Tough Questions Jews Ask
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Rabbi Edward Feinstein is senior rabbi of Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, California. He is an instructor in the Ziegler Rabbinical School of American Jewish University and the Wexner Heritage Program. He is the author of Tough Questions Jews Ask: A Young Adult's Guide to Building a Jewish Life (Jewish Lights) and Capturing the Moon; and the editor of Jews and Judaism in the 21st Century: Human Responsibilities, the Presence of God, and the Future of the Covenant (Jewish Lights). He contributed to May God Remember: Memory and Memorializing in Judaism¿Yizkor; Who by Fire, Who by Water¿Un'taneh Tokef and We Have Sinned: Sin and Confession in Judaism¿Ashamnu and Al Chet (all Jewish Lights).
Content
Preface to the Second Edition vii
How to Read This Book ix
Acknowledgments xi
1. Am I Allowed to Ask? 1
Does It Make God Mad If We Ask Questions? 1
2. Who Believes in God Anymore? 6
Why Should I Believe in God? Why Should Anyone? 6
3. Do I Have to Go to Services? What Good Is Praying? 12
Does God Listen? Does God Answer? 12
If I Pray for Something, Will I Get It? 16
Do I Have to Go to a Synagogue to Pray? 19
4. Talking Snakes and Splitting Seas ¿ Is Any of That Stuff in the Bible True? 22
If God Talked to Everyone in the Bible, Why Doesn't God Talk to Anyone Today? 26
5. Why Does God Let Terrible Things Happen? 30
How Can Anyone Believe in God after the Holocaust? 34
6. What Is God Anyway? 39
What's That about God Being a Shepherd ¿ Are We Supposed to Be Sheep? 44
7. What's the Meaning of Life? Is That a Dumb Question? 49
8. No Cheeseburgers? No Going to the Mall on Saturday? Why Does Religion Need So Many Rules? 55
9. 2 T*Xt Or Not 2 T*Xt? 64
What¿s Wrong with Texting? What Harm Can It Do? 64
10. What Do You See When You Look at Me? 71
Can I Get a Tattoo or a Piercing and Still Be Jewish? 75
11. Why Are There So Many Different Religions? Aren¿t They All the Same? 79
What Is Christian Religion About? Is It Really
That Different from Our Religion? 82
Can a Person Be Half-Jewish, Half-Christian? 87
Why Won¿t Mom Let Us Have a Christmas Tree? 88
What about Islam? Can I Be Friends with Muslims? 90
12. Why Do People Hate Jews? 94
13. If We Live Here, Why Is Israel So Important? 99
14. Orthodox, Conservative, Reconstructionist, Reform¿Why Can¿t I Just Be Jewish? 104
15. What Happens to Us After We Die? 111
Do Jews Believe in Heaven and Hell? 111
16. What¿s the Messiah? 117
17. What¿s a Bar Mitzvah? What¿s a Bat Mitzvah?
Can¿t I Just Have a Birthday Party? 121
Why Do We Have to Keep Going to Hebrew School Even After We¿re Bar Mitzvah? 124
18. Why Is It So Important to Marry Someone Jewish? 128
Why Can¿t I Just Marry Someone I Love? 128
What If I Fall in Love with a Person Who Isn¿t Jewish but Wants to Be? Can Someone Join Up? 132
19. Why Be Jewish? 134
One More Thing 137
Suggestions for Further Reading 138