Download or read book Origin s of Design in Nature written by Liz Swan and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-08-27 with total page 820 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Origin(s) of Design in Nature is a collection of over 40 articles from prominent researchers in the life, physical, and social sciences, medicine, and the philosophy of science that all address the philosophical and scientific question of how design emerged in the natural world. The volume offers a large variety of perspectives on the design debate including progressive accounts from artificial life, embryology, complexity, cosmology, theology and the philosophy of biology. This book is volume 23 of the series, Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology. www.springer.com/series/5775

Download or read book Sparks of Light written by Gideon Weitzman and published by Jason Aronson, Incorporated. This book was released on 1999-09-01 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author writes: "Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak HaCohen Kook (5635-5695/1865-1935) was one of the greatest Jewish leaders of recent history. He was steeped in Jewish knowledge of all kinds, a master of halacha, Talmud, and Jewish philosophy, and he also had a good knowledge of the general philosophy and science of his day." Rav Kook was also a prolific writer and complex thinker who developed a system of understanding the events that were happening to the Jewish people. It was a time of change, HerzI convened the Zionist Congress in Basel, irreligious Zionists were moving to Israel and establishing settlements and kibbutzim. There was a negative reaction from many religious leaders to the young men and women. Darwin's theory and Freud I s new science were gaining popularity and many Jews were drawn further away from a traditional lifestyle. Rav Kook was able to perceive the inner yearnings that accompanied these revolutionary changes. They represented a deep yearning within these young Jews for morality, equality, and justice. They realized that the world was not static but evolved and moved in a positive direction. Rav Kook embraced both Zionism and the young irreligious Zionists. He developed a philosophy that was based on the kabbalistic concept of fusion. The world appears divided; there is a break between heaven and earth, physical and spiritual, politics and religion. But at the heart of it all, everything is fused into a cohesive unit. This is true for the individual, the nation, and all of existence. Rav Kook set about publicizing his theories and spreading his teachings to young thinkers, both religious and secular. This represents the bulk of his voluminous writings. Rav Kook never wrote a book of commentary on the Torah, but he did create a lens through which we can perceive and better understand the Torah. That is the basis for this book.

Download or read book Essays on the Thought and Philosophy of Rabbi Kook written by Ezra Gellman and published by Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press. This book was released on 1991 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Each essay in this anthology is an analysis or evaluation of one or several aspects of the thought and philosophy of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, the first Chief Rabbi of Israel.

Download or read book The Kabbalah Reader written by Edward Hoffman and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 2010-04-13 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This comprehensive and accessible entrée into the world of Kabbalah covers 1,600 years of Jewish mystical thought and features a variety of thinkers—from the renowned to the obscure—unavailable in any other volume. It’s a fresh take on an ancient tradition compiled by Edward Hoffman, a psychologist and respected scholar of Judaism, who reveals how this supposedly esoteric material is relevant to a host of contemporary concerns, such as ethics, emotional health, intuition and creativity, meditation, social relations and leadership, and higher states of consciousness. Contributors include: Moses Chaim Luzzatto, Moses Cordovero, Abraham Abulafia, Maimonides, Nachmanides, The Maharal, Nachman of Breslov, The Baal Shem Tov, The Gaon of Vilna, The Netziv, The Ben Ish Chai, Yehudah Ashlag, Kalonymus Shapira, Baba Sali, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, Adin Steinsaltz, Zalman M. Schachter-Shalomi, Jonathan Sacks, and many others, along with excerpts from the Sefer Yetzirah, Sefer HaBahir, and Sefer HaZohar.

Download or read book Journey Together written by Sarah Hermelin and published by Urim Publications. This book was released on 2016-06-15 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Offering a model of self-improvement rooted in Jewish thought and practice, Journey Together explains the mystical system of counting the Omer—a Jewish practice of counting the days between the holidays of Passover and Pentecost—focusing on a different personality characteristic on each of the 49 days. The author illustrates how each trait can be improved with easy-to-grasp examples from the Bible as well as inspirational modern-day stories. Each chapter concludes with exercises that parents and children can carry out together to help strengthen the family bond. This guide serves to make the counting of the Omer a transformative experience for families who take the time to apply its insights and lessons into their lives.

