The Amish and ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities have typically been associated with strict religious observance, a renunciation of worldly things, and an obedience of women to men. Women’s relationship to media in these communities, however, betrays a more nuanced picture of the boundaries at play and women’s roles in negotiating them. Strictly Observant presents a compelling ethnographic study of the complex dynamic between women in both the Pennsylvanian Old Order Amish and Israeli ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities and contemporary media technologies. These women regularly establish valuable social, cultural, and religious capital through the countless decisions for use and nonuse of media that they make in their daily lives, and in ways that challenge the gender hierarchies of each community. By exhibiting a deep awareness of how media can be managed to increase their social and religious reputations, these women prompt us to reconsider our outmoded understanding of the Amish and ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities, the role that women play in these communities as agents of change, and our own relationship to media today.

This accessible guide to Jewish children’s literature explores many of the enduring questions of the Jewish tradition: What is Jewish history? What are love, wisdom, humor, ritual, evil, and justice? Jewish children’s literature matters for all children, and with this practical guide parents and teachers will be empowered to choose and discuss books and stories with Jewish or non-Jewish children. Jewish children’s literature is often absent in school classrooms and when it is available, it presents a picture to children of Jews as victims. Enduring Questions provides teachers with guidance in the use of Jewish children’s literature in the preschool and elementary school classroom. Enduring Questions includes extensive bibliographies of Jewish children’s literature, digital resources for teachers, and suggestions for further reading. With summaries of suggested books and texts, honest recommendations from teachers who have used these texts in the classroom, and practical curricular connections, this comprehensive book is suited for those looking for an introduction to teaching Jewish children's literature and those familiar with it. The book provides a framework about the use of Jewish children’s literature as an opportunity for all children, both Jewish and non-Jewish, to be philosophers and engage in dialog and debate. The enduring questions thoughtfully explored through Jewish literature are important for all students growing up in a diverse multicultural world.

"Traditional Judaism injects sanctification into the ordinary habits of everyday life.Keeping kosher helps us pause and think about what we eat, and how we eat it, and elevates the act of eating." What does it mean to keep kosher? Many may be familiar with the basics: no bacon, no shrimp, no cheeseburgers. But the Jewish dietary laws go deeper than that, and How to Keep Kosher explores the ins and outs. Why are some foods deemed kosher while others are not? Why can't you mix meat and dairy dishes? How do you turn a nonkosher kitchen into a kosher one? Do you really need multiple sets of everything -- dishes, pots, pans, and utensils? How do you keep track of what's what? Whether you are thinking about adopting a kosher lifestyle or already have a kosher home and just want tounderstand what it is all about, Lisë Stern's How to Keep Kosher is essential reading. You will learn about the biblicaland historical origins of keeping kosher, the development of the kosher certification system, specific food preparation requirements for Shabbat, Passover, and otherholidays, and how to actually set up a kosher kitchen. In straightforward language, drawing upon explanations from the Torah and Talmud, along with interviews with rabbis, academics, and laypeople who keep kosher, Lisë explores all aspects of Judaism's ancient dietary traditions as they are carried out in today's kitchen, with its range of modern appliances -- dishwashers, food processors, and microwave ovens. For the first time, one book explains both Conservative and Orthodox perspectives on kashrut, as well as opinions from other Jewish affiliations. When Lisë was nine, her parents decided to make the change -- transform their home to a kosher one -- as a core part of their evolving commitment to Judaism. Because Lisë experienced the transition as a child and keeps a kosher home today, she is uniquely qualified to explain all aspects of this traditional practice. Setting up a kosher kitchen lays the foundation for implementing the tradition; the proof is in the potato pudding. As Lisë notes, the Talmud says, "Room can always be found in one's stomach for sweet things," and the wealth of information is sweetened with more than forty recipes for Shabbat dinners and lunches as well as holiday and festival celebrations. Traditional recipes include Chicken Soup with My Mother's Ethereal Matzo Balls, Sliced Potato–Onion Kugel, and Hamantashen; new classics are Chilled Cucumber–Yogurt Soup, Rosemary Sweet Potato Kugel, Enchilada Lasagna, and Chocolate-Flecked Meringues. Stern's How to Keep Kosher is an inclusive, user-friendly handbook filled with answers to the fundamental who, what, where, when, why, and how questions surrounding the Jewish dietary laws -- making these laws both accessible and appealing.

