Essential Judaism
A Complete Guide to Beliefs, Customs & Rituals
1st Edition
Published on 30. June 2008
672 pages
978-1-4391-1752-1 (ISBN)
Description
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.
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.
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Person
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.
Content
Contents
Acknowledgments
A note to the reader
Introduction
Chapter 1
Service of the Heart:
Prayer and Ritual
The Jewish Idea of Prayer
The Names of God
The Role of the Rabbi
The Blessings of Daily Life
An Assortment of Blessings
The Daily Services
Before the Morning Service
Tallit and Tzitzit
Tefillin
Shakharit/The Morning Service
The Basic Structure of the Service
Covering the Head
Kaddish
The Sh'ma
The Amidah
Minkhah/The Afternoon Service
Ma'ariv/The Evening Service
The Shabbat Services
Kabbalat Shabbat/Welcoming the Sabbath and Ma'ariv
Shakharit/Musaf
Minkhah and Havdalah
Festival Services
The Synagogue
Liturgical Music
Home Rituals
Mezuzah
The Evolution of the Prayer Book
The Rise of Denominations
Reform Judaism
Conservative Judaism
Reconstructionism
Modern Orthodox
Ba'al Teshuvah
Havurah
Jewish Renewal Movement
Gay and Lesbian Synagogues
Women's Prayer Groups
Shul Etiquette
The Chosen People?
Chapter 2
Rejoice in Your Festivals:
The Jewish Year
Sacred Time -- The Jewish Calendar
Rosh Khodesh
The Jewish Calendar
The Festivals
Shabbat
The Thirty-nine Categories of Forbidden Work
Special Sabbaths
The High Holy Days
Elul, a Month of Teshuvah
Rosh Hashanah
Days of Repentance
Yom Kippur
Sukkot
The Sukkah
Building the Sukkah
The Four Species
f0 Hoshanah Rabbah/The Great Hosannah
Shemini Atzeret
Simkhat Torah
Hanukah
Historical Roots
Home Observance
Tu b'Shevat
Purim
Pesakh
Exile and Home
The Bread of Affliction
The Seder
The Meaning of the Seder
The Four Questions
Counting the Omer
Shavuot
Yom ha-Shoah, Yom ha-Atzma'ut, Yom ha-Zikaron, and Yom Yerushalayim
Minor Fast Days
Tisha b'Av
Special Readings for the Festivals
Chapter 3
Birth to Death:
A Jewish Life Cycle
Birth
Abortion
Adoption
Mamzerut
Brit Milah
Brit Habat -- the Baby-Naming Ceremony
Pidyon Ha-Ben
Parent and Child
Jewish Education
Bar/Bat Mitzvah
Confirmation
Engagement and Marriage
The Jewish View of Marriage
The Ketubah
Engagement
Before the Ceremony
The Wedding Ceremony
Levirate Marriage
Intermarriage
Prohibited Marriages
Divorce
Conversion to Judaism
The Noahide Laws
Who Is a Jew?
Should Judaism Proselytize?
Leaving the Fold
Illness
Aging
Ethical Wills
Death and Mourning
Defiance and Acceptance
Dying
Right to Die? Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide
Preparations for Burial
Burial
Mourning
Unveiling and Yahrzeit
The Afterlife
Chapter 4
613 Ways:
Living a Jewish Life
The Mitzvot
Gematria: Making the Letters Add Up
Pikuakh Nefesh: To Save a Life
Who's Counting?
The 613 Mitzvot (According to Maimonides)
Why Observe?
Mind, Body, and Soul
Halakhah: Mitzvot into Law
Joseph Caro and the Shulkhan Arukh
Opponents of Halakhah
The Sadducees and the Karaites
Reform Judaism
Conservative Judaism
Reconstructionism
Reactions Within Orthodoxy
The Mitzvot in Daily Life
Gemilut Khasadim/Acts of Lovingkindness
The Evil Tongue: Lashon Hara
Tzedakah/Doing Justice
The Ladder of Charity
Ethics and Justice
Laws Governing Loans
Capital Punishment
"An Eye for an Eye"
Tikkun Olam/Repairing the World
Sexuality
The Mikveh
Kashrut/Dietary Laws
Kosher and Treif
Meat and Dairy
Buying Kosher
Kosher Wine
Taking Khallah
Match But Don't Mix: Sha'atnez
Chapter 5
In the Beginning:
The Hebrew Bible
The Tanakh
The Books of the Hebrew Bible
The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha
What Is in the Hebrew Bible?
The Torah
The Parashiyot and the Haftarot
Genesis/Bereishit
Exodus/Shemot
Leviticus/Vayikra
Numbers/Bamidbar
Deuteronomy/Devarim
Biblical Measurements
Making the Text Sing: Cantillation
Torah Comes First
The Nevi'im/The Prophets
Joshua
Judges
I and II Samuel
I and II Kings
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Ezekiel
The Twelve Minor Prophets
The Role of the Prophets
The Ketuvim/The Writings
Tehillim/The Psalms
Reading the Psalms
Proverbs
Job
Shir ha-Shirim/Song of Songs
Ruth
Lamentations
Kohelet/Ecclesiastes
Esther
Daniel
Ezra and Nehemiah
I and II Chronicles
Reading the Book
Some Key Bible Commentators
Peshat
Derash
Remez
Sod
Who Wrote the Hebrew Bible?
