Set against the backdrop of the Syrian civil war and the massive humanitarian crisis it produced, Georgette Bennett tells the largely untold story of how sworn enemies—Syrians and Israelis, Jews and Muslims—came to trust each other with their lives in order to alleviate terrible suffering. The dramatic tale of their unlikely collaboration illustrates what a few determined individuals can do in the face of inertia, inefficiency, and widespread indifference. It also shows how the novel concept of humanitarian diplomacy offers a beacon of hope for all the hate-based clashes occurring around the world today.

The importance of blacks for Jews and Jews for blacks in conceiving of themselves as Americans, when both remained outsiders to the privileges of full citizenship, is a matter of voluminous but perplexing record. A monumental work of literary criticism and cultural history, Strangers in the Land draws upon politics, sociology, law, religion, and popular culture to illuminate a vital, highly conflicted interethnic partnership over the course of a century.

First published 500 years ago as the “Rabbinic Bible,” the biblical commentaries known as Miqra’ot Gedolot have inspired and educated generations of Hebrew readers. With this edition, the voices of Rashi, Ibn Ezra, Nahmanides, Rashbam, and other medieval Bible commentators come alive once more, speaking in a contemporary English translation annotated and explicated for lay readers. Each page of this second volume in The Commentators’ Bible series contains several verses from the Book of Leviticus, surrounded by both the 1917 and 1985 JPS translations, and by new contemporary English translations of the major commentators. The book also includes an introduction, a glossary of terms, a list of names used in the text, notes on source texts, a special topics list, and resources for further study. This large-format volume is beautifully designed for easy navigation among the many elements on each page, including explanatory notes and selected additional comments from the works of Bekhor Shor, Hizkuni, Abarbanel, Sforno, Gersonides, and others.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1881.

This text examines the mutual relationship between Jews and African Americans through visual art. It investigates how artists of both backgrounds have viewed each other in the past - how visual languages and thematic concerns have changed to reflect different issues of concern to each group.

Maimonides lived in Spain and Egypt in the twelfth century, and is perhaps the most widely studied figure in Jewish history. This book presents, for the first time, Maimonides' complete tort theory and how it compares with other tort theories both in the Jewish world and beyond. Drawing on sources old and new as well as religious and secular, Maimonides and Contemporary Tort Theory offers fresh interdisciplinary perspectives on important moral, consequentialist, economic, and religious issues that will be of interest to both religious and secular scholars. The authors mention several surprising points of similarity between certain elements of theories recently formulated by North American scholars and the Maimonidean theory. Alongside these similarities significant differences are also highlighted, some of them deriving from conceptual-jurisprudential differences and some from the difference between religious law and secular-liberal law.

U'vamakom she'ein anashim, hishtadel l'hiyot ish... "In the place where no one stands up to do what is right, be the one who steps up to the plate." Stepping Up to the Plate is the autobiography of Rabbi Robert L. Samuels, a visionary who fused Zionism and Progressive Judaism and who had a tremendous impact on Israel. Bob's vision of the Leo Baeck School was for a comprehensive educational center that would bring together children of all ethnic and economic backgrounds, educating them to be informed citizens committed to the finest progressive values of Judaism and humanity. He was not only a visionary, but he knew how to transform vision into reality. - Rabbi Charles Kroloff I can still hear him now: What did you do today to fix the world? Countless men and women, captains of industry and army generals, rebels and reactionaries were witness to the force of nature known as "HaRav Samuels."... Bob always wanted to counter darkness with light--the light of learning, of understanding, of equality, of community. He believed that Zion will be redeemed by education... Bob was a builder. The Hebrew word for builder, banai, is an anagram of the word for prophet, navi. He developed an approach that all his students should learn from--applied prophecy. Rabbi Samuels sought a blend of the best of Liberal Judaism with the best inherent in Israel... As a person, a patriarch, a professional role model, a planner, a pioneer, a child of prophets, Bob was a builder. This book tells his story. - Rabbi Michael Marmur

Study in Jewish Concepts and Beliefs. Book of Terms and Definitions. THE COMPILATION (R) RegisteredSTUDY IN JEWISH CONCEPTS AND BELIEFS. THE COMBINING AND JOINING OF HEBREW TERMS THAT IN ESSENCE SYMBOLIZE THE CONCEPT OF PRAYER, JOINING US WITH G-DAUTHOR: WARREN J CYR (aharon ben yosef), THE "aby"EDITOR: DANIEL J CYRPROGRAMMER: SAUL SCHON/SCHOU - i.e. PAUL ANDERSON

People who helped exterminate Jews during the shoah (Hebrew for "holocaust") often claimed that they only did what was expected of them. Intrigued by hearing the same response from individuals who rescued Jews, David R. Blumenthal proposes that the notion of ordinariness used to characterize Nazi evil is equally applicable to goodness. In this provocative book, Blumenthal develops a new theory of human behavior that identifies the social and psychological factors that foster both good and evil behavior. Drawing on lessons primarily from the shoah but also from well-known obedience and altruism experiments, My Lai, and the civil rights movement, Blumenthal deftly interweaves insights from psychology, history, and social theory to create a new way of looking at human behavior. Blumenthal identifies the factors — social hierarchy, education, and childhood discipline — that shape both good and evil attitudes and actions. Considering how our religious and educational institutions might do a better job of encouraging goodness and discouraging evil, he then makes specific recommendations for cultivating goodness in people, stressing the importance of the social context of education. He reinforces his ideas through stories, teachings, and case histories from the Jewish tradition that convey important lessons in resistance and goodness. Appendices include the ethical code of the Israel Defense Forces, material on non-violence from the Martin Luther King, Jr., Center, a suggested syllabus for a Jewish elementary school, and a list of prosocial sources on the Web, as well as a complete bibliography. If people can commit acts of evil without thinking, why can’t even more commit acts of kindness? Writing with power and insight, Blumenthal shows readers of all faiths how we might replace patterns of evil with empathy, justice, and caring, and through a renewed attention to moral education, perhaps prevent future shoahs.