Top products from r/Jewish
We found 26 product mentions on r/Jewish. We ranked the 40 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
1. Jewish Literacy Revised Ed: The Most Important Things to Know About the Jewish Religion, Its People, and Its History
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 2
What does it mean to be a Jew? How does one begin to answer so extensive a question? In this insightful and completely updated tome, esteemed rabbi and bestselling author Joseph Telushkin helps answer the question of what it means to be a Jew, in the largest sense.
3. The New Joys of Yiddish: Completely Updated
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
Harmony
4. The Story of the Jewish People: Letters to Auntie Fori
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
5. Tanya - Likutei Amarim (Revised Hebrew and English Edition)
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
Used Book in Good Condition
6. Pirke Avot: A Modern Commentary on Jewish Ethics (Modern Commentary On) (English, Hebrew and Hebrew Edition)
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
Made by BEHRMAN HOUSE/87441Blue
7. Hillel: If Not Now, When? (Jewish Encounters Series)
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
8. Choosing a Jewish Life, Revised and Updated: A Handbook for People Converting to Judaism and for Their Family and Friends
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
Made by Jewish EssentialsDimensions: 5.25L x 5.25W x 8H inMulti-Colored,Dark Red
9. It's a Mitzvah, Grover! (Sesame Street: Shalom Sesame)
Sentiment score: 0
Number of reviews: 1
10. Why the Jews?: The Reason for Antisemitism
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
New InsightsNew Perspectives
13. How to Run a Traditional Jewish Household
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
Used Book in Good Condition
14. The Story of the Jews: Finding the Words 1000 BC - 1492 AD
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
Ecco Press
15. Kosher Sex: A Recipe for Passion and Intimacy
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
16. An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood
Sentiment score: 0
Number of reviews: 1
17. The Jewish Study Bible: Second Edition
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
Oxford University Press USA
18. The Qur'an (Oxford World's Classics)
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
Oxford University Press, USA
> I tried to reach out to a local Rabbi, and she simply turned me to a
> website. (I understand she is busy.)
Not to defend a particular Rabbi, but it’s worth remembering that Judaism isn’t an evangelising religious tradition.
Judaism is a tribal religion (perhaps best thought of as an ethnos in the Greek sense: a ‘people’) and it rather shies away from universal claims.
So the tradition of conversion is utterly unlike that of an evangelical religions like Christianity or Islam. Lots of ‘are you sure?’. Absolutely no ‘you have to join us or everything is just awful’.
The standard story is that Rabbis will turn you away three times if you come to them seeking to convert. It’s not strictly true but it is true that Rabbis will generally start by asking why you want to join rather than rolling out the welcome mat and crying ‘sister!’.
The Rabbi you encountered may well have used ‘take some time to read [website address here]’ as her version of the ‘are you sure?’ question.
Once you’ve studied the site in question (and I recommend doing the study, BTW), go back to the Rabbi and say you’ve done the required reading and now you want to talk some more.
A serious-minded approach is probably best here, because conversion to Judaism is a serious commitment.
The figure to keep in mind is Ruth, often called the Mother of all Converts:
For whither thou goes, I will go;
And where thou lodges, I will lodge;
Your people are my people, and your G‑d, my G‑d.
Where thou dies, will I die, and there be buried;
— Ruth 1:16–17
Becoming Jewish is as much about joining a new tribe — ‘Your people are my people’ — as it is about taking on the tenets and practices of a new (to you) religious tradition.
> Resources
A few resources off the top of my head (including several web-sites; so sorry to go down the same path as your local rabbi):
Choosing a Jewish life: a handbook for people converting to Judaism and for their family and friends, by Anita Diamant.
Perhaps the classic book on ‘how to convert’, especially if you are in the United States. A little old now (it may be ‘revised and updated’ but this most recent edition was published almost twenty years ago) but still very useful.
Orthodox conversion to Judaism
The web-site run by the Rabbinical Council of America (the organising rabbinical structure for Orthodox Jews in the US) to ‘establish an improved and more dependable conversion process that would Be fully in accordance with Halachah (Jewish law)’.
