Explore the visionary ideas that laid the groundwork for the modern state of Israel with “The Jewish State” by Theodor Herzl. Written at the turn of the 20th century, Herzl’s seminal work is a passionate and prescient call for the establishment of a Jewish homeland. In this groundbreaking manifesto, Herzl outlines the challenges faced by Jews in Europe and proposes a radical solution: the creation of a Jewish state. Drawing on historical precedents and envisioning a future where Jews could live free from persecution, Herzl’s ideas ignited the Zionist movement. Herzl’s writing is both prophetic and pragmatic, anticipating the geopolitical realities that would shape the 20th century. His advocacy for a Jewish state not only sparked a political movement but also paved the way for the eventual establishment of Israel. “The Jewish State” is more than a political treatise; it’s a passionate plea for justice and a testament to Herzl’s dedication to the well-being of his people. Delve into the thoughts of a visionary whose ideas transformed the course of history, and whose influence is felt to this day in the ongoing story of the State of Israel.

As a child growing up in Manhattan, William Helmreich played a game with his father called "Last Stop." They would pick a subway line, ride it to its final destination, and explore the neighborhood. Decades later, his love for exploring the city is as strong as ever.Putting his feet to the test, he decided that the only way to truly understand New York was to walk virtually every block of all five boroughs-an astonishing 6,000 miles. His journey took him to every corner of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island. Helmreich spoke with hundreds of New Yorkers from every part of the globe and all walks of life. He finds that to be a New Yorker is to struggle to understand the place and to make a life that is as highly local as it is dynamically cosmopolitan.Truly unforgettable, The New York Nobody Knows will forever change how you view the world's greatest city.

Does death end life, or is it the passage from one stage of life to another?In The Death of Death, noted theologian Neil Gillman offers readers an original and compelling argument that Judaism, a religion often thought to pay little attention to the afterlife, not only presents us with rich ideas on this subject―but delivers a deathblow to death itself.Combining astute scholarship with keen historical, theological and liturgical insights, Gillman outlines the evolution of Jewish thought about bodily resurrection and spiritual immortality. Beginning with the near-silence of the Bible on the afterlife, he traces the development of these two doctrines through Jewish history. He also describes why today, somewhat surprisingly, more contemporary Jewish scholars―including Gillman―have unabashedly reaffirmed the notion of bodily resurrection.In this innovative and personal synthesis, Gillman creates a strikingly modern statement on resurrection and immortality.The Death of Death gives new and fascinating life to an ancient debate. This new work is an intellectual and spiritual milestone for all of us interested in the meaning of life, as well as the meaning of death.

In the years since the initial publication of The Jewish Annotated New Testament (JANT) in 2011, interest among scholars and general readers in the Jewish roots of the early Jesus movement and the ongoing influence that Jewish thought and experience have had on Christian history has only grown. In that time, JANT has established itself as an essential resource for anyone, of any faith or none, interested in the New Testament and the world from which it emerged. This third edition incorporates the newly released New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition of the New Testament. In addition, the annotations and essays have been thoroughly revised and greatly expanded, and ten new essays have been added, covering topics such as sin, purity, and Judas Iscariot. At a time when dialogue between Christianity and Judaism, its "older brother," is increasingly important, JANT is both enlightening and necessary for all those interested in the wider view of the New Testament, inter-religious dialogue, and cooperation between these formative faith movements in Western and world culture.

"Rebecca Solnit offers a thrilling account of the sheer breadth and scale of social, political, scientific, and cultural change over the past three quarters of a century. In this sequel to her enduring bestseller Hope in the Dark, Solnit surveys a world that has changed dramatically since the year 1960. Despite the forces seeking to turn back the clock on history, change is not a possibility; it is an inevitability. The changes amount to nothing less than dismantling an old civilization and building a new one, whose newness is often the return of the old ways and wisdoms. In this rising worldview, interconnection is a core idea and value. But because the transformation is obscured within a longer arc of history, its scale is seldom recognized. While the white nationalist and authoritarian backlash drives individualism and isolation, this new world embraces antiracism, feminism, a more expansive understanding of gender, environmental thinking, scientific breakthroughs, and Indigenous and non-Western ideas, pointing toward a more interconnected, relational world." -- Provided by publisher

Jean Paul Sartre hailed him as the philosopher who introduced France to Husserl and Heidegger. Derrida has paid him homage as "master." An original philosopher who combines the insights of phenomenological analysis with those of Jewish spirituality, Emmanuel Levinas has proven to be of extraordinary importance in the history of modern thought. Collecting Levinas's important writings on religion, Difficult Freedom contributes to a growing debate about the significance of religion -- particularly Judaism and Jewish spiritualism -- in European philosophy. Topics include ethics, aesthetics, politics, messianism, Judaism and women, and Jewish-Christian relations, as well as the work of Spinoza, Hegel, Heidegger, Franz Rosenzweig, Simone Weil, and Jules Issac.

