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This is a guide which tells you everything you need to know about being Jewish in a user-friendly way. It explains what Jews do, what they believe and why.

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• Acknowledgments
• A note to the reader
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 Service of the Heart
• Prayer and Ritual
• The Jewish Idea of Prayer
• The Names of God
• The Role of the Rabbi
• The Blessings of Daily Life An Assortment of Blessings
• The Daily Services
• Before the Morning Service
• Tallit and Tzitzit
• Tefillin
• Shakharit/The Morning Service
• The Basic Structure of the Service
• Covering the HeadKaddish
• The Sh''maThe Amidah
• Minkhah/The Afternoon Service
• Ma''ariv/The Evening Service
• The Shabbat Services
• Kabbalat Shabbat/Welcoming the Sabbath and Ma''ariv
• Shakharit/Musaf
• Minkhah and Havdalah Festival Services
• The Synagogue Liturgical Music Home Rituals Mezuzah
• The Evolution of the Prayer Book
• The Rise of Denominations Reform Judaism Conservative Judaism Reconstructionism Modern Orthodox Ba''al Teshuvah Havurah
• Jewish Renewal Movement Gay and Lesbian Synagogues Women''s Prayer Groups Shul Etiquette
• The Chosen People?
• Chapter 2 Rejoice in Your Festivals
• The Jewish Year Sacred Time
• The Jewish Calendar Rosh Khodesh
• The Jewish Calendar
• The Festivals Shabbat
• The Thirty-nine Categories of Forbidden Work Special Sabbaths
• The High Holy Days Elul, a Month of Teshuvah Rosh Hashanah Days of Repentance Yom Kippur Sukkot
• The Sukkah Building the Sukkah
• The Four Species Hoshanah Rabbah/The Great Hosannah Shemini Atzeret Simkhat Torah Hanukah Historical Roots Home Observance Tu b''Shevat Purim Pesakh Exile and Home
• The Bread of Affliction
• The Seder The Meaning of the Seder
• The Four Questions Counting the Omer Shavuot Yom ha-Shoah, Yom ha-Atzma''ut, Yom ha-Zikaron, and Yom Yerushalayim Minor Fast Days Tisha b''Av Special Readings for the Festivals
• Chapter 3 Birth to Death
• A Jewish Life CycleBirth Abortion Adoption Mamzerut Brit Milah Brit Habat -- the Baby-Naming Ceremony Pidyon Ha-Ben Parent and Child Jewish Education Bar/Bat Mitzvah Confirmation Engagement and Marriage
• The Jewish View of Marriage
• The Ketubah Engagement Before the Ceremony
• The Wedding Ceremony Levirate Marriage
• Intermarriage Prohibited Marriages Divorce Conversion to Judaism
• The Noahide Laws Who Is a Jew? Should Judaism Proselytize? Leaving the Fold Illness Aging Ethical Wills Death and Mourning Defiance and Acceptance Dying Right to Die? Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide Preparations for Burial Burial Mourning Unveiling and Yahrzeit
• The Afterlife
• Chapter 4 613 Ways
• Living a Jewish LifeThe Mitzvot Gematria
• Making the Letters Add Up Pikuakh Nefesh
• To Save a Life Who''s Counting?
• The 613 Mitzvot (According to Maimonides) Why Observe?
• Mind, Body, and Soul Halakhah
• Mitzvot into Law Joseph Caro and the Shulkhan Arukh Opponents of Halakhah
• The Sadducees and the Karaites Reform Judaism Conservative Judaism Reconstructionism Reactions Within Orthodoxy
• The Mitzvot in Daily Life Gemilut Khasadim/Acts of Lovingkindness
• The Evil Tongue: Lashon Hara Tzedakah/Doing Justice
• The Ladder of Charity Ethics and Justice Laws Governing Loans Capital Punishment "An Eye for an Eye" Tikkun Olam/Repairing the World Sexuality
• The Mikveh Kashrut/Dietary Laws Kosher and Treif Meat and Dairy Buying Kosher Kosher Wine Taking Khallah Match But Don''t Mix: Sha''atnez
• Chapter 5 In the Beginning
• The Hebrew BibleThe Tanakh
• The Books of the Hebrew Bible
• The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha What Is in the Hebrew Bible?
