Chess in Jewish History and Hebrew Literature
Chess in Jewish History and Hebrew Literature

Author: Victor Keats

Publisher: Hebrew University Magnes Press

Published: 1995

Total Pages: 300

ISBN-13:

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This book deals with the origins of chess from before 500 A.D. and its appearance in Jewish sources and literature until the middle of the 19th century. Chess is mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud, and Jews played a part in the spread of the game through medieval writings on chess, primarily in Spain. The book also covers allusions to chess in Hebrew literature together with background material on the historical periods concerned. Chess in Jewish History and Hebrew Literature contains many hidden or overlooked gems of chess literature along with much that is well known but unavailable, and provides authoritative translations, some completely new. It is an entertaining and informative survey, and will delight all those interested in the history of chess and its literature.

The Record Men: The Chess Brothers and the Birth of Rock & Roll (Enterprise)
The Record Men: The Chess Brothers and the Birth of Rock & Roll (Enterprise)

Author: Rich Cohen

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2005-10-17

Total Pages: 191

ISBN-13: 0393352501

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"Brilliant; the best book I have ever read about the recording industry; a classic."--Larry King On the south side of Chicago in the late 1940s, two immigrants; one a Jew born in Russia, the other a black blues singer from Mississippi; met and changed the course of musical history. Muddy Waters electrified the blues, and Leonard Chess recorded it. Soon Bo Diddly and Chuck Berry added a dose of pulsating rhythm, and Chess Records captured that, too. Rock & roll had arrived, and an industry was born. In a book as vibrantly and exuberantly written as the music and people it portrays, Rich Cohen tells the engrossing story of how Leonard Chess, with the other record men, made this new sound into a multi-billion-dollar business; aggressively acquiring artists, hard-selling distributors, riding the crest of a wave that would crash over a whole generation. Originally published in hardcover as Machers and Rockers. About the series: Enterprise pairs distinguished writers with stories of the economic forces that have shaped the modern worlds; the institutions, the entrepreneurs, the ideas. Enterprise introduces a new genre; the business book as literature.

Exile, Statelessness, and Migration
Exile, Statelessness, and Migration

Author: Seyla Benhabib

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2018-09-11

Total Pages: 302

ISBN-13: 0691167257

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An examination of the intertwined lives and writings of a group of prominent twentieth-century Jewish thinkers who experienced exile and migration Exile, Statelessness, and Migration explores the intertwined lives, careers, and writings of a group of prominent Jewish intellectuals during the mid-twentieth century—in particular, Theodor Adorno, Hannah Arendt, Walter Benjamin, Isaiah Berlin, Albert Hirschman, and Judith Shklar, as well as Hans Kelsen, Emmanuel Levinas, Gershom Scholem, and Leo Strauss. Informed by their Jewish identity and experiences of being outsiders, these thinkers produced one of the most brilliant and effervescent intellectual movements of modernity. Political philosopher Seyla Benhabib’s starting point is that these thinkers faced migration, statelessness, and exile because of their Jewish origins, even if they did not take positions on specifically Jewish issues personally. The sense of belonging and not belonging, of being “eternally half-other,” led them to confront essential questions: What does it mean for the individual to be an equal citizen and to wish to retain one’s ethnic, cultural, and religious differences, or perhaps even to rid oneself of these differences altogether in modernity? Benhabib isolates four themes in their works: dilemmas of belonging and difference; exile, political voice, and loyalty; legality and legitimacy; and pluralism and the problem of judgment. Surveying the work of influential intellectuals, Exile, Statelessness, and Migration recovers the valuable plurality of their Jewish voices and develops their universal insights in the face of the crises of this new century.

The Immortal Game
The Immortal Game

Author: David Shenk

Publisher: Anchor

Published: 2007-09-04

Total Pages: 328

ISBN-13: 0307387666

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A fresh, engaging look at how 32 carved pieces on a Chess board forever changed our understanding of war, art, science, and the human brain. Chess is the most enduring and universal game in history. Here, bestselling author David Shenk chronicles its intriguing saga, from ancient Persia to medieval Europe to the dens of Benjamin Franklin and Norman Schwarzkopf. Along the way, he examines a single legendary game that took place in London in 1851 between two masters of the time, and relays his own attempts to become as skilled as his Polish ancestor Samuel Rosenthal, a nineteenth-century champion. With its blend of cultural history and Shenk’s lively personal narrative, The Immortal Game is a compelling guide for novices and aficionados alike.

Can I Play Chess on Shabbas
Can I Play Chess on Shabbas

Author: Joe Bobker

Publisher: Gefen Publishing House Ltd

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 316

ISBN-13: 9789652294227

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Joe Bobker's easy-to-read, indispensable and educational tour de force of the complexities of the laws of Shabbas and the beauty of the lores of Shabbas!Did you ever wonder? Is long-life relative to Shabbas? What s the essence of Shabbas? How did Shabbas observance become the standard of Judaism itself? What s the difference between to remember and to observe? How is it possible to suddenly become holy just because it s Shabbas? Is Shabbas good for the Jews or are the Jews good for Shabbas? What does Shabbas have to do with God s DNA? Why candles? Why not start the Shabbas with cake or herring? Why do Jewish women get the mitzva of lighting Shabbas candles? What does Sheki a mean? Why does my mother cover her eyes when lighting Shabbas candles? I only have enough money to buy Shabbas candles or wine? Which one do I buy? What if I can t light candles on time? Can I make ice cream for the kids on Shabbas? Can I go to a baseball match on Shabbas if someone else carries my ticket for me? Can I go jogging on Shabbas? Can my children build lego sets on Shabbas? Can I pet my dog on Shabbas? Can I set a mouse trap on Shabbas? I was raised in the outback of Australia and we often came across rattlesnakes on Shabbos. What were we supposed to do? Have you seen the price of fish lately! It s more than a barrel of oil! Must I buy it for Shabbas? Can I make ice cubes on Shabbas? Can I open a beer bottle on Shabbas?...

