Zombies, Aliens, Yoga, Pluralism
All kinds of new Jewish books for all kinds of Jews
The Gate of Tears: Sadness and the Spiritual Path
The Gate of Tears: Sadness and the Spiritual Path explores the counter-intuitive insight that sadness and joy are not opposites – and that human capacities often suppressed or rejected can, instead, be gateways to deep joy, creativity, and liberation.
The Gate of Tears is not a self-help book. If anything, it is a self-helpless book, discovering a happiness deeper than transitory joys that emerges precisely when the resistance to sadness is released. As the contemporary Buddhist teacher Lama Surya Das says in his foreword to the book, “the only thing that prevents happiness is searching for it.”
The Gate of Tears draws on Jay Michaelson’s fifteen years as a student, and now a teacher, of Buddhist and Jewish contemplative paths. Michaelson is a rabbi, and holds a Ph.D. in Jewish Thought, and has taught Jewish mysticism in and outside the academic world. Yet he is also a longtime teacher of insight meditation in Western Buddhist and secular mindfulness contexts, who has sat many months-long silent meditation retreats. With his usual blend of erudition and accessibility, Michaelson weaves together Hasidic tales and Dharma teachings, Leonard Cohen and Langston Hughes.
NEW!
Jews vs Zombies
In Jews vs Zombies, editors Lavie Tidhar and Rebecca Levene have gathered together brand new stories from the light-hearted to the profound, with authors ranging from BSFA Award winner Adam Roberts to best-selling author Sarah Lotz, all asking, for the first time, the question you didn’t even know you wanted answered – what happens when the Chosen People meet the Living Dead?
“If you will it, it is no dream!” as Theodor Herzl said: and no doubt he had just such an anthology in mind.
All royalties go to support UK charity Mosac.
NEW!
Jews versus Aliens
In Jews vs Aliens, editors Lavie Tidhar and Rebecca Levene have gathered together brand new stories from the light-hearted to the profound, with authors ranging from Orange Prize winner Naomi Alderman to Big Bang Theory writer/producer Eric Kaplan, all asking, for the first time, the question you didn’t even know you wanted answered – what happens when the aliens arrive, only to encounter… Jews?
“If you will it, it is no dream!” as Theodor Herzl said: and no doubt he had just such an anthology in mind.
All royalties go to support UK charity Mosac.
NEW!
Yiddische Yoga
OYsanas for Every Generation
Everyone’s doing it: Avrum, whose luggage business is souring; Essie, the modern bubbe who urges you to take a sweater—for after spin class when you’ll get a chill; Suri, who’s growing kale and her identity on a Jewish, spiritual, organic farm; and Daniel Aaron, in recovery, in love with Israel, and into meditation. Follow these Neshama (Spirit) Guides’ comedic journey through yiddische yoga poses, meditation and chanting. It’ll make you laugh a lot. And plotz a little. A good read and a great gift for Jews of (almost) every ilk and generation.
NEW!
Judaism and Pluralism
Honoring the 60th Anniversary of the Academy for Jewish Religion
The Academy for Jewish Religion is celebrating its 60th anniversary as a pluralistic Jewish seminary, untethered to any one denomination. At the Academy, students study from teachers from across the spectrum of Judaism, and graduate to serve a wide array of Jewish communities.
Studies in Judaism and Pluralism explores pluralism in theory and practice.
From questions of philosophy and law to matters of liturgy and practice, this volume explores how Jewish communities can live with co-existing commitments to non-negotiable, contradicting beliefs.
Its essays include classic articles and contributions written for this volume. It sections include: Theories of Pluralism • Pluralism in the Jewish Sources • Diversity and Pluralism in Today’s Jewish Communities • Pluralistic Approaches to Jewish Practice • Pluralism in Jewish Education • Jews and Others in Today’s World
NEW!
Initial Instructions
A Translation Celebrating the Book of Genesis in Lipogram
What would Genesis be without the letter ‘E’?
Initial Instructions is a fresh rendering of the Bible’s beginning with an unusual twist: It doesn’t use the letter e.
Initial Instructions strikes words like “the,” “beginning”, “created,” “heavens,” and “earth” from its lexicon. Instead, Rabbi Joseph Prouser looks for original ways to render ancient meanings and reveal The Book of Genesis in a new way.
More information….
Back in stock!
