RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:spiritual schizophrenia:Rabbi Yochanan:Shulchan Aruch

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:spiritual schizophrenia:Rabbi Yochanan:Shulchan Aruch

Jewish Spiritual Renewal:Shabbat 8/1/09:Torah:TaNaK:Talmud:Ethical :Spiritual View

 

Shalom my beloved Chaverim v' Talmidim:

 

I hope you are doing well during these "three weeks.'' I am writing this on the second of Av for the Shabbat of the 11th of Av. Rosh Chodesh Av was yesterday and I wish you all a Menachem Av, a comforting Av. The new month of Av starts what is called the "nine days'' till the 9th of Av, Tisha B'Av, which for traditional Jews is more strict than the beginning the three weeks we just experienced. This all has to do with reminding us of the breach of the walls of Jerusalem on the 17 of Tammuz until the burning of the Temple on the 9th of Av....three weeks.

 

Now, I normally do not get into halakah in this class. But Ricky from South Africa asked how do non-Orthodox Jew observe  these 9 days and Tisha B'av. And before I answered his question, I had to explain how Traditional Jews, following halakah, observe.

 

And I will make it simple: no rejoicing, no parties, no new clothes, no sewing torn clothes, no buying new clothes, no washing, ironing, or even dry cleaning clothes. An exception, on the Shabbat before Tisha B'av, one can wear clean clothes. No bathing even in cold water. One may wash his face, hands, and feet in cold water. If one is sick, as always, one can bath in hot water. If one is used to going to the mickva, one may go, but it must be cold water. No eating or meat or drinking of wine. A sick person can eat meat. If one is having a brit ceremony and a seudat mitzvah meal, one may eat meat.  Havdallah wine should be drank by a 12 year old who is not obligated for the above. If one is not available, only the one saying the beracha may have a sip of the wine.

 

The Shabbat before Tisha B'av is called Shabbat Chazon, (vision), based on the haftarah of Jeremiah's vision. One can wear clean clothes, drink wine and eat meat on this Shabbat.

 

Now on Tisha B'av, before the fast begins at sun down, one has a small meal. Only one cooked food is allowed. A hardboiled egg dipped in ashes is eaten. People eat separately so they do not joyously say the Beracoth ha mazon together. No leather shoes are worn. After this meal, one may not eat or drink until the stars appear the next day. One cannot brush his teeth, or rinse his mouth. No bathing or washing, except to wash the hands up to the knuckles to complete the mitzvah of netilat yedayim or after using the rest room. So fragrant soaps or perfumes may be used. No leather foot wear. And no sexual relations.

 

Now since Torah gladdens the heart, we can only study parts of the TaNaK which discuss the Temple's destruction, or the halakah pertaining to Tisha b'av, or Job, or Lamentations, of Jeremiah, or Tractate Gitten dafs 55b- 58a of Tractate Moed Katan, which discuss the Temple's destruction or mourning rituals.

 

Now there are more rules that amend how we pray, but there is one that many forget. Since the Temple burned till the 10th of Av, the rules of the 9 days, extend to around noon on the 10th of Av. The fast is over, but one doesn't shave, bath, drink wine, eat meat, etc. until noon.

 

Now to Ricky's question: how do non Traditional Jews observe. Well, in America, years ago, before my spirituality grew, I went to a conservative synagogue an hour from my home in the morning, and then went to the home of a reform rabbi in the afternoon and we floated together in his pool discussing Jewish issues. There was some spiritual schizophrenia there in me. :-)

 

Many Jews, Ricky, in the states do absolutely nothing.

 

What I do, is to concentrate on why the Temple was destroyed. Sinat Chinam. Baseless hatred among Jews. And I work and pray on bringing Jews to ahavath Israel, stop having sects beat up on one another. It doesn't matter to me that Jews have a wine and cheese party on Rosh Chodesh Av, but when they shut their doors in the face of a liberal Rabbi and his wife who are a bit more God loving then they are, this is a repeat of the Bar Kamtza story in the Talmud, which precipitated the fall of the Temple. It is this unJewishness that I spend my time teaching about.

 

When I hear about Rabbis being rounded up in NJ today for money laundering, showing they have no faith or trust in God, but full of ritual, its this lack of unJewishness that I spend my time teaching about.

