Philosophy

Revised and updated, this fifteenth anniversary edition of A Return to Modesty reignites Wendy Shalit's controversial claim that we have lost our respect for an essential virtue: modesty.

When A Return to Modesty was first published in 1999, its argument launched a worldwide discussion about the possibility of innocence and romantic idealism. Wendy Shalit was the first to systematically critique the "hook-up" scene and outline the harms of making sexuality so public.

Today, with social media increasingly blurring the line between public and private life, and with child exploitation on the rise, the concept of modesty is more relevant than ever. Updated with a new preface that addresses the unique problems facing society now, A Return to Modesty shows why "the lost virtue" of modesty is not a hang-up that we should set out to cure, but rather a wonderful instinct to be celebrated.

A Return to Modesty is a deeply personal account as well as a fascinating intellectual exploration into everything from seventeenth-century manners to the 1948 tune "Baby, It's Cold Outside." Beholden neither to social conservatives nor to feminists, Shalit reminds us that modesty is not prudery, but a natural instinct--and one that may be able to save us from ourselves.

The Chofetz Chaim epitomized for the Jewish People the trait of chesed, loving kindness, devoting his life to helping his brethren. Among the many treasures this great sage imparted to us, Ahavas Chessed stands out as the authoritative, comprehensive guide to understanding and incorporating the precept of doing chesed, performing acts of loving kindness. With incisive wisdom and penetrating clarity, this book is an invaluable guide for every Jew. Now in clear flowing English, his book is a staple for every home.

In Attached, readers gain new insight and learn remarkable tools for developing a powerful and sustained connection with God.

Through this profound and empowering approach, psychological principles and tools for successful relationships are repackaged through the lens of Torah and applied to the most important relationship of all — between ourselves and the Creator.

“Attached is a beautifully written and practical book that addresses basic questions about faith and developing a deep relationship with God, embedded in the wisdom of Torah, Chassidus, and relevant psychological theories… In a world filled with pain and confusion, this book offers an anchor of faith filled with light and beauty.”

– Dr. David Pelcovitz

“The book’s profound yet practical wisdom will inform, inspire, and encourage each of us to seek the path of deveikus (attachment).”

– Rabbi Moshe Weinberger

“The true secret of healthy human attachment is that it contains the power and potential to elevate man beyond his self-centered focus. It is, therefore, the key to becoming other-centered and to unlocking a meaningful relationship with the Divine. This is a book worth reading for those whose journey is directed toward a loving, present relationship with God.”

– Rabbi Shimon Russell, LCSW

“The author presents a detailed guide to achieving a true relationship with God… I found this work, although deep and philosophical, easily understandable and offering practical advice. I recommend this work to all those seeking to upgrade and intensify their relationship with the Almighty.”

– Rabbi Zev Leff

Rabbi Yakov Danishefskyis a licensed clinical social worker and a CSAT in Chicago, IL. He specializes in treating trauma, process addictions, and therapy for couples. His group practice, Mind-Body Therapy, provides a variety of therapeutic services for the greater Chicago area. Yakov is also a speaker, educator, and author who blends spirituality, philosophy, and psychology.

Learn How to Really Love Your Fellow Jew!

In his brilliant essay on ahavas Yisrael, the Beis HaLevi, Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, beautifully explains the mitzvah of loving your fellow Jew. Who does the mitzvah apply to? When does it apply? What do I need to do to fulfill it properly? The Beis HaLevi also provides incentives to help us do the mitzvah in the best possible way.

Translated and elucidated by Rabbi David Sutton, author of ArtScroll’s bestselling Beis HaLevi on Bitachon, Beis Halevi on Ahavas Yisrael contains wonderful insights, uplifting stories, and in-depth appendices, as well as a special section of touching anecdotes about gedolim from a range of generations and communities.

 

 

Commentary on the weekly Parsha by the author of Bivavi Mishkan Evneh Bilvavi On The Parsha is an English adaptation of the Motzei Shabbos drashot on the weekly parshah given by the author of the Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh and Da Et Atzmecha series. Those who are seeking greater closeness to Hashem, Torah study, and character improvement, will find in it a treasury of Torah wisdom full of depth, as well as practice advice, in all areas of spiritual improvement. The Rav has delivered thousands of drashot on a countless array of topics pertaining to spiritual improvement and avodat Hashem. In these drashot, you will analyze the weekly parshah as never before. Each parshah has a timely lesson with subtle applications to our own soul. You will gain knowledge of important, fundamental concepts in a Torah Jew's life, in a way that is both deep and simple.

Pamela Vermes has written a thought-provoking, enlightening, and moving work that reaffirms Buber's remarkable breadth of intellect and shows how he has drawn on Jewish culture and ideas to point the way to a 'life lived religiously' by both secularists and the religious. Unlike the many commentators who have relegated Buber's Judaism to a mere question of biography, she demonstrates how he drew not only on the Bible but on Targum and Midrash, as well as on the wisdom of the hasidic masters of eastern Europe. Buber himself was well aware of these influences and recognized that his thought and the culture he drew it from were indivisible. But he was also dissatisfied with institutionalized religion, and Pamela Vermes emphasizes the important distinction he made between religiosity (the devout personal response) and religion (institutionalized forms). It is perhaps because of this distinction that Buber's ideas have been so powerful beyond the world of Judaism. His seminal work Ich und Du has profoundly influenced Christian as well as Jewish theology. Pamela Vermes's account of Buber's career and his principal writings, first published in 1980, is lucid and fresh.

