Rockland Jewish Family Service

hey people! i love to read and i really want to learn about the jewish religion. are there any books with jewish characters in them? like whenever i search those kinds of books it just comes up with books about jewish law and stuff. so if you have any books with jewish characters and stuff i would like to read them. like they have alot of books with christian characters… well are there any with Jewish ones??
i am 14 years old if that helps anything. and when i mean books not the bible. just a book with a character what is jewish. thats all i REALLY need. not that much more. thanks.
i would also like to add that i will not tolerate racist comments. and if they are posted on here they don’t make me not want to be who i want to be.. couch couch … jump to the moon…lol
omg i am so dumb. i meant cough cough. haha i said couch couch. i am such a dummy! and i have already read the diary of anne frank.thanks
and how can i be racist? that’s just stupid.

"Schindler’s List" is one of the most poignant, dynamic books I’ve ever read, and it’s about a German businessman who saved the lives of thousands of Polish Jews during the Holocaust. There are several passages that go quite a lot of detail about the customs and faith of judaism. Even if you have already seen the movie that was based upon the book, I encourage you to still read it because there are quite a few differences.

I also liked "Marc Chagall" by Jonathan Wilson, which is about the Jewish painter of the title’s name.

Of course, "The Diary of Anne Frank" is also a wonderful, very profound book.

There are many other books I’ve read with Jewish protagonists, but they don’t really go into depth about the religion. I’m pasting a link below to Jewish fiction for teens.

I think it’s awesome that you want to learn more about jewish laws and customs. I’m a Christian, and love learning about other faiths, and I think it’s wise for everyone to so because it makes you a more knowledgeable, empathetic person. Please disregard the completely absurd and unintelligent first answer.

~ Pax / Peace : )

EDIT
I think since you’re 14 you might want to read "The Diary of Anne Frank" or one of the books listed in the link below, which are specifically for teen readers and all seem to be very interesting.. "Schindler’s List" and "Marc Chagall" are somewhat intense and better for a 16+ reader.

And yes, you should definitely ignore ignorant comments from people like "Jump to the Moon."

Hmmm, I see the thumbs-down fairy has waved his ugly wand over our answers. Meh.

like siddur,torah and those types of books?

Well, there are a couple of ways of looking at this.

Firstly, as most people here said, people give huge respect to the books of their faiths and beliefs, because it is the holder of what they live by; it contains their beliefs and what they hold dear. It is holy to them, which brings about the second point.

The second way of looking at this is the fact that these books are considered holy to Jews. The main reason is as the above mentioned: God’s name, and His laws and morals, and so forth, are contained in this book. Jews consider God’s name and law to be the holiest of things, because, as I mentioned, this is what they live by, and it is what shapes the world every day. Therefore, it is understandable that they hold the books in such high respect that they even make sure to kiss it every time they close it, or if the book drops to the floor (at which place these books are not allowed to be by jewish law).

Just think of a precious possession of yours. It may be a precious stone, or–even a better example–an extremely old family book, such as a family tree, that’s been handed down to you from countless generations past. I don’t know if you’re the type of person who can compare with such an example (since many people disregard things completely), but if you are, than I am sure that you understand the respect that you would have for such a book. You would care for it, take care of it, and you would certainly not want such a book lying around on the floor. It’s both disrespectful, and something might happen to it.

Well, this is pretty much how the Jews view and consider these holy books.

I have been trying to be a Christian for a long time. Though I have no doubt in the existance of an omnicient loving God, something about christianity just doesn’t sit right. From what little I know about the Jewish faith I think its possibly right for me. Where do I begin?

answer: It was suggested to me to pick up the book "The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Understanding judaism" by a Rabbi. It’s actually a really good book that covers a lot and it’s a great read.

The recommendation to read the OT isn’t quite correct. The Christian OT isn’t an accurate translation or order of the jewish Tanakh. For an English translation look for the Stone or Ascoll ones. The advice to read the NT isn’t relevant at all. Jesus has nothing to do with Judaism and the NT has nothing to do with Judaism, I’m afraid.

http://sagavyah.tripod.com/id103.html

See page 875-877 and page 897 of Duties of the Heart from Feldheim Publishers, in volume 2. My own translation of what appears on these pages (so as to avoid copyright problems) is as follows: On page 897 it is written, “Therefore, please listen, and see, and incline your ear, and forget your people and the house of your father, and arise crying out to your King [in] your days and [in] your nights; lift up your hands towards Him, and prostrate to Him [with your] face to the ground. And your eyelids should stream waters, while kneeling upon your knees..” Towards the beginning of page 875 it says, “And among them (the signs of love towards the Almighty), is that at night he “falls [in prostration]” (a jewish euphamism for prostration and supplication)…. page 877 continues “And whoever accepts this upon himself, should practice with the “Admonition”; he should pray it while sitting; afterwards he should preface it with songs from the known songs/psalms, or others. And afterwards he should pray the “Entreaty” while standing, and [then] prostrate until the end of it. And [then] kneel and say what he desires of supplications.”