 

So Tisha b'Av and the weeks and day leading up to it, are not about me wishing for the re-establishment of a new Temple, where I can bring my helpless farm animals to be slaughtered for my sins, but to work for and pray for a time when Jews behave ethically and spiritually. Note how I do not say ritually. Rituals are to get us to behave ethically and spiritually. And as we can all see, many who do rituals routinely without kavenah, get their hands caught in the cookie jar.

 

It is also a time to understand that we don't own this planet, and just as we need to treat others ethically, we need to treat our earth ethically as well.

 

Some TaNaK: Is: 1:10: "Hear the word of the Lord, you chieftains of Sodom; Give ear to our God's instruction, you folk of Gomorrah!" Isaiah is comparing the Hebrews before the fall of the First Temple to Sodomites and Gomorrahians. Now as we learned back in Genesis, their sin was not sexual depravity. Their sin was lack of hospitality and avarice. They had abundance. But if a new comer came into town, they chased them out or worse. They wouldn't share a loaf of bread. And Hebrews at this time were ignoring the poor, the widows, the orphans and were cheating one another.

 

Rabbi David Kimche (13th century Provence) captures the rabbinic mindset in his explanation of the verse from Isaiah: "For the chieftains of the people were similar to the chieftains of Sodom and Gomorrah, in cheating the poor and in perverting justice. And the people were similar to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah in their evil deeds." The crimes that caused God to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah were economic and legal. The nation had failed to create a just and fair society. No one was concerned that there were people who were hungry or were forced to live in the street or had no work while others lived in opulence. Those who were not wanting insured that the system guaranteed the perpetuation of this norm. Kimche sensed that these were the same sins which afflicted the nation at the time of the destruction of the First Temple.

 

Some Talmud Pirkei de Rabbi Eliezer 25: "Rabbi Judah said: They issued a proclamation in Sodom, saying, "Everyone who strengthens the hand of the poor and the needy with a loaf of bread shall be burnt by fire!" Pelotit the daughter of Lot was wedded to one of the wealthy men of Sodom. She saw a certain very poor man in the street of the city and her soul was grieved on the account. What did she do? Every day when she went out to draw water, she put in her pitcher all kinds of provisions from her house and she sustained that poor man. The men of Sodom said: "How does this poor man live?" When they ascertained the facts they brought her forth to be burnt by fire. She said: God of the world! Maintain my right and my cause at the hands of the men of Sodom! And her cry ascended before the throne of glory. In that hour the Holy One Blessed be He said: "I will go down and see whether they have done altogether according to her cry which is come unto me" and if the men of Sodom have done according to the cry of the young woman, I will turn her foundation upwards and the surface downward.

 

Some TaNaK: Num. 14:1: "The whole community broke into loud cries, and the people wept that night."  The Hebrews are upset over the bad report from 10 of the 12 spies.

 

Some Talmud Bavli Tractate Ta'anit 29a: Regarding this above tragic night, the gemara comments, "Rabbi Yochanan said: That night was Tisha B' av.  The Almighty said to them: You cried for no reason; and I will establish this night as a night of crying for many generations to come..." 

 

Some Talmud Bavli Tractate Ta'anit 29a: "When the month of Av enters we minimize in happiness."

 

Some Midrash: The spies return on the 9th of Av, and ten of 12 give a pessimistic report. The Hebrews believe them as they are of little faith and still we a slave mind set.  The punishment that they will wander, and die out in the wilderness for 39 more years, is given on the 9th of Av. Our first Galut didn't happen in 586 BCE. It occurred in B'MidBar, and it occurred before when Yosef was sent to Egypt in bondage and his brother and families followed. In one way or another, all of us, are in some form of spiritual or physical galut.

 

Some TaNaK: Malachi 3:6 "I am God, I have not changed."

And some more TaNaK: Job (35:6)  "If you sin, how have you affected Him? If your transgressions multiply, what do you do to Him? If you are righteous, what do you give Him? What can He possibly receive from your hand?" It doesn't matter to God what we do -- we have no effect on Him.

 

So why do good? God didn't need a world which would ultimately be perfected by man, but He wanted one. So God is affected  what we do, but only because He WANTS to be affected. Which means that He's really not affected. But on a deeper level, it means that He really is affected, because He CHOSE to, and His choosing to makes it real. Hence we have a choice. We can do good or bad. We know its darn stinky to play party snubs. Gosh the Talmud spends pages on talking about how bad it is. But we choose to do bad and our yetzer ha ra, along with the yetzer ha ra of others, tells us its ok. This is why the Talmud teaches:

 

Some Talmud:Bavli Tractate Pirkei Avot 1:7: "Nitai the Arbelite would say: Distance yourself from a bad neighbor, do not cleave to a wicked person." Who is wicked or a bad neighbor? Someone who when you're doing wrong will not tell you that you are doing wrong, but worse, will help you rationalize that you are doing good. Sometimes one must leave a club or even a congregation, if they are helping to lead a person to sin.