Chapter 6
The Rabbis Said:
The Talmud and Other
Rabbinical Writings<>
Roots of Rabbinic Judaism
From the Pairs to the Tannaim
Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Torah
"O You Scribes and Pharisees!"
Tragedy, Dispersion, and the Writing of the Mishnah
What Is in the Mishnah?
What's in the Mishnah and the Talmud: Primary Subject
Matter of the Tractates and Where They Appear
How the Mishnah Works
An Example from the Mishnah
Tosefta and Baraita
Gemara: The Task Continues
A Time Line of Talmudic Scholars
Yavneh: The First Great Academy
Some Key Figures in Rabbinic Judaism
Halakhah and Aggadah
How the Gemara Works
Palestinian Talmud versus Babylonian Talmud
The Later Commentators
Proliferation and Persecution
A Page of Talmud
Modern Talmudic Scholarship
How to Study Talmud
Daf Yomi
Midrash
Some Important Midrashic Texts
Chapter 7
Jewish Mysticism:
Emanations of the Eternal
What Is Mysticism?
The Chariot and the Chambers: Ancient Jewish Mysticism
The Mysteries of Creation: Sefer Yetzirah
Ten Sefirot Twice Over: Early Kabbalah and the Ashkenazi Hasidim
Kabbalah in Spain
Splendor: The Zohar
The Tree of Life
The Star of David
The Lion Speaks: Lurianic Kabbalah
The False Messiah: Shabbateanism
Hasidic Mysticism
Some Other Key Figures in Jewish Mysticism
Kabbalah in the Twentieth Century
Rabbi Kook
Gershom Scholem and the Study of Mysticism
Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and the Jewish Renewal Movement
Meditation
The Lasting Influence of Jewish Mysticism
How to Study Kabbalah
Chapter 8
The Philosophers:
The Continuing Evolution
of Jewish Thought
Rabbis versus Philosophers
Philo Judaeus (20 B.C.E.-50 C.E.)
From the Writings of Philo
Saadiah Gaon (882 C.E.-942 C.E.)
From the Writings of Saadiah Gaon
Maimonides (c. 1135 C.E.-1204 C.E.)
13 Principles of the Jewish Faith
From the Writings of Maimonides
Judah HaLevi (1075 C.E.-1141 C.E.)
From the Writings of Judah HaLevi
Baruch Spinoza (1632 C.E.-1677 C.E.)
From the Writings of Baruch Spinoza
Moses Mendelssohn (1729 C.E.-1786 C.E.)
From the Writings of Moses Mendelssohn
Franz Rosenzweig (1886 C.E.-1929 C.E.)
Rosenzweig and Buber Translate Torah
From the Writings of Franz Rosenzweig
Martin Buber (1878 C.E.-1965 C.E.)
From the Writings of Martin Buber
Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907 C.E.-1972 C.E.)
From the Writings of Abraham Joshua Heschel
Joseph Soloveitchik (1903 C.E.-1993 C.E.)
From the Writings of Joseph Soloveitchik
Emmanuel Levinas (1906 C.E.-1995 C.E.)
From the Writings of Emmanuel Levinas
Chapter 9
Beyond the Rabbis:
How Judaism Got
Where It Is Today
The Jews in the East
Sworn Enemies: Hasidim and Mitnagdim
"Why Do They Dress Like That?"
Enlightenment and Emancipation
The Jewish Question
Sworn Enemies: Reform and Orthodox
Sworn Enemies: The Rabbis and the Haskalah
Yiddish: The "Mother Tongue"
Ladino
The Zionists
Eliezer Ben-Yehuda
Herzl and His Successors
The Evolution of Anti-Semitism
Sifting Through the Ashes
Exiles' Return
Feminism Remakes Jewish Theology
The Temptations of Assimilation
Appendix 1
Some Key Documents of
Contemporary Jewish Belief
Reform Judaism
The Pittsburgh Platform, 1885
The Columbus Platform, 1937
A Centenary Perspective, 1976
The Doral Country Club Resolution, 1997?100th
Anniversary of the Zionist Movement
Conservative Judaism
On Changes in Judaism -- Zecharias Frankel
The Ideal Conservative Jew: Eight Behavioral Expectations -- Rabbi Jerome M. Epstein
Reconstructionism
Who Is a Reconstructionist Jew?
Orthodoxy
The Orthodox Jewish Congregational Union of America
Founding Program of Agudat Israel (May 1912)
Zionism
The Basel Program -- Passed by the First Zionist Congress
(1897)
The Balfour Declaration
Declaration of Israel's Independence, 1948
Appendix 2
A Time Line of Major Events
Appendix 3
Where the Jews Are Today
Appendix 4
Jewish Holidays, 1999-2006
Appendix 5
How Do I Know It's Kosher?
An Orthodox Union Kosher Primer<>
Glossary
Sources and Resources:
A Bibliography
Index
