Download or read book The Three Blessings written by Yoel Kahn and published by OUP USA. This book was released on 2011-01-20 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the traditional Jewish liturgy, a man thanks God daily for not having been made a gentile, a woman, or a slave. Yoel Kahn traces the history of this prayer from its extra-Jewish origins to the present, demonstrating how different generations and communities understood the significance of these words.Marginalized and persecuted groups used this prayer to mark the boundary between "us" and "them," affirming their own identity and sense of purpose. After the medieval Church seized and burned books it considered offensive, new, coded formulations of the three blessings emerged as forms of spiritual resistance. Book owners voluntarily expurgated the passage to save the books from being destroyed, creating new language and meaning while seeking to preserve the structure and message of the received tradition. During the Renaissance, Jewish women defied their rabbis and declared their gratitude at being "made a woman and not a man." And, as Jewish emancipation began in the nineteenth century, Jews again had to balance fealty to historical practice with their place in the world. Seeking to be recognized as modern and European, early modern Jews rewrote the liturgy to suit modern sensibilities and identified themselves with the Christian West against the historical pagan and the uncivilized infidel.The Three Blessings is an insightful and wide-ranging study of one of the most controversial Jewish prayers, showing its constantly evolving language, usage, and interpretation over the past 2,000 years.

Download or read book Rites and Passages written by Jay R. Berkovitz and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2010-08-03 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In September 1791, two years after the Revolution, French Jews were granted full rights of citizenship. Scholarship has traditionally focused on this turning point of emancipation while often overlooking much of what came before. In Rites and Passages, Jay R. Berkovitz argues that no serious treatment of Jewish emancipation can ignore the cultural history of the Jews during the ancien régime. It was during the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that several lasting paradigms emerged within the Jewish community—including the distinction between rural and urban communities, the formation of a strong lay leadership, heightened divisions between popular and elite religion, and the strain between local and regional identities. Each of these developments reflected the growing tension between tradition and modernity before the tumultuous events of the French Revolution. Rites and Passages emphasizes the resilience of religious tradition during periods of social and political turbulence. Viewing French Jewish history through the lens of ritual, Berkovitz describes the struggles of the French Jewish minority to maintain its cultural distinctiveness while also participating in the larger social and economic matrix. In the ancien régime, ritual systems were a formative element in the traditional worldview and served as a crucial repository of memories and values. After the Revolution, ritual signaled changes in the way Jews related to the state, French society, and French culture. In the cities especially, ritual assumed a performative function that dramatized the epoch-making changes of the day. The terms and concepts of the Jewish religious tradition thus remained central to the discourse of modernization and played a powerful role in helping French Jews interpret the diverse meanings and implications of emancipation. Introducing new and previously unused primary sources, Rites and Passages offers a fresh perspective on the dynamic relationship between tradition and modernity.

Download or read book Communicating the Infinite written by Naftali Loewenthal and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1990-05-31 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the end of the eighteenth century the hasidic movement was facing an internal crisis: to what extent should the teachings of Baal Shem Tov and Maggid of Mezritch, with their implicit spiritual demands, be transmitted to the rank-and-file of the movement? Previously these teachings had been reserved for a small elite. It was at this point that the Habad school emerged with a communication ethos encouraging the transmission of esoteric to the broad reaches of the Jewish world. Communicating the Infinite explores the first two generations of the Habad school under R. Shneur Zalman of Liadi and his son R. Dov Ber and examines its early opponents. Beginning with the different levels of communication in the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov and the Maggid and his disciples, Naftali Loewenthal traces the unfolding of the dialectic between the urge to transmit esoteric ideas and a powerful inner restraint. Gradually R. Shneur Zalman came to the fore as the prime exponent of the communication ethos. Loewenthal follows the development of his discourses up to the time of his death, when R. Dov Ber and R. Aaron Halevi Horowitz formed their respective "Lubavitch" and "Staroselye" schools. The author continues with a detailed examination of the teachings of R. Dov Ber, an inspired mystic. Central in his thought was the esoteric concept of self-abnegation, bitul, yet this combined with the quest to communicate hasidic teachings to every level of society, including women. From the late eighteenth century onwards, the main problem for the Jewish world was posed by the fall of the walls of the social and political ghetto. Generally, the response was either to secularize, or abandon altogether, traditional Judaism or to retreat from the threatening modern world into enclave religiosity; by stressing communication, the Habad school opened the way for a middle range response that was neither a retreat into elitism nor an abandonment of tradition. Based on years of research from Hebrew and Yiddish primary source materials, Communicating the Infinite is a work of importance not only to specialists of Judaic studies but also to historians and sociologists.

