Essential Judaism: A Complete Guide to Beliefs, Customs & RitualsYou’ll find everything you need to know about being Jewish in this indispensable, revised and updated guide to the religious traditions, everyday practices, philosophical beliefs, and historical foundations of Judaism. What happens at a synagogue service? What are the rules for keeping kosher? How do I light the Hanukah candles? What is in the Hebrew Bible? What do the Jewish holidays signify? What should I be teaching my children about being Jewish? With the first edition of Essential Judaism, George Robinson offered the world the accessible compendium that he sought when he rediscovered his Jewish identity as an adult. In his “ambitious and all-inclusive” (New York Times Book Review) guide, Robinson illuminates the Jewish life cycle at every stage and lays out many fascinating aspects of the religion—the Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism, the evolution of Hasidism, and much more—while keeping a firm focus on the different paths to living a good Jewish life in today’s world. Now, a decade and a half later, Robinson has updated this valuable introductory text with information on topics including denominational shifts, same-sex marriage, the intermarriage debate, transgender Jews, the growth of anti-Semitism, and the changing role of women in worship, along with many other hotly debated topics in the contemporary Jewish world and beyond. The perfect gift for a Bar/Bat Mitzvah or anyone thinking about conversion—this is the ultimate companion for anyone interested in learning more about Judaism, the kind of book its readers will revisit over and over for years to come. |
From inside the book
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Page 15
... Jerusalem , only the priests could perform certain rituals , receiving sacrifices and making them . When that Temple was destroyed in 586 B.C.E. and the Jewish people were sent into exile in Babylonia , their leaders had to devise new ...
... Jerusalem , only the priests could perform certain rituals , receiving sacrifices and making them . When that Temple was destroyed in 586 B.C.E. and the Jewish people were sent into exile in Babylonia , their leaders had to devise new ...
Page 24
... Jerusalem who wore turbans to mark their awareness of the presence of the Almighty , a Jew who wears a tallit adds a sense of formality and solemnity to prayer . At the same time , wearing a tallit helps one to feel sanctified in the ...
... Jerusalem who wore turbans to mark their awareness of the presence of the Almighty , a Jew who wears a tallit adds a sense of formality and solemnity to prayer . At the same time , wearing a tallit helps one to feel sanctified in the ...
Page 30
... Jerusalem during the time it was standing . The great Torah sages of the Diaspora considered the study of these passages to serve as a substitute for the making of the offerings themselves , impossible since the destruction of the ...
... Jerusalem during the time it was standing . The great Torah sages of the Diaspora considered the study of these passages to serve as a substitute for the making of the offerings themselves , impossible since the destruction of the ...
Page 35
... Jerusalem . ( If you are in Jerusalem , you are supposed to face the Old City ; if you are in the Old City , you face the Temple Mount , site of the Temple . ) One is supposed to articulate each word when praying the silent Amidah ...
... Jerusalem . ( If you are in Jerusalem , you are supposed to face the Old City ; if you are in the Old City , you face the Temple Mount , site of the Temple . ) One is supposed to articulate each word when praying the silent Amidah ...
Page 37
... Jerusalem , the Levites , the priestly class , would recite a Psalm chosen for its appropriateness to the day of the week . As a memorial to the Temple , Orthodox Jews continue that practice . On Sundays , they recite Psalm 24 ; on ...
... Jerusalem , the Levites , the priestly class , would recite a Psalm chosen for its appropriateness to the day of the week . As a memorial to the Temple , Orthodox Jews continue that practice . On Sundays , they recite Psalm 24 ; on ...