George Der Naygeriker
Curious George in Yiddish
Dos iz George.
Er hot a mol gevoynt in Afrike.
Er iz geven a voyl malpele
Un tomid zeyer a naygeriker.
Thus begins the classic children’s book of the curious monkey and the man with a yellow hat, as translated into Yiddish by Dr. Zackary Sholem Berger.
With its text written in both alef-bais and transliteration, and an alphabet chart to help those not yet proficient, George der Naygeriker is the perfect book for anyone just a bissel naygerik— a little curious — about Yiddish.
Back in Stock!
Eyn Fish Tsvey Fish Royter Fish Bloyer Fish
One Fish Two Fish in Yiddish
Eyn fish
Tsvey fish
Royter fish
Bloyer fish
Thus begins the classic children’s book of Dr. Seuss’s imaginative menagerie, now translated into Yiddish, the language that brought the world gefilte fish.
Eyn Fish, Tzvey Fish features the illustrations of Dr. Seuss and rhyming mamaloshen translated by Dr. Zackary Sholem Berger. It captures the words, rhyme scheme, and spirit of the original. Its text is written in both alef-bais, and transliteration, and there’s an alphabet chart to help those not yet proficient in Yiddish.
Counting fish in Yiddish has never been so much fun.
So, nu? Invite these magical, Yiddish-speaking Dr. Seuss creations into your house and library today.
we who desire
Poems and Torah riffs
From Genesis to Deuteronomy, from Bereshit to Zot Haberacha, from Eden to Gaza, from Eve to Emma Goldman, we who desire interweaves the mythic and the mundane as it follows the arc of the Torah with carefully chosen words, astute observations, and deep emotion.
“we who desire began as daily writing practice, a poem on the weekly Torah portion. I refined, edited, slashed, leaving only those words that tell a story, the real story of creation and covenant, liberation and desire. Especially desire. I have turned it and turned it for decades, this manual of instruction, this text that called me into forever. Turned it until the words felt right, until I was able to admit its hold on me. Fire and splendor. Fire and splendor.” —Sue Swartz
Torah Journeys
The Inner Path to the Promised Land
Following the framework of the ancient tradition of weekly Torah reading, Shefa Gold shows us how to find blessing, challenge and the opportunity for spiritual transformation in each portion of Torah. An inspiring guide to exploring the landscape of Scripture… and recognizing that landscape as the story of your life.
Torah Journeys: The Inner Path to the Promised Land promises to turn the year-long cycle of Torah reading into a journey of personal spiritual growth.
The Comic Torah
Reimagining the Very Good Book
In the Comic Torah, stand-up comic Aaron Freeman and artist Sharon Rosenzweig reimagine the Torah with provocative humor and irreverent reverence.
Prepare to meet God (referred to by the ineffable Hebrew name YHWH) imagined as a female with green skin, a love of grilling (see Leviticus for menus) and a bloody awful temper. Moses plays her romantic lead, part of a multi-ethnic cast of characters featuring celebrities such as Barack Obama playing Joshua ( Yes, we Canaan! ). Each weekly portion gets a two-page spread. Like the original, the Comic Torah is not always suitable for children. This is a Torah experience like no other.
Torah & Company
The weekly portion of Torah, accompanied by generous helpings of Mishnah and Gemara, served with discussion questions to spice up your Sabbath Table
The rabbis of the Talmud propounded that one should spend one’s life learning one third Torah, one third Mishnah, and one third Talmud. Rabbi Abrams, who is a Covenant Award-winning teacher and passionate Talmudist, has constructed a book that puts forth passages on related themes from all three bodies of text: the written text (Torah), and the oral tradition (Mishnah and Talmud).
What emerges is the raw material to invite debate: with the rabbis, with others at your table, and even with yourself. It is a way of engaging in text study while at the same time studying our own ideas, challenging ourselves and others, and gaining insight on texts we might never otherwise have the chance to study.
From the Coffee House of Jewish Dreamers
Poems of the Weekly Torah Portion and Poems of Wonder and Wandering
Poems of the Weekly Torah Portion are sly imaginings of each weekly Torah portion, from Genesis through Deuteronomy. Poems of Wonder and Wandering Century’s recall growing up during the Depression to Yiddish immigrant parents; his coming to terms with the scars of his youth; his adult discovery of Jewish traditions and Jerusalem; and his continuing game of hide-and-seek with God.
