To some, the phrase “Biblical Veganism” is an oxymoron. The idea that a modern dietary trend could be considered biblical poses a problem. After all, several instances in the Bible depict men of God eating animal meat. How then can we take this idea seriously? In this detailed exposition, we will explore common misconceptions about veganism in efforts to sever any confusion. After all, most people who reject biblical veganism only do so out of tradition and have never investigated this matter. Rather, most allow their currently held paradigm of Torah to determine what our Creator originally imagined for humanity. While variation may exist between our definitions of “vegan,” we can all agree on the primary qualification, that vegans abstain from animal meat. Shifting the Torah Paradigm (STP) reinforces the biblical principle that humanity was originally created to consume a garden diet. Among the Torah community, there are some who insist that we must consume the flesh of certain animals to properly obey the commands, namely our instructions for Passover. At the same time, those who abstain from animal flesh contend otherwise, that our Creator never intended for humanity to kill and eat from the animal kingdom, whether it is deemed “clean” or “unclean” by Mosaic law. STP maintains that meat eaters have neglected the context by which the entire sacrificial system was instituted. Moreover, the purpose of this book is to explore this unseen storyline by investigating how sacrifice entered the picture and to understand why Yeshua neither taught nor observed this aspect of Torah.

"Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi is one of the most innovative and inspiring rabbis in the Jewish world today. Often considered the "grandfather of the Havurah movement" and the most influential advocate of the rapidly growing movement of Jewish Renewal, Reb Zalman (as he is known by his countless students and admirers) has earned a reputation as a courageous, profoundly spiritual contemporary master." "Jewish Renewal, as Reb Zalman explains it, is based on Kabbalah, Hasidism, and other forms of Jewish mysticism. "Jewish Renewal does not want to abandon sacred and cherished traditions," teaches Reb Zalman. Rather, the "paradigm shift" advocates of Jewish Renewal call for asks that we recognize - as we have in the past - that there are newly emerging ways of looking at reality. Just as humankind had to adjust to the knowledge that the earth is not the center of the universe, so too do we today have to recognize that our understanding of our world has undergone significant change. Reb Zalman teaches that we must let go of the old paradigms rather than cling to these obsolete ways of thinking. In this book, Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi offers what he calls "the journey of my own recontextualization of Judaism as helped by Jewish mysticism."" "Reb Zalman points out that Judaism has undergone several "paradigm shifts" throughout its long history, such as the period after the destruction of the First and Second Temples, when, as Reb Zalman explains, "all of our practice and belief had to be reframed." Paradigm Shift: From the Jewish Renewal Teachings of Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, in addition to being a record of the major teachings of Reb Zalman over the past thirty years, is a call for Jewish renewal once again. A passionate teacher of kabbalistic tradition, Reb Zalman offers a unique blend of Jewish mystical ideas as they encounter the forces and sensibilities of today." "A book of great power and profundity, Paradigm Shift is one of the most creative and inspiring volumes to be published in years."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The groundbreaking volume The Torah: A Women's Commentary, originally published by URJ Press and Women of Reform Judaism, has been awarded the top prize in the oldest Jewish literary award program, the 2008 National Jewish Book Awards. A work of great import, the volume is the result of 14 years of planning, research, and fundraising. THE HISTORY: At the 39th Women of Reform Judaism Assembly in San Francisco, Cantor Sarah Sager challenged Women of Reform Judaism delegates to "imagine women feeling permitted, for the first time, feeling able, feeling legitimate in their study of Torah." WRJ accepted that challenge. The Torah: A Women's Commentary was introduced at the Union for Reform Judaism 69th Biennial Convention in San Diego in December 2007. WRJ has commissioned the work of the world's leading Jewish female Bible scholars, rabbis, historians, philosophers and archaeologists. Their collective efforts resulted in the first comprehensive commentary, authored only by women, on the Five Books of Moses, including individual Torah portions as well as the Hebrew and English translation. The Torah: A Women's Commentary gives dimension to the women's voices in our tradition. Under the skillful leadership of editors Dr. Tamara Cohn Eskenazi and Rabbi Andrea Weiss, PhD, this commentary provides insight and inspiration for all who study Torah: men and women, Jew and non-Jew. As Dr. Eskenazi has eloquently stated, "we want to bring the women of the Torah from the shadow into the limelight, from their silences into speech, from the margins to which they have often been relegated to the center of the page - for their sake, for our sake and for our children's sake." Published by CCAR Press, a division of the Central Conference of American Rabbis

