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"The Souls of the World of Chaos" is a most famous essay of Rav Kook, a modern mystic. First published in 1913, it continues to intrigue and inspire spiritual seekers in our day. Not content with inspirational reading, Bezalel Naor has undertaken the formidable task of unpacking the Kabbalistic structures that inform the essay. Cognoscenti will appreciate the copious endnotes. In the Introduction, we are provided with the historical backdrop to the essay and insight into the Kulturkampf that rocks Israeli society to this day.

Rabbah bar Bar Hannah has been referred to as the Jewish Sinbad the Sailor. His tall tales, fifteen in all, are recorded in the Babylonian Talmud in Tractate Bava Batra (73a-74a). The particular chapter in which they are situated is named "The Seller of the Ship" ("HaMokher et ha-Sefinah"). Appropriately, these tales of seafarers (ne{utei yama) were inserted in that legal discussion, as is the wont of the Talmud to mix Aggadah with Halakhah, thus tempering law with lore and legend.Rav Kook's commentary to the Legends first appeared in print in Jerusalem in 1984 in the second volume of his collected essays, Ma'amrei ha-Rayah. In this early work (written at age twenty-five), Rav Kook yet cites sources. Later, when his style of writing switched to "stream of consciousness," sources were eliminated. For this very reason, the commentary to the Rabbah bar Bar }annah legends is of extreme importance. Here, Rav Kook divulges the many and varied Kabbalistic sources that informed his view. We see him equally at home in the world of the Vilna Gaon and of his rival Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi. A great influence upon Rav Kook's thought was the earlier Italian mystic, Rabbi Moses Hayyim Luzzatto In Ma'amrei ha-Rayah, Rav Kook's commentary was provided by Rabbi Shlomo Aviner with brief summaries as well as an index. These are certainly helpful to the reader. The present edition is the first time in any language that the commentary of Rav Kook is presented complete with much needed explanatory notes.

The Book of Psalms is filled with resplendent God-intoxication, authenticity, staggering courage and honesty, and fiery religious passion that capture the full range of religious expression and emotion. The Psalms have exercised a profound influence on Jewish prayer.Unlike the narrative books of the Bible, the Book of Psalms is a collection of poems and songs based on different experiences and emotions that the biblical poets wish to memorialize and preserve for eternity. Based on traditional and modern sources, Rabbi Hayyim Angel's Psalms: A Companion Volume explores the history, meaning, significance, and theological ramifications of several individual Psalms as well as the book as a whole.

What are the "meta-values" of Judaism? Jewish tradition is rich with analysis of every topic imaginable, from major philosophical issues like belief in God and questions of good and evil, to detailed analyses about the finer points of Jewish practice. However it sometimes goes unnoticed that many Rabbis of the Talmud and Midrash have sought to explore how those sets of practices and beliefs cohere into a whole as a unit.The Great Principle of the Torah comes to analyze several of those claims and how the traditional and modern commentators interpreted those positions. This volume explores how those values interconnect, as well as their points of divergence. It is the ideal book for someone who is looking for a big picture perspective on what Judaism represents, as well as seeking to understand the rich diversity of opinion within the authentic Jewish tradition.

The idea of "holiness" is central to religion, but it is also one of the hardest concepts to define. In Judaism, the word kodesh, the Hebrew word for "holy," appears hundreds of times throughout Tanakh and the Talmud. It also appears in ancient Near Eastern contexts, throughout rabbinic literature, and is used throughout the Middle Ages and into modern times.Is "holiness" a synonym for Godliness, one of God's attributes, or does it have independent existence? What does it mean to say that both God and man are holy? What is the proper understanding of "Be holy, because I the Lord your God am holy"?A Theology of Holiness analyzes the meaning of the Hebrew root k-d-sh from ancient sources, throughout Tanakh, the Talmud, Rashi, Maimonides, Nahmanides, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, and Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik.This work traces how the idea of holiness has been applied throughout the ages. It is a work that utilizes historical, exegetical, linguistic, literary, anthropological, and philosophical tools in an interdisciplinary analysis. Ultimately, it is a work of theology, and helps the reader achieve a deeper understanding of holiness-arguably the most important religious term of them all­.

The Little Rose in the Mountain offers the reader a delightful bouquet of quotations and stories about roses from Tanach, Gemara, the Midrash, Jewish folklore, Sephardic poetry and more, with many colorful illustrations by the author.

In another collection of incisive essays on the weekly Torah reading and Jewish holidays, Rabbi Ari Kahn once again displays his remarkable ability to distill complicated philosophical, theological, and exegetical ideas into brief and accessible language for everyone at the Shabbat table. His writings are deeply steeped in Torah and rabbinic tradition, yet remain relevant to Jews across a broad spectrum of readership. Share these ideas at your Shabbat table, or study them beforehand to enhance your understanding of the parashah each week.

The odyssey of a "mountain boy" from the Carpathian Mountains of Eastern Europe, via the Nazi concentration camps of the Holocaust, to become the principal of a prestigious parochial school in the Rocky Mountains of the United States of America.