 

But the sages were very reticent to label someone wicked. And we need to be careful about doing so as well. Even in their times. they had many Jews who were not ethical nor spiritual, and they did not know any better.  The exact guidelines for classifying someone as a rasha are complex and are beyond the scope of this class.  Nowadays, many Jews are people who have never been introduced to the beauty and truth of Talmudic Ethical and Spiritual Judaism. The Rambam likens such a person to a "tinok shenishba," a child who was captured by gentiles and who grew up ignorant of his heritage. Such a person is surely no rasha; we should treat him with love and compassion and surely we should not speak badly of him. When they do wrong, if we have the opportunity, teach them. Many have no idea of the simple rules of Jewish hospitality nor or the Jewish rules about  gossip.

 

Some Shulchan Aruch , Orach Chaim, 560:1: "Once the Temple was destroyed, the sages declared that we should never build a building that is completely plastered and rendered in the style of buildings of kings, rather one plasters his house, renders it with a coating, and leaves a space of one Ammah by one Ammah without coating". Even the most liberal Temples, understand Tisha B'av is about Jews learning to behave ethically, are getting back to doing this rabbinic mitzvah as a reminder for Jews to do proper behavior in Temples, and in board rooms.

 

Some Talmud Yerushalmi Tractate Yoma 1:1, which states that "any generation in which the Temple is not rebuilt, it is considered as if that generation had itself destroyed the Temple.'' The rabbis aren't literally wanting the Temple to be rebuilt. They want us Jews to stop the non ethical, non Jewish behaviors that caused its burning.

 

Some Tradition: according to some, the Jewish Messiah will be born on Tisha b'Av when Jews start to behave ethically.

 

I will end the class with this for you to ponder. I mentioned we read the book of Lamentations on Tisha B'av. In Hebrew its title is Eicha. The sages ask: When was the first  Eicha? Another rabbi answer: In Eden, the Garden of Delight, when the humans tried to hide from God and God cried out, "Ayekka  --  Where are you?"  For the word "Ayekka" and the word "Eicha" are made of the same consonants, different only in the vowels that do not even appear in the original sacred text. So the first lament in the Torah is God's to humans. Where are you? Its not rhetorical as God can see them. Its a question about their spirituality.  Where are you, my Talmidim v' Chaverim? Are we ready for some www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org so that we can make this coming Rosh Ha Shana and Yom Kippur one that will really be meaningful?

Have an easy fast. A D'var Torah follows.

Shabbat Shalom.

Rabbi Arthur Segal
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA
 

Parasha Va'et-Chanan: Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11

Rabbi Arthur Segal
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Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA

"A Listening People"

In the traditional Shacharit (morning) service one exclaims: "How happy are we! How blessed our lot! How sweet our destiny! How magnificent our heritage! How happy are we that as we rise and as we lie down, morning and evening, twice every day we proclaim: Hear oh Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One."

This watchword of our faith, the Shema, is found is this parasha (Deut. 6:4). We also are retold the Ten Commandments, albeit with some different wording than is written in Exodus (Deut. 5:6-18). It has been written that all of the 613 commandments in the Chumash (Five Books of Moses) stem from one or more of these Ten Commandments. Even the sin of slander is said to derive from the admonition not to steal and not to murder, as when we commit lashon ha ra (slander) we steal and murder someone's good name.

As Jews, we are witnesses for God. No, we do not have to go out ringing doorbells and handing out copies of The Watchtower. We have a hint to this obligation in Deuteronomy Verse 6:4. If you open to the Hebrew page of your Chumash, you will notice that the letters Yud in Shema (hear) and Daled in Yechud (one) are printed in a larger font than the other letters. The letters Yud-Daled, or "ed" is the Hebrew word for "witness."