Reform conversion to Judaism
The Reform Judaism sub-site on conversion. Include links to personal stories, articles on the process and an on-line study course.
Links returned by searching on ‘conversion’ at ReformJudaism.org
More than you probably want to read about converting in the Reform tradition, plus lots of personal stories of conversion.
Conversion to Judaism
An online study course for prospective converts, created and maintained by Rabbi Celso Cukierkorn of the Adat Achim synagogue in Florida. The aside from the study materials the site includes a page of Personal conversion experiences.
The Washington Institute for conversion and the study of Judaism
Another online resource and study course for people considering converting, this one run by Rabbi Bernice Weiss from Maryland. Weiss is also co-author of a book — [Converting to Judaism: choosing to be Chosen](http://converttojudaism.org/converting.htm) — which consists of personal stories of conversion.
Becoming Jewish
A web-site run by and for Jews By Choice (ie, people who’ve converted to Judaism). Aside from resources and places to look for more info, the site includes a collection of stories by others who’ve made the conversion journey
> personal stories
[Life with Ruth: your people, my people*](https://amazon.com/Life-Ruth-Your-People-My-ebook/dp/B00HFFAT3G), by Ruth Hanna Sachs.
A memoir focusing on the author’s journey to Judaism, haltingly started in the late-1960s and early-1970s but only properly taken in the late-1990s.
‘10 things nobody told me about converting to Judaism’, by Anna Thomson.
A 2014 article (or ‘listicle’ if you will) about converting to Modern Orthodox Judaism after meeting and falling in love with a Modern Orthodox Jew.
‘Conversion: a Black Jewish can-do story’, by Stephanie Ambroise.
A 2016 article about ‘[h]ow one woman went from having no idea what Shabbat was to celebrating it every week.’
‘From looking Jewish to being Jewish’, by Esther Hugenholtz.
A 2016 article by a cultural anthropologist about ‘going native’ (to such an extent she became a Rabbi and now serves a congregation).
‘A global conversion’, by Rachael Bregman.
A 2016 article about the formal conversion of a woman in her 80s who’d been living a Jewish life since she was a teenager but had not formally converted ‘because it would have hurt her mother deeply’.
The woman converting was in New South Wales. The Em Beit Din overseeing her conversion were in Tennessee, New York, and New Mexico.
The Becoming Jewish (see above) blog, Into the Jewish pool, includes multiple personal stories about, you guessed it, becoming Jewish.
Finally, Rabbi Mark Kaiserman has an Amazon listmania page dedicated to Books about converting to Judaism. More than enough personal stories here to last a year’s worth of reading time.
> guidance
Joining a tribe isn’t easy. There are obstacles and challenges, some of them internal and some of them put in place by the tribe you seek to join.
My partner made the journey from Dutch Catholicism to Reconstructionist Judaism more than thirty years ago.
And they’ve been asked about this more than a few times over the years.
When asked by someone contemplating the journey their short answer these days is ‘it won’t always be easy, but it should always feel right.’.
Hope this is at least diverting, if not helpful.
Find a rabbi you are comfortable with, and don't be shy to meet with a few before moving forward.
I had met with two rabbis before choosing the one who made me feel the most comfortable with my decision. The first two I met with were orthodox, quite conservative and I didn't click with either and the process seemed a bit too intense for what my fiance and I were looking for. Then we came across a reform synagogue and we fell in love with the rabbi there and we're completing our first round of classes in a couple of weeks.
It's been a beautiful process so far and it's exciting! There are several books I too found good, some of them were provided with our classes as well:
Best of luck in your research!
I’m glad you were able to get an apology from her. Maybe she will indeed learn something. Which is amazing. Also you are amazing for wanting to educate your class.
Although you probably saw it in your research, this entry from the US Holocaust Museum is quite good:
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/antisemitism
If you can find it, the book Why The Jews? by Joseph Telushkin and Dennis Prager might be an interesting resource.
