For over one hundred years, Congregation Sons of Israel has been the thriving spiritual home of observant Jews in Brooklyn’s Bensonhurst. As that neighborhood grew throughout the twentieth century from a small seaside community to a middle-class haven for immigrants and others, the rabbis, officers, and congregants built a center of worship, education, and service based on the highest principles of the Torah. From the early 1940s to today, Jack Klein was at the center of it all. Taking office in 1974, he is the longest-serving president in the congregation’s history. In these pages, Mr. Klein tells the incredible story of perseverance through times of challenge and triumph for Sons of Israel, the United States, and the Jewish people. There are many congregations in Bensonhurst but only one known as the Big Shul, a center of Jewish life that proudly remains in service today.

For over 100 years, Congregation Sons of Israel has been the thriving spiritual home of observant Jews in Brooklyn's Bensonhurst. As that neighborhood grew throughout the 20th Century, from a small seaside community to a middle-class haven for immigrants and others, the rabbis, officers and congregants built a center of worship, education and service based on the highest principles of the Torah. From the early 1940s to today, Jack Klein was at the center of it all. Taking office in 1974, he is the longest-serving president in the congregation's history. In these pages Mr. Klein tells the incredible story of perseverance through times of challenge and triumph for Sons of Israel, the United States and the Jewish people. There are many congregations in Bensonhurst, but only one known as the Big Shul, a center of Jewish life that proudly remains in service today.

Come one, come all, to the Great Shul Fair! When the Great Shul Fair comes to town, children discover what makes each shul unique, and what makes all of them very much the same. Whether right around the corner, or halfway across the globe, a shul is always special!

The Jewish community has lost some of the most sensitive spiritual souls of this generation. They are Jews who were looking for God and found spiritual homes outside of Judaism. Their journeys traversed the Jewish community, but nothing there beckoned them. The creation of synagogue-communities in which the voices of seekers can be heard and their questions can be asked will challenge many loyalist Jews. It will upset and enrage them. But it would also enrich them. —from Chapter 18 In this fresh look at the spiritual possibilities of American Jewish life, Rabbi Sidney Schwarz presents the framework for a new synagogue model—the synagogue community—and its promise to transform our understanding of the synagogue and its potential for modern Judaism. Schwarz profiles four innovative synagogues—one from each of the major movements of Judaism—that have had extraordinary success with their approach to congregational life and presents practical ways to replicate their success. Includes a discussion guide for study groups and book clubs as well as a new afterword by the author describing developments in synagogue change projects since the book was first published.

San Francisco contractor Mel Turner is leading a volunteer home renovation project, and while she expects lots of questions from her inexperienced crew, she can't help asking a few of her own--especially about the haunted house next door . . . the place local kids call the Murder House. But when volunteers discover a body while cleaning out a shed, questions pile up faster than discarded lumber. Mel notices signs of ghostly activity next door and she wonders: Are the Murder House ghosts reaching out to her for help, or has the house claimed another victim? Now, surprised to find herself as the SFPD's unofficial "ghost consultant," Mel must investigate murders both past and present before a spooky killer finishes another job.

In 1953 Margaret Mead and Rhoda Metraux produced The Study of Culture at a Distance, a compilation of research from this period. This work, long unavailable, presents a rich and complex methodology for the study of cultures through literature, film, informant interviews, focus groups, and projective techniques.