You spend one-third of your life sleeping. Is spirituality a part of that time? This book shows you how it can be. This inspiring, informative guide shows us how we can use the often overlooked time at the end of each day to enhance our spiritual, physical and psychological well-being. Each chapter takes a new look at traditional Jewish prayers and what they have to teach us about the spiritual aspects of preparing for the end of the day, and about sleep itself. Drawing on Kabbalistic teachings, prayer, the Bible and midrash, the authors enrich our understanding of traditional bedtime preparations, and show how, by including them in our bedtime rituals, we can gain insight into our lives and access the spiritual enrichment the world of dreams has to offer. Clear illustrations and diagrams, step-by-step meditations, visualization techniques and exercise suggestions for fully integrating body, mind and spirit show us the way to: Hashkivenu—Creating a safe space for sleep Hareni Mochel—Clearing our hearts through forgiveness Shema—Connecting to God in Love Bircat Cohanim—Experiencing the reality of blessing Hamapil—Thanking God for sleep and the illumination that comes in sleeps This perfect nighttime companion draws on the power of Jewish tradition to help us enhance our spiritual awareness—in both our waking and sleeping hours.

How do I find greater wholeness in my life and in my family's life? "To appreciate the importance of the Bible and gain insight about ourselves from it, both Jews and Christians can use the process of midrash: The attempt to find contemporary meaning in the biblical text. The term midrash comes from the Hebrew root darash which means to seek, search, or demand (meaning from the biblical text). The starting point of our search for personal meaning is the Bible itself.... Each generation, each reader, can approach the text anew and draw meaning from it." --from Self, Struggle & Change The stress of late-20th-century living only brings new variations to timeless personal struggles. The people described by the biblical writers of Genesis were in situations and relationships very much like our own, and their stories still speak to us because they are about the same basic problems we deal with every day. Learning from Adam and Eve, can we find the courage not only to face our other side, but to draw strength from it? Learning from Leah and Rachel, can we stop competing with our loved ones, and begin to accept them and find ourselves? Sarah, Hagar, Lot, Ishmael and Isaac, Rebekkah, Joseph and his brothers, Jacob and Esau...this vibrant cast of characters offers us new ways of understanding ourselves and our families and healing our lives. A modern master of biblical interpretation brings us greater understanding of the ancient biblical text, and of the insights its characters give us about ourselves and our families today. By bringing the people in Genesis to life--husbands and wives, fathers and sons, brothers and sisters-- Self, Struggle & Change shows us how to find wholeness in our lives.

This new spiritual approach to physical health introduces us to a spiritual tradition that affirms the body and enables us to reconceive our bodies in a more positive light. Using Kabbalistic teachings and other Jewish traditions, it shows us how to be more responsible for our own spiritual and physical health. Each chapter explores the meaning of traditional Jewish prayers, providing a framework for new thinking about body, mind, and soul. Simple exercises and movements help our bodies "understand" prayer, and show how the body's energy centers correspond to the Kabbalistic concept of the ten divine "rays of light," the Sefirot. And meditations and visualizations allow us to further enhance our spiritual awareness. Using the structure of the Prayer Wheel, readers can move step by step toward wholeness of body, mind and spirit: Modeh Ani Awakening our body and our soul Mah Tovu Creating a temple for our soul Asher Yatzar Focusing on the gift of our body Bircat HaTorah Balancing our mind through the gift of Torah Elohai Neshamah Connecting with the soul using the Sefirot Elu D'varim Walking on a God-centered path Clearly illustrated with photos and diagrams to guide readers, this active, creative approach allows us to tap the power of the Jewish tradition—to awaken the body, balance the mind, and connect with the soul.

Dreams and nightmares have long puzzled and fascinated, yet this is the first book to explore such visions in the Ancient Egyptian world. The author traces the evidence from the first half of Egypt's long history, the Old Kingdom through the New Kingdom, a time-span of over 1,000 years. The book is arranged thematically, with chapters devoted to the literary use of dreams, to the political use of divine visions, to the technology used to ward away terrorizing nightmares. It also explores the Ramesside Dream Book, a unique text that reveals the desires and anxieties that could inspire an Egyptian's dreams, with images of sex and power, of gods and the dead. All the relevant passages are conveniently translated in an appendix.

This comprehensive volume provides a balanced and easily readable account of the rise of modern sleep medicine, its history and developmental milestones. Authored by an international group of experts, the remarkable progress and fascinating evolution from rudimentary concepts of the ancient prehistoric and early classical periods to our contemporary knowledge are covered in detail. These examples and their relationship to modern therapies offer neurologists, psychiatrists, respiratory specialists, clinicians, researchers and those interested in sleep medicine an important perspective to the origins of current practice.

Breathe New Life into Your Prayer with the Wisdom of Kabbalah and the Hasidic Masters Jewish mystics teach that every word a person utters in prayer should radiate light. Even the letters of the words of prayer carry sparks of the Divine that yearn to join together in holiness. In this inspiring spiritual companion, Reform rabbi Lawrence Kushner and Orthodox rabbi Nehemia Polen join together to provide a window into the liturgy for people of all backgrounds by offering fresh insights and meditations that bring the traditional prayerbook to life. Drawing from the Torah, Zohar, and ancient and contemporary Hasidic masters, Kushner and Polen reflect on the joy, gratitude, compassion, mystery, and awe embedded in traditional prayers and blessings, and show how you can imbue these familiar sacred words with your own sense of holiness. Insightful, fresh, and wise, Filling Words with Light will enrich your understanding of the prayer book and guide you on how to put more of yourself into the holy words of the Jewish tradition.

Encourages readers to integrate dreaming and creativity by playing with their dreams across a range of media, including painting, ceramics, dancing, mask making, and poetry.

The book is about meditation (the process and basic steps to make it easy to do), inspiration (words that touch your heart and soul), and healing. As you enter the Temple of Light, you will be led to chambers that will speak to your heart and soul. The meditations are inspired with illustrations to help you connect and feel the process of each journey each chamber takes you through. You will gain an inner reflection, which will show you who you are; wisdom, which will help you make better choices and decisions; and healing, which includes personal stories that will give you insights toward self-healing.

The Five Books of Moses (Torah) contain 613 commandments. Since there are only three Commandments (Mitzvot) in the Book of Genesis only the practice of circumcision is compared with other ancient civilizations. The other four Books of Moses have been divided numerically into 34 categories in Moses Maimonides' (Rambam) Mishnah Torah with each one followed by their total number of Torah Mitzvot. Rambam's categories have been listed in ascending order from those with the least number of Commandments to those with the greatest number of commandments. The Commandments are listed in each book by line and verse followed by similar practices in other ancient Middle Eastern civilizations: Egyptian, Greek, Sumerian, Akkadian, Hittite, Amorites, Ammonites, Moabites, Mesopotamia and the city-state of Babylon. Babylonia founded 4,000 years ago as a small port town on the Euphrates River was a state in ancient Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia is a region of southwest Asia in the Tigris and Euphrates river system that hosted the beginnings of human civilization. It is part of the Fertile Crescent, an area also known as "Cradle of Civilization" for the number of innovations that arose from the early societies in the area. It was in what is today large portions of Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and Kuwait from the Mediterranean Sea in the north and the Persian Gulf in the south.

Dreams can inspire us, frighten us, and open a new world of discovery. But interpreting our dreams is often difficult, if not impossible. Finding a reliable teacher to help us answer all the questions we have can be equally frustrating - until now. With warmth and gentleness, Rapin tackles several topics as she explains how you too can understand your dreams.