gentile Woman in the Jewish World, unpacks that baggage. Shiksa tells the stories of gentile women and women converts living in the Jewish community today, sharing insights from rabbis, Jewish feminists, educators and therapists. The book explores relationships between Jewish and gentile women, particularly Jewish mothers and their gentile daughters-in-law, as well as those between Jewish men and gentile women. And it looks at some of the fascinating Biblical figures whose stories startle with their relevance to today's most intimate issues of Jewish identity. At a time when the Jewish community is rife with concern over intermarriage, Shiksa offers a fearless examination of the gentile and converted women residing within its gates, occupying embattled yet permanent places as partners, daughters, sisters, mothers, friends.
Been invited to a Bar Mitzvah? A Jewish wedding? A Passover Seder? Don't really know if a shiva at a Jewish house is like a wake? Should somebody who's not Jewish wear that skull cap in a synagogue? What should you wear? Are you tired of not knowing what all those Jewish words mean? Or are you just interested in what it means to be Jewish but you don't really want to make a whole study of it? It's high time to get comfortable with what it means to be Jewish and to finally understand all those great Jewish sayings that just say it the way no other language can. This is the book for you. The charm of the book is that it's written by a gentile (a nice Italian Catholic boy) who understands you and the problems you face in being introduced to Jewish life. It's written by a non-Jew who knows Jews so well, he can teach you everything you need to know, from the customs and habits to all the holidays and ceremonies to a short course in Jewish history. Whether you're about to marry somebody Jewish or you just want to not look silly when invited to a Jewish house, this is the book for you. Even if you're Jewish, it makes a nice present for someone dear to you who just needs to understand Jewish shtik. Speaking of which, the book includes a very useful and complete dictionary of Jewish words in everyday use that is positively hilarious.
Relations between Jews and non-Jews in the Hellenistic-Roman period were marked by suspicion and hate, maintain most studies of that topic. But if such conjectures are true, asks Louis Feldman, how did Jews succeed in winning so many adherents, whether full-fledged proselytes or "sympathizers" who adopted one or more Jewish practices? Systematically evaluating attitudes toward Jews from the time of Alexander the Great to the fifth century A.D., Feldman finds that Judaism elicited strongly positive and not merely unfavorable responses from the non-Jewish population. Jews were a vigorous presence in the ancient world, and Judaism was strengthened substantially by the development of the Talmud. Although Jews in the Diaspora were deeply Hellenized, those who remained in Israel were able to resist the cultural inroads of Hellenism and even to initiate intellectual counterattacks. Feldman draws on a wide variety of material, from Philo, Josephus, and other Graeco-Jewish writers through the Apocrypha, the Pseudepigrapha, the Church Councils, Church Fathers, and imperial decrees to Talmudic and Midrashic writings and inscriptions and papyri. What emerges is a rich description of a long era to which conceptions of Jewish history as uninterrupted weakness and suffering do not apply.
The G-d of Abraham entrusted the Children of Israel with the Ten Commandments and the Five Books of Moses. What Divine Doctrine did He give to the other nations of the world? This fascinating and well-researched work explores the Seven Noahide Laws, the ancient covenant that guarantees all of mankind G-d's favor and blessings. The Path of the Righteous Gentile is a summary of the traditional Jewish teachings about the Gentiles' true relationship with G-d and their obligations to each other. Topics explored include: What covenant did G-d make with man before Mount Sinai? Why do the Jews believe in return to G-d rather than repentance? What is considered an act of theft? What constitutes idolatry? How is a proper court system supposed to function?The Path of the Righteous Gentile is a comprehensive instruction manual for success, today, tomorrow, and for Eternity.
During the late medieval period, accusations that Jews had abused Christ by desecrating the Eucharist created a powerful anti-Jewish movement and violent clashes quickly spread throughout Europe.
Part of the Jewish Encounter series Taking in everything from the Kingdom of David to the Oslo Accords, Ruth Wisse offers a radical new way to think about the Jewish relationship to power. Traditional Jews believed that upholding the covenant with God constituted a treaty with the most powerful force in the universe; this later transformed itself into a belief that, unburdened by a military, Jews could pursue their religious mission on a purely moral plain. Wisse, an eminent professor of comparative literature at Harvard, demonstrates how Jewish political weakness both increased Jewish vulnerability to scapegoating and violence, and unwittingly goaded power-seeking nations to cast Jews as perpetual targets. Although she sees hope in the State of Israel, Wisse questions the way the strategies of the Diaspora continue to drive the Jewish state, echoing Abba Eban's observation that Israel was the only nation to win a war and then sue for peace. And then she draws a persuasive parallel to the United States today, as it struggles to figure out how a liberal democracy can face off against enemies who view Western morality as weakness. This deeply provocative book is sure to stir debate both inside and outside the Jewish world. Wisse's narrative offers a compelling argument that is rich with history and bristling with contemporary urgency.
A devastating critique of the presumed theological basis of the Jewish social justice movement—the concept of healing the world. What is tikkun olam? This obscure Hebrew phrase means literally “healing the world,” and according to Jonathan Neumann, it is the master concept that rests at the core of Jewish left wing activism and its agenda of transformative change. Believers in this notion claim that the Bible asks for more than piety and moral behavior; Jews must also endeavor to make the world a better place. In a remarkably short time, this seemingly benign and wholesome notion has permeated Jewish teaching, preaching, scholarship and political engagement. There is no corner of modern Jewish life that has not been touched by it. This idea has led to overwhelming Jewish participation in the social justice movement, as such actions are believed to be biblically mandated. There's only one problem: the Bible says no such thing. In this lively theological polemic, Neumann shows how tikkun olam, an invention of the Jewish left, has diluted millennia of Jewish practice and belief into a vague feel-good religion of social justice. Neumann uses religious and political history to debunk this pernicious idea, and shows how the Bible was twisted by Jewish liberals to support a radical left-wing agenda. In To Heal the World?, Neumann explains how the Jewish Renewal movement aligned itself with the New Left of the 1960s, and redirected the perspective of the Jewish community toward liberalism and social justice. He exposes the key figures responsible for this effort, shows that it lacks any real biblical basis, and outlines the debilitating effect it has had on Judaism itself.
Dramatic personal stories of the unexpected discovery of a Jewish heritage
Why is Chanukah celebrated close to Christmas one year, but closer to Thanksgiving another year? Why do Jews exchange presents on Chanukah? What is Purim, and why do Jews dress in costumes when they go to synagogue on that day? And what are the Four Questions anyway? After reading The Non-Jew's Guide to Jewish Holidays, you will know the answers to these questions and more. This book will explain why the Jewish holidays are observed and the rituals that are followed during the observances. You will also learn why the holidays are celebrated on different days on the secular calendar each year. Written by best-selling author Elizabeth Reynolds, this book is the one to buy if you want to learn more. It covers the Jewish holidays in chronological order beginning with the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah. The holidays included in this book are Shabbat (Sabbath), Days of Awe - Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles), Shemini Atzerit (Eighth Day of Assembly) and Simchat Torah (Joy of the Torah), Chanukah (Festival of Lights), Tu B'Shevat (New Year for Trees), Purim (Feast of Lots), Pesach (Passover), Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), Shavuot (Festival of Weeks), and Tisha B'Av (The Fast of Av).