The first annotated English edition of a classic early-twentieth-century Yiddish memoir that vividly describes Jewish life in a small Eastern European town.Originally published in Warsaw in 1913, this beautifully written memoir offers a panoramic description of the author's experiences growing up in Kamieniec Litewski, a Polish shtetl connected with many important events in the history of nineteenth-century Eastern European Jewry. Although the way of life portrayed...

This is a pioneering study of the nineteenth century Hasidic movement as shown through the life of one of the most controversial and influential Hasidic leaders, Rabbi Israel Friedman of Ruzhin (1796-1850). The dramatic episodes of his life—including his involvement in the murder of Jewish informers, his imprisonment in Russia, his subsequent escape to Austria where he successfully reestablished his court—are echoed by the contradictory and highly critical opinions of his personal characte...

The first comprehensive history of the pietistic movement that shaped modern JudaismThis is the first comprehensive history of the pietistic movement that shaped modern Judaism. The book’s unique blend of intellectual, religious, and social history offers perspectives on the movement’s leaders as well as its followers, and demonstrates that, far from being a throwback to the Middle Ages, Hasidism is a product of modernity that forged its identity as a radical alter...

What does it mean to be a Jew? How does one begin to answer so extensive a question?In this insightful and completely updated tome, esteemed rabbi and bestselling author Joseph Telushkin helps answer the question of what it means to be a Jew, in the largest sense. Widely recognized as one of the most respected and indispensable reference books on Jewish life, culture, tradition, and religion, Jewish Literacy covers every essential aspect of the Jewish people and Judaism. In 352 sho...

Normon Solomon's succinct book is an ideal introduction to Judaism as a religion and way of life. Demonstrating the diverse nature and ethnic origin of those with the Jewish faith, Solomon explores how the Jewish religion has developed in the 2,000 years since the days of the Bible. This Very Short Introduction starts by outlining the basics of practical Judaism - its festivals, prayers, customs, and various sects - and goes on to consider how Judaism has responded to, and dealt w...

The story of one of the most compelling religious leaders of modern timesFrom the 1950s until his death in 1994, Menachem Mendel Schneerson—revered by his followers worldwide simply as the Rebbe—built the Lubavitcher movement from a relatively small sect within Hasidic Judaism into the powerful force in Jewish life that it is today. Swept away by his expectation that the Messiah was coming, he came to believe that he could deny death and change history.Samu...

When, if ever, should lying be permitted?If you've damaged a person's reputation unfairly, can the damage be undone?Is a person who sells weapons responsible for how those weapons are used?if the fetus is not a life, what is it? How, as an adult, can one carry out the command to honor one's parents when they make unreasonable demands?What are the nine biblical challenges a good person must meet?What do the great Jewish writings of the last 3,500 year...

The #1 New York Times –bestselling and Pulitzer Prize–winning author of This is My God continues to share his thoughts on Jewish faith and survival.Winner of the Jewish Book Council's Literary Achievement AwardHerman Wouk has ranged in his novels from the mighty narrative of The Caine Mutiny and the warm, intimate humor of Marjorie Mornings...

Historically, Jews have thought of themselves in terms of the biblical phrase, 'The people that dwells alone.' In the current global environment, this is dangerous. It leads to the isolation of Jews, Judaism and Israel. Too much contemporary Jewish writing is self-referential: Jews talking to Jews, preaching to the converted. Yet Jews cannot cure anti-Semitism alone. We need to persuade Jews and non-Jews alike that Jews, Judaism and Israel have something unique to contribute to the future....

Throughout history, the Jewish people have faced catastrophe after catastrophe. They have been expelled, ghettoised, murdered and forcibly converted. The question that Jonathan Sacks asks in this original and compelling book is not how Judaism survived four thousand years of persecution, but how it found ways to flourish and thrive.Originally written as a wedding gift for his son over twenty years ago, now featuring a new foreword by Natan Sharansky, this revised edition is a remin...

Is Judaism a religion, a culture, a nationality--or a mixture of all of these? In How Judaism Became a Religion, Leora Batnitzky boldly argues that this question more than any other has driven modern Jewish thought since the eighteenth century. This wide-ranging and lucid introduction tells the story of how Judaism came to be defined as a religion in the modern period--and why Jewish thinkers have fought as well as championed this idea.Ever since the Enlightenment, Jewish ...

**From an eminent scholar of Yiddish literature and of Jewish history, a bold reconceptualization of the Jewish relationship to power and powerlessness“[A] brilliant analysis. . . certainly a book for our times—courageous, honest, and cogent.” —Jewish Book CouncilPart of the Jewish Encounter series**Taking in everything from the Kingdom of David to the Oslo Accords, Ruth Wisse offers a radical new way to think about the Jewish relationship to power. Traditi...