Women have been rabbis for over forty years. No longer are women rabbis a unique phenomenon, rather they are part of the fabric of Jewish life. In this anthology, rabbis and scholars from across the Jewish world reflect back on the historic significance of women in the rabbinate and explore issues related to both the professional and personal lives of women rabbis. This collection examines the ways in which the reality of women in the rabbinate has impacted on all aspects of Jewish life, including congregational culture, liturgical development, life cycle ritual, the Jewish healing movement, spirituality, theology, and more. Published by CCAR Press, a division of the Central Conference of American Rabbis
When did Rosh HaShana, the anniversary of creation, become a day of judgement? How does Yom Kippur unite the priest's atonement with the prophet's repentance? What makes Kohelet, read on Sukkot, the most joyful book in the Bible? Why is the remembrance of the Pesah story so central to Jewish morality? And which does Shavuot really celebrate the law or the land? Bringing together Rabbi Sacks's acclaimed introductions to the Koren Sacks Mahzorim, Ceremony & Celebration reveals the stunning interplay of biblical laws, rabbinic edicts, liturgical themes, communal rituals and profound religious meaning of each of the five central Jewish holidays.
When Zaydeh Danced on Eldridge Street is Elsa Okon Rael's beautiful story of family relations and the celebrations that can often ensue. While staying with her grandparents in New York City in the mid-1930s, eight-year-old Zeesie joins in the celebration of Simchat Torah and sees a different side of her stern grandfather.
In the fall of 1965 the Israeli newspaper Haaretz sent a young journalist named Elie Wiesel to the Soviet Union to report on the lives of Jews trapped behind the Iron Curtain. “I would approach Jews who had never been placed in the Soviet show window by Soviet authorities,” wrote Wiesel. “They alone, in their anonymity, could describe the conditions under which they live; they alone could tell whether the reports I had heard were true or false—and whether their children and their grandchildren, despite everything, still wish to remain Jews. From them I would learn what we must do to help . . . or if they want our help at all.” What he discovered astonished him: Jewish men and women, young and old, in Moscow, Kiev, Leningrad, Vilna, Minsk, and Tbilisi, completely cut off from the outside world, overcoming their fear of the ever-present KGB to ask Wiesel about the lives of Jews in America, in Western Europe, and, most of all, in Israel. They have scant knowledge of Jewish history or current events; they celebrate Jewish holidays at considerable risk and with only the vaguest ideas of what these days commemorate. “Most of them come [to synagogue] not to pray,” Wiesel writes, “but out of a desire to identify with the Jewish people—about whom they know next to nothing.” Wiesel promises to bring the stories of these people to the outside world. And in the home of one dissident, he is given a gift—a Russian-language translation of Night, published illegally by the underground. “‘My God,’ I thought, ‘this man risked arrest and prison just to make my writing available to people here!’ I embraced him with tears in my eyes.”
Readers join a cute family as they prepare for and celebrate Passover by cleaning the house, making matzah ball soup, assembling the seder plate, saying the Four Questions, and looking for the afikomen.
Circling the Jewish calendar from Rosh Hashanah to Tisha B'Av, this lively, accessible guide includes rituals, recipes, songs, prayers, and suggestions for new approaches to holiday observance."A wonderful blend of information and innovation that will help readers find both traditional a
Finally, the ultimate book of Jewish humor is here, complete with Jewish nursery blueprints (which includes a panic room, fireproof wallpaper, and a guardian ninja, of course), the top-ten list of Jewish 'dont's', the complete timeline of Jewish expulsion, and much, much more. Before creating Jewtopia the play in 2003, Bryan Fogel and Sam Wolfson were unemployed actors and writers who couldn't get a break. Taking matters into their own hands, they wrote a play, maxed out their credit cards, and mounted the production themselves. Jewtopia went on to become the longest-running original theatrical comedy in Los Angeles history. The show moved to off-Broadway in October 2004 and, as of the publication of this book, still plays nightly to sold-out audiences, with productions opening all over the world. Now, for the first time in this book, Fogel and Wolfson are bringing their theatrical work to the comfort of your home.
