Synagogue Life

Synagogue Life PDF Author: Samuel C. Heilman
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351487272
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
Via a participant-observer approach, Synagogue Life analyzes the three essential dimensions of synagogue life: the houses of prayer, study, and assembly. In each Heilman documents the rich detail of the synagogue experience while articulating the social and cultural drama inherent in them. He illustrates how people come to the synagogue not only for spiritual purposes but also to find out where and how they fit into life in the neighborhood in which they share.In his new introduction, Heilman discusses what led him to write this book and the process of personal transformation through which he, as an Orthodox Jew, had to go in order to turn a disciplined eye on the world from which he came. Rather than using the stranger-as-native approach of classic anthropology, he had instead to begin as a native who discoverd how to look at a once-taken-for-granted synagogue life like a stranger. In the afterword, arguing for the efficacy of this approach, Heilman offers guidance on how natives can use their special familiarity and still be trained to distance themselves from their own group, making use of the disciplines of sociology and anthropology. Synagogue Life offers a fascinating portrait that has something to say to social scientists as well as all those curious about what happens in the main arena of Orthodox Jewish community life.

Synagogue Life

Synagogue Life PDF Author: Samuel C. Heilman
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351487272
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 321

Get Book

Book Description
Via a participant-observer approach, Synagogue Life analyzes the three essential dimensions of synagogue life: the houses of prayer, study, and assembly. In each Heilman documents the rich detail of the synagogue experience while articulating the social and cultural drama inherent in them. He illustrates how people come to the synagogue not only for spiritual purposes but also to find out where and how they fit into life in the neighborhood in which they share.In his new introduction, Heilman discusses what led him to write this book and the process of personal transformation through which he, as an Orthodox Jew, had to go in order to turn a disciplined eye on the world from which he came. Rather than using the stranger-as-native approach of classic anthropology, he had instead to begin as a native who discoverd how to look at a once-taken-for-granted synagogue life like a stranger. In the afterword, arguing for the efficacy of this approach, Heilman offers guidance on how natives can use their special familiarity and still be trained to distance themselves from their own group, making use of the disciplines of sociology and anthropology. Synagogue Life offers a fascinating portrait that has something to say to social scientists as well as all those curious about what happens in the main arena of Orthodox Jewish community life.

Squirrel Hill

Squirrel Hill PDF Author: Mark Oppenheimer
Publisher: Knopf
ISBN: 0525657193
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
A piercing portrait of the struggles and triumphs of one of America's renowned Jewish neighborhoods in the wake of unspeakable tragedy that highlights the hopes, fears, and tensions all Americans must confront on the road to healing. Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh, is one of the oldest Jewish neighborhoods in the country, known for its tight-knit community and the profusion of multigenerational families. On October 27, 2018, a gunman killed eleven Jews who were worshipping at the Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill--the most deadly anti-Semitic attack in American history. Many neighborhoods would be understandably subsumed by despair and recrimination after such an event, but not this one. Mark Oppenheimer poignantly shifts the focus away from the criminal and his crime, and instead presents the historic, spirited community at the center of this heartbreak. He speaks with residents and nonresidents, Jews and gentiles, survivors and witnesses, teenagers and seniors, activists and historians. Together, these stories provide a kaleidoscopic and nuanced account of collective grief, love, support, and revival. But Oppenheimer also details the difficult dialogue and messy confrontations that Squirrel Hill had to face in the process of healing, and that are a necessary part of true growth and understanding in any community. He has reverently captured the vibrancy and caring that still characterize Squirrel Hill, and it is this phenomenal resilience that can provide inspiration to any place burdened with discrimination and hate.

Liturgy in the Life of the Synagogue

Liturgy in the Life of the Synagogue PDF Author: Ruth Langer
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
From the ancient rabbis to medieval Ashkenaz, from North Africa to Syria, from the United States to modern Israel, the articles collected in Liturgy in the Life of the Synagogue reflect the diversity of approaches and the questions that modern scholars residing in North America, Europe, and Israel bring to bear on the study of Jewish liturgy. The book spans the entire history of rabbinic prayer and presents a diverse array of approaches, ranging from classical methods applied to new topics to today's interdisciplinary approaches. Contributors include: R. Kimelman, S. Fine, D. Reed Blank, V. B. Mann, S. C. Reif, R. Langer, N. Feuchtwanger-Sarig, M. L. Kligman, J. D. Sarna, J. Tabory, and S. P. Wachs.