Mitchell First is a very talented Jewish scholar. He is able to challenge traditional assumptions and reach new, often groundbreaking, conclusions. His articles are meticulously researched, relying both on rabbinic sources and historians of antiquity. A main article explains how both Achashverosh and Esther can be identified in ancient sources.The entire volume consists of eleven articles that address mysterious aspects of the yearly cycle of Jewish holidays and liturgy: what is the meaning of the cryptic phrase in the Sukkot liturgy Ani ve-Ho? what motivated Antiochus to persecute the Jews? what is the origin of Taanit Esther? how many questions were there in the original Mah Nishtannah? why does peprecede ayin in the acrostics of the book of Eikhah?, and more.

Samuel David Luzzatto (1800-1865), known by his Hebrew acronym Shadal, was the leading Italian Jewish scholar of the 19th century. A linguist, educator, and religious thinker, he devoted his talents above all to the interpretation of the Bible. As a master of Hebrew grammar and usage, he focused on the plain meaning of the text. Although he was a devout believer in the divinity, unity, and antiquity of the Torah, Shadal approached the text in a remarkably free spirit of inquiry, drawing upon a wide variety of sources, ancient and contemporary, Jewish and non-Jewish. As a result, his interpretations may strike even the modern reader as fresh and novel.Among the highlights of Shadal's Exodus (Shemot) commentary are his view of the Ten Plagues as nature-based phenomena that nevertheless contained supranatural qualities, his discerning literary analysis of the Song of the Sea, and his daring willingness-despite his acceptance of rabbinic halakhah in practice-to look behind the Rabbis' interpretation of the book's legal sections and examine their literal meanings.Shadal's treatment of Exodus, as well as the other books of the Torah, consisted of his Italian translation of the text and his Hebrew-language commentary. Here, for the first time, is an all-English version of both the text translation and the unabridged commentary, the first complete edition of Shadal's Exodus since its original publication in 1872. The translator-editor has supplied explanatory notes and a list identifying the sources cited.

Yeshivat Har Etzion, founded in 1968 in Gush Etzion, has become one of Israel's outstanding institutions of learning, inculcating in its students intellectual excellence, spiritual growth and national commitment. For over four decades, the Yeshiva was headed by two of the most outstanding scholars and community leaders of our time - HaRav Yehuda Amital, zt"l, and HaRav Aharon Lichtenstein, zt"l. Merging the best in traditional Jewish learning with a formidable grasp of the modern world, the Yeshiva's am is not to cloister but to communicate, to educate a new generation of teachers and leaders. This collection of Torah essays from the Rashei Yeshiva and alumni of the Yeshiva is presented in honor of the Yeshiva's 50th Anniversary, its Yovel, which includes contributions from Rashei Yeshiva, HaRav Yehuda Amital, HaRav Aharon Lichtenstein, HaRav Baruch Gigi, HaRav Mosheh Lichtenstein, and HaRav Yaakov Medan.It includes additional contributions from Rabbi Dr. Michael Berger, Rabbi Nasanayl Braun, Rabbi Dr. Shlomo Brody, Rabbi David Brofsky, Rabbi Rafi Eis, Rabbi Yitzchak Etshalom, Rabbi Joel Finkelstein, Rabbi Dr. Ezra Frazer, Rabbi Daniel Fridman, Rabbi Dovid Gottlieb, Rabbi Yehoshua Grunstein, Rabbi Nathaniel Helfgot, Rabbi Dr. Yaakov Jaffe, Rabbi Ari Kahn, Rabbi David Nachbar, Terry Novetsky, Rabbi Dr. Moti Novick, Rabbi Dr. Shlomo Dov Rosen, Rabbi Dr. Michael Rosensweig, Gidon Rothstein, Rabbi Dr. Aaron Segal, Rabbi Tzvi Sinensky, Rabbi Mark Smilowitz, Rabbi Dr. Yossef Slotnik, Rabbi Moshe Taragin, Rabbi Michael Taubes, Rabbi Elie Weissman, Rabbi Reuven Ziegler, and Rabbi Shlomo Zuckier.

Abraham Isaac Hakohen Kook (1865-1935) served as the Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Erets Israel during the period of the British mandate. Rav Kook was a polymath, equally talented as a Talmudic legalist and rationalist philosopher, on the one hand, and as a mystic and poet, on the other. Today, we would say that he was both "left and right hemisphere." The present collection brings together in English translation Rav Kook's contributions to the field of Jewish history, though perhaps "historiosophy" would be the better word. Rav Kook joins the ranks of those great Jewish thinkers who preceded him in interpretation of history: Maharal of Prague, Moses Hayyim Luzzatto and Zadok Hakohen of Lublin. If Rav Kook's philosophy were to be summed up in a single word, it would be: Kelaliyut or universality. Whereas most of us are held captive by individual events, Rav Kook has a great gift for the overview of history. He brings this gift to bear in his ability to provide perspective on the modern rebirth of Israel against the backdrop of mankind's ongoing spiritual evolution. In the latter regard, his vision has sometimes been compared to that of Teilhard de Chardin and Sri Aurobido, or more recently Ken Wilber. Contained in this collection are Rav Kook's eulogy for Herzl and Rav Kook's remarks at the opening of Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The essays are placed in historic context and provided with copious scholarly endnotes.