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 Jewish people, Solomon explores how the 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, including: festivals, prayers, customs, and various sects - and goes on to consider how Judaism has responded to, and dealt with, a number of key issues and debates, including the impact of the Holocaust and the establishment of the State of Israel. In this new edition, Solomon considers issues of contemporary Judaism in the 21st century, incorporating new material on the relationship between the Muslim faith and Judaism, the rise of Zohar and Kabala, and considers how the faith deals with issues such as homosexuality and gay marriage.

ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

With over 400,000 copies sold, What Is a Jew? is the classic guide that answers 100 of the most commonly asked questions about Jewish life and customs.

Completely revised and reorganized, this guide to the traditions, beliefs, and practices of Judaism — for both Jews and non-Jews — tackles a wide range of subjects in a question-and-answer format. Ideal for conversion students, interfaith couples, and congregants seeking answers to essential day-to-day issues.

A guide to the beliefs, traditions and practices of Judaism that answers questions for both Jew and Gentile.

Rabbi Kertzer answers over 100 of the most commonly asked questions about Jewish life and customs, including: What is the Jewish attitude toward intermarriage? Toward birth control? Do Jews believe in equality between the sexes? Are Jews forbidden to read the New Testament? What is the basis for the Dietary Laws?

For non-Jews who want to learn about the Jewish way of life.

For Jews who wish to rediscover forgotten traditions and beliefs.

“This portrayal of the Jewish way of looking at things attempts to convey some of the warmth, the glow and the serenity of Judaism: the enchantment of fine books; the captivating color of Hasidism;... the mirthful spirit of scholars more than sixteen centuries ago; and the abiding sense of compassion that permeates our tradition. It is in this way—and only in this way that anyone can give a meaningful answer to the question, ‘What is a Jew?’”—Rabbi Morris N. Kertzer

Praying Like the Jew, Jesus: Recovering the Ancient Roots of New Testament Prayer Paperback – July 1, 2005
by Dr Timothy Paul Jones

How did Yeshua (Jesus) pray? What Jewish customs and traditions formed the basis of the Messiah's prayers? This eye-opening book reveals the Jewish background of many of Yeshua's prayers.

Historical vignettes will transport you to the times of Yeshua so you can grasp the full meaning of Messiah's prayers.

* Unique devotional thoughts and meditations, presented in down-to-earth language, provide inspiration for a more meaningful prayer life and help you draw close to God.

Praying Like the Jew, Jesus is a treasure-trove of information and inspiration. After reading this book, your understanding of God, prayer, and the Bible will be forever changed.

How did Yeshua (Jesus) pray? What Jewish customs and traditions formed the basis of the Messiah's prayers? This eye-opening book reveals the Jewish background of many of Yeshua's prayers.

• Historical vignettes will transport you to the times of Yeshua so you can grasp the full meaning of Messiah's prayers.
• Unique devotional thoughts and meditations, presented in down-to-earth language, provide inspiration for a more meaningful prayer life and help you draw close to God.

Praying Like the Jew, Jesus is a treasure-trove of information and inspiration. After reading this book, your understanding of God, prayer, and the Bible will be forever changed.

What's the difference between Reform and Orthodox Judaism? What does it mean to keep kosher? And what are mizvot? Compact and comprehensive, 101 Things Everyone Should Know about Judaism touches on all these basics and more. You'll learn all you need to know about this ancient religion and culture - from the significance of the Torah and Talmud, to the importance of holidays and the meaning of religious objects and symbols. You'll also find out about:

• Major Biblical events that have shaped Jewish history and tradition
• Judaism's concept of God, the soul, and the afterlife
• The structure of Jewish liturgy and prayer services
• The Ten Statements, and other Jewish laws
• Practices associated with life milestones
• Language, literature, food, and other cultural elements

Thoughtful and engaging, this portable volume packs in a wealth of fascinating, detailed information that is sure to leave you with a deepened appreciation for this rich tradition.

What's the difference between Reform and Orthodox Judaism? What does it mean to keep kosher? And what are mizvot? Compact and comprehensive, 101 Things Everyone Should Know about Judaism touches on all these basics and more. You'll learn all you need to know about this ancient religion and culture - from the significance of the Torah and Talmud, to the importance of holidays and the meaning of religious objects and symbols. You'll also find out about:

• Major Biblical events that have shaped Jewish history and tradition
• Judaism's concept of God, the soul, and the afterlife
• The structure of Jewish liturgy and prayer services
• The Ten Statements, and other Jewish laws
• Practices associated with life milestones
• Language, literature, food, and other cultural elements

Thoughtful and engaging, this portable volume packs in a wealth of fascinating, detailed information that is sure to leave you with a deepened appreciation for this rich tradition.