Her sensitive translations present key terms in helpful ways that allow for new interpretations and render this study an excellent survey of Buber's influence on theological thought. This new edition includes an updated bibliography of Buber's writings.

'I have tried to say what happiness is, how we make it, how we lose it, and how we sometimes walk past it without recognising it. Happiness isn't somewhere else, it's where we are. It isn't something we don't have, we do. It isn't fantasy, it's reality experienced in a certain way. Happiness is a close relative of faith.'

Following the painful loss of his father, former Chief Rabbi Sacks began to learn how to celebrate life in a new way. He discovered where happiness lives, often in unexpected places, through family, community, friendship and responsibilities. He also found it through a renewed relationship with God who spoke to his deepest needs. Based, in part, on his columns in the UK's Times newspaper, Celebrating Life is for people of all faiths and none. It shows us how to be human and, in becoming so, how we can touch the divine.

Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira was the last Rebbe in the Warsaw Ghetto. From there he was taken to Treblinka where he was murdered in 1943. But during his lifetime, he invested immense time and energy to education. His focus was to unleash the potential in the heart, mind, and soul of each and every student.

He recorded his views and insights into the only text he published during his lifetime: Chovas HaTalmidim The Student s Obligation.

This classic work has long been a standard, self-development guide for students of Torah the world over, held in high regard for the encouraging way in which it provides a spiritual roadmap for character development, success in learning Torah, and living a life of service to God.

This beautifully-crafted translation now enables English speaking students to also benefit from this classic work.

The text also features three major discourses from Rabbi Shapira, as well as an inspiring biographical essay profiling this great luminary s life.

THIS IS A HEBREW ONLY VOLUME!

Written at different times and for different audiences - some for scholars of rabbinic literature, some for laymen or for scholars not necessarily Jewish - the essays gathered together in this volume nevertheless have an inner coherence. They reflect the author's lifetime interest in the history of halakhah - not as intellectual history per se, but rather a concern to identify measurable deflection in the unfolding of halakhic ideas that could point to an undetected force at work. What was it that stimulated change, and why? What happened when strong forces impinged upon halakhic observance, and both the scholarly elite and the community as a whole had to grapple with upholding observance while adapting to a new set of circumstances? Haym Soloveitchik's elegant presentation shows skilfully that the line between adaptation and deviance is a fine one, and that where a society draws that line is revelatory of both its values and its self-perception.

Many of the articles presented here are well known in the field but have been updated for this publication (the major essay on pawnbroking has been expanded to half again its original size); some have been previously published only in Hebrew, and two are completely new. An Introduction highlights the key themes of the collection and explains the underlying methodology. Having these essays in a single volume will enable scholars and students to consult all the material on each theme together, while also tracing the development of ideas. The opening section of the volume is a brief description and characterization of the dramatis personae who figure in all these essays: Rashi and the Tosafists. It covers the halakhic commentaries and their authors; the creativity of Ashkenaz; and the halakhic isolation of the Ashkenazic community. The second section focuses on usury and money-lending, including the practice of pawn-broking, while the third section deals with the ban on Gentile wine and
how that connected to the development of money-lending.

The final section presents general conclusions in the form of four studies of the communal self-image of Ashkenaz and its attitude to deviation and change.

Every Hollywood epic follows the same plot outline: a cosmic struggle of good and evil that pits a little hero against a big bad guy (think Luke Skywalker vs. Darth Vader, Frodo Baggins vs. Saruman, Harry Potter vs. Voldemort). The odds are totally stacked against the hero, yet as the story unfolds, his strengths are revealed, and in the final showdown he triumphs. All these movies follow this plot because it is deeply ingrained in our subconscious that this is the way the story is supposed to happen. This may be fiction and fantasy in the movies, but in reality it is the story of the Jewish people and the real plot of human history.

This book walks the reader through the central themes in Jewish history: the impact of Jewish values on civilization, Jewish drive and the disproportionate impact of the Jewish people, antisemitism and its message, the Jewish view of history and conception of time and the End of Days. These themes allow the reader to see the striking parallel between the reality of Jewish history and the universal plot of these epic movies that everyone loves. The metaphor is enhanced with striking fold-out movie storyboards depicting Jewish history in movie form. The reader will come away with an understanding of the unique role and mission of the Jewish people in history and its very special destiny.

Every Hollywood epic follows the same plot outline: a cosmic struggle of good and evil that pits a little hero against a big bad guy (think Luke Skywalker vs. Darth Vader, Frodo Baggins vs. Saruman, Harry Potter vs. Voldemort). The odds are totally stacked against the hero, yet as the story unfolds, his strengths are revealed, and in the final showdown he triumphs. All these movies follow this plot because it is deeply ingrained in our subconscious that this is the way the story is supposed to happen. This may be fiction and fantasy in the movies, but in reality it is the story of the Jewish people and the real plot of human history.

 

This book walks the reader through the central themes in Jewish history: the impact of Jewish values on civilization, Jewish drive and the disproportionate impact of the Jewish people, antisemitism and its message, the Jewish view of history and conception of time and the End of Days. These themes allow the reader to see the striking parallel between the reality of Jewish history and the universal plot of these epic movies that everyone loves. The metaphor is enhanced with striking fold-out movie storyboards depicting Jewish history in movie form. The reader will come away with an understanding of the unique role and mission of the Jewish people in history and its very special destiny.

Why did generations of people grow up thinking that Jews really had horns? Did Eve really eat an apple and if not why does everyone think she did? Did NoahÔøΩs ark really exist? Did Moses really write the Torah?