"While there is now no lack of books which regale the English reader with selections from the Talmud, tales from the Talmud and wise sayings of the Rabbis, there is no work which attempts a comprehensive survey of the doctrine of this important branch of Jewish literature. To supply that want is the task undertaken in the present volume. Its aim is to provide a summary of the teachings of the Talmud on Religion, Ethics, Folk-lore, and Jurisprudence." The Rev. Dr. A. Cohen, 1931

Long regarded as the classic introduction to the teachings of the Talmud, this comprehensive and masterly distillation summarizes the wisdom of the rabbinic sages on the dominant themes of Judaism.

""This volume of essays was developed from ... a colloquium convened in 2005 by the Working Group on Jews, Media, and Religion of the Center for Religion and Media at New York University""--Intr.

This impeccably researched and “adventure-packed” (The Washington Post) account of the obsessive quest by Christopher Columbus’s son to create the greatest library in the world is “the stuff of Hollywood blockbusters” (NPR) and offers a vivid picture of Europe on the verge of becoming modern. At the peak of the Age of Exploration, Hernando Colón sailed with his father Christopher Columbus on his final voyage to the New World, a journey that ended in disaster, bloody mutiny, and shipwreck. After Columbus’s death in 1506, eighteen-year-old Hernando sought to continue—and surpass—his father’s campaign to explore the boundaries of the known world by building a library that would collect everything ever printed: a vast holding organized by summaries and catalogues; really, the first ever database for the exploding diversity of written matter as the printing press proliferated across Europe. Hernando traveled extensively and obsessively amassed his collection based on the groundbreaking conviction that a library of universal knowledge should include “all books, in all languages and on all subjects,” even material often dismissed: ballads, erotica, news pamphlets, almanacs, popular images, romances, fables. The loss of part of his collection to another maritime disaster in 1522, set off the final scramble to complete this sublime project, a race against time to realize a vision of near-impossible perfection. “Magnificent…a thrill on almost every page” (The New York Times Book Review), The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books is a window into sixteenth-century Europe’s information revolution, and a reflection of the passion and intrigues that lie beneath our own insatiable desires to bring order to the world today.

Hasidism evokes heated controversy among scholars trying to analyze the movement and its significance. The Hasidic thought of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Lyady (1745-1813), known as Habad, has had a major influence of Jewish life throughout the world. Habad is an acronym of the initials for the Hebrew word Hokhmah, Binah, Da'at or wisdom, understanding, knowledge. This book, based on all the extant teachings of Shneur Zalman, systematically presents that thought and analyzes its underlying theological, philosophical, religious, and ethical concepts. The focus is on axiology and on three broad questions: What were Shneur Zalman's criteria for religioethical perfection? What did he want his followers to believe, know, feel, and do in order to aspire toward that perfection? What were the attitudes and value he sought to inculcate with this end in mind? Because Shneur Zalman's Hasidism grew out of the Hasidism of Israel Baal Shem Tov and Dov Baer of Mezhirech, their teachings are also examined and analyzed. Foxbrunner concludes that although the outstanding features of Shneur Zalman's Hasidism are syncretism, tension, and paradox, some valid generalizations do emerge. Foremost among these is his belief that man was created to serve his Maker and that true, selfless, and joyous service is impossible without a love and fear of God grounded in comprehension and generated by intense contemplation. Shneur Zalman insisted that such service is within every man's grasp-provided he is willing to reach for it and taught how to do so. Inspiring that will and providing that training were the functions of all true leaders of Israil. Shneur Zalman assimilated the teachings of Baal Shem Tov and Dov Baer and saw himself as the third of a single line of Hasidic masters. Combining great intellect, profound compassion, and mental discipline, Shneur Zalman devoted himself to inspiring self less service to God. He was very much, and perhaps uniquely, a this- worldly mystic, devoted to raising funds to ease the plight of the poor and above all to educating men in a mysticism that was warm, concerned, vital, and sensitive.