The first comprehensive wedding guide specifically for the Jewish/Christian couple who wants to honor both religious traditions in their service, vows, and readings.

Saying "I do" is one of the happiest moments in a couple's life together--but planning that trip to the altar can be a stressful ordeal. The minute an engagement is announced two full clans want to celebrate the union their way! When one of those families is Jewish (50 percent of whom now marry outside their faith) and the other is Christian, the religious details can increase the pressure on the bride- and groom-to-be. Celebrating Interfaith Marriages provides all of the expert advice on how to combine elements of the two faiths so everyone can rejoice with the bride and groom on their wedding day.

Devon Lerner draws from her twenty years of officiating interfaith weddings as she discusses the significance of vows and traditions unique to both faiths and suggests how to incorporate them into a service that is balanced and beautiful. She provides Christian and Jewish services readers can mix and match, as well as custom-bled ceremonies contributed by couples who have worked with her over the years. There's a chapter on how to avoid crashes on issues like location, when the ceremony takes place, and whether the bride and groom should see each other before meeting at the altar. A full section of readings, both biblical and secular, are here too, as well as anecdotes that will reassure and amuse. No interfaith couple will want to be without this essential handbook when they plan their special day.

Lifecycles Vol 1: Jewish Women on Biblical Themes in Contemporary Life - 1st Edition
by Rabbi Debra Orenstein

Recent years have seen an explosion of interest in personal ritual and spirituality, as well as an exciting expansion of women's participation and leadership in Jewish life. The three volumes of Lifecycles bring together over 100 leading thinkers to create the first comprehensive work on Jewish lifecycle that features women's perspectives.

In a style that is perceptive, insightful and personal, Lifecycles, V. 1 covers the spectrum of life's passages and personal milestones: Childbirth, Conversion, Marriage, Singlehood, Coming Out, Mid-Life, Divorce, Aging and more. Included are personal narratives, traditional concepts, new approaches, practical insights and rituals and ceremonies to study and use. The contributors explore tradition and innovation with passion and self-awareness, expressing the way Jewish women see―and affect―the world.

Introductions by Rabbi Debra Orenstein provide readers with a broader context for the ideas shared in each section. Complete with an afterword guide to creating rituals, this landmark volume gives women a resource for recognizing and marking their own life passages and personal milestones.

Contributors:
Arlene Agus • Rebecca T. Alpert • Amy Bardack • Bonnie Ellen Baron • Lawrence Baron • Elana Rosenfeld Berkowitz • Leila Gal Berner • Antonia M. Bookbinder • Barbara Breitman • Anne Brener • Shoshana Brown-Gutoff • Debra Cantor • Nina Beth Cardin • Treasure Cohen • Carol V. Davis • Rick E. F. Dinitz • Tina D. Fein Dinitz • Sue Levi Elwell • Amy Eilberg • Merle Feld • Elizabeth Warner Frank • Tikva Frymer-Kensky • Laura Geller • Mary Gendler • Lynn Gottlieb • Rivka Haut • Pamela Hoffman • Barbara D. Holender • Vicki Hollander • Margaret Holub • Norma Baumel Joseph • Debra Newman Kamin • Patricia Karlin-Neumann • Lori Hope Lefkovitz • Rose L. Levinson • Jane Litman • Shulamit Magnus • Catherine Hall Myrowitz • Debra Orenstein • Harriet M. Perl • Renee Gal Primack • Einat Ramon • Jane Baron Rechtman • Sandy Eisenberg Sasso • Mildred Seltzer • Dena Shenk • Eleanor Smith • Ellen M. Umansky • Sheila Peltz Weinberg • Chava Weissler • Clara Frances Zilberstein

Lifecycles: Jewish Women on Biblical Themes in Contemporary Life (Lifecycles, Vol 2)
by Rabbi Jane Rachel Litman (Editor, Introduction), Rabbi Debra Orenstein (Editor, Introduction)

Recent years have seen an explosion of interest in spirituality and religious texts, as well as an exciting expansion of women's participation and leadership in Jewish life. This unique three-volume collaboration brings together women writers, rabbis and scholars to create the first comprehensive work on Jewish lifecycle that fully includes women's perspectives.

Lifecycles, V. 2 explores the impact that biblical texts have on our lives―and the impact our lives have on those texts. It delves into the human themes found both in the first five books of the Bible, and in women’s lives today, themes of:

• Exodus―Transformations to freedom, holiness and Torah
• Leviticus―Food and sacrifice, health and the body, sexuality, the power of words
• Numbers―Creating community in times of transition
• Deuteronomy―Leadership, law and revisioning the future

With a rich diversity of voices, the contributors show us how to understand the power of biblical texts, and then how to use those texts to find our own connections of self, spirit and community.

