Showing titles in Judaism

The study of the apocryphal gospels, documents about the life or sayings of Jesus that did not become part of the New Testament, is a popular discipline among scholars that now fills several shelves of any respectable library. However, few consider the question of whether the Old Testament, also known as the Hebrew Bible, is "complete" and whether in antiquity there were other books besides "Genesis", the "Exodus" or "Judges", with different histories and unknown characters, that were excluded from the canon and got lost in the sands of time.

Early on the morning of September 1, 1996, the Israeli military began preparing for a war with Syria they were convinced was imminent. The Israelis had received top-secret intelligence from a Syrian general and informant code-named Red Falcon, recruited 23 years earlier by Mossad spy Yehuda Gil - himself known as "the man of a thousand faces." Gil had been the general's sole handler, the conduit of decades of critical intelligence. But now, on the brink of war, questions arose about who exactly was handling whom. What information was real and what was a lie?

In this biography of Maimonides, the medieval philosopher, physician, and religious thinker, Alberto Manguel examines the question of his universal appeal. Moses ben Maimon, or Maimonides (1138–1204), was born in Córdoba, Spain. The gifted son of a judge and mathematician, Maimonides fled Córdoba with his family when he was thirteen due to Almohad persecution of all non-Islamic faiths. Forced into a long exile, the family spent a decade in Spain before settling in Morocco. From there, Maimonides traveled to Palestine and Egypt, where he died at Saladin’s court.

The Kosher Capones tells the fascinating story of Chicago’s Jewish gangsters from Prohibition into the 1980s. Author Joe Kraus traces these gangsters through the lives, criminal careers, and conflicts of Benjamin “Zukie the Bookie” Zuckerman, last of the independent West Side Jewish bosses, and Lenny Patrick, eventual head of the Syndicate’s “Jewish wing.”

Mickey Cohen, who died in 1976, was a colorful, feared West Coast gangster-gambler who knew the biggest names in Hollywood including the Rat Pack, was a confidant of Bugsy Siegel, a friend of Las Vegas' late Liz Renay and on first names with the biggest guys in the Mafia, plus Frank Sinatra, Richard Nixon and Billy Graham. Brad Lewis' book about Cohen draws from thousands of resources - a virtual treasure trove of Mafia-related books, articles and interviews.

Gidon Lev’s life can be, in some ways, expressed through numbers, symbols and dates. He was born in 1935, an only child. He was put on Transport M as number 885 and imprisoned in the Terezin (or Theresienstadt) Nazi concentration camp from the ages of six to ten. Gidon is one of two thousand children estimated to have survived the camp. His father was sent to Auschwitz, where he was tattooed as prisoner B12156. Gidon has lost twenty-six family members to the Holocaust. He was liberated in 1945. And, as of 2023, he has lived 87 years.

From Elie Wiesel, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, comes a magical audio book that introduces us to the towering figure of Rashi—Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki—the great biblical and Talmudic commentator of the Middle Ages. Wiesel brilliantly evokes the world of medieval European Jewry, a world of profound scholars and closed communities ravaged by outbursts of anti-Semitism and decimated by the Crusades.

The Jewish rebellion against Rome was a significant turning point in Jewish history. Although Josephus is known for his divided loyalties in the rebellion, his account is the most detailed record available of the Jewish life and revolt under Roman rule. Born in Jerusalem to a father of priestly descent and a mother who claimed royal ancestry, Josephus was a first-century Romano-Jewish scholar, hagiographer, and historian.

The Archaeology of Ancient Israelite Knowledge reconstructs in carefully researched detail the worldview of the ancient Israelites writers responsible for the Hebrew Bible. What was the role of God in their lives? How did they see the relationship between God, nature, and themselves? Contrary to prevailing scholarly understanding, Robert Kawashima argues that the ancient Israelites saw God in a radically different way than the peoples around them. God no longer interconnected everything—humans, nature—but became seen as sharply separated from nature.

