How I Stopped Being a Jew
How I Stopped Being a Jew

Author: Shlomo Sand

Publisher: Verso Books

Published: 2014-10-07

Total Pages: 113

ISBN-13: 1781686149

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Shlomo Sand was born in 1946, in a displaced person’s camp in Austria, to Jewish parents; the family later migrated to Palestine. As a young man, Sand came to question his Jewish identity, even that of a “secular Jew.” With this meditative and thoughtful mixture of essay and personal recollection, he articulates the problems at the center of modern Jewish identity. How I Stopped Being a Jew discusses the negative effects of the Israeli exploitation of the “chosen people” myth and its “holocaust industry.” Sand criticizes the fact that, in the current context, what “Jewish” means is, above all, not being Arab and reflects on the possibility of a secular, non-exclusive Israeli identity, beyond the legends of Zionism.

Searching for My Brothers
Searching for My Brothers

Author: Jeffrey K. Salkin

Publisher: Perigee Trade

Published: 2000-08

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 9780399526152

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Growing up as a Jewish boy in suburban America, Jeffrey Salkin puzzled over his identity. Now, as a prominent rabbi, Salkin examines some of the myths and misconceptions surrounding Jewish manhood. With references to biblical and Talmudic sources and public figures, he offers a thought-provoking and deeply spiritual approach to the question of Jewish manhood in America today."A fine contribution to both the emerging fields of men's studies and the more popular, accessible branch of Jewish studies." --Kirkus Reviews"A richly researched and balanced guidebook for men and women alike. This book is written with great warmth and filled with wisdom." --Aryeh Lev Stollman, New York Times bestselling author of The Far Euphrates

If This Is the Age We End Discovery
If This Is the Age We End Discovery

Author: Rosebud Ben-Oni

Publisher: Alice James Books

Published: 2021-03-01

Total Pages: 88

ISBN-13: 1948579499

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A fascinating blend of poetry and science, Ben-Oni’s poems are precisely crafted, like a surgeon sewing a complicated stitch. The speaker of the collection falls ill, and takes comfort in exploring the idea of “Efes” which is “zero” in Modern Hebrew, using that nullification to be a means of transformation.

My Life in Jewish Renewal
My Life in Jewish Renewal

Author: Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Published: 2012-09-11

Total Pages: 259

ISBN-13: 1442213299

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This powerful memoir chronicles the life of one of America’s most celebrated rabbis—Rabbi Zalman M. Schachter-Shalomi, or “Reb Zalman” as he is fondly known to friends and followers. The book traces his life from a youth in the shadow of the Nazis through the tumultuous 1960s in America to his position as a renowned religious leader today. Often controversial for his attraction to cultural mavericks and religious rebels, Reb Zalman’s colorful lifetime includes a striking cast of characters across faith traditions, including Timothy Leary, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Thomas Merton, the Dalai Lama, and more. The book traces Reb Zalman’s work creating the vibrant Jewish Renewal movement that emphasizes spiritual experience and continues to touch Jews around the world today. Reb Zalman often illustrates his talks with anecdotes from his life, and My Life in Jewish Renewal brings together the life story of this beloved leader for the first time. Reb Zalman often illustrates his talks with stories from his life, and My Life in Jewish Renewal brings together the complete life story of this beloved leader for the first time.

Jews and Judaism in World History
Jews and Judaism in World History

Author: Howard N. Lupovitch

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2009-12-16

Total Pages: 573

ISBN-13: 1135189641

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This book is a survey of the history of the Jewish people from biblical antiquity to the present, spanning nearly 2,500 years and traversing five continents. Opening with a broad introduction which addresses key questions of terminology and definition, the book’s ten chapters then go on to explore Jewish history in both its religious and non-religious dimensions. The book explores the social, political and cultural aspects of Jewish history, and examines the changes and continuities across the whole of the Jewish world throughout its long and varied history. Topics covered include: the emergence of Judaism as a religion and way of life the development during the Middle Ages of Judaism as an all-encompassing identity the effect on Jewish life and identity of major changes in Europe and the Islamic world from the mid sixteenth through the end of the nineteenth century the complexity of Jewish life in the twentieth century, the challenge of anti-semitism and the impact of the Holocaust, and the emergence of the current centres of World Jewry in the State of Israel and the New World.

