Preparing Your Heart For The High Holy Days

In this second volume of the classic CCAR publication, you'll find a compilation of multiple commentaries written by CCAR members on every parashah, including holiday portions. A great resource for d'var Torah preparation for lay leaders and clergy alike, this volume makes a great gift for students, teachers, and congregational leaders.

There are times in life when we are caught utterly unprepared: a death in the family, the end of a relationship, a health crisis. These are the times when the solid ground we thought we stood on disappears beneath our feet, leaving us reeling and heartbroken, as we stumble back to our faith. The Days of Awe encompass the weeks preceding Rosh Hashanah up to Yom Kippur, a period in which Jews take part in a series of rituals and prayers that reenact the journey of the soul through the world from birth to death. This is a period of contemplation and repentance, comparable to Lent and Ramadan. Yet, for Rabbi Alan Lew, the real purpose of this annual passage is for us to experience brokenheartedness and open our heart to God. In This is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared, Lew has marked out a journey of seven distinct stages, one that draws on these rituals to awaken our soul and wholly transform us. Weaving together Torah readings, Buddhist parables, Jewish fables and stories from his own life, Lew lays bare the meanings of this ancient Jewish passage. He reveals the path from terror to acceptance, confusion to clarity, doubt to belief, and from complacency to awe. In the tradition of When Bad Things Happen to Good People, This Is Real And You Are Completely Unprepared enables believers of all faiths to reconnect to their faith with a passion and intimacy that will resonate throughout the year.

Written in a warm and understanding tone, this guide takes the best in secular early childhood education and applies it to Jewish early childhood education. With extensive bibliographies as well as background information for teachers, individual chapters review developmentally appropriate practice, anti-bias education, storytelling, music, Jewish thematic units, reaching out to interfaith families, keeping kosher at school, and much more.

Shows us how to understand and meet the challenges of our own process of aging—and the aging of those we care about—from a Jewish perspective, from midlife through the elder years. Over 40 contributors offer their insights and experiences through personal narrative, text studies, poems, ceremonies and stories about aging, retiring, growing, learning, caring for elderly parents, living and dying.

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. —from the Introduction 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.

This volume is a compelling invitation to meditate on the deeper meaning of the fourteen verses of Psalm 27. During the month of Elul and the High Holy Day and Festival season, we reflect on our relationships, choices, beliefs, and practices, considering where to make repairs, adjustments, and atonement. Opening Your Heart with Psalm 27 provides gentle guidance through this journey of reflection, offering heartfelt insight, profound translation, and an invaluable framework for meaningfully participating in this annual spiritual practice.

Women rabbis are changing the face of Judaism. Discover how their interpretations of the Prophets, Writings, and Megillot can enrich your perspective. The Haftarah is a potent tool for understanding the values, ethics, and moral lessons contained in the Torah readings. In this first-of-its-kind volume, more than eighty women rabbis from the Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist movements offer fresh perspectives on the beloved texts that make up the Haftarah—the Prophets and Writings—and the Five Megillot. Based on readings that are rich in imagery—some poetic, some narrative, some dark and brooding—their commentaries include surprising insights on the stories of Deborah and Yael, David and Goliath, David and Bathsheva, and the witch of Endor, among many others. Themes such as Jerusalem as woman, the story of Jonah and the fish, and other prophetic images are informed and challenged by this groundbreaking work. A rich resource, a major contribution to modern biblical commentary, and the ideal companion to The Women’s Torah Commentary, The Women’s Haftarah Commentary will inspire all of us to gain deeper meaning from the Hebrew scriptures and a heightened appreciation of Judaism.