Fragments of damaged and rescued Torahs from several periods of history are woven together in this touching tale of four generations of a Torah scribe and his family.

Kar-Ben Read-Aloud eBooks with Audio combine professional narration and text highlighting to bring eBooks to life! As a child, David watches his grandfather, a Torah scribe or sofer, finish a Torah scroll for the synagogue. "A Torah is not something to be thrown away," his Grandfather explains. David's grandfather carefully stores the old Torah his new one has replaced in his cabinet, hoping to one day repair the letters so the Torah can be used again. David grows up and becomes a sofer just like his grandfather. Through the years, people bring him damaged Torahs they have saved from danger and disaster - one damaged by Nazi soldiers during World War II, one damaged in a fire in a synagogue, and one in flooding during Hurricane Katrina. David stores each of these precious Torahs in his cabinet, until his granddaughter Leah gives him the idea to make a recycled Torah from the salvaged Torah scrolls.

From the Washington Post columnist and James Beard Award-winning author of Poor Man’s Feast comes a story of seeking truth, acceptance, and self in a world of contradiction... Treyf: According to Leviticus, unkosher and prohibited, like lobster, shrimp, pork, fish without scales, the mixing of meat and dairy. Also, imperfect, intolerable, offensive, undesirable, unclean, improper, broken, forbidden, illicit. Fans of Augusten Burroughs and Jo Ann Beard will enjoy this kaleidoscopic, universal memoir in which Elissa Altman explores the tradition, religion, family expectations, and the forbidden that were the fixed points in her Queens, New York, childhood. Every part of Altman’s youth was laced with contradiction and hope, betrayal and the yearning for acceptance: synagogue on Saturday and Chinese pork ribs on Sunday; bat mitzvahs followed by shrimp-in-lobster-sauce luncheons; her old-country grandparents, whose kindness and love were tied to unspoken rage, and her bell-bottomed neighbors, whose adoring affection hid dark secrets. While the suburban promise of The Brady Bunch blared on television, Altman searched for peace and meaning in a world teeming with faith, violence, sex, and paradox. Spanning from 1940s wartime Brooklyn to 1970s Queens to present-day rural New England, Treyf captures the collision of youthful cravings and grown-up identities. It is a vivid tale of what it means to come to yourself both in spite and in honor to your past.

Can we re-imagine our relationship to the earth--using the viewpoints and texts of the last four millennia? Human responses to the natural world stretching back through the last 4,000 years come to life in this major new resource providing a diverse group of ecological and religious voices. It gives us an invaluable key to understanding the intersection of ecology and Judaism, and offers the wisdom of Judaism in dealing with the present environmental crisis. Both intelligent and accessible, Torah of the Earth is an essential resource and a reminder to us that humans and the earth are intertwined. More than 30 leading scholars and experts enlighten, provoke, and provide a guided tour of ecological thought from four major Jewish viewpoints: Vol. 1: Biblical Israel: One Land, One People Rabbinic Judaism: One People, Many Lands Vol. 2: Zionism: One Land, Two Peoples Eco-Judaism: One Earth, Many Peoples

Can we re-imagine our relationship to the earth—using the viewpoints and texts of the last four millennia? Human responses to the natural world stretching back through the last 4,000 years come to life in this major new resource providing a diverse group of ecological and religious voices. It gives us an invaluable key to understanding the intersection of ecology and Judaism, and offers the wisdom of Judaism in dealing with the present environmental crisis. Both intelligent and accessible, Torah of the Earth is an essential resource and a reminder to us that humans and the earth are intertwined. More than 30 leading scholars and experts enlighten, provoke, and provide a guided tour of ecological thought from four major Jewish viewpoints: Vol. 1: Biblical Israel: One Land, One People Rabbinic Judaism: One People, Many Lands Vol. 2: Zionism: One Land, Two Peoples Eco-Judaism: One Earth, Many Peoples