Throughout the nineteenth century, Hungary's government steadily dismantled several obstacles that kept its rapidly expanding Jewish communities from enjoying the full benefits of citizenship. The state's concerted efforts to "Magyarize" Jews promoted Hungary's language, culture, and sensibilities, but did not require Jews to abandon their faith. Even so, tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews converted to Christianity during this era, with conversion rates continuing to rise even as Judaism gained full legal equality. Jewishness and Beyond addresses this apparent paradox between motivation and changed affiliation. Miklós Konrád examines conversion from a wide variety of unique sources, including community archival materials, synagogue speeches, parliamentary diaries, daily newspapers, life writings, works of fiction, collections of jokes, and more. He finds that between 1848 and 1914, most of the Hungarian Jews who converted to Christianity were motivated by worldly concerns; that despite the egalitarian promises and laws of Hungary's liberal nationalist government, legislators and other traditional elites maintained a persistent bias against Jews that spurred particularly high conversion rates among the community's upper echelons; and that while Christians never fully forgot converted Jews' origins and increasingly thought of them in racialized terms, they also appreciated and generally rewarded conversion and the symbolic gesture of baptism. Conversion was also an uneven and ever-shifting process in which gender and occupation played key roles, and where the actual percentage of converts vis-à-vis the total Hungarian Jewish population contrasted sharply with both Christian and Jewish perceptions of its frequency and spread. Jewishness and Beyond reveals the motivations and strategies behind Hungarian Jews' conversions, the complex reactions within and outside of their communities, and converts' own grappling with conversion's expected and unforeseen outcomes.

What are the relevant conceptualities and terminologies marking the coupling of religion and medical interpretations of illness in different religions such as Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Christianity? How do religious orientations influence courses of a disease? How do experiences of illness change images of the divine in late modernity? This collection of essays from a symposium held at the International Research Institute of the University of Heidelberg examines connections between religious and medical interpretations of illness in different cultures in order to suggest criteria for coupling religion and medicine in ways that enhance rather than diminish life. By discerning which relationships between religion and medicine appear to be beneficial and which harmful, the book as a whole proposes criteria that are not limited to a single scientific approach, cultural tradition, or time period (such as the present). The book has four parts, which deal with Islamic medicine, Chinese medicine, and the relationship between religion and medicine in both Jewish and Christian traditions. All chapters cover from antiquity to the present.

In his original CyberUnion, the author presented a bold plan for unions to develop a more significant role in the 21st century by adopting four strategic aids - futuristics, innovations, services, and traditions (F-I-S-T) - knit together by cutting-edge Info Tech resources. CyberUnions in Action expands on the F-I-S-T model and looks at gains and setbacks in pioneering efforts to create "CyberUnions". It highlights relevant websites, and features interviews with key CyberUnion advocates (and some critics). Shostak reviews overseas union efforts for transferable lessons, and pays special attention to the AFL-CIO campaign to ensure Labor's advances in the use of computer networks, the Internet, wireless devices, and more.

This book brings together six articles the author has published in recent years on the development of the Orthodox Jewish community in Cleveland, Ohio. While a number of scholars have ably presented important parts of the history of Jewish Orthodoxy in Cleveland, Ohio, this book is a first attempt to deal comprehensively with the story of Cleveland Orthodox Judaism. Chapters one and two, taken together, present a connected narrative history of the evolution of the Jewish Orthodox community in Cleveland, Ohio from its beginnings to the early twenty-first century. The succeeding chapters present in greater detail persons and institutions of great importance to the historical development of the Orthodox community.

Thematic examination of monotheistic religions The second edition of Jews, Christians, Muslims: A Comparative Introduction to Monotheistic Religions, compares Judaism, Christianity, and Islam using seven common themes which are equally relevant to each tradition. Provoking critical thinking, this text addresses the cultural framework of religious meanings and explores the similarities and differences among Judaism, Christianity, and Islam as it explains the ongoing process of interpretation in each religion. The book is designed for courses in Western and World Religions.

This book makes accessibleÑfor the first time in EnglishÑdeclassified archival documents from the former Soviet Union, rabbinic sources, and previously untranslated memoirs, illuminating everyday Jewish life as the site of interaction and negotiation among and between neighbors, society, and the Russian state, from the beginning of the nineteenth century to World War I. Focusing on religion, family, health, sexuality, work, and politics, these documents provide an intimate portrait of the rich diversity of Jewish life. By personalizing collective experience through individual life storiesÑreflecting not only the typical but also the extraordinaryÑthe sources reveal the tensions and ruptures in a vanished society. An introductory survey of Russian Jewish history from the Polish partitions (1772Ð1795) to World War I combines with prefatory remarks, textual annotations, and a bibliography of suggested readings to provide a new perspective on the history of the Jews of Russia.

Explores the dramatic true story of a group of gay and lesbian Jews confronting questions of sexual identity within a traditional religious framework in the creation of the largest gay congregation.