Authors: Jacob Neusner
ISBN-13: 9780664253486, ISBN-10: 0664253482
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
Date Published: February 1992
Edition: 1st Edition
Judaism is an ancient religion, practiced through most of recorded history and having profound influence on both Christianity and Islam. Still, it is a modern religion transforming the lives of many people. In this book, Jacob Neusner brings together these two aspects of the study of Judaism. He describes how Judaism is practiced in a particular time and place -- America today -- and surveys how Judaism took shape as people responded to political and religious crises. In this book, intended for the student and teacher of an introductory course in Judaism, Neusner provides a wealth of primary texts in addition to his own analysis.
In this textbook intended for the student and teacher of an introductory course in Judaism, Neusner describes how Judaism is practiced today in North America and surveys how Judaism took historical shape as people responded to political and religious crises. Includes many primary texts in addition to Neusner's analysis. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Acknowledgments | ix | |
A Word to the Student: Why Study Judaism? | xi | |
Part 1 | The Jewish People: Judaism in the World Today | |
1. | Judaism at Home: Through the Year | 3 |
Grace after Meals | 3 | |
The Passover Seder | 8 | |
2. | Judaism in the Family: Through the Cycle of Life | 15 |
The Rite of Circumcision | 15 | |
The Bar or Bat Mitzvah | 20 | |
The Marriage Ceremony | 22 | |
Death and Burial | 30 | |
3. | Judaism in the Synagogue | 37 |
The World of the Synagogue: Daily Prayer | 37 | |
Sabbaths of Creation, Festivals of Redemption | 50 | |
The Days of Awe: Standing before God for Judgment | 59 | |
Jewish Law and Learning: Halakhah and Study of the Torah | 62 | |
4. | How People Practice Judaism in America: The Jewish People and the Jewish Faith | 69 |
The Two Judaisms of America | 69 | |
The Judaism of Home and Family | 70 | |
The Judaism of Holocaust and Redemption | 71 | |
Judaism at Home and Judaism in Public: The Civil Religion of American Jews | 76 | |
Anthology for Part One The Jewish People: Judaism in the World Today | ||
Jack Wertheimer, Recent Trends in American Judaism | 85 | |
Jacob Neusner, The Jewish Religious Experience in America: The Problem of Interpretation | 117 | |
Part 2 | The Torah: Judaism in Holy Books and in History | |
5. | The Hebrew Scriptures of Ancient Israel: The Crisis Addressed by the Five Books of Moses | 131 |
Israel before Judaism: The Biblical Prelude | 131 | |
The Yahwist's Judaism for an Imperial Israel, 950 B.C.E. | 137 | |
Crisis and Resolution | 141 | |
Event and Pattern | 142 | |
The Model Judaism: The Priests' System for Israel after Exile and Return | 145 | |
Sacred Perseverance and the Exegesis of the Everyday: Why the Priests' Judaic System of Sanctification Persisted | 151 | |
6. | The Beginning of Rabbinic Judaism: The Crisis Addressed by the Mishnah in 70 C.E. | 157 |
Pharisaism before, and Judaism after, 70 C.E. | 157 | |
The Mishnah: History of Its System | 163 | |
The Topical Program of the Mishnah | 164 | |
The Mishnah's System as a Whole | 167 | |
The Mishnah and Judaism | 169 | |
7. | The Mishnah | 175 |
Humanity in Crisis: What Can Israel Do? | 175 | |
Women in the Mishnah | 176 | |
Women: Yebamot, Chapter 10 (M. Yeb. 10:1-5) | 178 | |
The Social Vision of the Mishnah | 185 | |
8. | The Formation of Rabbinic Judaism: The Crisis Addressed by the Talmuds and the Midrash | 193 |
The Unfolding of the Mishnah's Tradition | 193 | |
Systemic Changes in the Fourth Century: Canon, Symbol, Teleology | 200 | |
The Crisis of the Fourth Century | 207 | |
9. | The Talmud of the Land of Israel, the Midrash, and the Talmud of Babylonia | 211 |
The Talmud of the Land of Israel | 211 | |
The Midrash: Genesis Rabbah and Leviticus Rabbah | 225 | |
The Talmud of Babylonia | 235 | |
The Dual Torah: A Review. From the Mishnah through the Bavli | 247 | |
Anthology for Chapters Six to Nine Rabbinic Judaism: Its Formative History and Holy Books | ||
Jacob Neusner, Deuteronomy and Sifre to Deuteronomy | 257 | |
10. | The Success of Rabbinic Judaism: From Ancient Times to the Nineteenth Century | 269 |
Why Judaism Triumphed amid Christianity and Islam | 269 | |
A Judaism within Rabbinic Judaism: Hasidism | 275 | |
Heresies against Rabbinic Judaism: Karaism versus the Oral Torah | 279 | |
Heresies against Rabbinic Judaism: Sabbateanism versus the Sage-Messiah | 284 | |
The Power and Pathos of Judaism | 287 | |
11. | The Advent of New Judaisms in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries | 291 |
The Fall of Judaism and the Rise of Judaisms | 291 | |
A Judaism within Rabbinic Judaism: Reform | 295 | |
Judaism within Rabbinic Judaism: Orthodoxy | 300 | |
A Judaism outside of Rabbinic Judaism: Zionism | 309 | |
Heresies outside of Judaism: Zionism | 312 | |
Anthology for Chapters Ten and Eleven Rabbinic Judaism: Law, Philosophy, Mysticism, and Theology | ||
Isadore Twersky, The Shulhan Arukh: Enduring Code of Jewish Law | 323 | |
Abraham J. Heschel, The Mystical Element in Judaism | 339 | |
Emil L. Fackenheim, The Human Condition after Auschwitz | 363 | |
Ben Halpern, The Jewish Consensus | 375 | |
Part 3 | The Jewish People and the Torah | |
12. | Defining Judaism | 385 |
The Problem of Definition and How It Has Been Evaded | 385 | |
Defining by Identifying an Integrating Symbol: "The Torah" as the Definition of Judaism | 389 | |
A Review of the History of Judaism | 392 | |
Anthology for Part Three How Encyclopedias Define Judaism | ||
Louis Jacobs, Judaism (Encyclopaedia Judaica) | 405 | |
William Scott Green, Old Habits Die Hard: Judaism in The Encyclopedia of Religion | 413 | |
A Word to the Teacher: Introducing Judaism | 433 | |
Glossary | 447 | |
Index | 473 |