This book addresses the ancient tradition of Hebrew Spirituality that is the foundation for Judaism and other religions and its relevance for today. Universal underlying themes of monotheism, monism, East-West connections, meditation, mysticism, Kabala, Yoga and Vedanta, are explored by the author/editor and guest contributors covering perspectives from Yoga, Judaism, Sufism, and Mystical Christianity. Specific topics include an overview of Kabala, Ibrahim and non-dualism in Sufism, Bibliyoga, a system for synthesizing yoga postures with biblical teachings, Victor Frankl and Logotherapy, spiritual activism and green yoga, and atheism, agnosticism and Jewish Secular Humanism.

A teacher's bible for teaching the Five Books of Moses This invaluable guide for preparing to teach or study the weekly Torah portion provides a precise synopsis of each of the 54 parashiyot, as well as overviews of commentaries and sources, capsule biographies of Torah interpreters, and provocative questions. Over 1,000 unusual strategies help readers analyze, extend, and personalize the text. A bibliography and a thematic index make this an especially useful resource for Bar/Bat Mitzvah preparation, sermon/D'var Torah ideas, and Havurah discussions.

Twenty years ago Valerie Flournoy and Jerry Pinkney created a warmhearted intergenerational story that became an award-winning perennial. Since then children from all sorts of family situations and configurations continue to be drawn to its portrait of those bonds that create the fabric of family life.

Explore your twenty-first-century culture in light of the first-century world of Jesus. Teachings of the Torah allows you to study the first five books of the Bible through the eyes of a first-century disciple by exploring the text from the viewpoint of those who have also wrestled with and wondered about the Word of God. It invites you into the questions, stories, and interpretations –both ancient and modern –that prove the Bible is a living book. Experience these foundational books of the Bible through this in-depth study tool brought to you in a stunning full-color interior that includes photographs, maps, and illustrations. Features include: The Torah, the first five books of the Bible, in the clear, accessible NIV translation Word studies illuminate Hebrew words and explore their meanings Study notes expound on the Scripture and incorporate writings from early church writers, rabbis, and extra-biblical sources. These notes offer up commentary and ask thought-provoking questions about the text and the Bible times in which they were written. Book introductions and outlines for each book of the Bible “Addressing the Text Articles" delve deeper into select passages of Scripture “Day in the Life Articles” illustrate what daily life was like for people in Bible times Foreword from pastor and author Ed Dobson

Quilting is the miracle of giving new life and purpose to fabric scraps. It can rejuvenate your spiritual life too. We affirm that life is here and now in our quilting and its ability to enable our journey. It is the vehicle for our continuing movement along our lifetime of efforts. Our quilts allow both the goal and the process in one magnificent creation after another. Our quilting generates the perfect combination of faith with action, hope with realism, and the universal with the particular, so that we are blissful and grateful in our co-creation experiences. —from the Conclusion What can you learn about yourself through quilt making? What deeper symbolism can you find in the act of cutting and piecing? How can this simple activity help you make your way down a spiritual path? Delve into these questions and more in this imaginative book that will become your spiritual friend, your teacher and your sanctuary. Contemporary quilter Louise Silk takes you through her own quilting journey to discover how the process of making a quilt can be used to explore and strengthen your own spirituality. Each chapter introduces a universal human attribute organized according to the mystical tradition of Kabbalah, relates it to a personal life practice and then applies the attribute and the practice to an original quilt project. Anyone from the novice to the needlework expert—and from any faith tradition—will be nourished and gratified by the patchwork and appliqu experiences offered in this creative, engaging book. These ten projects, carefully designed for you, include: One-Patch Utility Quilt Log Cabin Quilt String Pieced Pillows Straight Furrows Baby Blanket Quilting Carry-all Bag Patchwork Prayer Shawl Folk Art Appliqu Quilt Remembrance Crazy Quilt T-shirt Quilt Rail Fence Signature Tablecloth Plus dozens of variations ...