You know what??? In my experience, the most memorable moments in intimacy is when things are a bit awkward. Allowing yourself and her to be vulnerable is good. We are lucky, our faith is pretty sex positive so enjoy growing together. No pressure to focus on any one act, there is a whole body to explore.
Read ShirHaShirim in Ketuvim with her or get this book
http://www.amazon.com/Kosher-Sex-Recipe-Passion-Intimacy/dp/0385494661
There is a cool book on the subject !
https://www.amazon.com/Jewish-Century-Yuri-Slezkine/dp/0691127603
It's written by an American Historian. Basically, it explains why Jewish pepole are fit to thrive in today's world, mainly due to their culture. I highly recommand it, it's very interesting
What you currently have is an NIV Study Bible. I have one as well. The NIV translation is a popular, Protestant translation. It has some biases and inaccuracies, so it isn’t a translation used in scholarly circles. The NIV translation of the Old Testament is a translation of the Hebrew Masoretic Text, but it at times instead translates according to the Greek Septuagint, according to the Christian New Testament, or according to Protestant theology.
The central text in Judaism is the Tanakh. Tanakh is an acronym, it stands for Torah (Law), Neviim (Prophets), and Ketuvim (Writings); these are the three divisions of texts contained in the Tanakh. The Torah is the first five books of the Tanakh; Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Our source for our Tanakh is the Hebrew Masoretic Text. As such, the NIV Old Testament translation and a Jewish Tanakh translation are both translations of the same book: the Masoretic Text. The differences being that a Jewish Tanakh translation will be organized a little differently, some verse numbering will be different, and the translation will not be affected by Christian biases.
The most widely used Tanakh translation is the New JPS Tanakh (NJPS or 1985 JPS). You can read the NJPS Tanakh here. If you want a study bible version, I’d recommend Oxford University Press’ Jewish Study Bible which uses the NJPS translation.
My primary Qur’an is MAS Abdel Haleem’s translation.
I mean, the main books on Kabbalah are the Tanya, and the Zohar, but one isn't supposed to learn the Zohar until they are 40, and know the entire Torah. Tanya on the other hand is open for Everyone.
https://smile.amazon.com/Tanya-Likutei-Amarim-Revised-English/dp/0826604005/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473773017&sr=8-1&keywords=tanya
If you can find it for cheap (I did on Book Outlet), this book is great: How to Run a Jewish Household.
https://www.amazon.ca/How-Run-Traditional-Jewish-Household/dp/0671602705
wonderful book
The Story of the Jewish People: Letters to Auntie Fori
https://www.amazon.com/Story-Jewish-People-Letters-Auntie-ebook/dp/B07H174F9N/ref=sr_1_24?crid=34YVWYXPPT56O&keywords=martin+gilbert+books&qid=1571835560&sprefix=martin+gilbert%2Caps%2C315&sr=8-24
"The Jewish Book of Why" explains the reason/s behind various Jewish traditions. As a fellow secular Russian Jew, I found it to be the perfect combo of informative and not preachy: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0142196193/
There's a book on the topic that I've been meaning to read: https://www.amazon.com/Empire-Their-Own-Invented-Hollywood/dp/0385265573/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=empire+of+their+own&qid=1568575461&s=gateway&sr=8-1
The short answer is that the entertainment industry has historically been open to people who are marginalized from other career paths. So disproportionate representation of minorities in the performing arts is something that you often see across cultures and throughout history.
I mean, exodus IS the bible, so beyond finding a version/translation you like I'm not sure what to suggest? Maybe check out the Harper Collins Study Bible. https://www.amazon.ca/HarperCollins-Study-Bible-Revised-Updated/dp/0061228400
There is a whole series
​
https://www.amazon.com/Its-Mitzvah-Grover-Sesame-Street/dp/0761375635
https://www.amazon.com/Jewish-Literacy-Revised-Ed-Important/dp/0061374989
Keep in mind though that the Jewish religion and culture is filled with an enormous range of beliefs. It is a culture that has always allowed interpretation and practically motivates one to question and argue with the texts. So her 'beliefs' will not be found in a book, but by talking with her and asking about her upbringing.