If we delve deeper, we will come to realize that each of the Ten Commandments has its roots in the Shema. If we really believed that God is One, that God is "in charge of all," would we take His name in vain? We certainly would not curse our employer, the one who signs our paycheck, to his face, would we? If we truly believed the words of the Shema, would we curse the Face of God who provides us with our very existence and who is omnipresent? If we, with certainty, believed in the Oneness of God would we be able to rest on the Sabbath and fill our lives with spiritual pursuits while forgoing the mundane? Would we have the faith that we would not lose out if we did not close a business deal or attend a secular social event on Shabbat?

We certainly would honor our parents who provided us with the vessel that houses our Godly soul and who sustained us with physical nourishment. If we believed in the concept of the Shema, how could we think about stealing another's property, spouse, life, or good name, or even think jealously of our fellow's status or belongings? If God is truly One, then everything we have or do not have is exactly the way He wishes it to be. Is this a truism? Does the Shema leads us to complacency as well?

Of course the answer is no for the Jewish people. A people, who we are traditionally taught God Himself called stiff necked, is certainly not a candidate for a complacency award. We are taught this, albeit subtlety, in verse 6:5. This verse begins what many call the "ve'ahavta" (you shall love). You will notice in the Hebrew text that the word for "heart" (lev) is spelled incorrectly with two vuvs (the letter V).

The rabbis interpret the heart as a metaphor for the seat of our craving and aspiration. Rashi says this double vuv means we are to love God with both our good and evil inclinations. The Talmudic sage Rabbi Yonah says that this means we should use our good heart to perform mitzvoth and to fight the bad heart's desire to sin. The Rambam (Maimonides) says that the evil inclination (yetzer ha ra) refers to man's earthly cravings, such as the desire for food, drink, sex, wealth, etc. The "ve'ahavta" commandment demands that we channel our base drives into the service of God and of good. The Talmudic rabbis stated wisely that without man's yetzer ha ra, we would not build houses or have children. God does not want us to be complacent and accepting of bad situations. He wants us to fight with all of our might to change things to make them the best we can here in our homes and on our earth. However, we are to do so in an ethical manner. The ends do not serve to justify the means in Judaism.

What do we mean when we announce that God is One? It means that we can perceive God in many ways throughout our lives. God can be angry, kind, merciful, judgmental, wise, and yet seemingly stupid or uncaring. While it is difficult for the human mind to grasp the concept that One entity can be all of these, we are commanded to do so. In ancient times, people had different gods for each of these manifestations. We are taught that there is an inner harmony in all that God does. Whatever is happening to us or in the world - good, bad or neutral - we are commanded to believe in One God. This is why we bless God, even at the gravesites of our beloved, by calling Him the "true Judge."

In Talmud Bavli Tractate Beracoth, the first book of the Talmud, the first question asked is when should one say the Shema? This leads the rabbis into a fascinating discussion of the Shema, the Ve'ahavta, the Amidah and kavenah (the spiritual concentrated intention of prayer). They clearly say that it is better to say an abbreviated spiritual prayer in one's vernacular with kavenah, then the complete prayer in Hebrew in a hurried manner. A Chasidic rabbe once defined kavenah in prayer as singing "Adon" in Adon Olam (Master of the Universe) without already thinking of the word Olam.

In this Tractate the rabbis discuss the concept of loving God "with all of your soul." Rashi says that this means we should love God even if it costs us our life. Rambam says this refers to the very rare situations of idolatry, adultery and murder. Traditional Jewish law requires that one give up his life rather than sin. In Tractate Beracoth 54A the rabbis say one must love God even in the moment when He takes one's life. They recommend that the Shema be on every dying Jew's lips. In Beracoth 62B, the story is told of Rabbi Akiva who joyously says the Shema in his last dying breath as the Romans are torturing him by tearing off his flesh. His students witness this and ask why he is so happy when he is in so much pain. Rabbi Akiva answers, "all my life I prayed that I would be able to maintain my love of God even if it cost me my life. Now that I succeeded in doing so, should I not be happy?" The Talmud does not record if Rabbi Akiva then re-said the Shema to make sure they were indeed the last words on his lips before death took him.

In the Ve'ahavta, the verse following the Shema, we are commanded to love God. How does one command anyone to love anything? We are not even asked to love our parents, only to honor them. In our traditional Ketubah marriage contract a man is not commanded to love his wife, but only to care for her. How do we love God? How do we say this part of our daily service with kavenah?

