Where were you born? Were you born at the Beth? Many thousands of Americans-Jewish and non-Jewish-were born at a hospital bearing the Star of David and named Beth Israel, Mount Sinai, or Montefiore. In the United States, health care has been bound closely to the religious impulse. Newark Beth Israel Hospital is a distinguished modern medical institution in New Jersey whose history opens a window on American health care, the immigrant experience, and urban life. Alan M. and Deborah A. Kraut tell the story of this important institution, illuminating the broader history of voluntary nonprofit hospitals created under religious auspices initially to serve poor immigrant communities. Like so many Jewish hospitals in the early half of the twentieth century, "the Beth" cared not only for its own community's poor and underprivileged, a responsibility grounded in the Jewish traditions of tzedakah ("justice") and tikkun olam ("to heal the world"), but for all Newarkers. Since it first opened its doors in 1902, the Beth has been an engine of social change. Jewish women activists and immigrant physicians founded an institution with a nonsectarian admissions policy and a welcome mat for physicians and nurses seeking opportunity denied them by anti-Semitism elsewhere. Research, too, flourished at the Beth. Here dedicated medical detectives did path-breaking research on the Rh blood factor and pacemaker development. When economic shortfalls and the Great Depression threatened the Beth's existence, philanthropic contributions from prominent Newark Jews such as Louis Bamberger and Felix Fuld, the efforts of women volunteers, and, later, income from well-insured patients saved the institution that had become the pride of the Jewish community. The Krauts tell the Beth Israel story against the backdrop of twentieth-century medical progress, Newark's tumultuous history, and the broader social and demographic changes altering the landscape of American cities. Today, the United States, in the midst of another great wave of immigration, once again faces the question of how to provide newcomers with culturally sensitive and economically accessible medical care. Covenant of Care will inform and inspire all those working to meet these demands, offering a compelling look at the creative ways that voluntary hospitals navigated similar challenges throughout the twentieth century.

Provides a history of Covenant to Care, a nonprofit organization that works with religious communities of all denominations to provide goods and services to abused and neglected children.

Covenant Medicine Written for healthcare providers and patients, Covenant Medicine refocuses the therapeutic relationship between physician and patient onto mutual trust, honesty, and integrity. After identifying the changes in medical culture, David H. Beyda, MD, asks fellow doctors to fix what s broken with the system, being accountable, intentional, and committed to and for the good of the patient. He discusses the physician/patient relationship as a covenant, which allows the physician to consciously agree to be truly present when working with a patient and for the patient to demand such quality, thoughtful, compassionate care. Interested in the importance of the interplay between physical and spiritual health, Beyda suggests that a covenant relationship can contain transformational aspects such as faith. This allows the physician and the patient to transcend the confining definitions of illness and come to a greater understanding of the nuances of caregiving."

The author argues that the strong connections between moral meaning and spirituality are often not reflected in the health and social care literature. Using case studies and examples from everyday situations, the author provides a practical framework for incorporating spirituality into ethical decision-making and care.

"I am not a particularly Jewish thinker," said Emmanuel Levinas, "I am just a thinker." This book argues against the idea, affirmed by Levinas himself, that Totality and Infinity and Otherwise Than Being separate philosophy from Judaism. By reading Levinas's philosophical works through the prism of Judaic texts and ideas, Michael Fagenblat argues that what Levinas called "ethics" is as much a hermeneutical product wrought from the Judaic heritage as a series of phenomenological observations. Decoding the Levinas's philosophy of Judaism within a Heideggerian and Pauline framework, Fagenblat uses biblical, rabbinic, and Maimonidean texts to provide sustained interpretations of the philosopher's work. Ultimately he calls for a reconsideration of the relation between tradition and philosophy, and of the meaning of faith after the death of epistemology.

Covenant: God's Enduring Promises - Member Book by Kay Arthur provides a personal study experience five days a week plus observation worksheets and viewer guides for the group video sessions of this in-depth women's Bible study. Also included in the member book is a 17-page leader guide. Covenant explores God's initiatives with humanity by studying His covenants throughout history. Kay shows that the idea of covenant -- God's enduring promise -- is key to understanding our relationship to God. Kay will guide you in exploring the benefits and responsibilities of covenant as well as the character of the covenant initiator. Learn about the remarkable ways the old covenant points to the promises of the new covenant. This small-group resource is designed for 8 weeks of study with facilitator helps included in the back of the member book. Features: More than great content--a methodology for studying the Bible for oneself Leads women to be secure in God's faithfulness