Maybe it was a grandparent, or a teacher, or a colleague. Someone older, patient and wise, who understood you when you were young and searching, helped you see the world as a more profound place, gave you sound advice to help you make your way through it. For Mitch Albom, that person was his college professor Morrie Schwartz. Maybe, like Mitch, you lost track of this mentor as you made your way, and the insights faded, and the world seemed colder. Wouldn’t you like to see that person again, ask the bigger questions that still haunt you, receive wisdom for your busy life today the way you once did when you were younger? Mitch Albom had that second chance. He rediscovered Morrie in the last months of the older man’s life. Knowing he was dying, Morrie visited with Mitch in his study every Tuesday, just as they used to back in college. Their rekindled relationship turned into one final "class": lessons in how to live. "The truth is, Mitch," he said, "once you learn how to die, you learn how to live." Tuesdays with Morrie is a magical chronicle of their time together, through which Mitch shares Morrie’s lasting gift with the world.

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.

"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.

The fascinating and inspiring true-life story of one of America's most successful Clairvoyants.

Aliens are big in America. Whether they've arrived via rocket, flying saucer, or plain old teleportation, they've been invading, infiltrating, or inspiring us for decades, and they've fascinated moviegoers and television watchers for more than fifty years. About half of us believe that aliens really exist, and millions are convinced they've visited Earth. For twenty-five years, SETI has been looking for the proof, and as the program's senior astronomer, Seth Shostak explains in this engrossing book, it's entirely possible that before long conclusive evidence will be found. His informative, entertaining report offers an insider's view of what we might realistically expect to discover light-years away among the stars. Neither humanoids nor monsters, says Shostak; in fact, biological intelligence is probably just a precursor to machine beings, enormously advanced artificial sentients whose capabilities and accomplishments may have developed over billions of years and far exceed our own. As he explores what, if anything, they would tell us and what their existence would portend for humankind and the cosmos, he introduces a colorful cast of characters and provides a vivid, state-of-the-art account of the past, present, and future of our search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

“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.

In this landmark of Christian mysticism, the revered Carmelite nun presents moving accounts of her profound religious experiences and ultimate union with God. St. Teresa wrote this memoir at the behest of her confessor. It offers a warm, accessible account of her transformation into an impassioned leader and reformer of church doctrine.St. Teresa recounts her childhood and education in sixteenth-century Spain, her physical afflictions and spiritual crises, her many visions and mystical encounters, and her determination to embrace the contemplative life. In describing the ascent of the soul, she explains the core of her theology as a four-stage process that progresses from mental prayer to divine rapture. Next to Don Quixote, this timeless work constitutes Spain's most popular prose classic. It forms an excellent introduction to the saint's other writings and to the Christian tradition of mystical literature.

The life and politics of an American Jewish activist who preached radical and violent means to Jewish survival Meir Kahane came of age amid the radical politics of the counterculture, becoming a militant voice of protest against Jewish liberalism. Kahane founded the Jewish Defense League in 1968, declaring that Jews must protect themselves by any means necessary. He immigrated to Israel in 1971, where he founded KACH, an ultranationalist and racist political party. He would die by assassination in 1990. Shaul Magid provides an in-depth look at this controversial figure, showing how the postwar American experience shaped his life and political thought. Magid sheds new light on Kahane’s radical political views, his critique of liberalism, and his use of the “grammar of race” as a tool to promote Jewish pride. He discusses Kahane’s theory of violence as a mechanism to assure Jewish safety, and traces how his Zionism evolved from a fervent support of Israel to a belief that the Zionist project had failed. Magid examines how tradition and classical Jewish texts profoundly influenced Kahane’s thought later in life, and argues that Kahane’s enduring legacy lies not in his Israeli career but in the challenge he posed to the liberalism and assimilatory project of the postwar American Jewish establishment. This incisive book shows how Kahane was a quintessentially American figure, one who adopted the radicalism of the militant Left as a tenet of Jewish survival.