• The Torah The Parashiyot and the Haftarot Genesis/Bereishit Exodus/Shemot Leviticus/Vayikra Numbers/Bamidbar Deuteronomy/Devarim Biblical Measurements Making the Text Sing: Cantillation Torah Comes First The Nevi''im/The Prophets Joshua Judges I and II Samuel I and II Kings Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel
• The Twelve Minor Prophets
• The Role of the Prophets
• The Ketuvim/The Writings Tehillim/The Psalms Reading the Psalms Proverbs Job Shir ha-Shirim/Song of Songs Ruth Lamentations Kohelet/Ecclesiastes Esther Daniel Ezra and Nehemiah I and II Chronicles Reading the Book Some Key Bible Commentators Peshat Derash Remez Sod Who Wrote the Hebrew Bible?
• Chapter 6 The Rabbis Said
• The Talmud and Other Rabbinical Writings Roots of Rabbinic Judaism From the Pairs to the Tannaim Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Torah "O You Scribes and Pharisees!" Tragedy, Dispersion, and the Writing of the Mishnah What Is in the Mishnah? What''s in the Mishnah and the Talmud: Primary Subject Matter of the Tractates and Where They Appear How the Mishnah Works
• An Example from the Mishnah Tosefta and Baraita Gemara
• The Task Continues A Time Line of Talmudic Scholars Yavneh
• The First Great Academy Some Key Figures in Rabbinic Judaism Halakhah and AggadahHow the Gemara Works Palestinian Talmud versus Babylonian Talmud The Later Commentators Proliferation and Persecution
• A Page of Talmud Modern Talmudic Scholarship How to Study Talmud Daf Yomi Midrash Some Important Midrashic Texts
• Chapter 7 Jewish Mysticism
• Emanations of the EternalWhat Is Mysticism?
• The Chariot and the Chambers: Ancient Jewish Mysticism
• The Mysteries of Creation: Sefer Yetzirah Ten Sefirot
• Twice Over: Early Kabbalah and the Ashkenazi Hasidim Kabbalah in Spain Splendor: The Zohar The Tree of Life
• The Star of David
• The Lion Speaks: Lurianic Kabbalah
• The False Messiah: Shabbateanism Hasidic Mysticism Some Other Key Figures in Jewish Mysticism Kabbalah in the Twentieth Century Rabbi Kook Gershom Scholem and the Study of Mysticism Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and the Jewish Renewal Movement Meditation
• The Lasting Influence of Jewish Mysticism How to Study Kabbalah
• Chapter 8 The Philosophers
• The Continuing Evolution of Jewish Thought
• Rabbis versus Philosophers Philo Judaeus (20 B.C.E.-50 C.E.)
• From the Writings of Philo Saadiah Gaon (882 C.E.-942 C.E.)
• From the Writings of Saadiah Gaon Maimonides (c. 1135 C.E.-1204 C.E.)
• Principles of the Jewish Faith From the Writings of Maimonides Judah HaLevi (1075 C.E.-1141 C.E.)
• From the Writings of Judah HaLevi Baruch Spinoza (1632 C.E.-1677 C.E.)
• From the Writings of Baruch Spinoza Moses Mendelssohn (1729 C.E.-1786 C.E.)
• From the Writings of Moses Mendelssohn Franz Rosenzweig (1886 C.E.-1929 C.E.)
• Rosenzweig and Buber Translate Torah From the Writings of Franz Rosenzweig Martin Buber (1878 C.E.-1965 C.E.)
• From the Writings of Martin Buber Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907 C.E.-1972 C.E.)