Download or read book My Promised Land written by Ari Shavit and published by Random House. This book was released on 2013-11-19 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW AND ECONOMIST BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR “A deeply reported, deeply personal history of Zionism and Israel that does something few books even attempt: It balances the strength and weakness, the idealism and the brutality, the hope and the horror, that has always been at Zionism’s heart.”—Ezra Klein, The New York Times Winner of the Natan Book Award, the National Jewish Book Award, and the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award Ari Shavit’s riveting work, now updated with new material, draws on historical documents, interviews, and private diaries and letters, as well as his own family’s story, to create a narrative larger than the sum of its parts: both personal and of profound historical dimension. As he examines the complexities and contradictions of the Israeli condition, Shavit asks difficult but important questions: Why did Israel come to be? How did it come to be? Can it survive? Culminating with an analysis of the issues and threats that Israel is facing, My Promised Land uses the defining events of the past to shed new light on the present. Shavit’s analysis of Israeli history provides a landmark portrait of a small, vibrant country living on the edge, whose identity and presence play a crucial role in today’s global political landscape.

Download or read book Gems of Wisdom written by Michael Laitman and published by Laitman Kabbalah Publishers. This book was released on 2011-01-01 with total page 474 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a collection of quotes and excerpts from generations of great Kabbalists, including Rav Yehuda Ashlag, author of the Sulam [Ladder] commentary of The Book of Zohar. This compilation reveals the spiritual concepts of Kabbalah in every realm of human life, using poignant and thought-provoking passages with accurate references from authentic Kabbalistic sources as well as the greatest Kabbalists of all time. A student or a spiritual searcher can use this book as compass in their quest to find true spirituality. The quotes from Gems of Wisdom: words of the great Kabbalists from all generations will become an indispensable source book the reader will constantly revisit and utilize. It is a priceless gift to any person who is a kabbalah student or wishes to explore this age old wisdom.

Download or read book Jewish Spirituality written by Rabbi Lawrence Kushner and published by Turner Publishing Company. This book was released on 2011-11-16 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A window into the Jewish soul—written especially for Christians. “I invite you to explore with me some of the rich and varied expressions of the Jewish spiritual imagination. It is a tradition that may at times, for Christians, feel strangely familiar and will, for Christians and Jews, always challenge you to see yourself and your world through a new lens.” —from the Introduction Jewish spirituality is an approach to life that encourages us to become aware of God’s presence and purpose, even in unlikely places. “This world and everything in it is a manifestation of God’s presence,” says Rabbi Lawrence Kushner. “Our challenge and goal is to find it and then act in such a way as to help others find it too.” In this special book, Kushner guides Christians through the rich wisdom of Jewish spirituality. He tailors his unique style to address Christians’ questions, and, in doing so, opens new windows on their own faith. Jewish Spirituality is a window into the Jewish soul that people of all faiths can understand and enjoy. From the Talmud and Torah, to “repentence” (teshuva) and “repairing the world” (tikkun olam), Kushner shows all of us how we can use the fundamentals of Jewish spirituality to enrich our own lives.

Download or read book Orot Hateshuva written by Avrohom Kook and published by . This book was released on 2016-09-25 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rabbi Kook, the famous thinker of Israel, in his seminal essay on Teshuva.This is a copy of the first edition in paperback

Download or read book The Rabbi s Brain written by Andrew Newberg and published by Turner Publishing Company. This book was released on 2018-10-23 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The topic of “Neurotheology” has garnered increasing attention in the academic, religious, scientific, and popular worlds. However, there have been no attempts at exploring more specifically how Jewish religious thought and experience may intersect with neurotheology. The Rabbi’s Brain engages this groundbreaking area. Topics included relate to a neurotheological approach to the foundational beliefs that arise from the Torah and associated scriptures, Jewish learning, an exploration of the different elements of Judaism (i.e. reform, conservative, and orthodox), an exploration of specifically Jewish practices (i.e. Davening, Sabbath, Kosher), and a review of Jewish mysticism. The Rabbi’s Brain engages these topics in an easy to read style and integrates the scientific, religious, philosophical, and theological aspects of the emerging field of neurotheology. By reviewing the concepts in a stepwise, simple, yet thorough discussion, readers regardless of their background, will be able to understand the complexities and breadth of neurotheology from the Jewish perspective. More broadly, issues will include a review of the neurosciences and neuroscientific techniques; religious and spiritual experiences; theological development and analysis; liturgy and ritual; epistemology, philosophy, and ethics; and social implications, all from the Jewish perspective.