In an era when too many heroes have been toppled from too many pedestals, Sandy Koufax stands apart and alone, a legend who declined his own celebrity. As a pitcher, he was sublime, the ace of baseball lore. As a human being, he aspired to be the one thing his talent and his fame wouldn't allow: a regular guy. A Brooklyn kid, he was the product of the sedate and modest fifties who came to define and dominate baseball in the sixties. In Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy, former award-winning Washington Post sportswriter Jane Leavy delivers an uncommon baseball book, vividly re-creating the Koufax era, when presidents were believed and pitchers aspired to go the distance. He was only a teenager when Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley proclaimed him "the Great Jewish Hope" of the franchise. But it wasn't until long after the team had abandoned Brooklyn that the man became the myth. Old-fashioned in his willingness to play when he was injured and in his acute sense of responsibility to his team, Koutax answered to an authority higher than manager Walter Alston. When he refused to pitch the opening game of the 1965 World Series because it fell on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, he inadvertently made himself a religious icon and an irrevocably public figure. A year later, he was gone -- done with baseball at age thirty. No other sports hero had retired so young, so well, or so completely. Despite Sandy Koufax's best efforts to protect his privacy, his legend has grown larger ever since. Part biography, part cultural history, Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy gets as close to that legend as he will allow. Through meticulous reporting and interviews with five hundred of his friends, teammates, and opponents, Leavy penetrates the mythology to discover a man more than worthy of myth.

Its stories may be the best known in the world, but its locations have long been a mystery. Where did Noah's ark land? Where did Moses receive the Ten Commandments? Where are the lost cities of Sodom and Gomorrah? Now, inWalking the Bible: A Photographic Journey, New York Times bestselling author Bruce Feiler offers an unprecedented heart-stirring adventure through the landscape of some of history's most storied events. Featuring Bruce Feiler's own photography as well as his selections from professional collections,Walking the Bible: A Photographic Journey brings together breathtaking vistas, intimate portraits, and fascinating panoramas, providing firsthand access to the inscrutable land where three of the world's great religions were born—and finally puts a face on the stories that have long inspired the human spirit. Over several years, Feiler traveled nearly ten thousand miles through the deserts of the Middle East, which led first to his runaway national bestseller Walking the Bible. This new illustrated book follows his route, offering a thrilling photographic voyage through the actual places of some of the Bible's most memorable events—from the heights of Mount Ararat, where Noah's ark landed, to the desert outpost in Turkey, where Abraham first heard the words of God, to the summit where Moses overlooked the Promised Land. Walking the Bible: A Photographic Journey chronicles a landscape that nurtured the relationship between humans and the divine, breathing new meaning into stories that have been a timeless source of inspiration.

Throughout this investigation of pre-modern Jewish and non-Jewish history, Katz looks at the ways in which the Holocaust has precedents and parallels, and in what way it stands alone as a singular, highly distinctive historical event.

The 'nations' of the title are the 'seventy nations': in the Talmudic idiom, the whole of humanity surrounding Israel. In this major collection of essays, Levinas considers Judaism's uncertain relationship to European culture since the Enlightenment, problems of distance and integration. It also includes five Talmudic readings from between 1981 and 1986, essays on Franz Rosenzweig and Moses Mendelssohn, and a discussion with Francoise Armengaud which raises questions of central importance to Jewish philosophy in the context of general philosophy. This work brings to the fore the vital encounter between philosophy and Judaism, a hallmark of Levinas's thought.