The Rambam says that the Torah supplies the answer in the next few verses in Deuteronomy 6:7-9. He says that Jews should think about the Torah, study it and teach it. When one meditates on God's "great and wondrous deeds and creations and sees in them His incomparable and infinite wisdom, one will immediately come to love and to praise him and be filled with longing to know Him." If only this were so easy. What if one thinks of the Torah as Midrash (stories to teach a lesson)? What if one accepts the critical theory of Torah's authorship? What if one does not believe in the tales of Adam and Eve, the Great Flood, burning bushes that speak, the Ten Plagues including the Angel of Death, and Moses on Mt. Sinai for 120 days getting both the written and the oral law.

This is not a question asked sarcastically in the 21st-century. This question was asked is earnest 950 years ago by the Spanish rabbi Brachya Ibn Pakuda. His text Duties of the Heart is among the rarest jewels in the crown of Jewish spirituality. It is available in paperback by Feldheim Press. He writes that the commandments can be divided into duties of the limbs, such as obeying Shabbat or not stealing, and duties of the heart, which belong to the "hidden, private realm of the wisdom of the inward life." Some of these many duties are to love God, to refrain from revenge or grudges (Lev.18:18), to not hate your neighbor (Lev 19:17), to not be tightfisted or hardhearted (Deut.15:7), to love the stranger (Deut 10:19) and to not covet (Deut. 5:18). He discovers that the duties of the limb, which we in modern Judaism call ritual, are a small percentage of the 613 commandments, while the duties of the heart, which we in modern Judaism still cling to, are many.

Ibn Pakuda was ahead of his time in Jewish thought in that he quoted often from Greek and Muslim philosophy. Rambam did the same and was castigated for it 150 years later. Pakuda quotes his justification from Tractate Megillah 16A. "Anyone who speaks wisdom, even if he is from among the other nations of the world, is called a wise man." Pakuda says that in order to love God one must study. He says it is our duty to intellectually investigate the subject of God's unity, and even His existence. He says we should not accept the words of the Shema on faith alone. How many of us say the Shema with our tongues but not our hearts? How many really understand the meaning of God's existence and absolute Unity? Pakuda discusses those that pronounce the words of the Shema with their tongues, and think they are done with the matter of God's Oneness. He says they do not realize that their hearts are empty of the Shema's true meaning, as their thoughts are vacant of any knowledge of the subject. Pakuda says many Jews declare God's unity with their tongues but do not conceive of God within their hearts.

As a liberal Jew did you ever wonder why we stand up for the Shema while at traditional shuls they remain seated? The answer for the traditionalists is found Talmudically. Rabbi Hillel's school, the most liberal of the Talmudic era, rules that one should remain seated so as not to destroy kavenah. Rabbi Shammai's school, known as the more strict interpreters, rules that one should rise. This was at a time when Jews prayed at their own pace. The Talmud agreed with Hillel's school. Modern Jews, following Rabbi Shammai, rise to make a public display in unison of our belief in the tenets of Judaism. But as Rabbi Pakuda alludes, do some of our actions before and after we state the Shema serve to nullify its meaning?

If we really believed in God, would we treat some of our fellows disrespectfully? Would we discuss fellow congregants behind their backs and still smile to their faces? Or worse yet, would we snub them to their faces? If we really believed in the Shema and the commandment to love God that immediately follows it, I would hope that we as Spiritual Renewed Jews could truly accept the yoke of this one commandment. If we did accept this mitzvah, so many other paths to help our fellow and treat him with love would flow naturally from our hearts. Tikun Olam (repair of the world) would not be just a slogan, but it would already be an accomplishment.

I mentioned that the Ten Commandments listed in this Parasha differ in wording from Exodus. In Deuteronomy 5:12 we are told to safeguard (shomar) Shabbat. In Exodus 20:8 we are told to remember (zachor) Shabbat. Modern Jews threw off the yoke of Shomar Shabbos as well as being observant of other ritual commandments. But they never agreed to do away with remembrance of our religion. Nor did they ever agree to do away with the love and belief in God and the man-to-man laws that abound throughout the Torah. However, as we know from humankind's basic nature and our yetzer ha ra, if we give one and inch, they will take a yard. When we say from our pulpits, it is ok to forget about Shabbat, but still love your neighbor, the average congregant's yetzer ha ra hears, "It is ok to hate my neighbor as well as ignore Shabbat."

