Kategoria BISAC: Religion >> Judaism - Rituals & Practice

-An excellent overview of the history of Jewish mysticism from its early beginnings to contemporary Hasidism...scholarly and complex.-
--Library Journal

-An excellent work, clear and solidly documented by Joseph Dan on Gershom Scholem and on his work.-
--Notes Bibliographiques

-An excellent guide to Scholem's work.-
--Christian Century

The Bible is harshly opposed to participation by Israelites in the worship of other nations' gods. Was this strict command to the nation of Israel not to worship other deities extended to other nations? Or was it legitimate and acceptable for other nations to worship their own gods just as Israel worshipped the God of the Covenant?

In The Nations That Know Thee Not, Robert Goldenberg takes a historical look at attitudes towards foreign religions that are found in Israel's scriptures and in post-Biblical Judaism, and he traces an ambivalent attitude toward foreign religions as...

From the archetypical story of Abraham smashing his father's household idols to God's commandment at Mount Sinai that -You shall have no other gods before Me, - the prohibition in Judaism against the worship of idols has been unyielding. Idolatry is conceived as the antithesis to the worship of the invisible, unnamed, and articulate God.

The proscription against using images in worship sets Judaism, together with Islam, apart from all other religious systems. In Beyond the Graven Image, Lionel Kochan sets out to explain the reasons for this prohibition and to demonstrate...

From the archetypical story of Abraham smashing his father's household idols to God's commandment at Mount Sinai that -You shall have no other gods before Me, - the prohibition in Judaism against the worship of idols has been unyielding. Idolatry is conceived as the antithesis to the worship of the invisible, unnamed, and articulate God.

The proscription against using images in worship sets Judaism, together with Islam, apart from all other religious systems. In Beyond the Graven Image, Lionel Kochan sets out to explain the reasons for this prohibition and to demonstrate...

Over ten years ago, Benjamin Fain, a physicist now living in Tel Aviv, attempted to hold a conference on Jewish culture in Moscow, an effort that was foiled by the KGB. Many of the participants were eventually able to flee, most emigrating to Israel. In this book, these distinguished scholars and others from around the world present their personal and professional views of Jewish culture in the Soviet Union.
The book explores a wide range of topics, including underground literature, religious revival, and the rise of a national Jewish consciousness. Some writers claim that the...

Is Jewish identity flourishing or in decline? Community leaders and scholarly researchers continually seek to determine the attitudes, beliefs, and activities that best measure Jewish identity. At issue, according to these studies, is the very survival of the Jewish community itself. But such studies rarely ask what actually is being examined when we attempt to assess -Jewish identity- or any identity. Most tend to assume that identity is a preexisting, relatively fixed frame of reference reflecting shared cultural and historical experiences.

Drawing on recent work in such fields as...

Is Jewish identity flourishing or in decline? Community leaders and scholarly researchers continually seek to determine the attitudes, beliefs, and activities that best measure Jewish identity. At issue, according to these studies, is the very survival of the Jewish community itself. But such studies rarely ask what actually is being examined when we attempt to assess -Jewish identity- or any identity. Most tend to assume that identity is a preexisting, relatively fixed frame of reference reflecting shared cultural and historical experiences.

Drawing on recent work in such fields as...

A National Jewish Book Award Winner

Psychologist and folklorist Michele Klein draws upon many rich sources prayers, folktales, folk remedies, as well as biblical, rabbinical, and mystical literature to explore childbirth from a specifically Jewish context."