Essential Judaism: A Complete Guide to Beliefs, Customs & Rituals

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Essential Judaism: A Complete Guide to Beliefs, Customs and Rituals

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The first chapter's focus on prayer and the relationship with God really grabbed my attention and prodded me through the remainder of the text. I loved learning and soaked in as much as I could. I skimmed chapter 8 rather than read every detail since it's 50 pages of information on various Jewish philosophers. I found my respect rapi I really value the great effort that Robinson put in to researching and writing this book. I found my respect rapidly growing and upon completion of the book found that most assuredly this has increased the depth of my own faith and perspective.

I certainly found many tenets of shared belief and was particularly intrigued at Maimonides' 13 Principles of the Jewish Faith http: Robinson successfully illustrates the in-depth determination, commitment, and devotion of the Jewish people and their history.

In the end, I was distracted by a couple issues that prevent me from giving this more than three stars.

First, there are terms that are used early on which slowed down my comprehension. They are described in more detail later in the book and also in the glossary, but it was distracting to a small degree. Second, because of the broadness of the title, Robinson appears to go to great lengths to include the major differences between the various Jewish sects and their perspectives on festivals, interpretations, and minhagim.

While this is important information, sometimes it seemed like too much information. Finally, there are a lot of sidebars that sometimes proved to be distracting though their inclusion wasn't a major disruption to the contextual information. Overall, I have come away from reading this book with an increased desire to read other religious texts of this same caliber--my soul strengthened, perspective extended and appreciation deepened. Dec 28, Dayna rated it it was amazing Shelves: This is the most comprehensive book that I have ever read on any subject that wasn't an encyclopedia.

Writing it must have been a formidable task. That is why I gave it five stars, instead of four. It isn't really that I thought this book was so amazing, although I did like it a lot I just appreciated the amount of work put into it, and that George Robinson managed to accomplish a balance between keeping it simple enough for "beginners" without dumbing it down.

It is organized so that it flo This is the most comprehensive book that I have ever read on any subject that wasn't an encyclopedia. It is organized so that it flows well when reading from beginning to end, but the chapters are not necessarily dependent on each other, so if you are already well acquainted with a certain aspect of Judaism, it won't mess up your reading to skip over that section.

As such, this book is also a great reference tool. I would highly recommend it for anyone wanting to return to or understand their Jewish heritage, or for anyone interested in Judaism as a whole. Oct 11, Skylar rated it really liked it. A nice overview from what I remember after 3 years. Solid introductory book, well organized and easy to read.

Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies

I read the book as the "textbook" of an intro to Judaism course, which it was well-suited for. It's organized in such a way that the chapters lend themselves to a discussion group between chapters. It doesn't go very in-depth, but it will give you a solid foundation to build on. It reads more like encyclopedia entries than a narrative, if that's important to you.

Mar 06, Amy rated it liked it. I truly never finished this book after having it checked out for nearly a year! It's so dense, it's really best served as a reference book. Unless you're converting to Judaism or a religious studies student, it's just too much for the average layperson to read and absorb in a reasonable amount of time.

A Complete Guide to Beliefs, Customs & Rituals

It was well-written what I managed to read , and informative, just very very dense. Jul 28, Fileunderfuck rated it really liked it. A really good overview of the Jewish religion - best for Gentiles and more uninitiated "secular jews" like me, who come from a Jewish background at some point along the lines My father's mother and her family but are mostly ignorant of Judaism as a religion. My only gripe is that it doesn't delve enough into detail for my interest, but it's a huge book already, and doesn't need to be any bigger.

Jan 26, Bridget Connor-Feldbaum rated it liked it.

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This is a thorough and detailed book, great for learning "the basics. But it's worth having both on your shelf! Jun 08, Kaiti rated it really liked it Shelves: Skimmed some of this but I can see it being used as kind of a reference book, opening it up to various sections as needed. Jul 27, Jonathan rated it it was amazing. This book is well researched and well written if you are interested in history ,this is the book for you.

Essential Judaism is a comprehensive, accessible, and well-organized introduction and survey of Judaism. The main body of the book is organized into nine chapters.

The first four chapters cover the practices and beliefs of Judaism, broken down into chapters on prayer and ritual, the Jewish calendar and holidays, the experience and observance of the life stages from birth through death concluding with a brief section on the place of the afterlife in Jewish thought and theology , and finally a cha Essential Judaism is a comprehensive, accessible, and well-organized introduction and survey of Judaism. See full terms and conditions and this month's choices. Tell us what you like, so we can send you books you'll love. Sign up and get a free eBook!

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Atria Books April Length: Robinson deserves our gratitude for his major contribution.

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