Numerous ritual manuals from the Jewish tradition have been written outlining the prayers and ceremonies that can be offered to the sick, the dying, and the dead. Two of the most outstanding of these manuals are Maavor Yabok and Sefer HaHayiim from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, respectively. This is the first book to analyze and compare these two important works, showing how they differ and compare. Emphasis is placed on the analysis of the prayers and rituals presented in Maavor Yabok and their spiritual underpinnings taken from the tradition of Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism. This book can be useful to those individuals who are sick or dying and looking for help and comfort from the Jewish sources. It is written, however, as a challenge to those in the Jewish community today, especially workers in Jewish burial societies, the Chevra Kadisha, to take these manuals and re-write them for the twenty-first century, including the spiritual directives to make these rituals and prayers more meaningful not only for their recipients but for those offering them.

In this book, we will share forty lessons, each with its own unique theme. The common thread to the series is living with deeper kindness. How can the Jewish tradition inspire us to live with deeper love and compassion? How can Jewish pearls of wisdom inform how we care for one another? The book contains five sections: Kindness Toward Specific Individuals; Kindness Toward All Individuals; Kindness Through Restraint; Care for Our Environment; and Self-Improvement as a Catalyst for Kindness to Others. The first two sections address proactive kindness towards our fellow humans; the third addresses kindness by avoiding hurting others; the fourth, kindness towards all of God's creations, including animals and nature, as kindness cannot be only people-directed; the fifth serves as a starting point and catalyst for all of the above, for without first being kind to ourselves and improving our general character we cannot be truly kind towards others. The argument is not only that God wants us to live with kindness and that Torah necessitates it, but that kindness has the greatest chance of bringing happiness and meaning to our lives.

"A fascinating book . . . a must-read for all who want to deepen their relationship with life and living . . . I regard this work as an important resource, one-of-a-kind in its genre, and a refreshing wellspring of pragmatic wisdom." -Andrew Weil, M.D., best-selling author of Spontaneous Healing, Healthy Aging, and Fast Food, Good Food "A great book . . . an important work by two amazing teachers . . . a kind of a 'Jewish Book of the Dead, ' like the Egyptian and Tibetan 'Book of the Dead' . . . It blends the mystical with the pragmatic . . . a guiding lamp illuminating our path at every moment." -David Carson, co-author of the best-selling Medicine Cards and Crossing into Medicine Country "Maron and Winkler take the inexplicable, give it meaning, and return it again to delicious mystery . . . They metamorphose complex concepts into song whose rhythm and melody become nearly hypnotic . . . They give us new ways of seeing that excite and incite to new ways of living. And dying." -Anna Redsand

Offers various viewpoints on death and dying, including those of ministers, rabbis, doctors, nurses, and sociologists, along with personal accounts of those near death.

Originally published in 1994, Jewish Views of the Afterlife is a classic study of ideas of afterlife and postmortem survival in Jewish tradition and mysticism. As both a scholar and pastoral counselor, Raphael guides the reader through 4,000 years of Jewish thought on the afterlife by investigating pertinent sacred texts produced in each era. Through a compilation of ideas found in the Bible, Apocrypha, rabbinic literature, medieval philosophy, medieval Midrash, Kabbalah, Hasidism and Yiddish literature, the reader learns how Judaism conceived of the fate of the individual after death throughout Jewish history. In addition, this book explores the implications of Jewish afterlife beliefs for a renewed understanding of traditional rituals of funeral, burial, shiva, kaddish and more. This newly released twenty-fifth anniversary edition presents new material on little-known Jewish mystical teachings on reincarnation, a chapter on “Spirits, Ghosts and Dybbuks in Yiddish Literature”, and a foreword by the renowned scholar of Jewish mysticism, Rabbi Arthur Green. Both historical and contemporary, this book provides a rich resource for scholars and laypeople and for teachers and students and makes an important Jewish contribution to the growing contemporary psychology of death and dying.

The first comprehensive resource for pastoral care in the Jewish tradition—and a vital resource for counselors and caregivers of other faith traditions. The essential reference for rabbis, cantors, and laypeople who are called to spiritually accompany those encountering joy, sorrow, and change—now in paperback. This groundbreaking volume draws upon both Jewish tradition and the classical foundations of pastoral care to provide invaluable guidance. Offering insight on pastoral care technique, theory, and theological implications, the contributors to Jewish Pastoral Care are innovators in their fields, and represent all four contemporary Jewish movements. This comprehensive resource provides you with the latest theological perspectives and tools, along with basic theory and skills for assisting the ill and those who care for them, the aging and dying, those with dementia and other mental disorders, engaged couples, and others, and for responding to issues such as domestic violence, substance abuse, and disasters.

With his engaging overview of the sacred times, places and ideas of Judaism, Rabbi Marc Angel gently reclaims the natural, balanced and insightful teachings of Sephardic Judaism that can and should imbue modern Jewish spirituality, drawing on classic sources from the Golden Age of Spanish Jewry and the great mystics of Safed.

This monograph, the first in English on any aspect of Joseph and Aseneth, examines Aseneth's conversion as narrated in this important but neglected apocryphal Jewish romance. An extensive history of research on Joseph and Aseneth and an analysis of key issues such as text, original language, character, provenance, date, and genre, precede and inform the study of conversion. The story of Aseneth's conversion has too often been understood on the basis of premature and superficial comparisons with other paradigms of conversion and initiation in the Hellenistic world. As a corrective, Chesnutt assigns priority to descriptive over comparative analysis. He draws comparisons and contrasts with other models of conversion and initiation only after he has carefully examined Aseneth's conversion in its own right within the literary context of Joseph and Aseneth and the social context which the document itself reflects. The attention not only to conversion but also to much broader social and religious dimensions of Judaism in antiquity makes this book important for specialists in Christian origins, Greco-Roman religions, women's studies, and patristics, as well as the history of Judaism>

An unprecedented, large-scale collection of timely and provocative essays from a wide range of Jewish thought leaders that aims to start a global conversation among Jews about their future as a people. “…a mind-expanding look at how Judaism can survive and thrive in the 21st century.” –Publishers Weekly Imagine having the entire Jewish people over for dinner—and hosting a raucous, creative, riveting debate about their collective future. Jewish Priorities offers, for the first time, a wide-ranging, ambitious, and genuinely “pan-Jewish” conversation. Encompassing more than sixty top authors from around the Jewish world—Israelis and Diaspora writers; younger influencers and veteran opinion leaders; rabbinic and communal leaders, journalists and scholars, and literary and cultural figures, ranging from secular to ultra-Orthodox—each contributor offers a different priority for the Jewish people. In the process, Jewish Priorities captures the tremendous breadth, depth, and passionate commitment that has long defined this unique community in history. These essays are all original and come from some of our greatest luminaries—thought leaders like Natan Sharansky, Dara Horn, Yossi Klein Halevi, Ruth Wisse, Shaul Magid, David Wolpe, Fania Oz-Salzberger, and many more. Their topics vary widely, from Zionism and antisemitism to education and philanthropy; from the Holocaust to Jewish intimacy; from the quest for God to the failure of Jewish institutions, to the best way to study the Torah in an age of viral videos. Jewish Priorities offers an unprecedented snapshot of the cultural, political, and religious currents driving an entire generation of Jews—but also the deepest aspirations and dreams of this beautiful, unique people at a pivotal moment in our history.

Offers inspiration and guidance to help you make greater meaning and flourish amid the challenges of aging. It taps ancient Jewish wisdom for values, tools and precedents to frame new callings and beginnings, shifting family roles, and experiences of illness and death. For seekers of all faiths; for personal use and caregiving settings.