Rabbi Haber recounts his extraordinary experiences, from his service in the USA as Air Force Chaplain stationed in Alaska, through his current position as Chabad Rabbi on the Golan Heights. With humor and good wit, Haber relates the challenges of keeping Yiddishkeit alive in the frozen wilderness, and of keeping the morale high in the Golan Heights, making for an exceptional, inspirational story for all.
As a Jewish boy in France during World War II, Leo Michel Abrami evaded Nazi persecution when his mother sent him to live in Normandy disguised as a Catholic boy. When the war ended, he returned to some semblance of a traditional life. As his life and career evolved, however, it became anything but traditional. In this engaging autobiography, Rabbi Arieh narrates stories about people, places, and events with both candor and keen observation. He served congregations worldwide, from the United States to Guatemala and South Africa. He also served as a prison chaplain in California, counseling murderers such as Charles Manson and Edmund Kemper. Rabbi Arieh's stories are infused with his strong faith and his unique perspective on Judaism. Numerous challenges arose because of his nondenominational and pluralistic attitude toward all segments of the Jewish community. While his non-allegiance to any single denomination made his professional life more difficult, it was a matter of deep personal conviction. Above all else, Rabbi Arieh endeavored to bring his message of faith to the people and communities he served. Through this series of captivating anecdotes you'll be inspired by his life of service and scholarship.
From Zen Buddhist practitioner to rabbi, East meets West in this firsthand account of a spiritual journey. Rabbi Alan Lew is known as the Zen Rabbi, a leader in the Jewish meditation movement who works to bring two ancient religious traditions into our everyday lives. One God Clapping is the story of his roundabout yet continuously provoking spiritual odyssey. It is also the story of the meeting between East and West in America, and the ways in which the encounter has transformed how all of us understand God and ourselves. Winner of the PEN / Joseph E. Miles Award Like a Zen parable or a Jewish folk tale, One God Clapping unfolds as a series of stories, each containing a moment of revelation or instruction that, while often unexpected, is never simple or contrived. One God Clapping, like the life of the remarkable Alan Lew himself, is a bold experiment in the integration of Eastern and Western ways of looking at and living in the world.
A collection of Wild West stories spiced up with Talmudic insight and Hasidic wisdom. Like any good collection of Jewish folktales, these stories contain layers of humor and timeless wisdom that will entertain, teach and, especially, make you laugh.
This moving memoir chronicles the fifty year career of an American Reform rabbi. Written together during the final stages of his terminal illness, father and daughter give voice to one man's magic touch with people, his sense of adventure and fun, and his life's pursuit of being a blessing to others.
In 1850, when the United States acquired New Mexico as a territory the gringos began to steal their Spanish land grants and tried to kill the Indians and acquire the Indian reservations. The two minorities became allies and their enemy became the United States Government. In the 1800s, young Benjamin Benavidez who had a photographic memory, a winning personality and an outstanding singing voice saw first-hand what the U.S. Government was doing. He studied night and day, took the Bar and passed it. He was a lawyer. Judges and lawyers were all gringos and there was no way he could fight them in court so he did the next best thing. He mastered Poker and began playing with the rich and powerful gringos, the judges and lawyers in Santa Fe. From there he branched out throughout the US. With his winning personality, he made friends with the rich and powerful. The Gamblin' Rabbi always won honestly if he could, but never lost. He simply serenaded the losers. Also known as Don Benjamin Benavidez, he married a Navajo woman. They had three sons. The greatest obstacle that Senor Gamblin' Rabbi stumbled over and over again is the promise he made to his dying mother that at least one of his sons would marry a Ladina. The sons didn't care about their father's promise. They were going to choose their own wives. The promise brought the gambler more heartaches and tears than he bargained for."
Total Immersion will at once educate those who are unfamiliar with the Mikvah ritual, inspire those who have, thus far, been hesitant to make this rite their own, and will reveal the blessing it bestows upon those who immerse themselves in its waters.
Have you ever wondered what it is like to be a rabbi? If you have, then this book is for you! Rabbi Apple, with humor and openness, describes his childhood, youth, and what influenced him to become a rabbi. He is candid about his life in three congregational pulpits and his long career as a Navy chaplain. Fortunately for many people, Rabbi Apple never listened to his mother when she kept telling him, “What kind of job is this for a nice Jewish boy?”
This book is a broad-brush approach describing the realities of life in the American rabbinate. Factual portrayals are supplemented by examples drawn from fiction--primarily novels and short stories. Chapters include: ♣Rabbinic Training ♣Congregational Rabbis and Their Communities ♣Congregants' Views of Their Rabbis ♣Women Rabbis [also including examples from TV and Cinema] ♣Assimilation, Intermarriage, Patrilineality, and Human Sexuality ♣God, Israel, and Tradition This book draws upon sociological data, including the recent Pew Research Center survey on Jewish life in America, and presents a contemporary view of rabbis and their communities. The realities of the American rabbinate are then compared/contrasted with the ways fiction writers present their understanding of rabbinic life. The book explores illustrations from two hundred novels, short stories, and TV/cinema; representing well over 135 authors. From the first real-life women rabbis in the early 1970s to today's statistics of close to 1,600 women rabbis worldwide, major changes have taken place. Women rabbis are transforming the face of Judaism. For example, this newly revised second edition of American Rabbis: Facts and Fiction reflects a fivefold increase in terms of examples of fictional women rabbis, from when the book was first published in 1998. There is new and expanded material on some of the challenges in the twenty-first century, women rabbis, human sexuality/LGBTQ matters, trans/post/non-denominational seminaries, and community-based rabbis.
Rabbi Jamie Korngold has always loved the outdoors, the place where humankind first met with God. Whether it’s mountaineering, running ultramarathons, or just sitting by a stream, she finds her spirituality and Judaism thrive most in the wilderness. In her work as the Adventure Rabbi, leading groups toward spiritual fulfillment in the outdoors, Korngold has uncovered the rich traditions and lessons God taught our ancestors in the wild. In God in the Wilderness Korngold uses rabbinic wisdom and witty insights to guide readers through the Bible, showing people of all faiths that, despite the hectic pace of life today, it is vital for us to reclaim these lessons, awaken our inner spirituality, and find meaning, tranquillity, and purpose in our lives.