Contents
Derash | 304 |
RABBINICAL WRITINGS | 310 |
O You Scribes and Pharisees | 319 |
How the Mishnah Works | 329 |
The First Great Academy | 337 |
How the Gemara Works | 343 |
A Page of Talmud | 350 |
CHAPTER 7 | 360 |
65 | |
CHAPTER 2 | 76 |
The High Holy Days | 92 |
CHAPTER 6 | 94 |
Sukkot | 101 |
Shemini Atzeret | 108 |
Tu bShevat | 115 |
Counting the Omer | 125 |
Tisha bAv | 131 |
CHAPTER 3 | 138 |
Brit Milah | 145 |
Pidyon HaBen | 151 |
BarBat Mitzvah | 157 |
Divorce | 170 |
Illness | 181 |
Unveiling and Yahrzeit | 191 |
Whos Counting? | 201 |
Why Observe? | 219 |
Opponents of Halakhah | 229 |
Gemilut KhasadimActs of Lovingkindness | 235 |
Tikkun OlamRepairing the World | 243 |
CHAPTER 5 | 257 |
The Torah | 264 |
and II Kings | 283 |
The KetuvimThe Writings | 289 |
Ezra and Nehemiah | 295 |
Sefer Yetzirah | 366 |
Early Kabbalah and the Ashkenazi Hasidim | 368 |
The Tree of Life | 375 |
Lurianic Kabbalah | 381 |
Hasidic Mysticism | 388 |
Gershom Scholem and the Study of Mysticism | 395 |
The Lasting Influence of Jewish Mysticism | 401 |
Maimonides c 1135 c E 1204 C E | 415 |
Judah HaLevi 1075 c e 1141 C E | 421 |
Franz Rosenzweig 1886 C E 1929 C E | 433 |
Abraham Joshua Heschel 1907 C E 1972 c E | 446 |
CHAPTER 9 | 458 |
The Jewish Question | 470 |
Herzl and His Successors | 483 |
The Evolution of AntiSemitism | 489 |
Exiles Return | 495 |
The Temptations of Assimilation | 501 |
SOME KEY DOCUMENTS | 505 |
Anniversary of the Zionist Movement | 515 |
Reconstructionism | 528 |
Orthodoxy | 534 |
APPENDIX 2 | 541 |
APPENDIX 3 | 551 |
HOW DO I KNOW ITS KOSHER? | 557 |
INDEX | 619 |
Other editions - View all
Essential Judaism: A Complete Guide to Beliefs, Customs & Rituals George Robinson No preview available - 2001 |
Common terms and phrases
Adonai Adonai Eloheinu Melekh Amidah Ashkenazi Babylonian Barukh biblical blessing brit milah called century C.E. ceremony Chapter Christian circumcision commandments congregations Conservative covenant death Deuteronomy Diaspora divorce Egypt ethical exile Exodus festival God's Haftarah halakhah halakhic Hanukah Hasidic Hebrew Bible holiday holy human Israel Israelites Jerusalem Jewish community Jewish law Jewish mysticism Jewish thought Judah Judaism Kabbalah Kaddish ketubah khametz Kohein kosher liturgy Maimonides marriage meal midrash Mishnah mitzvah mitzvot modern morning service Moses movement non-Jews Numbers offering one's Orthodox passage period Pesakh practice prayer prohibited prophet Psalms rabbis reading recited Reconstructionist Reform religious ritual Rosh Hashanah Sabbath sages Sanctuary says scholars Second Temple seder Sephardic Sh'ma Shabbat Shavuot Shemini Atzeret Shulkhan Arukh sidebar sukkah Sukkot synagogue tallit Talmud Tanakh tefillin tion Tisha b'Av Torah traditional traditionally observant Jews Tzedakah verses wear wife women word worship Yiddish Yom Kippur
Popular passages
Page 537 - The Land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here their spiritual, religious and national identity was formed. Here they achieved independence and created a culture of national and universal significance. Here they wrote and gave the Bible to the world.
Page 505 - We consider ourselves no longer a nation, but a religious community, and therefore expect neither a return to Palestine, nor a sacrificial worship under the sons of Aaron, nor the restoration of any of the laws concerning the Jewish state.
Page 505 - We reassert the doctrine of Judaism that the soul is immortal, grounding this belief on the divine nature of the human spirit, which forever finds bliss in righteousness and misery in wickedness. We reject, as ideas not rooted in Judaism, the beliefs both in bodily resurrection and in Gehenna and Eden ( Hell and Paradise) as abodes for ever-lasting punishment and reward.
Page 230 - We recognize in the Mosaic legislation a system of training the Jewish people for its mission during its national life in Palestine, and today we accept as binding only the moral laws and maintain only such ceremonies as elevate and sanctify our lives, but reject all such as are not adapted to the views and habits of modern civilization.
Page 537 - In the Second World War the Jewish people in Palestine made their full contribution to the struggle of the freedom-loving nations against the Nazi evil. The sacrifices of their soldiers and their war effort gained them the right to rank with the nations which founded the United Nations.
Page 96 - And it shall be a statute for ever unto you: in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and shall do no manner of work, the homeborn, or the stranger that sojourneth among you: for on this day shall atonement be made for you, to cleanse you; from all your sins shall ye be clean before the LORD.
Page 537 - Impelled by this historic association, Jews strove throughout the centuries to go back to the land of their fathers and regain their statehood.