There are, in fact, many references to the practice of actual prostration throughout Jewish writings… A very deep text written about the topic, one which is unfortunately equally difficult to get one’s hands on, is the volume of the book HaMaspeek l’Ovdei HaShem by Rav Avraham son of Rambam where he writes around 100 pages on the practice and significance of prostration.

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Rabbi Morris N. Kertzer, Directory of Intereligious Activities of the American Jewish Committe wrote concerning the role of the Talmud in Judaism: "The Talmud consists of 63 books of legal, ethical and historical writings of the ancient rabbis. It was edited five centruies after the brith of Jesus. It is a compenduim of Law and Lore. It is the legal code which forms the Basis of Jewish Religious Law , and it is the Textbook used in the training of Rabbis."
1)Baba Mezia, 114b "The Jews are called human beings, but the non-Jews are not humans. They are beasts."
2)Jalkut Rubeni gadol 12b: "The souls of non-Jews come from impure spirits and are called pigs."
3Zohar (I, 160a):"Rabbi Jehuda said to him [Rabbi Cezkia]: ‘He is to be praised who is able to free himself from the enemies of Israel , and the just are much to be praised who get free from them and fight against them.By what kind of war? The kind of war that every son of man must fight against his enemies, which Jacob used against Esau – by deceit and trickery whenever possible

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-Hadarine, 20, B; Schulchan 9ruch, Choszen Hamiszpat 348. "A Jew may do to a non-Jewess what he can do. He may treat her as he treats a piece of meat."
-Babha Bathra (54 b): "All things pertaining to the Goim are like a desert; the first person to come along and take them can claim them for his own."
-Midrasch Talpioth, p 225, Warsaw 1855: "Even though God created the non-Jew they are still Animals in human form. It is not becoming of a Jew to be served by an animal. Therefore he will be served by animals in human form."

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Schene luchoth haberuth, p 250b: "Although the non-Jew has the same body structure as the Jew, they compare with the Jew as a monkey to a human."
-Coschen Hamischpat 405: "A pregnant non-jew is no better than a pregnant animal."

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Babha Kama: "The name of God is not profaned when, for example, a Jew lies to a Goi by saying: ‘I gave something to your father, but he is dead; you must return it to me,’ as long as the Goi does not know that you are lying."
-Schulchan Aruch, Jore Dia. "A Jew is permitted to rape, cheat and perjure himself; but he must take care that he is not found out, so that Israel may not suffer."

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Szaaloth-Utszabot, The Book of Jore Via 17."A Jew should and must make a false oath when the goyim asks if our books contain anything against them."
-Abhodah Zarah, 22b: "Why are the Goim unclean? Because they were not present at Mount Sinai . For when the serpent entered into Eve he infused her with uncleanness. But the Jews were cleansed from this when they stood on Mount Sinai; the Goim, however, who were not on Mount Sinai were not cleansed

The Talmud is a collection of many volumes of debate and discourse among the rabbis of old in the Diaspora ( dispersion ) in their attempts to apply the jewish law ( TORAH ) in the lands of the dispersion. There are a few seemingly bizarre comments in some of these debates that are often taken out of context ( that are actually sometimes not much different in tone and manner than a computer bulletin board debate) HOWEVER, some of those things ABOVE are pure FABRICATION and do not EXIST in any text of Talmud at all.

Talmud is a target for many anti- Semites because it isn’t easy to always refute obscure texts that most Jews haven’t read the many volumes of Talmud written over a thousand years! However, since their appearance on the internet this copy paste from above HAS been addressed and refuted soundly for being the deceptive bigotry that it is. I RESPECTFULLY suggest that if you really want to know what the Talmud is..you have the resources available at your fingertips..OR you can go to a synagogue and read for yourself…very few Jewish homes would have all the Talmud as the texts are very expensive and comprise almost a library themselves.

Jewish homes have Tanakh because THIS is what Jewish law is found in.

I could list all the falsehoods from above, but you can look at the list of real books of Talmud and see for yourself that some of this stuff up there is simply fabricated out of thin air and other things are so twisted as to prove beyond all doubt that the only purpose of this is to create hate for the Jew. Jews are NOT taught to be bigoted or hate others and in fact, it is an agregious sin to do so in judaism.

Just a few refutations here, all others are addressed at links below:

The Zohar above is not a book of Talmud, but a text of the twelfth century of Kabbalah and that quote isn’t even in it.

Szaaloth-Utszabot, The Book of Jore Dia 17. No such statement appears anywhere in the Talmud. There is no such book in the Talmud. These two words are part of the title of some 1500 books, but by themselves they mean only "responses."

