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As Judy Gruen walked down the aisle and into her Orthodox Jewish future, her bouquet quivered in her shaky hand. Having grown up in the zeitgeist that proclaimed, “If it feels good, do it,” was she really ready to live the life of “rituals, rules, and restraints” that the Torah prescribed? The Skeptic and the Rabbi is a rare memoir with historical depth, spirituality, and intelligent humor. Gruen speaks with refreshing honesty about what it means to remain authentic to yourself while charting a new yet ancient spiritual path at odds with the surrounding culture, and writes touchingly about her family, including her two sets of grandparents, who influenced her in wildly opposite ways. As she navigates her new life with the man she loves and the faith she also loves—surviving several awkward moments, including when the rabbi calls to tell her that she accidentally served unkosher food to her Shabbat guests—Gruen brings the reader right along for the ride. Reading this wry, bold and compelling memoir, you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and when you’re finished, you may also have a sudden craving for chicken matzo ball soup—kosher, of course.
Graphic Novel of a Skeptical Jew and a Renewal Rabbi. I was raised as a Jewish Conservative with a bar-mitzvah and all, but I rejected my upbringing, questioning everything I had been taught. People with blind faith in a personal God seem irrational to me. A Rabbi moved nearby and wouldn't allow me to escape my Jewish roots. This book is a humorous yet deep record of our interaction.
Graphic Novel of a Skeptical Jew and a Renewal Rabbi. I was raised as a Jewish Conservative with a bar-mitzvah and all, but I rejected my upbringing, questioning everything I had been taught. People with blind faith in a personal God seem irrational to me. A Rabbi moved nearby and wouldn't allow me to escape my Jewish roots. We fantasized what it would be like if we travelled to Israel with our wives.
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Before the Enlightenment, before Spinoza had rejected traditional beliefs about the Bible, came the humanistic skeptics of the Renaissance. Alongside oft-cited Christian thinkers, Eliezer Eilburg now takes his rightful place. Comparable in view to Christopher Marlowe or Noel Journet, Eilburg perhaps uniquely represents the possibilities of Jewish skepticism in his day. Eliezer Eilburg: The Ten Questions and Memoir of a Renaissance Jewish Skeptic makes available for the first time a bilingual edition of two key works by the Jewish rationalist skeptic, kabbalist, and memoirist, Eliezer Eilburg. The Ten Questions-addressed to the Maharal of Prague and two of his colleagues-is one of the most radical statements of Jewish skepticism authored during the sixteenth century. Published here in its entirety, this text is especially remarkable for its critical approach to the Bible, foreshadowing later intellectual trends. Although many of his opinions were considered heretical by Jewish authorities, Eilburg argued that his doubts were innocent, and that there was room within Judaism for his skepticism. He presented himself as a penitent whose eyes had been opened through the study of medicine and philosophy and who had merited angelic visions and kabbalistic dreams. The second text, Eilburg's experimental memoir, is one of the very first modern Jewish efforts at autobiography. Put together from many smaller pieces, this patchwork of brag and bile is a unique document of sixteenth-century Jewish life. It is a testimony, if not to the "emergence of the individual" in this period, then at least to the emergence of new Jewish ways of imagining and writing about the self. Eilburg was an enigmatic man, a unique and as yet mostly unstudied Jewish thinker. Though his works are directed to audiences of Jews, and argue for the improvement of Judaism, this volume will appeal to historians and scholars of intellectual traditions both in and outside of Jewish studies. /Interview with Joseph Davis- Ten Questions of Eliezer Eilburg
A Full-Figured Faith is a collection of essays on traditional Jewish values and practices that Jews have sometimes found less than convincing or compelling. God wrote the Bible--really? Miracles are a fact of life--is that so? Jews must marry Jews--but, isn't that a little racist? Tapping into his almost 40 years of experience in the pulpit, Rabbi Rank delves into many such and similar issues with a light-hearted style and a logic that is easy to follow. Among the topics discussed are the existence of God, the messiah, the chosenness of the Jewish people, sexual mores, and Zionism.The thrust of the book is not to reject the skepticism of doubters, but to encourage it as a way of legitimate engagement with one's heritage. The questions that people may pose about the values and rituals that an ancient tradition promotes, far from undermining faith, may just serve to enhance it. The best of faith is not a place of narrowness, but to the contrary, an expansive space. And though one may never fully figure what faith is all about, an honest and contemporary faith allows for lots of questions and skepticism and doubts. That is what might be referred to as a full-figured faith.
Reasonable Doubts is the memoir of a religious skeptic's endeavor to rediscover her source of faith, from the ground up, as she regained the ability to read following her accident. On the way she encounters various religious philosophers and thinkers, such as Saadya, Maimonides, Henry Bergson, Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, Rudolph Otto, and Abraham Joshua Heschel, who provide her with clues to a spiritual resolution. Berman utilizes scenes from the Book of Job as well as snapshots from her own life to explicate the various philosophical theories that make up the stops along her journey. Jewish literature regarding faith crises is sparse, leaving skeptics and sufferers alike secluded, precisely when they need to be embraced. Reasonable Doubts seeks to reassure those undergoing faith crises that they are not alone. Reasonable Doubts also provides philosophical suggestions towards solutions to some basic religious and spiritual quandaries. Ultimate conclusions to most of these issues, however, lie within the soul of reader. -- Amazon.com.
A controversial holy man and a celebrated paranormalist bare their souls as they share their inner fears and their wisdom.