Essential Judaism: A Complete Guide to Beliefs, Customs & Rituals

Front Cover
Simon and Schuster, Jun 30, 2008 - Religion - 672 pages
You’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.
 

Contents

APPENDIX
1
APPENDIX
5
The Role of the Rabbi
15
The Daily Services
22
The Shabbat Services
39
The Synagogue
46
Liturgical Music
47
The Evolution of the Prayer Book
53
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

Havurah
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
Copyright

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About the author (2008)

George Robinson is the author of the critically acclaimed Essential Judaism, as well as Essential Torah: A Complete Guide to the Five Books of Moses (2006). The recipient of a Simon Rockower Award for excellence in Jewish journalism from the American Jewish Press Association, Robinson is a senior writer for The Jewish Week, the largest Jewish newspaper in North America. He is a contributor to the new edition of Encyclopedia Judaica and has written frequently for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Newsday, and Hadassah Magazine.

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