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. |
Contents
1 | |
5 | |
15 | |
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 |
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