Sand & Stars Volumes I & II
packaged in a beautiful slipcase
Item #: B-SAND/GIFT
More Info
Crash Course in Jewish History
5 Lectures
Item #: S425
More Info
5 Lectures
Set of 5 MP3 Downloads
5 Lectures
Set of 5 MP3 Downloads
Jewish History Overview
INDIVIDUALS AND HISTORY
Douglas Southall Freeman was recognized as one of the premier American historians of the twentieth century. He was a confidant of presidents, a noted author and Pulitzer Prize winner and a man of great charm and character. During the Cold War he was the thorn in the side of the Leftist academicians who insisted that the inexorable tide of history was on the side of the Soviet Union and that the West was doomed to witness the victory of the "progressive" forces of the world.
Read More
DEBATES AND ARGUMENTS
The Talmud and in fact the Tanach itself is full of debates and disputes. In fact, the given and accepted method of Talmudic study is to debate and discuss each point thoroughly and logically. Throughout Jewish history, great issues have been debated and argued. These issues, moral, spiritual, national and practical were all brought into sharp focus and relevance by the presence of these ongoing debates. Read More
THE RIGHT ANSWER
In determining the proper answer to halachic problems raised in life, the halachic decisor relies upon three main sources to determine the correct response. These three bases of halacha are 1) the basic books of psak – the orderly and well written books of the codification and restatement of Jewish law – such as Rambam’s Mishna Torah, Rabi Yosef Caro’s Shulchan Aruch, Rabbi Yechiel Epstein’s Aruch HaShulchan and Rabbi Yisrael Kagan’s Mishna Brurah; 2) The books of rabbinic responsa - the sheeilot utshovot – the answers to those actual case-by-case halachic problems written by the great Torah scholars over the centuries, such as the responses of Rabbi Asher ben Yechiel (13th-14th century Germany/Spain), Rabbi Yechezkel Landau (18th century Prague), Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor (19th century Lithuania) and Rabbi Moshe Feinstein (20th century United States); and 3) the knowledge, judgment and intuition of the decisor himself, who is being called upon to render the proper decision in the actual case presented before him for resolution. Read More
HOSTAGES AND CAPTIVES
The issue of the redemption of Jewish hostages and captives from enemy hands is unfortunately a very old and painful one. The mishna in Gittin already recorded for us that even though the commandment of redeeming captured Jews is one of top priority in Jewish life, demanding that even holy artifacts be sold to raise funds for such a purpose, nevertheless we are forbidden to pay an exorbitant price to secure the freedom of such a captive. Read More
TENACITY
One of the traits of the Jewish people over the ages has been its unswerving and unshakable tenacity. In terms of influence, Judaism has been the most influential of all faith systems in the world. It is the “mother” religion of the two other monotheistic faiths, Christianity and Islam. Its ethics and world view form the basis of much of the value system of Western civilization and society, even of the most secular elements of that society. Read More
SCHOOL
The new school year here in Israel and throughout most of the Western world began in earnest this week. For millions of children this would be a nerve-wracking event, beginning a long journey of perhaps decades of attendance at educational institution. The idea of universal school education is a relatively modern one in most of the world. As late as a century ago most children received no formal schooling and universal literacy was confined to only a few countries in the world. Read More
WINE
The past weeks have delivered to us a spate of articles about the beneficial aspects of drinking red wine. It seems that researchers have shown that obese rats who receive large doses of the stuff that is in red wine show little negative effects from their being grossly overweight. While these findings have as yet not been transferred to influence the human population it has long been known that drinking a glass of red wine every night at dinner does have healthful consequences regarding heart and arterial diseases in humans. Read More
EXCLUSIVITY AND TOLERANCE
One of the main differences that separates Judaism from the other major monotheistic religions - Christianity and Islam – is the matter of exclusivity. The rabbis of the Talmud long ago reiterated the traditional Jewish position that “the righteous of the nations of the world all have a share in the World to Come.” This meant immortality of the soul and heavenly reward once one passes on from this life. Read More
BORROWING BOOKS
One of the great social inventions of the past few centuries has been the public library. Although conventional wisdom assigns this innovation to the creative genius of Benjamin Franklin, the idea undoubtedly has much earlier antecedents. There were great research libraries functioning in the ancient world in Alexandria as well as in Greece and in Rome. From the Talmud it seems apparent that there were libraries of manuscripts – megillot starim – “hidden or secret manuscripts” that served as the research materials of the great men of the Mishna. Read More
RABBIS AND RELIGION
Regardless of fairness or justice, the Jewish public always holds rabbis to a high standard of personal and moral behavior. Maimonides is his discussion of 'chilul Hashem' - shaming or desecrating God's name, so to speak - uses as an example of 'chilul Hashem' the words of Rav in the Talmud: "If I (Rav) do not pay my butcher's bill promptly…. Read More
THE WRITTEN AND PRINTED WORD
Jews revere the written word. This is an attitude that stems from the holiness that Jews have always attached to the Bible, the Talmud and to other holy books, especially those that contain the name of God within them. A statement made by Henry Austrin Wolfson, the yeshiva student who became Professor of Semitics at Harvard University in the early twentieth century, exemplified this reverence for holy books. Read More
RABBINIC AUTHORITY
The tension that exists between rabbis and their flocks is legendary in Jewish history. Although Jews throughout the ages have always paid lip service to the concept of rabbinic authority and honor, in practice it has been a very mixed bag. From the time of Moshe onwards Jews have carped about their rabbinic leaders, sometimes legitimately, but mostly out of frustrations with other parts of their lives, having little or nothing to do with the rabbi. Read More
POETRY
Judaism is a religion of words. The holy words of the Torah are the basis of all Jewish tradition and life. As is well known, words can come in many forms - poetry, narrative prose, declamations, commands, essays and statements. All of these types of combinations of words appear in the Torah.
Though most rabbinic scholarship focused and concentrated on the statements and commandments of the Torah, the rabbis were always aware of the innate beauty of the poetry of the Hebrew language. Read More
JERUSALEM
This week marked the fortieth anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem during the Six Day War. While it was a festive day in almost all of Jerusalem, it was less marked in other communities in Israel and in the Diaspora. Post-Zionism and the Leftist media have taken away all of the joy, enthusiasm and wonder of living in a Jewish state and certainly the excitement and historic meaning of living in the Holy City of Jerusalem. Read More