Passover Survival Kit

The Passover Survival Kit is ultra user-friendly and enables people to transform the holiday into a meaningful experience.

The ROSH HASHANAH YOM KIPPUR SURVIVAL KIT blends wisdom, humor and down-to-earth spirituality and transforms the holidays into an inspiring, and meaningful experience. The Chief Rabbi of England says of the book, It will open the gates of prayer for a new generation.

The Passover Survival Kit is ultra user-friendly and enables people to transform the holiday into a meaningful experience.

The consummate encyclopedia of holiday activities.

"Bride of The Funniest People in Religion and Families" contains such anecdotes as these: When Panamanian salsa singer Rubin Blades married Lisa Lebenzon, an Anglo (a white American not of Spanish descent) non-Spanish speaker, he asked her to learn Spanish so he could speak his native language at home. She finished in only seven months a Spanish course that normally took three years. Dr. Louis Finkelstein, chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, kept a strictly kosher diet. While in Paris, he and a group of rabbis ate only in kosher restaurants. On leaving Paris, Dr. Finkelstein joked, "I can't understand all this fuss people make about French cooking. We have the same things at home." A Sufi teacher spoke about the virtue of patience. As he spoke, a scorpion stung his foot repeatedly. His followers eventually noticed the scorpion and asked the teacher why he had not moved his foot away from it. The teacher replied, "I was discussing the virtue of patience. I could hardly have spoken about patience without also setting an example of patience. I would have been ashamed before God."

In an effort to counter the confusion and isolation often experienced by a novice synagogue-goer, as well as by many who regularly attend synagogue, The Synagogue Survival Kit: A Guide to Understanding Jewish Religious Services offers introductions and instructions for all aspects of the synagogue experience. No matter what kind of synagogue you attend, the roadmap is the same. Some synagogues may read certain prayers in English translation rather than the original Hebrew or replace some traditional prayers with newer versions, but the service will still touch on the same topics in the same order for the same reasons. If you know the structure of the traditional service, you can readily find your place in any other one. The Synagogue Survival Kit maps the complete traditional service structure and points out the changes commonly encountered in different congregations in an effort to counter the confusion and isolation often experienced by novice synagogue-goers and regular attendees, alike. Always mindful of the sophisticated, adult reader with little or no Jewish background, Jordan Lee Wagner clearly and comprehensively explains the practices, vocabulary, objects, and attitudes that one can expect to find in any synagogue.

A storehouse of ancient wisdom is now available in everyday language. From spirituality to relationships and personal potential, Jewish wisdom has been tackling life's ultimate issues for 3,000 years--and it all flows from the Torah, the Jewish Bible.