Reproduced pages of the original 17th-century Yiddish, including the woodcuts, face the first English translation of the 34 fables that comprise Wallich's Sefer Mesholim. A valuable resource for students of the Yiddish language and of European Jewish culture of the early modern period. The fables come mostly from Aesop and medieval Hebrew and German sources. Well annotated. No index. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Two rival businessmen meet in the Warsaw train station. "Where are you going?" says the first man. "To Minsk," says the second. "To Minsk, eh? What a nerve you have! I know you're telling me you're going to Minsk because you want me to think that you're really going to Pinsk. But it so happens that I know you really are going to Minsk. So why are you lying to me?" Four men are walking in the desert. The German says, "I'm tired and thirsty. I must have a beer." The Italian says, "I'm tired and thirsty. I must have wine." The Mexican says, "I'm tired and thirsty. I must have tequila." The Jew says, "I'm tired and thirsty. I must have diabetes."
Holy Woman chronicles the life, times, hardships, and legacy of Rebbitzen Chaya Sara Kramer, an extraordinary woman whom many considered a Jewish saint. A survivor of the medical experiments of Nazi death camp Doctor Joseph Mengele, she made a new life in Israel, where she married an unusually gifted mystic. In spite of penury and deprivation, the couple was an inspiration and guide to thousands. More of a life manual than a biography, this book explicates the profound life lessons by which Rebbitzen Kramer lived. Author Sara Yoheved Rigler draws the reader into the inner circle of her own close relationship with the Rebbitzen. Herself a serious searcher, Rigler spent 15 years in an Indian ashram before coming to Israel to reconnect with her Jewish origins. Refreshingly written and elegantly relevant, Holy Woman is a book for spiritually oriented persons who yearn to learn secrets of personal greatness from a truly hidden and humble Jewish luminary.
In 1727, while immersed in kabbalistic speculations, Luzzatto claimed to have heard the voice of a maggid - a divine power inclined to reveal heavenly secrets to human beings. Henceforth, the revelations of the maggid served to comprise future kabbalistic writings, only a few of which survived and were published.
HaGaon HaRav Moshe Feinstein, Rosh Yeshivah of Mesivta Tifereth Jerusalem and the acknowledged halachic decisor of his era, found messages of inspiration, of consolation, and of the beauty of Judaism in the weekly Torah portions. Here, a sele ction of those thoughts are presented in English.
An intimate and moving portrait of daily life in New York's oldest institution of traditional rabbinic learning New York City's Lower East Side has witnessed a severe decline in its Jewish population in recent decades, yet every morning in the big room of the city's oldest yeshiva, students still gather to study the Talmud beneath the great arched windows facing out onto East Broadway. Yeshiva Days is Jonathan Boyarin's uniquely personal account of the year he spent as both student and observer at Mesivtha Tifereth Jerusalem, and a poignant chronicle of a side of Jewish life that outsiders rarely see. Boyarin explores the yeshiva's relationship with the neighborhood, the city, and Jewish and American culture more broadly, and brings vividly to life its routines, rituals, and rhythms. He describes the compelling and often colorful personalities he encounters each day, and introduces readers to the Rosh Yeshiva, or Rebbi, the moral and intellectual head of the yeshiva. Boyarin reflects on the tantalizing meanings of "study for its own sake" in the intellectually vibrant world of traditional rabbinic learning, and records his fellow students' responses to his negotiation of the daily complexities of yeshiva life while he also conducts anthropological fieldwork. A richly mature work by a writer of uncommon insight, wit, and honesty, Yeshiva Days is the story of a place on the Lower East Side with its own distinctive heritage and character, a meditation on the enduring power of Jewish tradition and learning, and a record of a different way of engaging with time and otherness.
After a decade and a half deeply studying the wisdom of Torah, Kaballah, Chasidus, and Spirituality, Moshe Gersht has gifted us with a new lens on life. With his spiritual guide It's All The Same To Me, Moshe Gersht inspires readers to discover the freedom and joy of a life lived in connected "sameness." Gersht introduces the powerful kaballistic idea of Hishtavus that reveals how transcending our ego is not only essential to personal happiness, but also the key to loving every aspecet of our life. Gersht describes how fear, doubt, and worry, rob us of the beautiful moments life has to offer and then shows readers how to awaken a higher consciousness within themselves and pointing them in the way of a deeply fulfilling existence. Although the ideas are intrinsically deep, they are presented in a clear, easy to read, enjoyable experience. Illuminating, enlightening, and uplifting, It's All The Same To Me is a joyfully spiritual guide for a better way of living and for building a better world. Readers of other transformational self-help books such as The Four Agreements, The Power of Now, The Universe Has Your Back, and The Power of Intention will want to read It's All The Same To Me.
"Miracle of miracles, the Jewish people live on! And how did the eternal people survive Russian pogroms, secular enlightenment (kaskalah), the Holocaust, two World Wars and--gravest of all--American assimilation? With the guidance of exceptional rabbis--that's how. The essential biographies of twenty-two major rabbinical figures are assembled here in THE GREATEST RABBIS HALL OF FAME, a Who's Who of Outstanding American Rabbis.