Baba Mezia statement above : 1)Baba Mezia, 114b "The Jews are called human beings, but the non-Jews are not humans. They are beasts." This is a complete fabrication. NO SUCH THING IN TALMUD, no such passage exists.

This question has been reported for terms of service violation of incitement to hate with inflammatory bigoted falsehoods.

I respectfully suggest that readers here uneducated on the topic do NOT take MY word alone for my claims. I sincerely hope that if they have any interest at all that they will take the time and sincere efffort to determine for themselves who here is lying.

This questioner is DEPENDING on your ignorance of the topic and thinking that you won’t bother to look up to see if these claims are true or not. I do not assume that everyone is willfully ignorant.
In fact, that is the only way hatred and bigotry will cease.

Shalom.

This is a segment of a much larger video production that I am working on and am looking for feedback (positive and negative) on the layout and content.

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The mention of the Hebrew alphabet brings to mind the Hebrew letters that are familiar to many today that are used in Torah scrolls, Hebrew Bibles and even in modern Hebrew Books and Newspapers. However, history suggests that these Hebrew letters are not the same Hebrew letters used in antiquity.

In 1854, Thomas Hartwell wrote; “The present Hebrew Characters, or Letters, are twenty two in number, and of a square form: but the antiquity of these letters is a point that has been most severely contested by many learned men.” Hartwell continues, “But the most decisive confirmation of this point is to be found in ancient Hebrew coins, which were struck before the [Babylonian] captivity, and even engraven on all of them are manifestly the same with the modern Samaritan” –Thomas Hartwell, An introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, Pub. 1854, Page 190

The Samaritans are, according to themselves, the descendents of the Northern Tribes of Israel that were not sent into Assyrian captivity, and have continuously resided in the land of Israel.

The Torah Scroll of the Samaritans use an alphabet that is very different from the one used on jewish Torah Scrolls.

According to the Samaritans themselves and Hebrew scholars, this alphabet is the original “Old Hebrew” alphabet.

Even as far back as 1691, this connection between the Samaritan and the “Old” Hebrew alphabets was made by Henry Dodwell, “[the Samaritans] still preserve [the Pentateuch] in the Old Hebrew character” Henry Dodwell, A Discourse Concerning Sanchoniathon’s Phoenician History, Pub. 1691, Page 118

Humphrey Prideaux also writes in 1799, “And these five books [of the Samaritans] still have among them, written in the old Hebrew or Phoenician character, which was in use among them before the Babylonish captivity, and in which both these and all other scriptures were written, till Ezra transcribed them into that of the Chaldeans.” –Humphrey Prideaux, The Old and New Testament connected in the history of the Jews and Neighbouring Nations, Pub. 1799, Page 431

According to Prideaux, the Hebrew Torah (Pentateuch) was originally written with an alphabet similar to that of the Samaritans, but after the Exile in Babylon it was transcribed with the Chaldean square alphabet which is still used today in modern Hebrew.

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The book of Isaiah, for instance, appears to have been written first.
350 years is a long time… not exactly "same time period."

Mithraism was an extremely popular cult throughout the Roman empire, especially among Roman legionaries. It’s beliefs were very similar to Christianity.

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What are some good Jewish children’s stories, or books for children to middle-school aged readers that have jewish themes and are about Jewish characters?

The Chosen by Chaim Potok is a good read, but it would be more appropriate for an 8th grader than a 4th grader. More information about the book could be found at the link below.

the jewish partisans are my topic for a research paper and I need to cite at least 2 book sources and 2 online sources. thanks much!!!

http://www.ushmm.org/outreach/jpart.htm
http://www.fatherryan.org/holocaust/partisia/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_partisans

Reading:
* Yitzhak Arad. "Family Camps in the Forests", in Encyclopaedia of the Holocaust, vol. 2, pp. 467–469. Illustrations, map.
* Israel Gutman, Shalom Cholawski, Dov Levin, Shmuel Spector. "Partisans", in Encyclopaedia of the Holocaust, vol. 3, pp. 1108–1122. Illustrations, map.
* Lester Eckmann and Chaim Lazar. The Jewish Resistance: The History of jewish Partisans in Lithuania and White Russia during the Nazi Occupation, 1940–1945. (New York: Shengold Publishers, 1977)
* Jack Kagan and Dov Cohen. Surviving the Holocaust With the Russian Jewish Partisans. (Mitchell Vallentine & Company, 1998) ISBN 0-85303-336-6
* Hersh Smolar. The Minsk Ghetto: Soviet-Jewish Partisans Against the Nazis. (USHMM, 1989) ISBN 0-89604-068-2
* Resistance: Untold Stories of Jewish Partisans (2001). Documentary film directed by Seth Kramer. (IMDB record).