• From the Writings of Abraham Joshua Heschel Joseph Soloveitchik (1903 C.E.-1993 C.E.)
• From the Writings of Joseph Soloveitchik Emmanuel Levinas (1906 C.E.-1995 C.E.)
• From the Writings

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Service of the Heart: Prayer and Ritual The Jewish Idea of Prayer In the beginning, the Jews were a tribe, a band of nomads, probably shepherds. Had they remained merely shepherds, they would have eventually died out, one of many tiny "nations" to be found in the ancient Near East, forgotten by all but the archaeologists. But the Jews became something more. They were the bearers of a radical new concept, ethical monotheism, and that concept became the basis for a new kind of religion, Judaism. The latter was a religion marked by a new relationship between people and Deity. Some would say that it was the idea of ethical monotheism that allowed the Jewish people to survive long after more powerful empires had vanished. Perhaps. Contemporary scholars suggest that - at least at the start - the Hebrews believed in their own god, acknowledging the existence of other people's gods, but they also believed that their god could beat up everyone else's gods. Scripture tends to confirm that view; in Exodus 12:12, Adonai tells Moses, "[A]gainst all the gods of Egypt I will exercise judgments." Eventually that notion evolved into something quite different, indeed, different from any previous idea of a Supreme Being. This much seems clear: the idea of a single, omnipotent, omniscient God is a Jewish invention, one that has changed the course of Western (and, therefore, world) history. Let's begin with that concept and the ways in which it marks the Jewish religion. The Jewish idea of the relationship between God and humanity is perhaps nowhere clearer than in Jewish prayer, so it is there that we turn. In other early belief systems, the ones that we casually denote as "pagan," divine creatures predate the creation of the world and humanity; but these belief systems have creation myths that usually involve the creation of the gods themselves. The opening words of the Hebrew Bible - Bereshit bara elohim .../In the beginning God created ... - offer a very different vision. God is a given, a Being who creates out of tohu v'bohu/the unformed and the void , chaos and nothingness, a Being who preexists Creation, who was, is, and always will be. The traditional Jewish liturgy underlines that belief explicitly. Adon Olam , the poetic hymn that is part of the morning service and which observant Jews recite every night before sleep, opens with the words, Adon olam asher malakh beterem kol yitzer nivrah/Eternal Ruler who reigned before any creature had been created. A few lines later, God is described as ruling "after all is ended," an eternal verity. At the heart of Jewish prayer is the idea that God listens to prayer, that prayer is part of a dialogue between man and Creator. This idea has its roots in the Hebrew Bible itself, implicit in the statement that man was created b'tzelem Elohim/in the image of God. Throughout the Bible, God engages in dialogue with the Forefathers and Foremothers, with the Prophets. The Forefathers and Foremothers of the Hebrew people beseech, praise, offer thanks to the Eternal. They even argue with God; Abraham negotiates over the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, finally convincing God to spare the two cities if a mere ten righteous men can be found (Genesis 18). The incredible variety of prayers in the Jewish liturgy suggests the multiplicitous nature of the relationship between God and humanity. In the course of a single service we may encounter God the Creator, the Redeemer, the Father, the Judge, Rock of Israel, Shield of Abraham, and many others. Each of these personifications of God implies a different relationship between the Deity and the person praying. The Names of God In his revision of Frazer's The Golden Bough , Theodor Gaster notes, "In primitive thought, the name of a person is not merely an appelation, but denotes what he is to the world outside of himself ï that is, his "outer" as distinguished from his inner being. Thus, the îname of God' in the Bible is His outward manifestation in the world...." Not surprisingly, given the plethora of divine attributes, God has many Names in the Hebrew Bible and in Jewish liturgy, and those Names are multiplied by the inexactitude of the translator's art. The Holy One tells Moses, "I revealed Myself to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as El Shaddai, but My Name Adonai