Rethinking Synagogues

Rethinking Synagogues PDF Author: Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, PhD
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
ISBN: 1580236405
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 262

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Book Description
A critical and challenging look at reinventing the synagogue, as the centerpiece of a refashioned Jewish community. “America is undergoing a spiritual revolution: only the fourth religious awakening in its history. I plead, therefore, for an equally spiritual synagogue, knowing that any North American Jewish community that hopes to be around in a hundred years must have religion at its center, with the synagogue, the religious institution that best fits North American culture, at its very core.” —from Chapter 1 Synagogues are under attack, and for good reasons. But they remain the religious backbone of Jewish continuity, especially in America, the sole Western industrial or post-industrial nation where religion and spirituality continue to grow in importance. To fulfill their mandate for the American future, synagogues need to replace old and tired conversation with a new way of talking about their goals, their challenges and their vision for the future. In this provocative clarion call for synagogue transformation, Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman summarizes a decade of research with Synagogue 2000—a pioneering experiment that reconceptualized synagogue life—providing fresh ways for synagogues to think as they undertake the exciting task of global change.

Who Rules the Synagogue?

Who Rules the Synagogue? PDF Author: Zev Eleff
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190490276
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 345

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Book Description
'Who Rules the Synagogue?' explores how American Jewry in the nineteenth century transformed from a lay dominated community to one whose leading religious authorities were rabbis.

Shul with a Pool

Shul with a Pool PDF Author: David Kaufman
Publisher: UPNE
ISBN: 9780874518931
Category : Jewish community centers
Languages : en
Pages : 356

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Book Description
The evolution of an American institution that reflects the unique tension between Judaism and Jewishness.

The Synagogue in America

The Synagogue in America PDF Author: Marc Lee Raphael
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 0814775829
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 247

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Book Description
Chronicles the history of the Jewish synagogue in America over the course of three centuries, discussing its changing role in the American Jewish community.

Recharging Judaism

Recharging Judaism PDF Author: Rabbi Judith Schindler
Publisher: CCAR Press
ISBN: 0881233099
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description
Recharging Judaism is the essential and timely guide for every synagogue and community seeking to strengthen the bonds of Jewish communal life through advocating for social justice. This volume delves into the enriching civic engagement and acts of righteousness already undertaken by Jews and Jewish communities across the country, and further explores the positive differences we can all affect upon the future of America. There are a myriad of ways in which advocating for social justice and participating in civic engagement can create lasting change. Those inspired to affect such change will find new meaning in the texts and history of our tradition. Using real examples from both small and large congregations across the country, Recharging Judaism offers a framework to guide us through our journey of civic responsibility and social duty and into a brighter future for our country.

Rethinking Synagogues

Rethinking Synagogues PDF Author: Lawrence A. Hoffman
Publisher: Jewish Lights Publishing
ISBN: 1580232485
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
A critical and challenging look at reinventing the synagogue, as the centerpiece of a refashioned Jewish community. America is undergoing a spiritual revolution: only the fourth religious awakening in its history. I plead, therefore, for an equally spiritual synagogue, knowing that any North American Jewish community that hopes to be around in a hundred years must have religion at its center, with the synagogue, the religious institution that best fits North American culture, at its very core. from Chapter 1 Synagogues are under attack, and for good reasons. But they remain the religious backbone of Jewish continuity, especially in America, the sole Western industrial or post-industrial nation where religion and spirituality continue to grow in importance. To fulfill their mandate for the American future, synagogues need to replace old and tired conversation with a new way of talking about their goals, their challenges and their vision for the future. In this provocative clarion call for synagogue transformation, Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman summarizes a decade of research with Synagogue 2000 a pioneering experiment that reconceptualized synagogue life providing fresh ways for synagogues to think as they undertake the exciting task of global change.

The Ancient Synagogue

The Ancient Synagogue PDF Author: Lee I. Levine
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300074751
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 816

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Book Description
Annotation The synagogue was one of the most central and revolutionary institutions of ancient Judaism leaving an indelible mark on Christianity and Islam as well. This commanding book provides an in-depth and comprehensive history of the synagogue from the Hellenistic period to the end of late antiquity. Drawing exhaustively on archeological evidence and on such literary sources as rabbinic material, the New Testament, Jewish writings of the Second Temple period, and Christian and pagan works, Lee Levine traces the development of the synagogue from what was essentially a communal institution to one which came to embody a distinctively religious profile. Exploring its history in the Greco-Roman and Byzantine periods in both Palestine and the Diaspora, he describes the synagogue's basic features: its physical remains; its role in the community; its leadership; the roles of rabbis, Patriarchs, women, and priests in its operation; its liturgy; and its art. What emerges is a fascinating mosaic of a dynamic institution that succeeded in integrating patterns of social and religious behavior from the contemporary non-Jewish society while maintaining a distinctively Jewish character.