This is why so many modern and liberal Jews are returning to Judaism via Jewish Spiritual Renewal of which teshuvah is one step. WWW.JewishSpiritualRenewal.Org

As modern Jews we have an obligation to be informed Jews. The Greek philosopher Epictetus said, "Only the educated are free." We do not follow rules and regulations on faith alone. Even the concept of God must be intellectually understood and not just accepted on blind faith. We must be a learning, thinking, grappling people. We have an obligation to teach our children as well. As the Shema says, we must be a listening people for our movement and our religion to survive.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Arthur Segal
Via Shamash Org on-line class service
Jewish Renewal
Jewish Spiritual Renewal
Jewish Spirituality
Eco Judaism
Hilton Head Island, SC, Bluffton, SC, Savannah, GA

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A Short Snap Shot of Rabbi Arthur Segal

Rabbi Arthur Segal

United States

I am available for Shabbatons, and can speak on various aspects of Jewish history, (from the ancient past to modern day, and can be area specific, if a group wishes), Spirituality, developing a Personal Relationship with God, on the Jews of India and other 'exotic' communities, and on Talmud, Torah and other great texts. We have visited these exotic Jewish communities first hand. I adhere to the Mishna's edict of not using the Torah as a ''spade'', and do not ask for honorariums for my services. I am trans-denominational and renewal and spiritually centered.

 I am available to perform Jewish weddings,  and other life cycle events, ONLY IF, it is  a destination wedding and the local full time pulpit rabbi is unavailable, or if there is no local full time pulpit rabbi,  or it is in my local area and all of the full time pulpit rabbis are unavailable.

 My post-doc in Psych from Penn helps tremendously when I do Rabbinic counseling. My phone number and address will be made available once I am sure of one's sincerity in working with me.

Rabbi Segal is the author of three books and many articles on Torah, Talmud and TaNaK and Jewish history. His books are : The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal: A Path of Transformation for the Modern Jew, A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud, and  Spiritual Wisdom of our Talmudic Sages. The first two are published by Amazon through their publishing house, BookSurge.

For information on how to purchase these, please contact RabbiSegal@JewishSpiritualRenewal.net and visit WWW.JewishSpiritualRenewal.Net.  OR CLICK ON THE IMAGES BELOW. 

 Todah Rabah and Shalom uvracha. Rabbi Arthur Segal ,( Dr. Arthur Segal )RabbiASegal@aol.com . 

 

Click to Order	THE HANDBOOK TO JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL: A Path of Transformation for the Modern Jew Rabbi Dr. Arthur Segal distills millennia of sage advice into a step-by-step process to reclaim your Judaism and your spirituality in a concise easy-to-read and easy-to-follow manner. If you find yourself wishing for the strength to sustain you through the ups and downs of life; if you want to learn how to live life to its fullest without angst, worry, low self-esteem or fear; or if you wish that your relationships with family, friends and co-workers were based on love and service and free of ego, arguments, resentments and feelings of being unloved...this book is for you. Price: $19.99 254 Pages Published by: Amazon's BookSurge
Click to Order	A SPIRITUAL AND ETHICAL COMPENDIUM TO THE TORAH AND TALMUD Rabbi Dr. Arthur Segal dissects each of the Torah's weekly sections (parashot) using the Talmud and other rabbinic texts to show the true Jewish take on what the Torah is trying to teach us. This companion to The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal: A Path of Transformation for the Modern Jew brings the Torah alive with daily relevance to the Modern Jew. All of the Torah can be summed up in one word: Chesed. It means kindness. The Talmud teaches that the Torah is about loving our fellow man and that we are to go and study. The rest is commentary. This compendium clarifies the commentary and allows one to study Torah and Talmud to learn the Judaic ideals of love, forgiveness, kindness, mercy and peace. A must read for all Jews and deserves a place in every Jewish home. Price: $24.99 494 Pages Published by: Amazon's BookSurge

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(001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal

In The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal: A Path of Transformation for the Modern Jew, Rabbi Dr. Arthur Segal distills millennia of sage advice to reclaim your Judaism and your spirituality.

• Price : $19.99

(002) A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud

A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud dissects each of the Torah's weekly sections (parashot) using the Talmud and other rabbinic texts to show the true Jewish take on what the Torah is trying to teach us.

• Price : $24.99

(003) Tzadakkah Bundle

The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal and A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud. Purchase both books as a set, and I will donate a portion of the sales price in your name to the tzadakkah of your choice. -- Rabbi Segal

• Price : $44.98

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