“An engaging, detailed and spirited work—both conversational and soul-searching, restless and reassuring all at once.” — Washington Times For decades, Michael Savage has been preaching his political faith of borders, language, and culture to millions. Now Savage gives his audience a look into his religious faith and his ideas about the Judeo-Christian foundation of the American culture he has fought all his life to preserve. But rather than an academic, theological treatise, Savage provides something more akin to an ancient mystery text. Drawing on Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, and other spiritual sources, as well as autobiographical material and highlights from his radio show, Savage shares the “glimpses of God” he has experienced over the whole of his life, before and during his groundbreaking radio career. Moving childhood stories, his dinner with an atheist and a Buddhist, an interview with a Jewish gangster, and Savage’s reflections on selected passages from ancient scriptures are just a few of the eclectic experiences and insights shared in this unique book. From his days as a boy growing up in New York City to many years searching for healing plants in the South Seas to his current incarnation as one of the most popular talk radio hosts in the world, Savage has been haunted by glimpses of the divine and has struggled to find their meaning. God, Faith, and Reason presents the reader with one man’s perceptions and considerations of the daily presence of God in the world around us and how the search to find God is the finding itself.

"Part activist memoir, part crash course in Jewish and Palestinian history, Genocide Bad dismantles Zionist propaganda and maps a course towards collective liberation in ten unapologetic essays. Drawing connections between Biblical promises and exploding pagers, medieval dress codes and modern-day apartheid, Kern sketches a sweeping history of imperialism with their characteristic blend of far-ranging research, pop-culture insights, and scathing humor. Kern, a former teacher, journalist, novelist, and book influencer, gained international recognition as an anti-Zionist Jewish activist in the days after October 7th, 2023. At a time when social media was flooded with 'I Stand with Israel' posts, Kern started sharing content encouraging their followers to read Palestinian books, learn Palestinian history, and question Western reporting on Palestine--videos which went viral into tens of millions of views. Despite facing hate messages, death threats, and exile from the Zionist Jewish community, Kern has remained steadfast in their advocacy over the past year. They've posted daily videos on Palestinian, Jewish, and colonial history, and they've raised over $500,000 in direct aid for families in Gaza--all while navigating the challenges of pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting a newborn. In Genocide Bad, Kern reflects on the life experiences that led them to anti-Zionist activism, while capturing and expanding upon their online educational content. Kern doesn't flinch when confronting the horrors of genocides past and present, but there is also tremendous hope contained in these pages--hope that springs from examples of courage and resilience in the face of extreme violence, and from the kinds of resistance that might just lead to our collective liberation."--

Sobibor traces the life of Berek (later Bernard) Schlesinger from his Polish shtetl childhood to his life during the Holocaust - hiding in the woods, finding refuge with non-Jews, confinement in Sobibor, escape during the uprising, working with partisans' documents. A physician after the war, he follows a relentless, unfulfilled pursuit of retribution for Nazi war criminals through the courts. The Sobibor uprising and its leaders, Alexander Pechersky, are pivotal to the novel. The author, Michael Lev, a product of Soviet Jewish culture, avoids loud rhetoric and heroic pathos, keeping the narration within the limits of realism. A flowing, masterful read.

In elegant, readable language, and with a vibrant sense of shared experience, many of America's leading novelists, poets, and literary critics guide us through the Old Testament, opening a window on how writers today view the Book of Books and throwing light on both American and Jewish culture.

Saint Teresa of Ávila, born Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda y Ahumada, (March 1515 – October 1582), was born a Spanish noblewoman. A Carmelite nun, prominent Spanish mystic, religious reformer, author, and theologian of the contemplative life, she was declared a Doctor of the Church over four centuries after her death. Active during the Catholic Reformation, she reformed the Carmelite Orders of both women and men. The movement she initiated was later joined by the younger Spanish Carmelite friar and mystic, John of the Cross. It led eventually to the establishment of the Discalced Carmelites. This Reader’s Digital Edition of The Life Of The Holy Mother Teresa Of Jesus is based on a public domain text. This text has been thoroughly spellchecked and proofread to correct errors that appear in the public domain edition. The formatting has also been altered to provide a cleaner, more readable experience. It is our hope that this Reader’s Digital Edition will provide you with the best possible reading experience of this classic text. Our mission is to breathe new life into the pages of the past by removing barriers between the reader and the text.

Chronicles his conversion to Catholicism, and his subsequent gradual loss of faith.

The Celebrities Of The Jews offers a comprehensive overview of Jewish history from the destruction of Jerusalem to the late medieval period. In Part I (70-1290), Moses Avigdor Chaikin surveys the historical circumstances and prominent figures that shaped the Jewish experience during this tumultuous era. This volume provides valuable insights into the resilience, intellectual contributions, and cultural adaptations of the Jewish people throughout centuries of change. "The Celebrities Of The Jews" remains a vital resource for understanding the enduring legacy of Jewish history and the individuals who helped define it. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.