My Jewish Year
My Jewish Year

Author: Abigail Pogrebin

Publisher: Fig Tree Books

Published: 2017-03-14

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 1941493211

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In the tradition of The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs and Walking the Bible: A Journey by Land Through the Five Books of Moses by Bruce Feiler comes Abigail Pogrebin’s My Jewish Year, a lively chronicle of the author’s journey into the spiritual heart of Judaism. Although she grew up following some holiday rituals, Pogrebin realized how little she knew about their foundational purpose and contemporary relevance; she wanted to understand what had kept these holidays alive and vibrant, some for thousands of years. Her curiosity led her to embark on an entire year of intensive research, observation, and writing about the milestones on the religious calendar. Whether in search of a roadmap for Jewish life or a challenging probe into the architecture of Jewish tradition, readers will be captivated, educated and inspired by Abigail Pogrebin’s My Jewish Year.

Whatever Is Contained Must Be Released
Whatever Is Contained Must Be Released

Author: Helène Aylon

Publisher: The Feminist Press at CUNY

Published: 2012-05-15

Total Pages: 189

ISBN-13: 1558617698

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‘[A] richly evocative, captivating, and reflective memoir” of a feminist artist who broke free of the limits placed on her by family, Judaism and society (Publishers Weekly). Growing up an Orthodox Jew in Brooklyn, Helene Aylon spent her Friday nights in a sea of extended family as the Sabbath candles flickered. Passionate about art, she dreamt of escaping the strict, secular world of her youth, but instead married a rabbi and became a mother of two. Then, her world was split apart when her husband was diagnosed with cancer, and Aylon found herself widowed at thirty. Free to explore both her own soul and the changing world around her, Aylon sought a home in the burgeoning environmental art scene of the 1970s—creating transgressive works that explore identity, women’s bodies, the environment, disarmament, and the notion of God. Finally, she dares to asks of Judaism: Where are the women? With many examples of her work included within, Whatever is Contained ”is an arresting tale of uncommon courage, intelligence, and wit” following Aylon’s search for truth in art, and the links between feminism and Judaism (Gail Levin, author of Lee Krasner: A Biography and Becoming Judy Chicago).

Stranger in My Own Country
Stranger in My Own Country

Author: Yascha Mounk

Publisher: Macmillan + ORM

Published: 2014-01-07

Total Pages: 222

ISBN-13: 1429953780

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A moving and unsettling exploration of a young man's formative years in a country still struggling with its past As a Jew in postwar Germany, Yascha Mounk felt like a foreigner in his own country. When he mentioned that he is Jewish, some made anti-Semitic jokes or talked about the superiority of the Aryan race. Others, sincerely hoping to atone for the country's past, fawned over him with a forced friendliness he found just as alienating. Vivid and fascinating, Stranger in My Own Country traces the contours of Jewish life in a country still struggling with the legacy of the Third Reich and portrays those who, inevitably, continue to live in its shadow. Marshaling an extraordinary range of material into a lively narrative, Mounk surveys his countrymen's responses to "the Jewish question." Examining history, the story of his family, and his own childhood, he shows that anti-Semitism and far-right extremism have long coexisted with self-conscious philo-Semitism in postwar Germany. But of late a new kind of resentment against Jews has come out in the open. Unnoticed by much of the outside world, the desire for a "finish line" that would spell a definitive end to the country's obsession with the past is feeding an emphasis on German victimhood. Mounk shows how, from the government's pursuit of a less "apologetic" foreign policy to the way the country's idea of the Volk makes life difficult for its immigrant communities, a troubled nationalism is shaping Germany's future.

WorldPerfect
WorldPerfect

Author: Ken Spiro

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2020-08-30

Total Pages: 356

ISBN-13: 0757324061

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In pursuit of an answer to the question of what would constitute a perfect world, author Ken Spiro questioned more than 1,500 people of various backgrounds and religions. His findings revealed six core elements: Respect for human life; peace and harmony; justice and equality; education; family; and social responsibility. He then set off on a journey to find out why these were such common goals across cultural, economic, social and racial lines, and in the process, traced the history of the development of world religions, values and ethics. As a rabbi, he paid particular attention to how Judaism impacted, and was influenced by, the course of these developments. The result is a highly readable and well-documented book about the origins of values and virtues in Western civilization as influenced by the Greeks, Romans, Christians, Muslims and, most significantly, the Jews. The history of religion, presented in Spiro’s highly readable style, is a fascinating and timely subject, especially in today’s volatile religious climate. Spiro divides his book into five engaging parts: Where the Quality of Mercy Was Not Strained: The World of Greece and Rome Against the Grain: The Jewish View A Father to Many Nations: Abraham and the Implications of Monotheism With Sword and Fire: The Rise of Christianity and Islam The New Promised Land: Impact of Judaism on Liberal Democracies Readers of all faiths will find that the elements of a perfect world can only be achieved by a common understanding of our mutual backgrounds and that our diverse religions are all merely branches growing from one single tree.