The Place of All Possibility taps into a deep current interest about how creativity and imagination can help us build a better world. Drawing on the Torah, and the subversive interpretive strategies of ancient rabbis, The Place of All Possibility offers new creative strategies for building a meaningful life—and for responding to our current crises of climate change, racial injustice, and more.

Is the Bible just an abstraction or a real living entity? This book aims to answer the question. Part adventure story, part archaeological detective work, part spiritual exploration, this is the account of Bruce Feiler's perilous 10,000 mile journey across the Middle East in search of the roots of the Bible. Both an exhilarating journey and uplifting spiritual quest, Feiler recounts his experiences with humour whilst offering fresh answers to the most profound questions of human spirit.

Malka was three when the German invaders forced her family into the Jewish ghetto in Volodymyr-Volynskyi, a city in present-day Ukraine. Her father was killed in the first pogrom, but before he died he said to her mother Rivka: ‘save the children’. And despite her heartbreak, that is what she set out to do. Rivka kept Malka and her two older brothers alive through eighteen traumatic months, as the ghetto got smaller and smaller. They saw the worst of humanity but there were acts of kindness too.

Until now, the herbal traditions of the Ashkenazi people have remained unexplored and shrouded in mystery. Ashkenazi Herbalism rediscovers the forgotten legacy of the Jewish medicinal plant healers who thrived in Eastern Europe's Pale of Settlement, from their beginnings in the Middle Ages through the modern era.

Jesus was a Jew. His mother, Mary was a Jew. - Finally, contemporary scholarship brings into focus Jesus’ Jewish roots/heritage. For centuries, the Jewishness of Jesus was ignored and this had enormous consequences, the attempts over the centuries to suppress this truth have led to heresies. The 1st Century Jewish conception of the role of the priest, prophet, and messiah are all explained. Fr. Doyle shows how the Jewish prayer life and feasts affected Jesus.

Renowned French occultist Eliphas Levi left behind a vast legacy of fundamental esoteric writings that have influenced a century and a half of writers that followed in his footsteps. Here he examines the true science of the Holy Kabbalah, with attention paid to the Tetragrammaton, the Shemhamphorash and other symbolic parts of the overall tradition.

Pope John Paul II, as part of his effort to improve Catholic-Jewish relations, himself called for a clear-eyed historical investigation into any possible link between the Church and the Holocaust. An important sign of his commitment was the decision to allow the distinguished historian David I. Kertzer, a specialist in Italian history, to be one of the first scholars given access to long-sealed Vatican archives. The result is a book filled with shocking revelations.

Avi Steinberg is stumped. After defecting from yeshiva to Harvard, he has only a senior thesis essay on Bugs Bunny to show for his effort. While his friends and classmates advance in the world, he remains stuck at a crossroads, unable to meet the lofty expectations of his Orthodox Jewish upbringing. And his romantic existence as a freelance obituary writer just isn’t cutting it. Seeking direction - and dental insurance - Steinberg takes a job as a librarian in a tough Boston prison.

Grasping God's Word has proven itself in classrooms across the country as an invaluable help to listeners who want to learn how to read, interpret, and apply the Bible for themselves. The third edition, revised based on feedback from professors, continues to serve anyone in their quest to gain a firm grasp on the rock of God's word. Old Testament scholar J. Daniel Hays and New Testament expert J. Scott Duvall provide practical hands-on exercises to guide listeners through the interpretive process.

This book investigates Judaism at its best—and sanest. It strips away outdated and harmful beliefs that have accrued over the centuries and returns to the essential truths that are too-often ignored in favor of tradition, tribal identity, or the claims of the powerful. The result is a vibrant Judaism for the twenty-first century and beyond—a Judaism that draws deeply from history and scripture yet addresses the unmet needs of the present and the future. It is a Judaism that is open and accessible to everyone.

Over 250,000 copies sold in print. This anniversary edition celebrates fifty years of Whitcomb and Morris's biblically based system of creationism and catastrophism that unifies and correlates scientific data from early earth history—a modern creationist classic.