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    Judaism's Ten Best Ideas: A Brief Guide for Seekers
    Judaism's Ten Best Ideas: A Brief Guide for Seekers
    Judaism's Ten Best Ideas: A Brief Guide for Seekers
    Ebook89 pages1 hour

    Judaism's Ten Best Ideas: A Brief Guide for Seekers

    By Arthur Green

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    About this ebook

    A welcoming introduction to the most important ideas in Judaism.

    In an age of fluid identity, many people are honestly asking the question "Why be Jewish?" What in this religious and ethnic legacy is worth preserving? Does Judaism have something unique to offer a contemporary seeker free to choose a way of life and a system of values?

    Here is the answer of a leading spiritual teacher who has faced these questions in conversation with generations of students. With warmth, humor, personal and rabbinic stories and down-to-earth explanations, Arthur Green presents the ideas in Judaism that kept him loyal to the tradition passed on to him. The result is an enticing look into timeless Jewish wisdom that will encourage you to explore further and search out the riches of Judaism for yourself.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTurner Publishing Company
    Release dateSep 4, 2014
    ISBN9781580238069
    Judaism's Ten Best Ideas: A Brief Guide for Seekers
    Author

    Arthur Green

    Arthur Green, PhD, is recognized as one of the world's preeminent authorities on Jewish thought and spirituality. He is the Irving Brudnick professor of philosophy and religion at Hebrew College and rector of the Rabbinical School, which he founded in 2004. Professor emeritus at Brandeis University, he also taught at the University of Pennsylvania and the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, where he served as dean and president. Dr. Green is author of several books including Ehyeh: A Kabbalah for Tomorrow; Seek My Face: A Jewish Mystical Theology; Your Word Is Fire: The Hasidic Masters on Contemplative Prayer; and Tormented Master: The Life and Spiritual Quest of Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav (all Jewish Lights). He is also author of Radical Judaism (Yale University Press) and co-editor of Speaking Torah: Spiritual Teachings from around the Maggid's Table. He is long associated with the Havurah movement and a neo-Hasidic approach to Judaism.

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      Book preview

      Judaism's Ten Best Ideas - Arthur Green

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      Contents

      Introduction

      1 Simhah—Joy

      Happiness as a Religious Precept

      2 Tzelem Elohim—Creation in God’s Image

      What Are We Doing Here?

      3 Halakhah—Walking the Path

      A Community of Doers

      4 Tikkun ‘Olam—Repairing the World

      Being God’s Partner

      5 Shabbat—Getting Off the Treadmill

      The Secret of Shabbat

      6 Teshuvah—Returning

      Faith in Human Change

      7 Torah—The People and the Book

      Text and Interpretation

      8 Talmud Torah—Teach Them to Your Children

      The Role of Education

      9 L’Hayyim—To Life!

      Accepting Death, Affirming Life

      10 Ehad—Hear O Israel

      There Is Only One

      Notes

      Suggestions for Further Reading

      About the Author

      Copyright

      Also Available

      About Jewish Lights

      Introduction

      Welcome to my short course in Jewish wisdom, the ten best ideas in Judaism. Over the course of the few pages before you, I hope to share with you what I consider the core of Jewish teaching, the ideas that represent the Jewish people’s greatest ongoing contribution to human civilization. Of course, one could write a whole book—and a much longer one—about each of these ideas, detailing their origins, their subtle implications, and their applications to contemporary living. I have tried to give you a little bit of each in very brief form in this little volume you have just opened. But there is infinitely more to be said.

      Some of these teachings take on the rarified air of theology, written and refined by Jewish thinkers over many centuries. But their true birthplace lies in concrete daily life. I have tried here to return them to the context of universal human experience, hoping that you too will be able to touch them in your own unique way. They are often best expressed in stories, the most natural vehicle of teaching in our tradition. They may originate in a very defined and specific Jewish context, but I believe their wisdom radiates beyond all borders, and they are offered here for seekers everywhere.

      I consider this to be a very personal little book. The Judaism presented in these pages is very much my own understanding of our tradition. It is what I have distilled from half a century of study and teaching, translating our sacred texts, and training rabbis. If someone at the end of this journey asks me, Was it worth it? this book is my answer. It is especially influenced by the mystical teachings of Hasidism, a movement of spiritual reawakening that began in eighteenth-century Eastern Europe. Hasidism is the version of Jewish teaching that has most powerfully spoken to my heart. But I have also tried to make this truly simple wisdom fully accessible to you, no matter who you are: Jew or non-Jew, old or young, scholar or seeker, committed practitioner looking for a fresh way to see what is already too familiar, or wanderer knocking on our tradition’s door for the first time. Welcome to you all!

      ORN.eps6138.jpg

      I magine a religion that begins with God wants you to be happy! Beware of anything that threatens to take away your joy. In the end it will probably take you away from God as well. Simhah, or joy, is the attitude toward life that Judaism seeks to instill. Despite the fact that Jewish history has more than its share of bleak and depressing chapters, the tradition sees itself as a joyous one. "Serve Y-H-W-H* with joy; come before God with singing. As the angels (literal or metaphorical, as you prefer) exult in the privilege of calling out Holy, Holy, Holy" each day before the divine throne, we too are called upon to rejoice in the gift of knowing God, of loving God’s creation, and of attesting to the divine presence that fills this world, both within us and around us.

      This way of living is particularly emphasized in the Hasidic tradition, a form of Judaism that broke away from a growing tendency toward self-punishment that seems to be the shadow side of most religions.

      Rabbi Israel Ba‘al Shem Tov, the first great master of Hasidism, taught us to turn away from that shadow. Y-H-W-H created human beings, becoming present in the human soul, he taught, so that we might serve God in joy. The key biblical verse here reads May the God-seekers’ heart rejoice (1 Chron. 16:10). Seeking God itself is an act that is to fill the heart with joy. The delight is not only in the finding but also in the seeking.

      The great enemy of such a joyous quest is self-doubt, often caused by excessive worry about one’s sins. Too much concern about sin puts you in mortal danger. The greatest trick of the evil forces, the Ba‘al Shem Tov taught, is to make you worry about some small transgression you committed. That worry occupies your mind, takes you away from joy, and leaves you unable to see the beauty and wonder that always surround you. This leaves you feeling empty and hence unable to pray or to feel the warmth of God’s presence. Your distance from God only grows greater, until you find yourself alone and abandoned, ripe to be picked off

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