When American-born Haim Watzman immigrated to Israel, he was drafted into the army and, after eighteen months of compulsory service, was assigned to Company C, the reserve infantry unit that would define the next twenty years of his life. From 1984 until 2002, for at least a month a year, Watzman, who had never aspired to military adventure, was a soldier. Watzman was a soldier as he adjusted to his new country, raised his children, and pursued a career as a writer and translator. At times he defended his adopted country’s borders; at other times he patrolled beyond them, or that gray area, the occupied territories. A religiously observant Jew who opposed Israel’s presence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, he served in uniform in conflicts that he demonstrated against in civilian clothes. Throughout, he developed a deep and abiding bond with the diverse men of Company C--a fellowship that cemented his commitment to reserve service even as he questioned the occupation he was enforcing. In this engrossing account of the first Intifada, the period of the Oslo Accords, and Israel’s reoccupation of the West Bank as lived by citizen-soldiers in the field, Watzman examines our obligations to country, friends, family, and God--and our duty to protect our institutions even as we fight to reform them.

Selected Writings Of St. Teresa Of Avila: A Synthesis Of Her Writings is a book that brings together some of the most important and influential works of St. Teresa of Avila, a Spanish mystic and writer who lived in the 16th century. The book is a compilation of her writings that have been selected and organized in a way that provides a comprehensive overview of her spiritual teachings and insights.St. Teresa of Avila was a Carmelite nun who wrote extensively about her experiences of prayer, contemplation, and mystical union with God. Her writings are known for their depth, clarity, and practical wisdom, and have been widely read and studied by Christians of all denominations.This book includes selections from St. Teresa's major works, including The Interior Castle, The Way of Perfection, and The Book of Foundations. It also includes some of her letters and other shorter writings, providing a diverse and engaging collection of her work.The book is organized thematically, with sections on prayer, contemplation, spiritual growth, and the challenges of the spiritual life. Each section includes an introduction that provides context and background for the selected writings, and each individual selection is accompanied by helpful notes and commentary.Overall, Selected Writings Of St. Teresa Of Avila: A Synthesis Of Her Writings is an excellent introduction to the work of this important spiritual writer, and a valuable resource for anyone seeking to deepen their understanding of Christian spirituality and prayer.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

Hang on for a Wild Journey through the Political and Spiritual Adventures of the Baby-Boom Generation Join Wes "Scoop" Nisker as he takes us on a hilarious, wild ride through the heyday of the Beats and the Hippies and the birth of the modern environmental movement, and the surge of Buddhism in the West.

The rabbi came from the Slobodka Yeshiva; his congregation came from Broadway. The synagogue was a modest brick building a block from Broadway in the middle of that colorful New York neighborhood known fifty years ago as Hell's Kitchen. Between prayers on Yom Kippur you could hear a chorus of would-be Ruby Keelers tap-dancing in the rehearsal hall next door. This is the exuberant story of Bernard Birstein—his immigrant travels and travails in America, his ever-increasing family of five children and countless poor relations, and his adventurous rabbinical life. The narrator is his youngest daughter, Ann, the blond-haired enfant terrible who grew up to write six novels and now this captivating book.

Koheleth: The Man and His World is a book written by Robert Gordis that explores the philosophical and existential themes of the biblical book of Ecclesiastes, also known as Koheleth. The book of Ecclesiastes is known for its pessimistic tone and its exploration of the futility of human existence. Gordis delves into the historical and cultural context of the book, as well as its literary style and structure. He also analyzes the philosophical ideas presented in the book, such as the meaning of life, the nature of wisdom, and the inevitability of death. Throughout the book, Gordis provides his own interpretations and insights into the text, drawing on his extensive knowledge of Jewish tradition and philosophy. Koheleth: The Man and His World is a thought-provoking and insightful exploration of one of the most fascinating and enigmatic books of the Hebrew Bible.Texts And Studies Of The Jewish Theological Seminary Of America, V19.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