Download or read book City of promises a history of the jews of New York written by Deborah Dash Moore and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2012-09-10 with total page 1154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York Jews, so visible and integral to the culture, economy and politics of America's greatest city, has eluded the grasp of historians for decades. Surprisingly, no comprehensive history of New York Jews has ever been written. City of Promises: The History of the Jews in New York, a three volume set of original research, pioneers a path-breaking interpretation of a Jewish urban community at once the largest in Jewish history and most important in the modern world.

Download or read book Shalom Shar abi and the Kabbalists of Beit El written by Pinchas Giller and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2008-02-19 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Jerusalem kabbalists of the Beit El Yeshivah are the most influential school of kabbalah in modernity. The school is associated with the writings and personality of a charismatic eighteenth-century Yemenite Rabbi, Shalom Shar'abi, considered by his acolytes to be divinely inspired by the prophet Elijah. Shar'abi initiated what is still the most active school of mysticism in contemporary Middle Eastern Jewry. Today, this meditative tradition is rising in popularity not only in Jerusalem, but throughout the Jewish World. Pinchas Giller examines the characteristic mystical practices of the Beit El School. The dominant practice is that of ritual prayer with mystical "intentions," or kavvanot. The kavvanot themselves are the product of thousands of years of development and incorporate many traditions and bodies of lore. Giller examines the archaeology of the kavvanot literature, the principle aspect of which is the meditation on God's sacred names while reciting prayers, the development of particular rituals, and the innovative mystical and devotional practices of the Beit El kabbalists.

Download or read book Haven of Liberty written by Howard B. Rock and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2015-01-08 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Part 1 of a three part series, City of promises : a history of the Jews of New York, Deborah Dash Moore, general editor.

Download or read book Emerging Metropolis written by Annie Polland and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2015-01-08 with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Part 2 of a three part series, City of promises : a history of the Jews of New York, Deborah Dash Moore, general editor.

Download or read book Mishkan T filah written by Central Conference of American Rabbis/CCAR Press and published by CCAR Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Law s Dominion written by Jay R. Berkovitz and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2019-11-26 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Law’s Dominion, Jay Berkovitz offers a novel approach to the history of early modern Jewry. Set in the city of Metz, on the Moselle river, this study of a vibrant prerevolutionary community draws on a wide spectrum of legal sources that tell a story about community, religion, and family that has not been told before. Focusing on the community’s leadership, public institutions, and judiciary, this study challenges the assumption that Jewish life was in a steady state of decline before the French Revolution. To the contrary, the evidence reveals a robust community that integrated religious values and civic consciousness, interacted with French society, and showed remarkable signs of collaboration between Jewish law and the French judicial system. In Law’s Dominion, Jay Berkovitz has gathered and meticulously mined a dazzling array of rich and complex rabbinic texts and records from Western Europe during the early modern period, including the pinkas of the rabbinic court of Metz that he previously rescued from oblivion. What emerges is a remarkably fresh depiction and incisive comparative treatment of central aspects of Jewish law, religion and family, which will have far-reaching ramifications for all future studies in these disciplines. -Ephraim Kanarfogel, E. Billi Ivry University Professor of Jewish History, Literature, and Law at Yeshiva University

Download or read book Gender Judaism and Bourgeois Culture in Germany 1800 1870 written by Benjamin Maria Baader and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2006-06-14 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Baader examines changes in practices of prayer and synagogue worship, rabbinic writings that encouraged men to cultivate a Judaism shaped by feminine values, the transformation of exclusively male philanthropic organizations into modern voluntary organizations in which men and women participated, and the new roles assumed by women as educators, activists, and religious writers. By documenting the expansion of women's spaces and women's roles in bourgeoisie Judaism and tracing the feminization of Jewish men's religious practices, Baader provides fresh insights into the gender organization of traditional Jewish culture and modern German middle-class society."--BOOK JACKET.

