List Books » The Book of Jewish Sacred Practices: CLAL's Guide to Everyday and Holiday Rituals and Blessings
Authors: Irwin Kula (Editor), Vanessa L. Ochs
ISBN-13: 9781580231527, ISBN-10: 1580231527
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Jewish Lights Publishing
Date Published: August 2001
Edition: (Non-applicable)
Discover how to make virtually any moment in your day a significant part of a meaningful Jewish life.
As we have discovered, and as our sages have long known, there is no experience in the life of a Jew that cannot be marked in Jewish ways. The book you hold in your hands is the result of the kinds of rituals we have sculpted together over the years. It is not a prayer book or even a compendium of obligatory Jewish rituals. Rather, it is a source for all to use creatively.
Decades of experience by CLAL-The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership in connecting spirituality with daily life come together in this one comprehensive handbook. In these pages, you have access to teachings that can help to sanctify almost any moment in your day.
Offering a meditation, a blessing, a profound Jewish teaching, and a ritual for more than one hundred diverse everyday events and holidays, this guide includes sacred practices for:
*Lighting Shabbat candles
*Blessing your parents
*Running a marathon
*Visiting the sick
*Building a sukkah
*Seeing natural wonders
*Moving into a new home
*Saying goodbye to a beloved pet
*Making a shiva call
*Traveling...and much more
Drawing from both traditional and contemporary sources, The Book of Jewish Sacred Practices will show you how to make more holy any moment in your daily life.
Readers who want to create significance out of ordinary as well as remarkable moments will find an invaluable resource in this guidebook from CLAL the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership. There's a ritual to mark almost every possible occasion, from the mundane (making a list of things to do) to the sublime (falling in love). Organizing a room becomes a symbolic act of repair, of bringing order to a chaotic world. Quitting smoking, running a marathon, honoring a teacher, sending a child to college, mourning a pet these experiences that until now have not been addressed by Jewish tradition receive a new sanctity as they serve as potential "tools for awakening and self-transformation." The contributing rabbis and scholars from every denomination of Judaism also try to renew rituals that may have become routine, like lighting Sabbath candles or cleaning the house for Passover. "What we get from each moment ultimately depends on the attention (kavanah) we give to those moments," writes rabbi and editor Kula, CLAL's president. More than 100 occasions are classified into 11 sections: everyday life; parents and children; relationships; special moments; healing; life and death; learning; leadership and communal life; Israel; tzedakah; and holy days. Each event includes a meditation, a ritual, blessings and teachings drawn from biblical or rabbinic texts. This traditional Jewish framework should appeal to Jewish readers; non-Jewish readers may also enjoy the inclusive and thought-provoking approach, which does not require giving up or adopting new religious beliefs. (Dec.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Acknowledgments | viii |
About the Contributors | ix |
Preface | xi |
Introduction: Renew the Old, Sanctify the New | 1 |
EVERYDAY LIFE | |
Waking Up | 8 |
Praying for What We Need | 10 |
Washing Our Hands | 14 |
Eating | 16 |
Making a List of Things to Do | 18 |
Preparing a Family Recipe | 22 |
Going to Work | 24 |
Organizing Your Room, Your House, Your Office, Your | |
