At a festive gathering on the second day of the Succoth holiday, 2009, seventeen year old Sholom Bnayahu Werther related a piece of Talmudic lore to his family. With uncharateristic gusto and passion, he explained how the olive is a metaphor for the destiny of the Jewish people. Thirty hours later the young mans life came to an abrupt end as the result of a hit-and-run accident. Within days, the metaphor of the fresh olive, as well as Sholoms unusual name, became the key to numerous afterdeath messages. Applying the ancient tool of gimatriya that links the letters of the Hebrew alphabet to specific number values, passages in the Tanach (Bible) revealed numerous references to Sholoms life, faith and ultimate destiny. Zayis Raanan: The Gift of the Fresh Olive is a riveting account of how those messages unfolded and became a source of consolation, hope and encouragement that will be an eye-opener to any person of faith. Blog Posted for this book: View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries Visit Homepage View Articles Published on 10-02-2011 06:57 PM 1 Comment Shabse Werther is an Orthodox Jew who lost the tenth of his eleven sons to an accident when the boy was seventeen. There followed such an astonishing series of communications in the religious and cultural idiom they shared that the father felt compelled to record his experiences. This little treasure of a book is the result. People familiar with the afterlife literature are used to the standard methods by which our loved ones assure us of their survival, from coins and birds and butterflies to songs on the radio and familiar smells. But all of that is clumsy hit-or-miss when compared with the elegant manner in which young Sholom here repeatedly greets his dad. Orthodox Judaism is more than a religion. It is a way of thinking and living so timeless and complete that we secular moderns have trouble comprehending it. We tend to think of the Old Order Amish frozen as they are in the eighteenth century as a truly ancient religious culture. But when they are compared with Orthodox Jews, the Amish are relative Johnny-come-latelies! Observant Jews share a way of thinking which has changed little in three thousand years, and that makes it hard for you and me to understand the significance of Werthers experiences unless we first try to understand his life. Even in twenty-first-century America, Orthodox Jews dont just practice their religion. Instead they live it as a cultural worldview, an exultant realm of ever-deeper learning, a comforting and uplifting daily round of practice and prayer and study. Secular folks have nothing comparable. And modern-day Christians, who scarcely need to bother with spiritual matters at all if they will just let Jesus save them, have trouble imagining what it must be like to be part of a three-millennia-long tradition of ardent and complete devotion to God. Werther is uncompromising in his use of Jewish terms, but he offers good explanations and translations. Beginning his book is a bit like starting a piece of exotic fiction, and the fun of that feeling is heightened by our awareness that this complex new world is real. I have a dear Orthodox Jewish friend so observant that he has to live near his shul and he spells the Lords name as G-d in his emails because to spell out the name is disrespectful. Like most observant Jews, my friend doesnt much talk about his faith with the goyim around him. But Werther is a father in deep grief. He must immerse his readers in Judaism or we will never understand the significance of his experiences. Young Sholom is like most of those who die in childhood. He is unusually loving, gentle and spiritual, and almost certainly an advanced being who planned his brief life and early death as a loving gift to those around him. He was educated in religious schools, so

Dragons, unicorns, mermaids ... all the famous creatures of myth and legend are to be found in the Torah, Talmud and Midrash. But what are we to make of them? Do they really exist? Did the Torah scholars of old believe in their existence? And if not, why did they describe these creatures? Sacred Monsters is a thoroughly revised and vastly expanded edition of the bestselling book Mysterious Creatures. Rabbi Natan Slifkin, the famous "Zoo Rabbi," revisits all the creatures of that work as well as a host of new ones, including werewolves, giants, dwarfs, two-headed mutants, and the enigmatic shamir-worm. Sacred Monsters explores these cases in detail and discusses a range of different approaches for understanding them. Aside from the fascinating insights into these cryptic creatures, Sacred Monsters also presents a framework within which to approach any conflict between classical Jewish texts and the modern scientific worldview. Complete with extraordinary photographs and fascinating ancient illustrations, Sacred Monsters is a scholarly yet stimulating work that will be a treasured addition to your bookshelf

The Song of Shabbos is a sefer, not a book, that presents an in-depth understanding of the tefillos and zemiros of Shabbos, arranged chronologically, from sunset to sunset. The various treatises present the secrets and sanctity of Shabbos in a new light. This light, the light of the ohr ha’ganuz (the hidden light) was originally revealed in the sifrei Maharal. After centuries of neglect, it was rekindled for the Torah world by the appearance of the famous maamarim of Hagaon Harav Yitzchak Hutner, zt”l, and recorded in his sefarim, Pachad Yitzchak. It is said that the Maharal had the keys to Chazal, and Rav Hutner had the keys to the understanding of the Maharal, not to exclude his uncanny insights into the words of the Ramban, the Gra, and many others. Today, forty years after his passing — the years necessary to understand the mind and ways of the Rav (“adatai d’rabbai”) — his inspiration has brought about a crescendo of interest in his Torah, the maamarim. The light he brought to the world continues to shine brightly.

A new edition of this in-depth study of the Shabbos prayers. With wisdom and insight, the author weaves together the words of the Sages, bringing to light the holiness and the special quality of the Shabbos day and its prayers. This book answers questions such as: Why do we console mourners after Lechah Dodi? Why do we read Shir Hashirim before Shabbos? Why do we study Pirkei Avos from Pesach to Rosh Hashanah? The answers are sophisticated and thought-provoking, drawing upon the words of commentators and Torah authorities throughout the generations.

Yosef Deutsch's previous bestseller Let My Nation Live earned a following of avid readers eager to experience more great moments in Jewish history - moments that impact on us forever. With the expertise of a scholar and the pen o

An inspiring English translation of stories and commentary from the Yalkut Lekach Tov series on coping with misfortune from a Torah perspective.

Tehillim/Psalm/ A new translation with a commentary anthologized from Talmudic, Midrashic and Rabbinic sources.