The year is 1992. A very respected Rabbi is found murdered in his synagogue located in a wealthy suburb on Long Island. Deborah Katzman is the first woman to become president of the synagogue. She is a child survivor of the Holocaust and a successful bankruptcy attorney. The synagogue's lay leaders had hoped that a woman with her background would be able to reduce the growing friction within their walls. The Rabbi had been growing more and more traditional at the same time as his congregants were becoming more liberal. Younger women were clamoring for equal participation in religious services; older congregants were opposed to the Rabbi's newly heightened religious practices. Emotions were exploding . . . but is all of this enough to cause someone to murder a man of God? The Temple leaders, each an interesting character in their own right, are trying to achieve some modicum of harmony within this once peaceful house of worship. The search for the killer is the plot that is carried forward until the murderer is uncovered in a surprise ending.

The year is 1992. A very respected Rabbi is found murdered in his synagogue located in a wealthy suburb on Long Island. Deborah Katzman is the first woman to become president of the synagogue. She is a child survivor of the Holocaust and a successful bankruptcy attorney. The synagogue’s lay leaders had hoped that a woman with her background would be able to reduce the growing friction within their walls. The Rabbi had been growing more and more traditional at the same time as his congregants were becoming more liberal. Younger women were clamoring for equal participation in religious services; older congregants were opposed to the Rabbi’s newly heightened religious practices. Emotions were exploding . . . but is all of this enough to cause someone to murder a man of God? The Temple leaders, each an interesting character in their own right, are trying to achieve some modicum of harmony within this once peaceful house of worship. The search for the killer is the plot that is carried forward until the murderer is uncovered in a surprise ending.

Two Jews, Three Opinions examines a unique educational movement that began in 1980 when eight school leaders met to create RAVSAK: the Jewish Community Day School Network, an association of schools distinguished by being inclusive of all Jews in their communities. This singularly-purposed segment of the Jewish educational mosaic has not been studied before. As American Jews struggle with changing demographics and identities, it is instructive to see how community day schools and their network anticipated and accommodated many of this century's most significant Jewish educational challenges. Two Jews, Three Opinions illuminates the community day school network's embrace of Klal Yisrael, the unity of the Jewish people. It describes what led to RAVSAK's success and then to its elimination as an entity, the exceptionality and importance of which was vastly undervalued and underserved by the American Jewish establishment. Arguing for the vital importance of pluralistic Jewish education in the twenty-first century, it issues a call to Jewish communal leaders to champion community day schools as guarantors of a knowledgeable and committed Jewish future.

Through words and more than 300 exquisite photographs, Synagogues Without Jews tells the engaging histories of over thirty Jewish communities across Europe that thrived before WWII. Beautiful full colour photographs and architectural drawings bring back the past splendor of these synagogues and once again we can see why they were the pride and joy of their congregations.

Women have been rabbis for over forty years. No longer are women rabbis a unique phenomenon, rather they are part of the fabric of Jewish life. In this anthology, rabbis and scholars from across the Jewish world reflect back on the historic significance of women in the rabbinate and explore issues related to both the professional and personal lives of women rabbis. This collection examines the ways in which the reality of women in the rabbinate has impacted on all aspects of Jewish life, including congregational culture, liturgical development, life cycle ritual, the Jewish healing movement, spirituality, theology, and more. Published by CCAR Press, a division of the Central Conference of American Rabbis

Michael Weinstein gives readers a tour of 180 beautiful synagogues throughout the boroughs of New York City. This coffee-table book¿s 613 photos represent each of the mitzvot, or commandments, of Judaism in the Torah. Michael shares the dates that these stunning synagogues were founded as well as their names, including their English translations.

The Great Jewish Cities of Central and Eastern Europe: A Travel Guide and Resource Book to Prague, Warsaw, Cracow, and Budapest is the most comprehensive guidebook covering all aspects of Jewish history and contemporary life in Prague, Warsaw, Cracow, and Budapest. This remarkable book includes detailed histories of the Jews in these cities, walking tours of Jewish districts past and present, intensive descriptions of Jewish sites, fascinating accounts of local Jewish legend and lore, and practical information for Jewish travelers to the region.

A major Conservative movement leader of our time, Elliot N. Dorff provides a personal, behind-the-scenes guide to the evolution of Conservative Jewish thought and practice over the last half century. His candid observations concerning the movement's ongoing tension between constancy and change shed light on the sometimes unified, sometimes diverse, and occasionally contentious reasoning behind the modern movement's most important laws, policies, and documents. Meanwhile, he has assembled, excerpted, and contextualized the most important historical and internal documents in modern Conservative movement history for the first time in one place, enabling readers to consider and compare them all in context. In "Part 1: God" Dorff explores various ways that Conservative Jews think about God and prayer. In "Part 2: Torah" he considers different approaches to Jewish study, law, and practice; changing women's roles; bioethical rulings on issues ranging from contraception to cloning; business ethics; ritual observances from online minyanim to sports on Shabbat; moral issues from capital punishment to protecting the poor; and nonmarital sex to same-sex marriage. In "Part 3: Israel" he examines Zionism, the People Israel, and rabbinic rulings in Israel.

Using the vision embedded in Israel's Declaration of Independence as a template, this anthology presents a unique and comprehensive dialogue between North American Jews and Israelis about the present and future of the State of Israel. With each essay published in both Hebrew and English, in one volume, Deepening the Dialogue is the first of its kind, outlining cultural barriers as well as the immediate need to come together in conversation around the vision of a democratic solution for our nation state.

Unencumbered by religious agendas and pat answers, Encountering the Edge satisfies our curiosity concerning what people believe in, shrug their shoulders at, laugh at, and most care about as they face Act 3, Scene 3, of their lives. Join Chaplain Kaplan as she visits her hospice patients, and share her sense of adventure and openness to the experience. The author also reveals the inner workings of a hospice agency from a chaplain's viewpoint both on the road and in the office. Readers will encounter odd, poignant, revealing, and even amusing characters, such as a countercultural type who always greeted Kaplan with "Hey, doll!" and a World War Two veteran who beat the odds and left hospice to live well for over a year. Kaplan also illuminates what patients think will happen in the hereafter, as well as her own path and deeper motivations for entering this career. In the last chapter, Kaplan explores what it would be like to be a hospice patient herself, talking with a seasoned chaplain who gently lets her express her beliefs, regrets, sources of meaning, and hopes. Encountering the Edge is a unique view of a topic that affects us all, and provides comfort combined with humor and insight that allows readers to feel safe in this unknown territory. Come explore The Edge with Karen. Dr. Carol Orsborn, Ph.D., editor-in-chief of www.FierceWithAge.com, and a baby boomer expert who regularly appears on Oprah, says of the book, "Kaplan brings a refreshing balance of rare insight and wry humor to what people near the end shared with her during her seven years at hospices." "Karen Kaplan writes with the voice of a woman who knows her subject and its importance from real-world experience tending to the spiritual and human needs of the sick and dying. Her blog, Off-Beat Compassion, is a must-read on my list of regular sources as I cover death, dying, grief and the end-of-life." Jaweed Kaleem, National Religion Reporter, The Huffington Post About the Author Karen B. Kaplan served as a hospice chaplain for seven years, working at United Hospice of Rockland in New York, and Princeton Hospice in New Jersey.