Introductions by Orenstein and Litman offer a broader context for the concepts explored in each section, and an afterword provides further advice on "Engaging with Torah," including a section on how to create a midrash. In a personal, insightful and creative style, Lifecycles, V. 2 opens opportunities for us to grow from the intersection of the texts of our heritage and the lessons of our lives.

Contributors:
Martha Ackelsberg • Penina V. Adelman • Rachel Adler • Arlene Agus • Meg Akabas • Rebecca T. Alpert • Amy Bardack • Barbara Eve Breitman • Esther Cameron • Nina Beth Cardin • Amy Eilberg • Dianne O. Esses • Ruth S. Fagen • Emily Feigenson • Merle Feld • Miriam Flock • Debbie Friedman • Judith Glass • Debra Orenstein • Jane Rachel Litman • Zilla Jane Goodman • Barbara D. Holender • Vicki Hollander • Margaret Holub • Beth Huppin • Shirley Idelson • Francine Klagsbrun • Gail Labovitz • Ellen LeVee • Rose L. Levinson • Jane Rachel Litman • Leah Bat Luria • Jody Elizabeth Myers • Michelle Nordon • Vanessa L. Ochs • Debra Orenstein • Alicia Ostriker • Judith Plaskow • Ora Horn Prouser • Einat Ramon • Rosie Rosenzweig • Susan Schnur • Drorah O’Donnell Setel • Alice Shalvi • Gloria Steinem • Ellen M. Umansky • Sheila Peltz Weinberg • Florence Weinberger • Shohama Harris Wiener • Elizabeth Weiss Stern • Elana Zaiman • Leora R. Zeitlin

This is the first comprehensive source for teaching about the Jewish life cycle. Written by the authors of "Teaching Torah", "Teaching Mitzvot", and "Teaching Tefilah", this book contains in-depth overviews of every life cycle event. Also included are hundreds of creative activities about the cycle of Jewish life for students in Grades K-12 and adults, as well as activities for family and all-school programs. Take a journey on the path of life - birth, adolescence, conversion, marriage, divorce, parenthood, aging, and death and mourning. Explore traditional rituals of Brit Milah and naming, Bar and Bat Mitzvah, Confirmation, weddings, and funerals. Discover contemporary rituals related to birth, growing up, and celebrating milestones along the aging process. Complete with useful glossary and comprehensive bibliographies.

A Blessing of Bread grew out of an interview that author Maggie Glezer conducted with a rabbi's wife about the symbolism of challah, that bakery staple deeply rooted in Jewish traditions. Captivated by the myriad meanings in every twist of the bread's braid, she spent years doing research and recipe testing. The result is this landmark guide to the amazing variety of Jewish breads found in communities all over the world, from Guatemala to Russia and everywhere in between.

In it are more than 60 impeccably tested recipes both old and new, for challah and other Sabbath and holiday loaves and an exploration of the rich symbolism of their hisory, the rituals governing their baking and eating, and the sacred texts and commentaries from which these rituals derive.

There are best-ever recipes for babka and honey cake, bagels, matzot, crackers, and everyday breads such as Jewish-deli rye. It is also loaded with totally unexpected breads that thrill, such as anise, almond, and sesame-studded Moroccan Purim bread; the spiced and leaf-wrapped Ehtiopian bereketei (whole wheat Sabbath bread); and the pitalike nooni honegi of the Bukharan Jews. Oral histories, ancient legends, shtetl folktales, aphorisms, and proverbs delight and inspire, and stories of grandmothers and great-grandmothers that recall life as it once was complete this volume, the most in-depth and wide-ranging one ever published on the subject.

Fifteen years ago while researching Jewish imagery, award-winning book designer Scott-Martin Kosofsky happened upon a 1645 edition of the Minhogimbukh -- the "Customs Book" -- a beautifully designed and illustrated guide to the Jewish year written in Yiddish, the people's vernacular. Captivated, he investigated further and learned that from 1590 to 1890, this cross between a prayer book and a farmer's almanac was immensely popular in households all across Europe. Published in dozens of editions and revised over the centuries in Venice, Prague, Amsterdam, and throughout Germany before moving eastward in the nineteenth century to Poland and Russia, these books detail the evolution of Jewish custom over three hundred years. But by the 1890s, as Jewish practice became polarized between the secularist and traditionalist views, the Minhogimbukh disappeared.