Affairs, Your Life | 28 |
Traveling | 30 |
Keeping a Sense of Home When You Are on the Road | 32 |
Spending Time with Family | 34 |
Having Guests of Different Faiths at Our Table | 38 |
Bringing Home a New Pet | 40 |
Gardening | 42 |
PARENTS AND CHILDREN | |
Hoping to Have a Child | 46 |
Celebrating Pregnancy | 50 |
Welcoming a New Child | 54 |
Nursing | 58 |
Guiding Our Growing Children toward Independence | 60 |
Preparing for Your Bar or Bat Mitzvah | 62 |
Sending a Child to College | 66 |
Blessing One's Parents | 68 |
RELATIONSHIPS | |
Falling in Love | 72 |
Celebrating the Difference You've Made in Each Other's | |
Lives | 74 |
Ending a Relationship | 78 |
Healing Relationships | 82 |
Receiving Guests | 86 |
Blessing One's Hosts | 90 |
SPECIAL MOMENTS | |
Celebrating a Private Miracle | 94 |
Celebrating Birthdays | 96 |
Hearing Good News | 98 |
Being a Guest at a Wedding | 100 |
Seeing Natural Wonders | 102 |
Standing at a Crossroads | 106 |
Running a Marathon | 110 |
Noticing a Change in the Seasons | 114 |
Moving into a New House | 118 |
Joining a Synagogue | 122 |
Taking on a Jewish Name | 126 |
Wearing a Tallit for the First Time | 130 |
Retiring | 132 |
HEALING | |
Praying for Healing | 136 |
Visiting the Sick | 138 |
Finding Hope in a Time of Illness | 142 |
Treating a Patient | 144 |
Starting to Work Out | 148 |
Quitting Smoking | 152 |
Creating Opportunities, Opening Doors | 154 |
LIFE AND DEATH | |
Hearing of a Death | 158 |
Making a Shiva Call | 160 |
Remembering the Loss of Someone You Love | 164 |
Moving Out of Mourning and Back into Life | 168 |
Writing an Ethical Will | 170 |
Saying Good-Bye to a Beloved Pet | 172 |
LEARNING | |
Starting School | 176 |
Beginning to Study Torah for the First Time | 178 |
Studying Sacred Texts Each Day | 182 |
Finishing an Important Book | 186 |
Honoring a Teacher at the End of the Year | 188 |
LEADERSHIP AND COMMUNAL LIFE | |
Building a Pluralist Jewish Community | 192 |
Examining Ourselves as Leaders | 196 |
Taking on New Responsibilities | 200 |
Taking on a Volunteer Role | 204 |
Holding a Meeting | 208 |
Installing a New Communal Leader | 210 |
Celebrating a New Community Building | 214 |
Naming a Community | 218 |
ISRAEL | |
Going to Israel | 222 |
Visiting Jerusalem | 226 |
Sending Your Child to Israel | 230 |
Returning from Israel | 232 |
TZEDAKAH | |
Preparing Ourselves to Do Sacred Work | 236 |
Donating Food and Clothing | 240 |
Soliciting Support | 242 |
Receiving Requests for Contributions | 246 |
Making a Contribution | 248 |
Dedicating a Wall or Plaque that Honors Donors | 250 |
Wearing Your Commitments | 254 |
HOLY DAYS | |
Shabbat | 257 |
Lighting Shabbat Candles | 258 |
Blessing Children on Shabbat | 260 |
Rosh Hashanah | 263 |
Changing Your Fate for the Coming Year | 264 |
Preparing Your Prayers for the High Holidays | 268 |
Casting Away Our Sins (Tashlikh) | 272 |
Hearing the Shofar | 276 |
Yom Kippur | 279 |
Fasting | 280 |
Sukkot | 283 |
Building a Sukkah | 284 |
Receiving Sukkah Guests | 286 |
Waving the Lulav and Etrog | 290 |
Taking Down a Sukkah | 294 |
Simchat Torah | 297 |
Dancing with the Torah | 298 |
Chanukah | 301 |
Lighting the Menorah | 302 |
Rededicating Your Home on Chanukah | 306 |
Purim | 309 |
Preparing Mishloach Manot | 310 |
Passover | 313 |
Removing Chametz from One's Home | 314 |
Searching for the Afikoman (for Grown-Ups) | 318 |
Counting the Omer | 322 |
Yom Ha'atzma'ut | 325 |
Celebrating Yom Ha'atzma'ut, Israel's Independence Day | 326 |
Shavuot | 329 |
Studying Together on Shavuot | 330 |
Rosh Chodesh | 333 |
Celebrating Rosh Chodesh | 334 |
About the Translations | 337 |
About CLALThe National Jewish Center for Learning and | |
Leadership | 338 |
About Jewish Lights | 341 |