Download or read book Protocols of Justice 2 vol set written by Jay R. Berkovitz and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2014-10-13 with total page 1330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the Jordan Schnitzer Award in the category of Modern Jewish History. This award, the highest honor the Association for Jewish Studies bestows on scholarship, was established in 2008 by the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation to honor scholars whose work embodies the best in the field: rigorous research, theoretical sophistication, innovative methodology, and excellent writing. Presented here to the public for the first time, the Pinkas of the Metz Beit Din is the official register of civil cases that came before the Metz rabbinic court in the two decades prior to the French Revolution. Brimming with details of commercial transactions, inheritance disputes, women’s roles in economic life, and the interplay between French law and Jewish law, the Metz Pinkas offers remarkable evidence of the engagement of Jews with the surrounding society and culture. The two volumes of Protocols of Justice comprise the complete text of the Metz Pinkas Beit Din, which is fully annotated by the author, and a thorough analysis of its significance for history and law at the threshold of modernity. Through his painstaking and path-breaking treatment of this incredibly nuanced and rich text, Jay Berkovitz has placed before academics and all other interested readers a heretofore untapped resource of vast importance. His insightful and extensive introductory monograph beautifully sets the stage for scholars in a wide array of fields to mine this material, which will undoubtedly yield significant new results in the history of Jewish and non-Jewish society in eighteenth-century Europe and beyond. Ephraim Kanarfogel, E. Billi Ivry University Professor of Jewish History, Literature and Law, Yeshiva University Protocols of Justice is a scholarly tour de force. Jay Berkovitz has not only brought to life a type of source that has been all but ignored in the study of Jewish life in Europe in the early modern period but offers a rich introduction that places the material in its historical context. This is a book that will stand the test of time and is a must for academic libraries. Edward Fram, Department of Jewish History, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev "Author Jay Berkovitz, Professor and Chair of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has painstakingly transcribed the pinkas, which provides fascinating and new insights in the lives of the Jews of Metz. Through his work, Berkovitz has opened a manuscript long gathering dust in the YIVO archives, brought it to light, and created an invaluable resource for scholars." Ben Rothke, The Times of Israel

Download or read book The Synagogue in America written by Marc Lee Raphael and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2011-04-18 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chronicles the history of the Jewish synagogue in America over the course of three centuries, discussing its changing role in the American Jewish community.

Download or read book The Golden Age Shtetl written by Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2015-08-25 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Neither a comprehensive history of Eastern European Jewish life or the shtetl, Petrovsky-Shtern, professor of Jewish Studies at Northwestern University, focuses on three provinces Volhynia, Podolia, and Kiev of the then Russian Empire during what he deems the golden age period, 1790 - 1840, when the shtetl was "the unique habitat of some 80 percent of East European Jews."

Download or read book Teaching Tefilah written by Behrman House and published by Behrman House, Inc. This book was released on 2005-06 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Parts I through IV of Teaching Tefilah contain fifteen chapters, each dealing with a section of the worship service or a topic related to prayer. Part V, new in this expanded revised edition, contains six new essays reflecting on recent trends in Jewish worship.

Download or read book Bar Mitzvah written by Michael Hilton and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2014-01-01 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Jewish coming-of-age ceremony of bar mitzvah was first recorded in thirteenth-century France, where it took the form of a simple statement by the father that he was no longer responsible for his thirteen-year-old son. Today, bar mitzvah for boys and bat mitzvah for girls are more popular than at any time in history and are sometimes accompanied by lavish celebrations. How did bar mitzvah develop over the centuries from an obscure legal ritual into a core component of Judaism? How did it capture the imagination of even non-Jewish youth? Bar Mitzvah, A History is a comprehensive account of the ceremonies and celebrations for both boys and girls. A cultural anthropology informed by rabbinic knowledge, it explores the origins and development of the most important coming-of-age milestone in Judaism. Rabbi Michael Hilton has sought out every reference to bar mitzvah in the Bible, the Talmud, and numerous other Jewish texts spanning several centuries, extracting a fascinating miscellany of information, stories, and commentary.

Download or read book To Pray as a Jew written by Hayim H. Donin and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2019-08-13 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A distinguished guide to Jewish prayer Why do Jews pray? What is the role of prayer in their lives as moral and ethical beings? From the simplest details of how to comport oneself on entering a synagogue to the most profound and moving comments on the prayers themselves, Rabbi Hayim Halevy Donin guides readers of To Pray as a Jew through the entire prescribed course of Jewish liturgy, passage by passage, ritual by ritual, in this handsome and indispensable guide to Jewish prayer. Unexcelled for beginners as well as the religiously observant, To Pray as a Jew is intended to show the way, to enlighten, and hopefully to inspire.

Download or read book Girls of Liberty written by Margalit Shilo and published by Brandeis University Press. This book was released on 2016-04-05 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of Zionist women's struggle for suffrage within the complex political and religious context of the Yishuv