There are no works quite like the historical customs books available today and none so thorough and concise, intuitive in organization, and beautiful. Inspired by the originals, Kosofsky set out to make his own, adapting the books for modern use, adding historical perspective and contemporary application. The result is the reappearance of the Minhogimbukh after more than a hundred-year absence, and the first complete showing of all the original woodcuts -- a visual vocabulary of Jewish life -- since the 1760s. Faithfully based on the earlier editions, The Book of Customs is an updated guide to the rituals, liturgies, and texts of the entire Jewish year -- from the days of the week and the Sabbath to all the months with their festivals, as well as the major life-cycle events of wedding, birth, bar and bat mitzvah, and death. With the revival of this lost cultural legacy, The Book of Customs can once again become every family's guide to Jewish tradition and practice.

Return to the Fountainhead of the Faith: Explore World Ideologies, Church History and Christianity's Jewish Origins
by Shelley Wood Gauld (Author)

This illustrated nonfiction book provides an overview of world ideologies, the convoluted history of the Church and Christianity's inherent Jewishness. "One of the most comprehensive works on the subject of Jewish roots is titled 'Return to the Fountainhead of the Faith,' by Shelley Gauld. Her book is very readable and is a treasure-chest filled with practical knowledge and insight. This is not dry academicism. It is a piece of artwork that touches head and heart." Rev. Frank Lenihan, Montana USA *** The first edition of this book (c 2003) was nominated for the 2004 Koret Foundation Jewish Book Awards. See also this author's memoir; "Much Bigger than Grownups: Chronicles of a Native South African."

About the Authors:

Kevin Howard is an ordained minister with unique insight into Jewish culture and the Hebrew language as a result of his involvement in the synagogue, the Jewish community, and his trips to Israel. He spent six years as an administrator and Bible teacher with The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, Inc, a world-wide missionary organization to the Jewish people.

Marvin Rosenthal was born and raised in a conservative Jewish home and then became a Christian as a teenage by following the godly example of his mother. He served in the pastorate for six years, before serving The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, Inc. as a director for sixteen years.

Arranged in biblical order, this valuable Bible study companion takes you from the earliest recorded civilizations in history through the end of the first Christian century, helping you to put the Bible into its cultural context. For each of the twenty times and places in biblical history, you'll discover how everyday life was affected by geography, government, warfare, housing, diet, dress, family, religion, work, travel, commerce, and so many other things. Rather than blurring all the lands and cultures of the Bible into a single, inaccurate "Bible time," this volume distinguishes the way life differed from period to period and place to place.

Additional features:

• presented in easy-to-grasp language written for the layperson rather than the scholar
• thoroughly illustrated and hundreds of black and white photographs
• sidebars provide even more interesting detail about aspects of ancient cultures that illuminate the Bible

Enrich your Bible study with up-to-date scholarship and hundreds of color photos! Succinctly introducing the culture of biblical times, Beck's illustrated guide clarifies often misunderstood portions of God's Word. His fascinating insights on ancient manners, customs, work, daily activities, and more will help you grasp the full meaning and context of Scripture with the help of this excellent aid.

• Major biblical events that have shaped Jewish history and tradition
• Judaism's concept of God, the soul, and the afterlife
• The structure of Jewish liturgy and prayer services
• The Ten Statements, and other Jewish laws
• Practices associated with life milestones
• Language, literature, food, and other cultural elements

  Thoughtful and engaging, this portable volume packs in a wealth of fascinating, detailed information that is sure to leave you with a deepened appreciation for this rich tradition.

The Haggadah (Hebrew: הַגָּדָה‎, "telling"; plural: Haggadot) is a Jewish text that sets forth the order of the Passover Seder. Reading the Haggadah at the Seder table is a fulfillment of the mitzvah to each Jew to "tell your son" of the Jewish liberation from slavery in Egypt as described in the Book of Exodus in the Torah ("And thou shalt tell thy son in that day, saying: It is because of that which the LORD did for me when I came forth out of Egypt." Ex. 13:8).

For thousands of years the Jewish people have been celebrating the Passover through a special meal, called a seder. Jesus also celebrated the Passover feast with his disciples in the New Testament sacrament we refer to as The Last Supper. In this special book, co-authored by a rabbi and a pastor, we have the unique opportunity to experience an authentic Jewish Passover seder, from a distinctively Christian perspective. There are many haggadot (or written explanations of this Jewish festival) used in Jewish homes and synagogues, but this one offers meaningful insights on how Christians can both learn from Judaism as a means of deepening their own Christian faith, and better understand the Jewish heritage of Jesus.