Download or read book Yearnings of the Soul written by Jonathan Garb and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2015-11-23 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jonathan Garb's "Yearnings of the Soul: Psychological Thought in Modern Kabbalah" is an original, path-breaking study of the renderings of the "heart and soul" in the works of major, minor, and obscure but important figures of modern Kabbalah. Garb has unearthed a treasure-trove of neglected figures and texts, bringing into dialogue their views on heart and soul with those found in other religious and secular authorities. There is no other study that comes close to the territory Garb covers or, for that matter, provides the historical and cultural context necessary for understanding the rise of such psychological renderings in the works of the modern Kabbalists. His analysis shows that any attempt to essentialize the multiple and varied understandings of heart and soul in Jewish mysticism is mistaken. Analyzing text and figure in context on a case-by-case basis Garb is able to provide comparison without being reductive. This is an invaluable contribution to the discipline that cements Garb as the leading scholar of modern Kabbalah.

Download or read book Binge and Sprint written by Naomi Joseph and published by BQB Publishing. This book was released on 2021-11-30 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Have you ever stood at the kitchen counter urgently devouring insane amounts of frozen, stale hot dog buns dipped alternatively in jelly and almond butter, while on high alert for approaching humans? After a lifetime of getting knocked to the ground by the same opponent, a Dark Voice, and then rising repeatedly while praying for a way out, Naomi Joseph wrote the rules of "Binge and Sprint:" Use cake as fortitude to steel yourself to plow ahead, and then keep moving, keep achieving, and never ever let the world see your suffering. Never idle, Joseph takes the reader on a four decade journey from childhood through college, marriage, buying a home, comparison, community, infertility, low self-worth, work, starting a business, keeping up with the Joneses, and caring for children and ailing parents, all while chained to her secret burden. Readers will understand their own darkness in the midst of "the good life" as the lid is blown off the hameful shroud of the taboo war with food. Poignant and hilarious, Josesph's journey will help the reader claim their power, and lean into their greatness as they incorporate the many lessons that brought her to recovery into their own lives.

Download or read book Rabbis of our Time written by Marek Čejka and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-10-16 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The term ‘rabbi’ predominantly denotes Jewish men qualified to interpret the Torah and apply halacha, or those entrusted with the religious leadership of a Jewish community. However, the role of the rabbi has been understood differently across the Jewish world. While in Israel they control legally powerful rabbinical courts and major religious political parties, in the Jewish communities of the Diaspora this role is often limited by legal regulations of individual countries. However, the significance of past and present rabbis and their religious and political influence endures across the world. Rabbis of Our Time provides a comprehensive overview of the most influential rabbinical authorities of Judaism in the 20th and 21st Century. Through focussing on the most theologically influential rabbis of the contemporary era and examining their political impact, it opens a broader discussion of the relationship between Judaism and politics. It looks at the various centres of current Judaism and Jewish thinking, especially the State of Israel and the USA, as well as locating rabbis in various time periods. Through interviews and extracts from religious texts and books authored by rabbis, readers will discover more about a range of rabbis, from those before the formation of Israel to the most famous Chief Rabbis of Israel, as well as those who did not reach the highest state religious functions, but influenced the relation between Judaism and Israel by other means. The rabbis selected represent all major contemporary streams of Judaism, from ultra-Orthodox/Haredi to Reform and Liberal currents, and together create a broader picture of the scope of contemporary Jewish thinking in a theological and political context. An extensive and detailed source of information on the varieties of Jewish thinking influencing contemporary Judaism and the modern State of Israel, this book is of interest to students and scholars of Jewish Studies, as well as Religion and Politics.