I did not make known to them (Exodus 6:3)." In the Bible and the Talmud, God has many more Names: El/The Strong One, El Shaddai/God Almighty, El Olom/God Everlasting, El Khai/The Living God, El Elyon/God Most High, Elohim/God, Adon/Lord, Adonai/Lord, Adonay Tzivaot/Lord of Hosts, Abir/The Strong, Kedosh Yisroel/Holy One of Israel, Melekh/The Ruler, Tzur Yisroel/Rock of Israel. For non-Jews, the most familiar Name derived from the Hebrew Bible is probably Jehovah, a mistransliteration of the four-letter Name, Yud-Hay-Vav-Hay , the Tetragrammaton or, in Hebrew, the Shem Hameforash . This Name is actually never vocalized in Hebrew ï it is too sacred, too powerful. Reading the four-letter Name aloud, a Jew will say "Adonai." (As we will see in Chapter 7, the Jewish mystics believed that the Tetragrammaton had unusual significance attached to it.) The Tetragrammaton is frequently shortened to Yah (Yud-Hey) , Yahu or Yeho (Yod-Heh-Vav) , especially when used in combination within names or phrases, as in Yehoshua (Joshua, meaning "the Lord is my Salvation"), Eliyahu (Elijah, meaning "my God is the Lord"), and Halleluyah ("praise the Lord"). A traditionally observant Jew will not vocalize God's other Names outside the context of prayer. Thus, in an Orthodox prayer book or songbook, one will find Elokeinu for Eloheinu/Our God, Adoshem for Adonai or, most commonly, Hashem/The Name . Progressive Jews have brought their own set of concerns and strictures to the naming of the Supreme Being. God has no gender in conventional human terms, but gendered God-talk has historically implied a valorization of God's masculine attributes. Reform, Reconstructionist, and some Conservative siddurim will avoid using gendered names for God, discarding Lord or King in favor of Adonai or Ruler. Many traditionally observant Jews will not write the vernacular equivalent of the sacred names, preferring G-d or Lrd (although other no less traditional Jews deride this practice because these words are English and therefore not true names of God). This practiC.E., however, has different roots from the ban on uttering the Shem Hameforash , the proscribed sacred Name. Contrary to popular belief, this practice does not come from the commandment not to take God's Name in vain. In Jewish thought, that commandment refers solely to oath-taking, and is a prohibition against swearing by God's Name falsely or frivolously (the word normally translated as "in vain" literally means "for falsehood"). Incidentally, this is why observant Jews serving on juries or testifying in court will affirm rather than swear. Judaism does not prohibit writing the Name of God per se. But it does prohibit erasing or defacing a Name of God. Consequently, observant Jews avoid writing any Name of God casually because of the risk that the written Name might later be defaced, obliterated, or destroyed accidentally or by one who does not know better. The commandment not to erase or deface the name of God is derived from Deuteronomy 12:3-4. In verse 3, the people are commanded that when they take over the promised land, they should destroy all things related to the idolatrous religions of that region, and should utterly destroy the names of the local deities. Immediately afterwards in verse 4, we are commanded not to do the same to our God. From this, the rabbis inferred that we are commanded not to destroy any holy thing, and not to erase or deface a Name of God. This prohibition applies only to Names that are written in some permanent form. Recent rabbinical decisions have held that typing on a computer is not a permanent form, thus it is not a violation to type God's Name into a computer and then backspace over it or cut and paste it, or copy and delete files with God's Name in them. However, once you print the document out, it becomes "permanent." In addition, the prayers found in the siddur (prayerbook, derived from the Hebrew word seder , meaning "order") fall into several different genres, enriching the dialogue between God and each Jew. Prayers of blessing, supplication, thanksgiving and praise all may appear in the benedictions. In Hebrew liturgy, such a prayer, known as a b'rakhah/blessing or in plural form as b'rakhot , ends with the formula Barukh atah Adonai/Blessed are You, Adonai ... begins with the same formula followed by words praising God appropriate to the occasion or need. For example, in the Amidah, the standing prayer that is at the center of the liturgy, we pray, Barukh atah Adonai mekhayei hakol/Blessed are You Lord, who gives life to all. This is the shortest