In September 1930, the New York Times published a list of the clergy whom Rabbi Stephen Wise considered "the ten foremost religious leaders in this country." The list included nine Christians and Rabbi Henry Cohen of Galveston, Texas. Little-known today, Henry Cohen was a rabbi to be reckoned with, a man Woodrow Wilson called "the foremost citizen of Texas" who also impressed the likes of William Howard Taft and Clarence Darrow. Cohen's fleeting fame, however, was built not on powerful friendships but on a lifetime of service to needy Jews—as well as gentiles—in London, South Africa, Jamaica, and, for the last sixty-four years of his life, Galveston, Texas. More than 10,000 Jews, mostly from Eastern Europe, arrived in Galveston in the early twentieth century. Rabbi Cohen greeted many of the new arrivals in Yiddish, then helped them find jobs through a network that extended throughout the Southwest and Midwest United States. The "Galveston Movement," along with Cohen's pioneering work reforming Texas prisons and fighting the Ku Klux Klan, made the rabbi a legend in his time. As this portrait shows, however, he was also a lovable mensch to his grandson. Rabbi Henry Cohen II reminisces about his grandfather's jokes while placing the legendary rabbi in historical context, creating the best picture yet of this important Texan, a man perhaps best summarized by Rabbi Wise in the New York Times as "a soul who touches and kindles souls."

A moving personal history of how Sufism and Zen came to America.... The story of meetings with remarkable beings like Swami Papa Ramdas, Nyogen Senzaki, Sokeian Sasaki, Mother Krishnabai, Pir-O-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan, the Rev. M.T. Kirby and others who sought to bring East and West together through the universality of genuine mystical experience... A sweeping and prophetic view of the last half-century of international relations with the East.... Political and religious turmoil in faraway Iands, organic agriculture and seed exchange for peace, the great mystics and sages of the 20th century--all play a part in this story of an American scholar and scientist's search for truth. "I have no fonder memory of the 60's than the appearance of this strange-looking man, who said things which made me first laugh, then smile, then later pause in appreciation of a spiritual original, a pioneer." - Dr. Jacob Needleman , author of The New Religions "Everytime I remember Sam, I end up laughing at myself. That's pretty good work for a dead-rascal-saint." - Ram Dass , author of Be Here Now "By being spiritual, Samuel Lewis expanded the range of being human; and by being human he deepened the meaning of being spiritual." - Moineddin Jablonski , spiritual successor of Murshid Samuel Lewis

When Luke Ford, the youngest son of a heretical Seventh Day Adventist theologian, converted to Judaism in 1992, he burned his pornography collection, but his curiosity about the forbidden did not disappear in the flames. In the fall of 1995, Ford began investigating the San Fernando Valley's hardcore industry. On his website www.lukeford.com, he broke stories about HIV-infection, Mafia control, and pay-for-placement porn journalism. As his name began showing up in the newspapers and his face on television, Ford received an ultimatum from his rabbi--give up investigating porn or give up the synagogue. XXX-Communicated: A Rebel Without a Shul explores the tensions between freedom and friends, faith and reason, reality and religion.

Part memoir, part commentary, Life on the Fringes charts a startling Jewish feminist journey both solitary and engaging. Haviva Ner-David draws us into the many facets of her life's story: a complex modern Orthodox childhood (including a battle with anorexia); adherence to a unique combination of Jewish observances; the emergence of her feminist commitments and support of gays and lesbians in Jewish life; a serious engagement with Jewish texts -- and now, studying for rabbinic ordination with an Orthodox rabbi in Israel, where Ner-David and her family have made their home. Over time, we see Ner-David take on both traditionally male practices -- donning a tallit and tefillin every day, wearing tzitzit at all times -- as well as those of traditional Jewish women -- covering her head, and observing in great detail the laws of niddah which govern a woman's separation from her husband in the days surrounding her menstrual period. Her personal wrestling and her halakhic analysis help us see Jewish tradition in new, more textured ways -- and lets us see new possibilities for our own lives. Writing with warmth, vision, and passion, Ner-David unwraps her often startling package of Jewish choices, inviting readers into her many worlds, even as she challenges us to examine and deepen our own allegiances and Jewish feminist journeys. No one who takes seriously the intersection of feminism and traditional Judaism will be able to ignore this book.

We read of the Messiah in Isaiah 42-"He will bring forth justice for truth. He will not fail nor be discouraged, till He has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands shall wait for His law." If what these verses describe is the orientation of Jesus, it should be ours as well. If justice is to be established on the earth, His followers must be a community of love and justice. Since the first publication of this book in the early 1990s, we still have not seen a shift in the Body on the issues of character standards, congregational discipline, due process, and discipleship. Dallas Willard and others have written passionately about discipleship and its foundation in obeying the commandments of Jesus. Yet discipleship is rare, and the definition of love as indulgence is increasing. Love itself is wrongly defined, along with forgiveness, leading the indulging people into sin. May God use this book to make some contribution toward the path of righteousness.

