Creating An Ethical Jewish Life

The classic texts of Jewish ethical literature—works little known to most of us—now available for personal study. This one-of-a-kind book brings Jewish ethical literature from ancient and medieval worlds straight into our twenty-first-century lives.

The Sacred Table: Creating a Jewish Food Ethic is an anthology of diverse essays on Jewish dietary practices. This volume presents the challenge of navigating through choices about eating, while seeking to create a rich dialogue about the intersection of Judaism and food. The definition of Kashrut, the historic Jewish approach to eating, is explored, broadened and in some cases, argued with, in these essays. Kashrut is viewed not only as a ritual practice, but also as a multifaceted Jewish relationship with food and its production, integrating values such as ethics, community, and spirituality into our dietary practice. The questions considered in The Sacred Table are broad reaching. Does Kashrut represent a facade of religiosity, hiding immorality and abuse, or is it, in its purest form, a summons to raise the ethical standards of food production? How does Kashrut enrich spiritual practice by teaching intentionality and gratitude? Can paying attention to our own eating practices raise our awareness of the hungry? Can Kashrut inspire us to eat healthfully? Can these laws draw us around the same table, thus creating community? In exploring the complexities of these questions, this book includes topics such as agricultural workers' rights, animal rights, food production, the environment, personal health, the spirituality of eating and fasting, and the challenges of eating together. The Sacred Table celebrates the ideology of educated choice. The essays present a diverse range of voices, opinions, and options, highlighting the Jewish values that shape our food ethics. Whether for the individual, family, or community, this book supplies the basic how-tos of creating a meaningful Jewish food ethic and incorporating these choices into our personal and communal religious practices. These resources will be helpful if we are new to these ideas or if we are teaching or counseling others. Picture a beautiful buffet of choices from which you can shape your personal Kashrut. Read, educate yourself, build on those practices that you already follow, and eat well. Published by CCAR Press, a division of the Central Conference of American Rabbis

The book discusses scores of actual questions on ethical dilemmas in business as well as everyday life. The author, Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir, not only gives answers but also provides a lucid and inspiring presentation of underlying ethical concepts, with special emphasis on the insights of Jewish tradition. The discussions sensitize the reader to ethical concerns in all areas of life, and build a comprehensive foundation of concepts to help resolve these concerns. In discussing topics such as marketing, human resources, and fair competition, attention is given to many up-to-date issues; and there is an entire chapter dedicated to "ethics on the Internet."

With insightful commentary, passion and expertise, Rabbis Sherwin and Cohen guide us through selections from classic Jewish ethical literature, offering clear explanations of the historic context of each writing and thoughtful applications of their wisdom on the problems we grapple with today.

Rabbi Joseph Telushkin combed the Bible, the Talmud, and the whole spectrum of Judaism's sacred writings to give us a manual on how to lead a decent, kind, and honest life in a morally complicated world. "An absolutely superb book: the most practical, most comprehensive guide to Jewish values I know." —Rabbi Harold Kushner, author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People Telushkin speaks to the major ethical issues of our time, issues that have, of course, been around since the beginning. He offers one or two pages a day of pithy, wise, and easily accessible teachings designed to be put into immediate practice. The range of the book is as broad as life itself: • The first trait to seek in a spouse (Day 17) • When, if ever, lying is permitted (Days 71-73) • Why acting cheerfully is a requirement, not a choice (Day 39) • What children don't owe their parents (Day 128) • Whether Jews should donate their organs (Day 290) • An effective but expensive technique for curbing your anger (Day 156) • How to raise truthful children (Day 298) • What purchases are always forbidden (Day 3) In addition, Telushkin raises issues with ethical implications that may surprise you, such as the need to tip those whom you don't see (Day 109), the right thing to do when you hear an ambulance siren (Day 1), and why wasting time is a sin (Day 15). Whether he is telling us what Jewish tradition has to say about insider trading or about the relationship between employers and employees, he provides fresh inspiration and clear guidance for every day of our lives.

Judaism offers us unique—and often divergent—insights into contemporary moral quandaries. How can we use social media without hurting others? Should people become parents through cloning? Should doctors help us die? The first ethics book to address social media and technology ethics through a Jewish lens, along with teaching the additional skills of analyzing classical Jewish texts, The Jewish Family Ethics Textbook guides teachers and students of all ages in mining classical and modern Jewish texts to inform ethical decision-making. Both sophisticated and accessible, the book tackles challenges in parent-child relationships, personal and academic integrity, social media, sexual intimacy, conception, abortion, and end of life. Case studies, largely drawn from real life, concretize the dilemmas. Multifaceted texts from tradition (translated from Hebrew and Aramaic) to modernity build on one another to shed light on the deliberations. Questions for inquiry, commentary, and a summation of the texts’ implications for the case studies deepen and open up the dialogue. In keeping with the tradition of maḥloket, preserving multiple points of view, “We need not accept any of our forebears’ ideas uncritically,” Rabbi Neal Scheindlin explains. “The texts provide opportunities to discover ideas that help us think through ethical dilemmas, while leaving room for us to discuss and draw our own conclusions.”

The newest addition to the CCAR Press Challenge and Change series, this anthology creates a rich and varied discussion about ethics and money. Our use of and relationship with money must reflect our religious values—this book aims to start a comprehensive conversation about how Judaism can guide us in this multi-faceted relationship.