What is it really like being a minister of religion? How much Vicar of Dibley, dealing with dotty parishioners and how much Rev, wading through social dilemmas and individual crises? The Naked Rabbi takes a serious, but also affectionate, look at the life of a rabbi, which will resonate with any person of faith. Jonathan Romain opens a remarkable window onto cycle of life areas - from birth to betrothal to burial - along with the joys, hiccups and tragedies in between. He also charts how he has put sermons into action, speaking out on issues such as pioneering a more welcoming approach to mixed-faith couples, trying to make faith schools more inclusive, arguing for assisted dying to be legalised, and intervening in the 2020 General Election against Jeremy Corbyn.
The secrets of the confessional are too important to be kept secret, and Jonathan Romain shares them all in this rollercoaster of crises, emotional traumas, moral dilemmas, attempts at seduction, multiple murders, machiavellian families, hijacked weddings, catastrophic funerals and a maze of other people's sexual fantasies. Rabbi Romain's previous careers - as a radio agony uncle, prison chaplain, postman and nightclub bouncer - have helped him navigate the human jungle, and now he takes us with him on a remarkable journey spiced with wit and wisdom. Revealing the extraordinary stories of ordinary people, Confessions of a Rabbi is a candid, poignant and often hilarious insight into the human condition.
A comprehensive guide to Jewish spiritual practices, with explanations based on Talmudic and Midrashic texts as well as Hasidic and mystical stories, includes a survey of daily prayers, Shabbat rituals, holidays, Torah study, Jewish meditation, and more.
In this second volume of his long-anticipated five-volume collection of parashat hashavua commentaries, Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks explores these intersections as they relate to universal concerns of freedom, love, responsibility, identity, and destiny. Chief Rabbi Sacks fuses Jewish tradition, Western philosophy, and literature to present a highly developed understanding of the human condition under Gods sovereignty. Erudite and eloquent, Covenant Conversation allows us to experience Chief Rabbi Sacks sophisticated approach to life lived in an ongoing dialogue with the Torah.
A Times Higher Education Book of the Year Uprisings spread like wildfire across the Arab world from 2010 to 2012, fueled by a desire for popular sovereignty. In Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, and elsewhere, protesters flooded the streets and the media, voicing dissent through slogans, graffiti, puppetry, videos, and satire that called for the overthrow of dictators and the regimes that sustained them. Investigating what drives people to risk everything to express themselves in rebellious art, The Naked Blogger of Cairo uncovers the creative insurgency at the heart of the Arab uprisings. “A deep dive into the cultural politics of the Arab uprisings...Kraidy’s sharp insights and rich descriptions of a new Arab generation’s irrepressible creative urges will amply reward the effort. Reading Kraidy’s accounts of the politically charted cultural gambits of wired Arab youth rekindles some of the seemingly lost spirit of the early days of the Arab uprisings and offers hope for the future.” —Marc Lynch, Washington Post “The Naked Blogger of Cairo is a superb and important work not just for scholars but for anyone who cares about the relationships between art, the body, and revolution.” —Hans Rollman, PopMatters
Queen Vashti is relaxing with her friends when the king demands that she dress up and entertain him and his friends, but she refuses, making him very angry. Includes author's note about the queens of Purim.
For millennia, two biblical verses have been understood to condemn sex between men as an act so abhorrent that it is punishable by death. Traditionally Orthodox Jews, believing the scripture to be the word of God, have rejected homosexuality in accordance with this interpretation. In 1999, Rabbi Steven Greenberg challenged this tradition when he became the first Orthodox rabbi ever to openly declare his homosexuality. Wrestling with God and Men is the product of Rabbi Greenberg’s ten-year struggle to reconcile his two warring identities. In this compelling and groundbreaking work, Greenberg challenges long held assumptions of scriptural interpretation and religious identity as he marks a path that is both responsible to human realities and deeply committed to God and Torah. Employing traditional rabbinic resources, Greenberg presents readers with surprising biblical interpretations of the creation story, the love of David and Jonathan, the destruction of Sodom, and the condemning verses of Leviticus. But Greenberg goes beyond the question of whether homosexuality is biblically acceptable to ask how such relationships can be sacred. In so doing, he draws on a wide array of nonscriptural texts to introduce readers to occasions of same-sex love in Talmudic narratives, medieval Jewish poetry and prose, and traditional Jewish case law literature. Ultimately, Greenberg argues that Orthodox communities must open up debate, dialogue, and discussion—precisely the foundation upon which Jewish law rests—to truly deal with the issue of homosexual love. This book will appeal not only to members of the Orthodox faith but to all religious people struggling to resolve their belief in the scriptures with a desire to make their communities more open and accepting to gay and lesbian members. 2005 Finalist for the Lambda Literary Awards, for Religion/Spirituality
An honest autobiography of a courageous woman and social worker, who took an interest in the unpopular cause of helping incarcerated Jewish men re-enter society and made it her lifes passion. From that passion was born Beit TShuvah, a once tiny halfway house that has grown exponentially into a renowned treatment organization. Her voyage is remarkable and an inspiration to all people. This is the personal story of the obstacles she surmounted and the successes she encountered. This book also tells the unconventional love story of Harriet Rossetto and her husband, Rabbi Mark Borovitz.
