The book explores the history and origins of this solemn day, tracing back to the destruction of both the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem. Through a mix of historical context, religious teachings, and personal reflections, readers gain a deeper understanding of the rituals and customs observed on Tisha B'Av, including fasting, prayer, and reading from the Book of Lamentations. Furthermore, the book delves into the themes of tragedy, loss, and hope that are central to Tisha B'Av. From the solemn candle lighting ceremony to the recitation of hauntingly beautiful elegies, readers are guided through the emotional journey of mourning the many tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people throughout history. The author also explores the connections between Tisha B'Av and contemporary issues, emphasizing the need to remember the past and honor the memory of those who perished. Whether you are seeking to deepen your faith, learn more about Jewish traditions, or simply understand the power of collective mourning, this book provides a valuable resource for introspection and reflection.

The life and politics of an American Jewish activist who preached radical and violent means to Jewish survival Meir Kahane came of age amid the radical politics of the counterculture, becoming a militant voice of protest against Jewish liberalism. Kahane founded the Jewish Defense League in 1968, declaring that Jews must protect themselves by any means necessary. He immigrated to Israel in 1971, where he founded KACH, an ultranationalist and racist political party. He would die by assassination in 1990. Shaul Magid provides an in-depth look at this controversial figure, showing how the postwar American experience shaped his life and political thought. Magid sheds new light on Kahane’s radical political views, his critique of liberalism, and his use of the “grammar of race” as a tool to promote Jewish pride. He discusses Kahane’s theory of violence as a mechanism to assure Jewish safety, and traces how his Zionism evolved from a fervent support of Israel to a belief that the Zionist project had failed. Magid examines how tradition and classical Jewish texts profoundly influenced Kahane’s thought later in life, and argues that Kahane’s enduring legacy lies not in his Israeli career but in the challenge he posed to the liberalism and assimilatory project of the postwar American Jewish establishment. This incisive book shows how Kahane was a quintessentially American figure, one who adopted the radicalism of the militant Left as a tenet of Jewish survival.

How the rabbis of late antiquity used time to define the boundaries of Jewish identity The rabbinic corpus begins with a question–“when?”—and is brimming with discussions about time and the relationship between people, God, and the hour. Time and Difference in Rabbinic Judaism explores the rhythms of time that animated the rabbinic world of late antiquity, revealing how rabbis conceptualized time as a way of constructing difference between themselves and imperial Rome, Jews and Christians, men and women, and human and divine. In each chapter, Sarit Kattan Gribetz explores a unique aspect of rabbinic discourse on time. She shows how the ancient rabbinic texts artfully subvert Roman imperialism by offering "rabbinic time" as an alternative to "Roman time." She examines rabbinic discourse about the Sabbath, demonstrating how the weekly day of rest marked "Jewish time" from "Christian time." Gribetz looks at gendered daily rituals, showing how rabbis created "men's time" and "women's time" by mandating certain rituals for men and others for women. She delves into rabbinic writings that reflect on how God spends time and how God's use of time relates to human beings, merging "divine time" with "human time." Finally, she traces the legacies of rabbinic constructions of time in the medieval and modern periods. Time and Difference in Rabbinic Judaism sheds new light on the central role that time played in the construction of Jewish identity, subjectivity, and theology during this transformative period in the history of Judaism.

The next installment in the critically acclaimed lectionary series that focuses on women's stories. In this second volume of the three-volume Women's Lectionary for the Whole Church, widely praised womanist bible scholar and priest Wil Gafney selects scripture readings that emphasize women's stories. Focusing especially on the Gospel of Mark, Year B of A Women's Lectionary features Gafney's fresh, inclusive, and thought-provoking translations of every reading, alongside commentary on each reading. Designed for liturgical use or scriptural study, this resource offers a new perspective on the Bible and the liturgical year. “Gafney's paradigm-shifting scholarship will influence biblical preaching and teaching for generations to come." —National Catholic Reporter

On the Sabbath, calling women to the Torah, and counting them in the minyan.

Yehuda Roitmentz is a boy growing up in pre-World War I Germany. His father is one of the few Jewish officers who served in the Kaisers army. His mother and uncle are determined to instill in Yehuda all the knowledge and traditions of his Jewish religion. He grows into an ambitious, well-educated man who takes over his fathers clothing factory and makes it thrive. However, everything changes when the Nazis come to power. Life becomes stressful, difficult, and even dangerous as anti-Semitic laws make earning a living almost impossible for Jews. Yehuda is soon forced to manufacture uniforms for the German army, even as he joins the resistance movement in the hopes of disrupting the Nazis as much as possible. Yehudas resistance earns him a place in a concentration camp, but he is able to flee to Poland. Now, he must find a way for his wife and their baby to travel across Germany to join him. How can one man stand up to the Nazi agendaespecially when the Gestapo has put him on their Most Wanted List? It will take ingenuity, heroism, but most importantly, love to triumph over those who wish him dead and to find the freedom he seeks.

**WINNER of the 2018 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature and the 2018 Sophie Brody Medal for achievement in Jewish literature** **2018 Natan Book Award Finalist** **Finalist for the 2017 National Jewish Book Award in Women's Studies ** The Wall Street Journal: "There is humor and heartbreak in these pages...Ms. Kurshan immerses herself in the demands of daily Talmud study and allows the words of ancient scholars to transform the patterns of her own life." The Jewish Standard:“Brilliant, beautifully written, sensitive, original." The Jerusalem Post:"A beautiful and inspiring book. Both religious and secular readers will find themselves immensely moved by [Kurshan's] personal story.” American Jewish World: “So engrossing I hardly could put it down.” At the age of twenty-seven, alone in Jerusalem in the wake of a painful divorce,Ilana Kurshan joined the world’s largest book club, learning daf yomi, Hebrew for“daily page” of the Talmud, a book of rabbinic teachings spanning about six hundredyears. Her story is a tale of heartache and humor, of love and loss, of marriageand motherhood, and of learning to put one foot in front of the other by turningpage after page. Kurshan takes us on a deeply accessible and personal guided tourof the Talmud. For people of the book—both Jewish and non-Jewish—If All theSeas Were Ink is a celebration of learning, through literature, how to fall in loveonce again.