Judaism Books

Drawing on the unique historical sites, archives, expertise, and unquestioned authority of the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, "New York Times" bestselling authors Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon have created the first authorized and exhaustive graphic biography of Anne Frank. Their account is...

Discusses the two most important figures in early Jewish mythologies of evil, the fallen angels Azazel and Satanael.

Filled with original documents and vintage illustrations, this history chronicles the lives of the Hart family--a Jewish family who settled in predominantly Catholic Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, in 1761. Following Aaron Hart and his descendants for a century, this account not only bares the Jewish strugg...

For Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, Torah is at once the oldest and the most contemporary document directing human lives. In this highly acclaimed, five-volume parashat hashavua series, Rabbi Riskin helps each reader extract deeply personal, contemporary lessons from the traditional biblical biblical accounts....

Jews don't do football. Or, at least, they don't play it. This, at any rate, is the myth. Apart from the relatively recent appearance of high-profile foreign owners like Roman Abramovich, Randy Lerner and the Glazers, the Jewish impact on the game has appeared to be on the light side. Anthony Clavan...

The author applies the fields of gender studies, psychoanalysis, and literature to Talmudic texts. In opposition to the perception of Judaism as a legal system, he argues that the Talmud demands inner spiritual effort, to which the trait of humility and the refinement of the ego are central. This le...

The last several decades have seen the emergence of a remarkable phenomenon: a Jewish "rebirth" that is occurring throughout Africa. A variety of different ethnic groups proclaim that they are returning to long-forgotten Jewish roots, and African clans trace their lineage to the Lost Tribes of Israe...

An exploration of the relationships between rabbinic Judaism, Merkabah mysticism, and early Christianity through the "two powers in heaven" heresy.Table of ContentsPreface 1. Don Quixote and the Cross 2. Folly at the Heart of Preaching 3. Theology between Fragment and Form 4. Melting the Solid...

This book was first published in 2008. Judah Halevi's Book of the Kuzari is a defense of Judaism that has enjoyed an almost continuous transmission since its composition in the twelfth century. By surveying the activities of readers, commentators, copyists and printers for more than 700 years, Adam ...

This title offers concise and practical insight into the foundations of Kabbalah and explores how it aims to deepen our connection with the universe and contribute to the search for awareness and true enlightenment. It is a comprehensive illustrated reference guide to the origins, history, principle...

There are few texts as central to the mythology of Jewish literature as the Garden of Eden and its attendant motifs, yet the direct citation of this text within the Hebrew Bible is surprisingly rare. Even more conspicuous is the infrequent reference to creation, or to the archetypal first humans Ada...

Jewish women are legend: the expert mavens, the wack-job meshuggeners, the "your-business-is-my-business" yentas, and all the others keeping you well entertained, well loved, and well fed. We know them. Now we can become them. "Hot Mamalah: The Ultimate Guide for Every Woman of the Tribe" is the Jew...

Did ancient religions know religious individuality? How did it work in texts and practices related to texts? The creation of texts offered opportunities to express one 's own religious experience and shape one 's own religious personality within the boundaries of what is acceptable. Greek and Latin,...

In a groundbreaking exploration of modern Jewish literature, Neta Stahl examines the attitudes adopted by modern Jewish writers toward the figure of Jesus, the ultimate "Other" in medieval Jewish literature. Stahl argues that twentieth-century Jewish writers relocated Jesus from his traditional stat...

The first letter of John is commonly understood to contain no reference to Jesus's resurrection. Matthew D. Jensen argues that, far from this being absent from the theology of 1 John, the opening verses contain a key reference to the resurrection which undergirds the rest of the text and is bolstere...

The place and significance of Martin Luther in the long history of Christian anti-Jewish polemic has been and continues to be a contested issue. The literature on the subject is substantial, and diverse. While efforts to exonerate Luther as merely a man of his times who merely perpetuated what he ha...

For over one hundred years, the American Jewish community has built a remarkable network of institutions to help manage fundraising, education and social welfare initiatives. Virtually every one of these organizations is currently preoccupied with issues of leadership from succession planning to boa...

A fascinating discussion of the kabbalistic image of a nursing god, its historical context, and its theological implications.

A fascinating look at the lives, culture, and religious and ritual observance of three generations of Iranian Jewish women in the United States.

Finally, a book for kids ages eight through twelve that inspires a personal relationship with God. With good humor and clear examples, Dr. Ron Wolfson explains the biblical idea that every human being is made "in the image of God," and that people of any age have the potential to imitate God in orde...

This book investigates the re-discovery of "Maimonides' Guide of the Perplexed" by the Wissenschaft des Judentums movement in Germany of the nineteenth and beginning twentieth Germany. Since this movement is inseparably connected with religious reforms that took place at about the same time, it shal...