White King and Red Queen
White King and Red Queen

Author: Daniel Johnson

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 408

ISBN-13: 9780547133379

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Daniel Johnson--journalist, scholar, and chess enthusiast--is the perfect guide to one of history's most remarkable periods, when chess matches were front-page news and captured the world's imagination.

The Death's Head Chess Club
The Death's Head Chess Club

Author: John Donoghue

Publisher: Macmillan + ORM

Published: 2015-05-12

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 0374713979

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A novel of the improbable friendship that arises between a Nazi officer and a Jewish chessplayer in Auschwitz SS Obersturmfuhrer Paul Meissner arrives in Auschwitz from the Russian front wounded and fit only for administrative duty. His most pressing task is to improve camp morale and he establishes a chess club, and allows officers and enlisted men to gamble on the games. Soon Meissner learns that chess is also played among the prisoners, and there are rumors of an unbeatable Jew known as "the Watchmaker." Meissner's superiors begin to demand that he demonstrate German superiority by pitting this undefeated Jew against the best Nazi players. Meissner finds Emil Clément, the Watchmaker, and a curious relationship arises between them. As more and more games are played, the stakes rise, and the two men find their fates deeply entwined. Twenty years later, the two meet again in Amsterdam—Meissner has become a bishop, and Emil is playing in an international chess tournament. Having lost his family in the horrors of the death camps, Emil wants nothing to do with the ex-Nazi officer despite their history, but Meissner is persistent. "What I hope," he tells Emil, "is that I can help you to understand that the power of forgiveness will bring healing." As both men search for a modicum of peace, they recall a gripping tale of survival and trust. A suspenseful meditation on understanding and guilt, John Donoghue's The Death's Head Chess Club is a bold debut and a rich portrait of a surprising friendship.

The Immortal Game
The Immortal Game

Author: David Shenk

Publisher: Anchor Canada

Published: 2011-03-04

Total Pages: 354

ISBN-13: 0385673787

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A surprising, charming, and ever-fascinating history of the seemingly simple game that has had a profound effect on societies the world over. Why has one game, alone among the thousands of games invented and played throughout human history, not only survived but thrived within every culture it has touched? What is it about its thirty-two figurative pieces, moving about its sixty-four black and white squares according to very simple rules, that has captivated people for nearly 1,500 years? Why has it driven some of its greatest players into paranoia and madness, and yet is hailed as a remarkably powerful intellectual tool? Nearly everyone has played chess at some point in their lives. Its rules and pieces have served as a metaphor for society, influencing military strategy, mathematics, artificial intelligence, and literature and the arts. It has been condemned as the devil’s game by popes, rabbis, and imams, and lauded as a guide to proper living by other popes, rabbis, and imams. Marcel Duchamp was so absorbed in the game that he ignored his wife on their honeymoon. Caliph Muhammad al-Amin lost his throne (and his head) trying to checkmate a courtier. Ben Franklin used the game as a cover for secret diplomacy.In his wide-ranging and ever-fascinating examination of chess, David Shenk gleefully unearths the hidden history of a game that seems so simple yet contains infinity. From its invention somewhere in India around 500 A.D., to its enthusiastic adoption by the Persians and its spread by Islamic warriors, to its remarkable use as a moral guide in the Middle Ages and its political utility in the Enlightenment, to its crucial importance in the birth of cognitive science and its key role in the aesthetic of modernism in twentieth-century art, to its twenty-first-century importance in the development of artificial intelligence and use as a teaching tool in inner-city America, chess has been a remarkably omnipresent factor in the development of civilization. Indeed, as Shenk shows, some neuroscientists believe that playing chess may actually alter the structure of the brain, that it may be for individuals what it has been for civilization: a virus that makes us smarter.

Jewish Jocks
Jewish Jocks

Author: Franklin Foer

Publisher: Twelve

Published: 2012-10-30

Total Pages: 237

ISBN-13: 1455516112

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A collection of essays by today's preeminent writers on significant Jewish figures in sports, told with humor, heart, and an eye toward the ever elusive question of Jewish identity. Jewish Jocks: An Unorthodox Hall of Fame is a timeless collection of biographical musings, sociological riffs about assimilation, first-person reflections, and, above all, great writing on some of the most influential and unexpected pioneers in the world of sports. Featuring work by today's preeminent writers, these essays explore significant Jewish athletes, coaches, broadcasters, trainers, and even team owners (in the finite universe of Jewish Jocks, they count!). Contributors include some of today's most celebrated writers covering a vast assortment of topics, including David Remnick on the biggest mouth in sports, Howard Cosell; Jonathan Safran Foer on the prodigious and pugnacious Bobby Fischer; Man Booker Prize-winner Howard Jacobson writing elegantly on Marty Reisman, America's greatest ping-pong player and the sport's ultimate showman. Deborah Lipstadt examines the continuing legacy of the Munich Massacre, the fortieth anniversary of which coincided with the 2012 London Olympics. Jane Leavy reveals why Sandy Koufax agreed to attend her daughter's bat mitzvah. And we learn how Don Lerman single-handedly thrust competitive eating into the public eye with three pounds of butter and 120 jalapeño peppers. These essays are supplemented by a cover design and illustrations throughout by Mark Ulriksen. From settlement houses to stadiums and everywhere in between, Jewish Jock features men and women who do not always fit the standard athletic mold. Rather, they utilized talents long prized by a people of the book (and a people of commerce) to game these games to their advantage, in turn forcing the rest of the world to either copy their methods -- or be left in their dust.