Times Square Rabbi

Times Square Rabbi
Author: Yehudah Fine
Publisher: Unlimited Publishing LLC
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2002
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781588320438

Yehudah Fine, family therapist and rabbi, is the author of Amazon.com's bestselling recovery title Times Square Rabbi. Based on his experiences on the streets of New York, the book describes his programs to encourage stronger family links. Fully returnable.

God Is Here

God Is Here
Author: Toba Spitzer
Publisher: St. Martin's Essentials
Total Pages: 193
Release: 2022-03-08
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1250764505

Toba Spitzer's God Is Here is a transformative exploration of the idea of God, offering new paths to experiencing the realm of the sacred. Most of us are hungry for a system of meaning to make sense of our lives, yet traditional religion too often leaves those seeking spiritual sustenance unsatisfied. Rabbi Toba Spitzer understands this problem firsthand, and knows that too often it is traditional ideas of the deity—he's too big, too impersonal, and too unbelievable—that get in the way. In God Is Here, Spitzer argues that whether we believe in God or fervently disbelieve, what we are actually disagreeing about is not God at all, but a metaphor of a Big Powerful Person that limits our understanding and our spiritual lives. Going back to the earliest sources for Judaism as well as Christianity, Spitzer discovers in the Hebrew Bible a rich and varied palette of metaphors for the divine—including Water, Voice, Fire, Rock, Cloud, and even the process of Becoming. She addresses how we can access these ancient metaphors, as well as those drawn from rabbinic tradition and modern science, to experience holiness in our daily lives and to guide us in challenging times. In the section on water, for instance, she looks at the myriad ways water flows through the Biblical stories of the Israelites and emerges as a powerful metaphor for the divine in the Prophets and Psalms. She invites us to explore what it might mean to “drink from God,” or to experience godly justice as something that “rains down” and “flows like a river.” Each chapter contains insights from the Bible and teachings from Judaism and other spiritual traditions, accompanied by suggestions for practice to bring alive each of the God metaphors. Rabbi Toba Spitzer has helped many people satisfy their spiritual hunger. With God Is Here she will inspire you to find new and perhaps surprising ways of encountering the divine, right where you are.

A Circle in the Square

A Circle in the Square
Author: Edward Abramson
Publisher: Urim Publications
Total Pages: 216
Release: 2008
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN:

A Circle in the Square tells the story of a project that by all the rules of logic should have failed, but instead succeeded wildly. In the 1960s, a time of deep religious and existential crisis, when the question of God's existence was being debated among people of all faiths, a young man fresh out of graduate school began teaching an ancient religion to its own members - Jews who had little or no connection to Judaism. In 1964, when twenty-three-year-old Rabbi Steven Riskin became the rabbi of Lincoln Square Synagogue on New York's Upper West Side, he had no set plan. Nevertheless, he revolutionized Orthodox Judaism by making it attractive and relevant to American Jews. Within these pages, readers will learn about Rabbi Riskin's unprecedented approach to adult Jewish education and his steadfast commitment to reaching out to each and every Jew within and beyond the four walls of Lincoln Square Synagogue. Rabbi Riskin also emphasized the importance of bringing heaven down to earth, and inviting God into the synagogue as a regular guest. A Circle in the Square is a spellbinding account of one man's profound influence on Orthodox Judaism - an influence that is felt to this day.

Burnt Books

Burnt Books
Author: Rodger Kamenetz
Publisher: Schocken
Total Pages: 385
Release: 2010-10-19
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0307379337

From the acclaimed author of The Jew in the Lotus comes an "engrossing and wonderful book" (The Washington Times) about the unexpected connections between Franz Kafka and Hasidic master Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav—and the significant role played by the imagination in the Jewish spiritual experience. Rodger Kamenetz has long been fascinated by the mystical tales of the Hasidic master Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav. And for many years he has taught a course in Prague on Franz Kafka. The more he thought about their lives and writings, the more aware he became of unexpected connections between them. Kafka was a secular artist fascinated by Jewish mysticism, and Rabbi Nachman was a religious mystic who used storytelling to reach out to secular Jews. Both men died close to age forty of tuberculosis. Both invented new forms of storytelling that explore the search for meaning in an illogical, unjust world. Both gained prominence with the posthumous publication of their writing. And both left strict instructions at the end of their lives that their unpublished books be burnt. Kamenetz takes his ideas on the road, traveling to Kafka’s birthplace in Prague and participating in the pilgrimage to Uman, the burial site of Rabbi Nachman visited by thousands of Jews every Jewish new year. He discusses the hallucinatory intensity of their visions and offers a rich analysis of Nachman’s and Kafka’s major works, revealing uncanny similarities in the inner lives of these two troubled and beloved figures, whose creative and religious struggles have much to teach us about the Jewish spiritual experience.