Menahem Mendel Schneerson (1902-1994) was the seventh and seemingly last Rebbe of the Habad-Lubavitch dynasty. Marked by conflicting tendencies, Schneerson was a radical messianic visionary who promoted a conservative political agenda, a reclusive contemplative who built a hasidic sect into an inter...

This book is a study of the making of collective memory within early Judaism in a seminal text of the Western canon. The book of Ecclesiastes and its speaker Qohelet are famous for saying that there is 'nothing new under the sun'. In the literary tradition of the modern West this has been taken as t...

For a group of people so limited in number, the Jewish community has had a huge impact on both global events and local politics. In this vibrant new look at Judaism, sociologist and cultural critic Keith Kahn-Harris provides a remarkably sharp insight into this history, and particularly the diverse ...

Stories of rape, murder, adultery, and conquest raise crucial ethical issues in the Hebrew Bible, and their interpretation guides many societies in forming their religious and moral convictions. From the sacrifice of Isaac to the adultery of David, narratives of sin engender vivid analysis and debat...

Stories of rape, murder, adultery, and conquest raise crucial ethical issues in the Hebrew Bible, and their interpretation guides many societies in forming their religious and moral convictions. From the sacrifice of Isaac to the adultery of David, narratives of sin engender vivid analysis and debat...

In the Jewish tradition, reading of the Torah follows a calendar cycle, with a specific portion assigned each week. Following on this ancient tradition, Torah Queeries brings together some of the world's leading rabbis, scholars, and writers to interpret the Torah through a "bent lens". This incredi...

Holy War in Judaism is the first book to consider how the concept of "holy war" disappeared from Jewish thought for almost 2000 years, only to reemerge with renewed vigor in modern times. Holy war, sanctioned or even commanded by God, is a common and recurring theme in the Hebrew Bible, but Rabbinic...

"Here you have a book that will help you, and an author whose views you can respect. More than this, you may safely trust her practical guidance, which is drawn from a long and varied experience of working alone and with others. She is a gifted teacher, perceptive and critical: perhaps more importan...

In 70 CE, the Jews were an agrarian and illiterate people living mostly in the Land of Israel and Mesopotamia. By 1492 the Jewish people had become a small group of literate urbanites specializing in crafts, trade, moneylending, and medicine in hundreds of places across the Old World, from Seville t...

This book examines Christian ethnographic writing about the Jews in early modern Europe, offering a systematic historical analysis of this literary genre and arguing its importance for better understanding both the period in general and Jewish-Christian relations in particular. The book focuses on n...

Hermann Cohen (1842-1918) is widely regarded as the most influential representative of twentieth-century Jewish philosophy, and his Religion of Reason is often described as one of the most significant attempts to wrestle with the competing claims of philosophy and the Jewish religious tradition sinc...

"Rediscovering the Beauty of Sabbath Rest"Our bodies and souls were "created "to rest--regularly--and when they do, we experience heightened productivity, improved health, and more meaningful relationships. In these pages you'll find wonderful stories of the senator's spiritual journey, as well as s...

Torah MiEtzion presents original, insightful essays on the Bible by the rabbis of Yeshivat Har Etzion, one of today's most vibrant and influential schools of modern biblical interpretation. Since its founding in Israel in 1968, Yeshivat Har Etzion has emphasized Bible study alongside Talmud study in...

What if the Hebrew Bible wasn't meant to be read as 'revelation'? What if it's not really about miracles or the afterlife - but about how to lead our lives in this world? The Philosophy of Hebrew Scripture proposes a new framework for reading the Bible. It shows how biblical authors used narrative a...

Writing with his usual grace and fluency, Jonathan Sacks moves beyond the tired arguments of militant atheists such as Dawkins and Hitchens, to explore how religion has always played a valuable part in human culture and far from being dismissed as redundant, must be allowed to temper and develop sci...

This collection of essays by Jewish, Christian and Muslim scholars underscores the significance of sustained and serious ethical, interreligious and interdisciplinary reflection on children. Essays in the first half of the volume discuss fundamental beliefs and practices within the religious traditi...

A Window on Their World provides a transcription of over 200 cases that were brought before the rabbinic court between 1773 and 1794records that reveal the workings of the Jewish community and the place of Jewish tradition on the eve of the Enlightenment.

In the tradition of Ayaan Hirsi Ali's "Infidel "and Carolyn Jessop's "Escape, Unorthodox "is a captivating story about a young woman determined to live her own life at any cost. The Satmar sect of Hasidic Judaism is as mysterious as it is intriguing to outsiders. In this arresting memoir, Deborah Fe...

The second volume of The Cambridge History of Jewish Philosophy provides a comprehensive overview of Jewish philosophy from the seventeenth century to the present day. Written by a distinguished group of experts in the field, its essays examine how Jewish thinking was modified in its encounter with ...