version of the b'rakhah formula, a khatimah/seal (pl. khatimot ) that closes off a section of prayer. In b'rakhot that stand on their own, we add the words Eloheinu Melekh ha-olam/our God, Ruler of the Universe to the opening formula. For example, the following blessing occurs in the morning service: Barukh atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melekh ha-olam, she-asani b'tsalmo. Blessed are You, Adonai, our God, Ruler of the universe, who has made me in your image. In b'rakhot said before fulfilling a specific mitzvah/obligation (see Chapter 4), the formula is expanded further. For example, the blessing for the lighting of Sabbath candles reads: Barukh atah Adonai Eloheinu Melekh ha-olam, asher kid'shanu b'mitzvotav v'tzivanu l'hadlik ner shel Shabbat. Blessed are you Adonai our God, Ruler of the Universe, who sanctifies us by Your commandments and commands us to kindle the lights of the Sabbath. In virtually all b'rakhot , there are two interesting paradoxes that reflect key elements in the relationship between God and Jew. First, there is a shift between the opening of the shorter form of the b'rakhah , which expresses an intimate personal relationship between God and the one who prays ("Blessed are You, Adonai, our God") and the second part, which bespeaks a cosmic relationship ("Ruler of the Universe"). Second, between the opening ("Blessed are You ...") and the second part of the b'rakhah , the prayer shifts from the second person to the third person ("who sanctifies us ... and commands us"). This change is not always apparent in the English translation of the blessings because many translators choose to smooth over this apparent "mistake" in grammar, but it is present in virtually all b'rakhot . Much has been written about this second shift, this peculiar change in person. Most commentators believe that, like the first change in tone in the formula, it reflects God's dual relationship between intimacy and distanC.E., affection and awe, moving from direct address, "You," to indirect address (implicitly, "the One who commands us"). Judaism has always placed great value on an individual's relationship with and reaction to God. The second-century sage Rabbi Yose says that when the Israelites were given the Law at Sinai, each of them heard a different voice of God, a splendid metaphor for the unique response of each Jew to the traditions of Judaism. Prayer, too, is an individual experience and, as we will see shortly, the state of mind that an individual brings to worship is of enormous importance in Jewish practice. The relationship between God and man is not only a solitary relationship. Virtually all the b'rakhot are written in the first-person plural: "the one who commands us." Although it is possible for a Jew to pray alone, Judaism insists on the communal nature of worship, on prayer as an act most fittingly performed in a community. Certain key prayers may only be recited in the presence of a minyan/quorum of ten adult Jews. As Dr. Eugene Borowitz, a contemporary Reform theologian, writes: Judaism does not think of man abstracted from his relation to mankind. It does appreciate the meaning of the individual in isolation, but holds him, the single one, in unremitting importanC.E., against a background of society and history. For the Jew, man is a social and historical creature. Hence his prayer should properly be a communal, comradely affair. Public worship is a universal human need and, also, a specifically Jewish requirement. - "The Individual and the Community in Jewish Prayer," Gates of Understanding (New York, 1977) Praying in a community serves many functions. Rabbi Lawrence Hoffman, a contemporary expert in liturgy, has said that communal worship represents mankind's attempt to impose meaning on a chaotic, arbitrary, and indecipherable universe. Certainly there is great comfort in being surrounded by like-minded worshippers during times of crisis. Jewish prayer rituals are designed to reinforce that sense of community. Even if a Jew is unable to pray in Hebrew, she can still say "Amen" after hearing a b'rakhah . Rabbi Judah writes in a second-century midrash, a homiletic commentary, "He who answers Amen in this world is privileged to answer Amen in the World to Come." To answer "Amen" is to participate in prayer as part of klal Yisrael/the community of Israel . For the individual Jew, communal worship provides the additional satisfaction of being tied into a historical continuity that began with a covenant between God and Abraham, and continues with the worldwide community of Jews. Sociologist William Helmreich, recalling his Orthodox upbringing in Brooklyn, writes: Although I might be nothing more than a speck on the map of Jewish history, the shape and location of that map were clear in my mind. I belonged ï and every ceremony we performed, every prayer I said, strengthened that image. When I went to a friend's house for Shabbos [the Sabbath] and heard the same melodies, uttered the same benedictions and even ate the same foods, I felt a bond that tied me inseparably to my people. Continues... Excerpted from Essential Judaism by George Robinson Copyright © 2000 by George Robinson Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