Download or read book Changing the World from the Inside Out written by David Jaffe and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 2016-10-18 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: WINNER OF THE 2016 JEWISH BOOK COUNCIL AWARD FOR CONTEMPORARY JEWISH LIFE AND PRACTICE An inspiring and accessible guide, drawn from Jewish wisdom, for building the inner qualities necessary to work effectively for social justice. The world needs changing—and you’re just the person to do it! It’s a matter of cultivating the inner resources you already have. If you are serious about working for social justice and change, this book will help you bring your most compassionate, wise, and courageous self to the job. Bringing positive social change to any system takes deep self-awareness, caring, determination, and long-term commitment. But polarization, the slow pace of change, and internal conflicts among activists and organizations often leads to burnout and discouragement among the very people needed to make a difference. Changing the World from the Inside Out distills centuries of Jewish wisdom about cultivating and refining the inner life into an accessible program for building the qualities necessary to accomplish sustainable change. Through explorations of deep motivation, inner-drive, and traits like trust and anger, this book engages the reader in a journey of self-development and transformation, demonstrating that sustainable activism is indeed a spiritual practice. Jaffe offers accessible and meaningful guidance for this journey—with exercises, contemplations, and discussion points that can be used individually or in a group.

Download or read book The Mystery of Love written by Marc Gafni and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2004-03 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Addresses the issues of love, passion, and sexuality, drawing on traditional Kabbalist texts to reveal ten spiritual guides to the creation of a loving and passionate existence.

Download or read book Fundamentalism written by Simon A. Wood and published by Univ of South Carolina Press. This book was released on 2014-05-26 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Essays considering how global fundamentalism influences our understanding of modern Christianity, Judaism, and Islam Thirty years after the Iranian Revolution and more than a decade since the events of 2001, the time is right to examine what the discourse on fundamentalism has achieved and where it might head from here. In this volume editors Simon A. Wood and David Harrington Watt offer eleven interdisciplinary perspectives framed by the debate between advocates and critics of the concept of fundamentalism that investigate it with regard to Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. The essays are integrated through engagement with a common selection of texts on fundamentalism and a common set of questions about the utility and disadvantages of the term, its varied application by scholars of particular groups, and the extent to which the term can encompass a cross-cultural set of religious responses to modernity. Although the notion of fundamentalism as a global phenomenon dates from around 1980, the term itself originated in North American Protestantism approximately six decades earlier and acquired pejorative connotations within five years of its invention. Since the early 1990s, however, many scholars have endorsed the view that the notion of fundamentalism—as relying on literalist interpretations of the scriptures, firm commitment to patriarchy, or refusal to confine religious matters to the private sphere—facilitates our understanding of modern religion by enabling us to identify and label structurally analogous developments in different religions. Critics of the term have identified problems with it, above all that the idea of global fundamentalism confuses more than it clarifies and unjustifiably overlooks, downplays, or homogenizes difference more than it identifies a genuine homogeny. The editor's rigorous exploration of both the usefulness and the limitations of the concept make it an excellent counterpoint to the many books that have a great deal to say about the former and very little to say about the latter. It will also serve as an ideal text for religious studies, history, and anthropology courses that explore the complex interface between religion and modernity as well as courses on theory and method in religious studies.

Download or read book Meir Kahane written by Shaul Magid and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2023-08-08 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The life and politics of an American Jewish activist who preached radical and violent means to Jewish survival Meir Kahane came of age amid the radical politics of the counterculture, becoming a militant voice of protest against Jewish liberalism. Kahane founded the Jewish Defense League in 1968, declaring that Jews must protect themselves by any means necessary. He immigrated to Israel in 1971, where he founded KACH, an ultranationalist and racist political party. He would die by assassination in 1990. Shaul Magid provides an in-depth look at this controversial figure, showing how the postwar American experience shaped his life and political thought. Magid sheds new light on Kahane’s radical political views, his critique of liberalism, and his use of the “grammar of race” as a tool to promote Jewish pride. He discusses Kahane’s theory of violence as a mechanism to assure Jewish safety, and traces how his Zionism evolved from a fervent support of Israel to a belief that the Zionist project had failed. Magid examines how tradition and classical Jewish texts profoundly influenced Kahane’s thought later in life, and argues that Kahane’s enduring legacy lies not in his Israeli career but in the challenge he posed to the liberalism and assimilatory project of the postwar American Jewish establishment. This incisive book shows how Kahane was a quintessentially American figure, one who adopted the radicalism of the militant Left as a tenet of Jewish survival.