For Jon and Erin Bennett, the world seems to be spinning dangerously out of control. A new dictator is rising in Iraq. China is making threatening new moves toward Taiwan. North Korean forces appear ready to strike south. Israel is feverishly trying to complete the Third Temple. Oil prices are surging. And in the wake of an horrific war in the Middle East, President James MacPherson's second term is coming to an end. Now the battle to succeed him is heating up into one of the most fiercely contested presidential elections in American history, and the Bennetts realize the stakes could not be higher. Who will lead a bitterly divided country over the next four years? What can the U.S. do to shape the new world order? And just what role--if any--does the U.S. play in the last days? As the presidential campaign narrows into a dead heat, the Secret Service learns of a catastrophic plot to assassinate one of the candidates--but which one, and can the terrorists be stopped in time?

"In his final book before his death, Primo Levi returns once more to his time at Auschwitz in a moving meditation on memory, resiliency, and the struggle to comprehend unimaginable tragedy. Drawing on history, philosophy, and his own personal experiences, Levi asks if we have already begun to forget about the Holocaust. His last book before his death, Levi returns to the subject that would define his reputation as a writer and a witness. Levi breaks his book into eight essays, ranging from topics like the unreliability of memory to how violence twists both the victim and the victimizer. He shares how difficult it is for him to tell his experiences with his children and friends. He also debunks the myth that most of the Germans were in the dark about the Final Solution or that Jews never attempted to escape the camps. As the Holocaust recedes into the past and fewer and fewer survivors are left to tell their stories, The Drowned and the Saved is a vital first-person testament. Along with Elie Wiesel and Hannah Arendt, Primo Levi is remembered as one of the most powerful and perceptive writers on the Holocaust and the Jewish experience during World War II. This is an essential book both for students and literary readers. Reading Primo Levi is a lesson in the resiliency of the human spirit."--Publisher description.

"At thirty-six, Sarah Hurwitz was a typical lapsed Jew. On a whim, she attended an introduction to Judaism class and was astonished by what she discovered: thousands of years of wisdom from her ancestors about what it means to be human. That class sparked a journey of discovery that transformed her life. Years later, as Hurwitz wrestled with what it means to be Jewish at a time of rising antisemitism, she wondered: Where had the Judaism she discovered as an adult been all her life? Why hadn't she seen the beauty and depth of her tradition in those dull synagogue services and Hebrew school classes she'd endured as a kid? And why had her Jewish identity consisted of a series of caveats and apologies: I'm Jewish, but not that Jewish . . . I'm just a cultural Jew . . . I'm just like everyone else but with a fun ethnic twist-a dash of neurosis, a touch of gallows humor-a little different, but not in a way that would make anyone uncomfortable. Seeking answers, she went back through time to discover how hateful myths about Jewish power, depravity, and conspiracy have worn a neural groove deep into the world's psyche, shaping not just how others think about Jews, but how Jews think about themselves. She soon realized that the Jewish identity she'd thought was freely chosen was actually the result of thousands of years of antisemitism and two centuries of Jews erasing parts of themselves and their tradition in the hope of being accepted and safe. In As a Jew, Hurwitz documents her quest to take back her Jewish identity, how she stripped away the layers of antisemitic lies that made her recoil from her own birthright and unearthed the treasures of Jewish tradition. With antisemitism raging worldwide, Hurwitz's defiant account of reclaiming the Jewish story and learning to live as a Jew, without apology, has never been timelier or more necessary"-- Provided by publisher.

Since its first publication in this country, Yohanan Aharoni's informative, fact-filled work has been a prime source in its field. Now considerably enlarged, and with both text and maps updated, this classic study offers an even more accurate description of the geography, history, and archeology of Palestine. The Land of the Bible is an essential textbook that will continue to serve both scholars and students for years to come.

Magic has enchanted humankind for millennia, evoking terror, laughter, shock, and amazement. Once persecuted as heretics and sorcerers, magicians have always been conduits to a parallel universe of limitless possibility—whether invoking spirits, reading minds, or inverting the laws of nature by sleight of hand. Long before science fiction, virtual realities, video games, and the Internet, the craft of magic was the most powerful fantasy world man had ever known. As the pioneers of special effects throughout history, magicians have never ceased to mystify us by making the impossible possible. This book celebrates more than 500 years of the stunning visual culture of the world’s greatest magicians. Featuring more than 750 rarely seen vintage posters, photographs, handbills, and engravings as well as paintings by Hieronymus Bosch and Bruegel among others, The Magic Book traces the history of magic as a performing art from the 1400s to the 1950s. Combining sensational images with incisive text, the book explores the evolution of the magicians’ craft, from medieval street performers to the brilliant stage magicians who gave rise to cinematic special effects; from the 19th century’s golden age of magic to groundbreaking daredevils like Houdini and the early 20th century’s vaudevillians. About the series TASCHEN is 40! Since we started our work as cultural archaeologists in 1980, TASCHEN has become synonymous with accessible publishing, helping bookworms around the world curate their own library of art, anthropology, and aphrodisia at an unbeatable price. Today we celebrate 40 years of incredible books by staying true to our company credo. The 40 series presents new editions of some of the stars of our program—now more compact, friendly in price, and still realized with the same commitment to impeccable production.

