Judaism Theology

Joseph (Yossel) Green was a college student who was sure he knew everything - including that the Divine has no control over the world - until the day when his zaidy asked him to elaborate. Conversations with Zaidy is a journey through the deepest fundamentals of Judaism, framed as a conversation between a grandfather and grandson exploring various common questions that people have about belief in God.

This audiobook explains why Gentiles have never been bound by kosher food laws, Jewish temple rituals, or the Saturday Sabbath.

The idea of a distinctive Messiah, with a specific role, was not definitively established across all the Jewish movements of the Second Temple era. Some groups expected multiple messiahs, and some did not expect one at all. Our focus is on the topic of the Messiah and how different groups understood this office. We can draw some understanding regarding an expectation of a Messiah. The Messiah is generally understood to be a person who at the end of history or the present world order will bring salvation to Israel.

God is not boring. He is not dull, dry, nor bland. Yet many have failed to see this. What if the scriptures reveal a God who thinks and acts outside of the box? What if the God of the Bible does things that are odd to our finite human minds? This book explores the lesser known aspects of God's character that might offend your intellect while intriguing your spirit. Be invited to go on this journey of discovering The Wild, Weird and Wonderful Ways of Yahweh.

Peter Menkin of The Church of England Newspaper conducted significant interviews with three Rabbis on the topic of religious education. These interviews are unique due to the new success of Internet education and its use in Jewish learning and the teaching of the Torah, as well as Orthodox Jewish adult education.

Mystics Magazine: Jewish Mystical Theology - A Conversation with Rabbi Simeon.

The destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem in 586 BCE, and the Babylonian exile that followed, could have spelled the end of Israelite identity. But the return of exiles, first under Zerubbabel, and again under Ezra and Nehemiah a generation later, resurrected Isra-elite identity and opened a new chapter in the history of Israel.

Is it possible to stay hopeful—and to keep a sense of humor—while your deepest desire is threatened? When you're falsely accused? When people you trust advise you to hide your heritage? Melanie Herz Promecene, who faced each of those challenges while trying to adopt a child, is walking proof that the answer is yes. In this staggeringly honest, often hilarious, always hopeful memoir, Promecene takes listeners with her through the terror of 9/11 in New York, the floods of Hurricane Harvey in Houston, the winding streets of Beijing, and a beautiful day in Florence.

In 2006, I was attending several week-long classes at the Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning and Leadership in Chicago. One of the classes was titled “Who is a Jew?” and was taught by my doctoral advisor, Rabbi Dr. Byron Sherwin, of blessed memory. The course discussed biblical, rabbinic, medieval, and modern perspectives on the question. As Rabbi Sherwin was accustomed to doing, he typically included unusual cases for us to consider. Decades before, a student at the Spertus Institute had stirred some controversy.

Samuel Usque in The Consolations for the Tribulations of Israel examines the trials and misfortunes of the Jewish people in an effort to both comfort and encourage Anusim (forced or coerced converts to Christianity). For Usque, in the context of his audience, “history” serves to alleviate their pain, to convince them of the reasons for their current predicament, and to convince them that an immanent redemption was soon to be realized. The Consolations have often proven inaccessible to many readers. This work focuses on providing a review of the key concepts.

Why should any Jew in their right mind wish to consider or perhaps reconsider, Christianity from a different vantage point? It is a fair question. There are potentially many reasons. Intellectual honesty is an important one. This book seeks to explore alternative approaches to Christianity that permit Jews to consider it as something else besides idolatry without abandoning traditional Jewish theology.

The study of demons is a complex topic, as it taps into the most supernatural aspects of the monotheistic traditions. These mysterious beings have sparked countless legends, from tales about their origin, to perspectives that claim they can take hold of human consciousness and bodies. The focus of this audiobook is the nature of demonology and demon possession in the time leading up to the second temple era. The period of the second temple was a time of turmoil, with competing revelations and perspectives.

Of all the Jewish thinkers that arose in the 20th century, none stands out as revolutionary and as controversial as Mordecai Kaplan. Kaplan was paradoxical. Despite his commitment to Jewish life as generally recognizable to traditionally oriented Jews, his theological predilections were such that the fundamental nature of Jewish religious identity was transformed in his reconstruction of Judaism. While Kaplan was vilified by many Orthodox and finally excommunicated by the rabbis of Agudath Israel, not all his right of center critics were ready to dismiss him completely.

In traditional Judaism, the revelation of the Torah at Sinai was a miraculous event. It is the foundational event of the Jewish people as a nation. The rabbis perceived God's continued involvement in creation, but also saw limitations on how divine intervention functioned in the realm of Jewish law. Discover the fascinating manner in which Torah and prophecy were understood and how each had its proper domain.

In another of the ongoing series with Anglican and Christian poets this religion writer chose to interview Jewish poet and translator Peter Cole. One of his agents suggested a Jewish poet, though Ofer Ziv of Blue Flower Arts knew the series was made up of Christians and Anglicans. The mystic, poet, and secular Jewish married man of letters who is a scholar is reticent to use the word God in an interview, and even reticent to admit to a belief in the Almighty. Yet this religious and spiritual scholar and poet has a recent book of translations of works from the Kabbalah in the book titled The Poetry of Kabbalah: Mystical Verse from the Jewish Tradition.

Das Hohelied Salomos -- ein unvergänglicher Lobgesang auf die Liebe und die Schönheit und eine Poesie erotischer Wonnen.

Despite significant improvement in interfaith dialogue in some quarters between Christians and Jews, many Christians still maintain theological positions that are inimical to fundamental Jewish beliefs, and consequently, to the Jewish people. The essential perspective that sets the tone for Christian attitudes toward Jews and Judaism is their theological view of the Torah.

A profoundly and unexpectedly intimate, deeply affecting summing up of his life so far, from one of the most cherished moral voices of our time. The world's tireless ambassador of tolerance and justice has given us this luminous account of hope and despair, an exploration of the love, regrets, and abiding faith of a remarkable man.

Jewish identity is complicated because it entails religious, ethnic, cultural, linguistic, and national components. Each of these contributes to the identity of who is a Jew. This book surveys biblical and rabbinic views on what constitutes Jewish identity within traditional Judaism but also reviews the positions of Reform and Conservative Judaism.