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Library Journal Review

Written by an informed layperson for a popular audience, this book can be understood and appreciated by Jew and non-Jew alike. Robinson, a former syndicated columnist, writes as a committed Reform Jew attempting to fairly present the viewpoints of the various modern Jewish movements (Conservative, Reconstructionist, Orthodox). The book is divided into nine chapters that focus on such issues as prayer and ritual, festivals, the life cycle, the Hebrew Bible, the Talmud, and Jewish mysticism. The appendix contains some key documents, a time line of major events, and a discussion of what is kosher. There is also a helpful glossary of Jewish terms. The book is extremely readable with a clean layout and highlighted sidebars. The best introduction to Judaism remains Milton Steinberg's concise Basic Judaism (1947), but this book is a welcome addition to the subject. Highly recommended for most libraries.--Paul M. Kaplan, Lake Villa Dist. Lib., IL (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

Ten years ago, Robinson entered a Reform synagogue for the first time since adolescence. He became an active congregant, but he discovered in his reincorporation of certain rituals and practices that he "was often baffled" by what occurred in the synagogue. This expansive tome attempts to provide the essentials of Judaism for novices, outsiders and those who, like Robinson, rediscovered their heritage as adults. It's an excellent introductory resource, vast but accessibly organized. Robinson first covers the most ritually significant Jewish prayers and walks the reader through a typical Shabbat service. He presents the basic facts about holidays and the Jewish calendar, then explores Jewish life-cycle rituals from bris to burial and includes a catch-all chapter on other practices such as Kashrut. By beginning with Jewish practice, rather than history or law, Robinson centers the core of Judaism in everyday life. The book's second half is a whirlwind tour of Torah and Talmud, Kabbalah and Jewish philosophers, with a key explanatory chapter on historical developments such as Hasidism and Zionism. Notably absent is the history of the Holocaust and the founding of Israel; Robinson notes that the Judaica sections of most bookstores already overflow with such historical information, and he explores instead the scope of Jews' reactions to those events. This is a valuable, sensitive one-volume guide to Jewish practice. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Booklist Review

Robinson covers every aspect of Judaism in this comprehensive and informative guide. He begins with a chapter on prayer and ritual: blessings; daily, Sabbath, and festival services; and the role of rabbis. He follows with a chapter on the Jewish holidays--how and when to celebrate them. A chapter on the Jewish life cycle explores everything from a baby-naming ceremony to engagement and marriage, divorce, illness, aging, death, and mourning. Robinson also provides detailed information on the Hebrew Bible, the Talmud, Midrash, and Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism). He discusses 11 philosophers in depth--Philo, Maimonides, Spinoza, Mendelssohn, Buber, and Heschel, among them. Zionism, anti-Semitism, feminism in Jewish theology, enlightenment and emancipation, and assimilation are also discussed. Almost 3,000 years of Jewish history, thought, and culture are brought to life in this extraordinary work. --George Cohen

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

George Robinson is the recipient of a Simon Rockower Award for excellence in Jewish journalism from the American Jewish Press Association. A member of the National Book Critics circle, his writing on Jewish issues appears frequently in "The New York Times", "Washington Post", and "Newsday".

(Bowker Author Biography)