"This entry-level textbook students who have no prior background in biblical studies an understanding of the lasting contribution of Israel's scriptures. It strikes a balance between history, comparative religions, and sociology while focusing primarily on the literary features of the Old Testament itself"-- Provided by publisher.

“It gives me a secret pleasure to observe the fair character our family has in the place by Jews & Christians,“Abigail Levy Franks wrote to her son from New York City in 1733. Abigail was part of a tiny community of Jews living in the new world. In the centuries that followed, as that community swelled to several millions, women came to occupy diverse and changing roles. American Jewish Women’s History , an anthology covering colonial times to the present, illuminates that historical diversity. It shows women shaping Judaism and their American Jewish communities as they engaged in volunteer activities and political crusades, battled stereotypes, and constructed relationships with their Christian neighbors. It ranges from Rebecca Gratz’s development of the Jewish Sunday School in Philadelphia in 1838 to protest the rising prices of kosher meat at the turn of the century, to the shaping of southern Jewish women's cultural identity through food. There is currently no other reader conveying the breadth of the historical experiences of American Jewish women available. The reader is divided into four sections complete with detailed introductions. The contributors include: Joyce Antler, Joan Jacobs Brumberg, Alice Kessler-Harris, Paula E. Hyman, Riv-Ellen Prell, and Jonathan D. Sarna.

Now available in trade paper! Explore the interwoven lives of King Herod and Mary, Mother of Jesus as New York Times bestselling author Kathie Lee Gifford brings these biblical figures into a new light. Follow Herod from boyhood as he strives and fails throughout his life to become a beloved king. Walk in the steps of Mary of Nazareth as she navigates the repercussions of Herod's deadly obsession. Delve into the complex history of Herod the Great--his rise to power and ultimate fall in pursuit to be the "King of the Jews." Under a flourishing yet tumultuous background of Jerusalem, consider Mary of Nazareth's place under Herod's rule and the promise of a Messiah to free her people. Kathie Lee Gifford with Bryan M. Litfin, Ph.D. deftly weave a truthful historical narrative full of accurate details and sweeping prose that ushers in the true King and glorifies God's powerful plan to bring a savior into the world through unlikely means. A coda between the authors, full of honest revelation and insightful meaning, follows each chapter for added in-depth reading. The first installment in the Ancient Evil, Living Hope series, Herod and Mary begins with the tragic life of King Herod--Christianity's first true persecutor. As an impressionable boy, he is forever marked by the raw power of Rome. Throughout the course of Herod's career, he gains power, fame, and riches beyond belief. Yet murderous intrigues stalk this man--and infect his own dark soul. Under the rule of King Herod, Jerusalem becomes a prominent city of wealth and prosperity, but Mary saw the struggle of her people under a tyrant. Like all Jewish women, she knew the promises of Torah and longed for a deliverer. But no one could have prepared her for what the angel of God revealed: that the Messiah wouldn't arrive with the blaring of trumpets, the clash of arms, or the fanfare of a mighty host. He would arrive as an infant within her own womb. The light of the world was born in a cave: not a king who maims and destroys, but the gentle King of the Jews. This riveting narrative nonfiction work reveals deep insight to how Herod came to power, how corruption and an ancient evil threatened the stability of a nation, and how a teenage Mary was called to traverse these obstacles to bring the Savior, Jesus, our living hope, into the world.

Looking for an easy-to-follow and insightful guide to the first five books of the Hebrew bible? The Torah for Dummies walks you through the foundations of Jewish tradition, religion, and theology. Arthur Kurzweil explains the rich and ancient history of Judaism and how it's interpreted by modern Jews around the world. You'll find discussions of translations of ancient writings, as well as resources that preserve and expand on Jewish texts and archeology [sic]. You'll also discover how the Torah is structrued and understood by the Jewish community. --