Essential Judaism

A Complete Guide to Beliefs, Customs & Rituals

George Robinson

• Publisher: Atria Books
• Year: 2008
• eBook ISBN: 9781439117521
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Jewish Theology

You’ll find everything you need to know about being Jewish in this indispensable, revised and updated guide to the religious traditions, everyday practices, philosophical beliefs, and historical foundations of Judaism.

What happens at a synagogue service? What are the rules for keeping kosher? How do I light the Hanukah candles? What is in the Hebrew Bible? What do the Jewish holidays signify? What should I be teaching my children about being Jewish?

With the first edition of Essential Judaism, George Robinson offered the world the accessible compendium that he sought when he rediscovered his Jewish identity as an adult. In his “ambitious and all-inclusive” (New York Times Book Review) guide, Robinson illuminates the Jewish life cycle at every stage and lays out many fascinating aspects of the religion—the Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism, the evolution of Hasidism, and much more—while keeping a firm focus on the different paths to living a good Jewish life in today’s world.

Now, a decade and a half later, Robinson has updated this valuable introductory text with information on topics including denominational shifts, same-sex marriage, the intermarriage debate, transgender Jews, the growth of anti-Semitism, and the changing role of women in worship, along with many other hotly debated topics in the contemporary Jewish world and beyond.

The perfect gift for a Bar/Bat Mitzvah or anyone thinking about conversion—this is the ultimate companion for anyone interested in learning more about Judaism, the kind of book its readers will revisit over and over for years to come.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Dedication
• Foreword
• A Note to the Reader
• Introduction
• Fifteen Years Later
• Chapter 1: Service of the Heart: Prayer and Ritual
• Chapter 2: Rejoice in your Festivals: The Jewish Year
• Chapter 3: Birth to Death: A Jewish Life Cycle
• Chapter 4: 613 Ways: Living a Jewish Life
• Chapter 5: In the Beginning: The Hebrew Bible
• Chapter 6: The Rabbis Said: The Talmud and Other Rabbinical Writings
• Chapter 7: Jewish Mysticism: Emanations of the Eternal
• Chapter 8: The Philosophers: The Continuing Evolution of Jewish Thought
• Chapter 9: Beyond the Rabbis: How Judaism got where it is Today
• Chapter 10: Fifteen Years On
• Appendix 1: Some Key Documents of Contemporary Jewish Belief
• Appendix 2: A Time Line of Major Events
• Appendix 3: Where the Jews are Today
• Appendix 4: Jewish Holidays, 2015–2020
• Appendix 5: How do I know it’s Kosher? AN Orthodox Union Kosher Primer
• Glossary
• Acknowledgments
• About George Robinson
• Sources and Resources: A Bibliography
• Index
• Copyright