From his study of the rabbinic literature, Jacob Neusner shows how the rabbinic documents give expression to a theological system. Neusner discusses the how divine thought came to expression and he shows how the implicit theological system is expressed in the rules for the life of God’s chosen people. This publication has also been published in paperback, please click here for details.

How do American Jews identify as both Jewish and American? American Post-Judaism argues that Zionism and the Holocaust, two anchors of contemporary American Jewish identity, will no longer be centers of identity formation for future generations of American Jews. Shaul Magid articulates a new, post-ethnic American Jewishness. He discusses pragmatism and spirituality, monotheism and post-monotheism, Jesus, Jewish law, sainthood and self-realization, and the meaning of the Holocaust for those who have never known survivors. Magid presents Jewish Renewal as a movement that takes this radical cultural transition seriously in its strivings for a new era in Jewish thought and practice.

Critical studies of the two 'test cases' for James D.G. Dunn's 'New Perspective on Paul, ' Paul's Damascus experience and Gal 3:10-14, reaffirm the Reformation interpretation of Paul's doctrine of justification and confirm that Paul obtained that doctrine from his Damascus experience. The discovery that Isaiah 42 influenced Paul's interpretation of his apostolic call helps explain how Paul developed his antithesis between the Spirit and the flesh/law and why he insists on the impossibility of justification by works of the law. Contrary to the assumption of the 'New Perspective School', Seyoon Kim's studies issue a call to take Paul seriously as an important witness to his contemporary Judaism. The distinctive Pauline doctrine of Christ as the Image of God and as the Last Adam is revisited in the light of the growing interest in the apocalyptic-mystical background of Paul. The author also explicates how Paul uses the Jesus tradition in the light of the Damascus experience to develop his christology and soteriology. So, while reaffirming the significance of the Damascus event, Seyoon Kim now appreciates the Jesus tradition as equally important for the origin of Paul's gospel. Thus, the overall thesis of the book is that Paul's gospel is a child born of two parents, the Damascus revelation and the Jesus tradition

In the aftermath of 9/11, Rabbi Sheldon Lewis sought solace and a path to reconciliation in Jewish texts. Peacemaking is arguably the key pillar among Jewish values, and Torah of Reconciliation seeks to reveal this primary value in diverse scriptural and

A complement to the author's earlier Overtures to Biblical Theology study on prayer, this volume addresses the topic of worship as articulated in the first five books of the Bible. Rather than a history of Israelite religion, Balentine's volume examines the "vision" of worship expounded in the Torah in relation to priesthood, creation, liturgy, and covenant. He concludes by discussing the contemporary situation of experiencing God's hiddenness and a world caught in despair. Balentine proposes that a fresh look at the Torah offers possibilities of counter-imagination and hope.

This revised and expanded English edition of Bernd U. Schipper’s 2012 Hermeneutik der Tora incorporates the results of his continued research and writings on Proverbs. For nearly a century, many biblical scholars have argued that the main theological traditions, such as the divine law, God’s torah, do not appear in the book of Proverbs. In this volume, however, Schipper demonstrates that Proverbs interacts in a sophisticated way with the concept of the torah. A detailed analysis of Proverbs 2 and other passages from the first part of the book of Proverbs shows that Proverbs engages in a postexilic discourse around “wisdom and torah” concerning the abilities of humans to fulfill the will of YHWH exemplified in the divine torah.

Inconsistency in the Torah