Menaḥem Mendel Schneerson (1902-1994) was the seventh and seemingly last Rebbe of the Habad-Lubavitch dynasty. Marked by conflicting tendencies, Schneerson was a radical messianic visionary who promoted a conservative political agenda, a reclusive contemplative who built a hasidic sect into an international movement, and a man dedicated to the exposition of mysteries who nevertheless harbored many secrets. Schneerson astutely masked views that might be deemed heterodox by the canons of orthodoxy while engineering a fundamentalist ideology that could subvert traditional gender hierarchy, the halakhic distinction between permissible and forbidden, and the social-anthropological division between Jew and Gentile. While most literature on the Rebbe focuses on whether or not he identified with the role of Messiah, Elliot R. Wolfson, a leading scholar of Jewish mysticism and the phenomenology of religious experience, concentrates instead on Schneerson's apocalyptic sensibility and his promotion of a mystical consciousness that undermines all discrimination. For Schneerson, the ploy of secrecy is crucial to the dissemination of the messianic secret. To be enlightened messianically is to be delivered from all conceptual limitations, even the very notion of becoming emancipated from limitation. The ultimate liberation, or true and complete redemption, fuses the believer into an infinite essence beyond all duality, even the duality of being emancipated and not emancipated--an emancipation, in other words, that emancipates one from the bind of emancipation. At its deepest level, Schneerson's eschatological orientation discerned that a spiritual master, if he be true, must dispose of the mask of mastery. Situating Habad's thought within the evolution of kabbalistic mysticism, the history of Western philosophy, and Mahayana Buddhism, Wolfson articulates Schneerson's rich theology and profound philosophy, concentrating on the nature of apophatic embodiment, semiotic materiality, hypernomian transvaluation, nondifferentiated alterity, and atemporal temporality.

The name of Jack Lewis is synonymous with biblical scholarship among members of the churches of Christ. In his autobiography As I Remember It, Lewis tells his story from his boyhood in a small Texas town to his academic pursuits at Abilene Christian College, Harvard University and Hebrew Union. While he worked on his degrees, he preached for area churches in Rhode Island and Ohio, an experience that kept him firmly rooted in the life of a local church. His long-time association with Harding Graduate School of Religion (now Harding Theological Seminary), where he taught for many years, is where he made his most prominent mark and will always be what others most remember. As a scholar, a writer, a mentor, a family man and a committed Christian, Jack Lewis has lived a life the reader will also want to remember.

With our American Philosophy and Religion series, Applewood reissues many primary sources published throughout American history. Through these books, scholars, interpreters, students, and non-academics alike can see the thoughts and beliefs of Americans who came before us.

Colorful stories of twelve men collared by the Lord in their latter days, compiled and edited by their philosophy professor, Dr. Ronda Chervin, who has herself authored over fifty books. Embellishing each story of personal conversion and priestly vocation is a poem on the priesthood by Ronda Chervin, and a prayer for priests by a saint. The book is illustrated throughout with woodcuts and engravings from numerous sources. Visit Dr. Chervin's websites at rondachervin.com and spirtualityrunningtogod.com. Read her daily blogs at ccwatershed.org.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

"Dr. Ronda's autobiography, written in the 1980's, has inspired many Catholics and possible Catholics. This sequel, written 30 years later, is full of interesting experiences for readers of "En Route to Eternity" to enjoy but also for others who have been following her on EWTN and Catholic radio"--

In Peter Maurin: Prophet in the Twentieth Century , Marc H. Ellis traces Maurin's life from his early years--as peasant, brother, and Catholic activist--through his meeting with Dorothy Day. Ellis' Chronicle focuses on the consequences of that meeting: the founding of the Catholic Worker movement and newspaper, the founding of hospitality, the farming communes. Peter Maurin: Prophet in the Twentieth Century is the first biography to really examine Maurin's thought. A commitment to non-violent reform and to a life of poverty were chief tenets of Maurin's philosophy; it was Maurin's notion that farmers and scholars would labor and learn together in the ideal world. Ellis discusses these and other ideas of Maurin, their development and their particular importance today.