Jewish Relational Care A-Z

Jewish Relational Care A-Z
Author: Jack H Bloom
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 486
Release: 2006
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 0789027054

Self-relations is a powerful framework for doing respectful and human caregiving for your self as well as for others. Jewish Relational Care A-Z: We Are Our Other's Keeper is an extensive source for caregiving tools based on both self-relations and Jewish tradition. Respected self-relation experts from several fields use Jewish tradition as a focal point as they provide insightful perspectives and effective strategies to assist caregivers of all faiths.

Naomi, the Rabbi's Wife

Naomi, the Rabbi's Wife
Author: Miriam Finesilver
Publisher: Energion Publications
Total Pages: 313
Release: 2021-10-25
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1631997882

He now advanced closer, his finger pointing at her. “I married a Jew, I expected she would have stayed a Jew.” Naomi’s acting career was soaring—until she became pregnant. Her boyfriend told her, “You know what to do—think about your career.” Yet after Naomi complied with his wishes, she found her career was the last thing she could think about. Can a moment in time cause a human soul to collapse? A choice was made. A wound etched into the heart. What was promised as the way to be free was a lie she chose to believe. Then the unexpected happens—love—in the form of Rabbi Dan. They call it b’sheirt, the fingerprints of divine providence. Now that Naomi has found true love, will her secret be safe? Will her recurring nightmares finally cease? And when she finds true forgiveness, what will be the cost? Walk with Naomi through the world of theatre, life as a rabbi’s wife, and ultimately to Jerusalem’s Wailing Wall.

Inventing Times Square

Inventing Times Square
Author: William R. Taylor
Publisher: JHU Press
Total Pages: 532
Release: 1996-04
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780801853371

A unique volume, Inventing Times Square approaches the subject of twentieth-century American city culture through a multidimensional examination of one quintessential urban space: Times Square. Ranging in time from 1905, when the crossroad was given its present name, through to the current plans for redevelopment, the authors examine Times Square as economic hub, real estate bonanza, entertainment center, advertising medium, architectural experiment, and erotic netherworld. Though the volume centers on Times Square, the essays venture much further into urban history and American social history, revealing in the process how Times Square reflected—even epitomized—America as it became an urban consumer culture.

Restful Reflections

Restful Reflections
Author: Lori Forman–Jacobi
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
Total Pages: 331
Release: 2011-01-10
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1580235719

At day's end, quiet your mind and unburden your heart. These peaceful reflections offer wisdom to "sleep on." For each night of the year, an inspiring quote from a Jewish source and a personal reflection on it from an insightful spiritual leader help you to focus on your spiritual life and the lessons your day has offered.

Out of the Depths

Out of the Depths
Author: Israel Meir Lau
Publisher: Union Square + ORM
Total Pages: 339
Release: 2011-11-01
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1402790953

In his astonishing memoir, the Holocaust survivor and Chief Rabbi of Israel shares his story of faith and perseverance through WWII and beyond. Israel Meir Lau, one of the youngest survivors of Buchenwald, was just eight years old when the camp was liberated in 1945. Descended from a 1,000-year unbroken chain of rabbis, he grew up to become Chief Rabbi of Israel—and like many of the great rabbis, Lau is a master storyteller. Out of the Depths is his harrowing and inspiring account of life in one of the Nazis deadliest concentration camps, and how he managed to survive against all possible odds. Lau, who lost most of his family in the Holocaust, also chronicles his life after the war, including his emigration to Mandate Palestine during a period that coincides with the development of the State of Israel. The story continues up through today, with that once-lost boy of eight now a brilliant, charismatic, and world-revered figure who has visited with Popes John Paul and Benedict; the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, and countless global leaders including Ronald Reagan, Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Tony Blair.