What does Judaism have to offer a contemporary seeker free to choose a system of values? With warmth, humor and down-to-earth explanations, leading spiritual teacher Arthur Green offers his answer to this question. An enticing look into timeless Jewish wisdom that will encourage you to explore the riches of Judaism for yourself.

The Zohar is the great medieval compendium of Jewish esoteric and mystical teaching, and the basis of the kabbalistic faith. It is, however, a notoriously difficult text, full of hidden codes, concealed meanings, obscure symbols, and ecstatic expression. This illuminating study, based upon the last several decades of modern Zohar scholarship, unravels the historical and intellectual origins of this rich text and provides an excellent introduction to its themes, complex symbolism, narrative structure, and language. A Guide to the Zohar is thus an invaluable companion to the Zohar itself, as well as a useful resource for scholars and students interested in mystical literature, particularly that of the west, from the Middle Ages to the present.

With humor and insight, Dr. Arthur Green explains the meaning, history and origin of over 150 core Hebrew words, laying out the basic vocabulary of Jewish communal and religious identity. A highly readable, enlightening and entertaining Jewish primer.

What does Judaism have to offer a contemporary seeker free to choose a system of values? With warmth, humor and down-to-earth explanations, leading spiritual teacher Arthur Green offers his answer to this question. An enticing look into timeless Jewish wisdom that will encourage you to explore the riches of Judaism for yourself.

The new Jewish spirituality lies somewhere between God's elusive presence in our world and our search for authentic language to describe it. This meditation on the Hebrew letters of the divine name sheds light on our search for God in our everyday lives.

Blending Jewish theology and mysticism, shows how ancient Jewish mystical tradition can address the needs of our generation. Encourages today's modern seeker to stretch to new ways of thinking with both heart and mind through the wisdom of Kabbalah.

Blending Jewish theology and mysticism, shows how ancient Jewish mystical tradition can address the needs of our generation. Encourages today's modern seeker to stretch to new ways of thinking with both heart and mind through the wisdom of Kabbalah.

Powerful Hasidic teachings made accessible by some of the world's preeminent authorities on Jewish thought and spirituality. Volume 1 covers Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus, and the history of early Hasidism and the central teachings of the Maggid's school.

Explores the inner torments and religious quest of one of Hasidism's major figures, providing an important key to making his teachings accessible. Unlocks the great themes of spiritual searching that make Nahman a figure of universal religious importance.

As featured on the cover of Tikkun magazine

How do we articulate a religious vision that embraces evolution and human authorship of Scripture? Drawing on the Jewish mystical traditions of Kabbalah and Hasidism, path-breaking Jewish scholar Arthur Green argues that a neomystical perspective can help us to reframe these realities, so they may yet be viewed as dwelling places of the sacred. In doing so, he rethinks such concepts as God, the origins and meaning of existence, human nature, and revelation to construct a new Judaism for the twenty-first century.

Powerful Hasidic teachings made accessible by some of the world's preeminent authorities on Jewish thought and spirituality, with fresh translations and commentary. Volume 2 covers Numbers, Deuteronomy, the holiday cycle and the lives of Hasidic leaders.

With humor and insight, Dr. Arthur Green explains the meaning, history and origin of over 150 core Hebrew words, laying out the basic vocabulary of Jewish communal and religious identity. A highly readable, enlightening and entertaining Jewish primer.

You are invited to enter the new-old pathway of Neo-Hasidism--a movement that uplifts key elements of Hasidism's Jewish revival of two centuries ago to reexamine the meaning of existence, see everything anew, and bring the world as it is and as it can be closer together.

This volume brings this discussion into the twenty-first century, highlighting Neo-Hasidic approaches to key issues of our time. Eighteen contributions by leading Neo-Hasidic thinkers open with the credos of Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and Arthur Green. Or Rose wrestles with reinterpreting the rebbes' harsh teachings concerning non-Jews. Ebn Leader assesses the perils of trusting one's whole being to a single personality: can Neo-Hasidism endure as a living tradition without a rebbe? Shaul Magid candidly calibrates Shlomo Carlebach: how the singing rabbi transformed him and why Magid eventually walked away. Other contributors engage questions such as: How might women enter this hitherto gendered sphere created by and for men? How can we honor and draw nourishment from other religions' teachings? Can the rebbes' radiant wisdom guide those who struggle with self-diminishment to reclaim wholeness?

Together these intellectually honest and spiritually robust conversations inspire us to grapple anew with Judaism's legacy and future.

Neo-Hasidism applies the Hasidic masters' spiritual insights--of God's presence everywhere, of seeking the magnificent within the everyday, in doing all things with love and joy, uplifting all of life to become a vehicle of God's service--to contemporary Judaism, as practiced by men and women who do not live within the strictly bounded world of the Hasidic community.

This first-ever anthology of Neo-Hasidic philosophy brings together the writings of its progenitors: five great twentieth-century European and American Jewish thinkers--Hillel Zeitlin, Martin Buber, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Shlomo Carlebach, and Zalman Schachter-Shalomi--plus a young Arthur Green. The thinkers reflect on the inner life of the individual and their dreams of creating a Neo-Hasidic spiritual community. The editors' introductions and notes analyze each thinker's contributions to Neo-Hasidic thought and influence on the movement. Zeitlin and Buber initiated a renewal of Hasidism for the modern world; Heschel's work is quietly infused with Neo-Hasidic thought; Carlebach and Schachter-Shalomi re-created Neo-Hasidism for American Jews in the 1960s; and Green is the first American-born Jewish thinker fully identified with the movement.

Previously unpublished materials by Carlebach and Schachter-Shalomi include an interview with Schachter-Shalomi about his decision to leave Chabad-Lubavitch and embark on his own Neo-Hasidic path.

National Jewish Book Award winner

An internationally recognized scholar and theologian shares a Jewish mysticism for our times in this humane, accessible book (Publishers Weekly, Starred Review)

Green challenges traditional notions of God, Israel, and Torah, offering a radically new understanding and stimulating the reader to join him in a journey of discovery.--Daniel Matt, Graduate Theological Union

Judaism, one of the world's great spiritual traditions, is not addressed to Jews alone. In this masterful book, winner of the 2020 National Jewish Book Award in the Con­tem­po­rary Jew­ish Life and Practice category, Arthur Green calls out to seekers of all sorts, offering a universal response to the eternal human questions of who we are, why we exist, where we are going, and how to live.

Drawing on over half a century as a Jewish seeker and teacher, he shows us a Judaism that cultivates the life of the spirit, that inspires an inward journey leading precisely toward self-transcendence, to an awareness of the universal Self in whose presence we exist. As a neo-hasidic seeker, he is both devotional and boldly questioning in his understanding of God and tradition. Engaging with the mystical sources, he translates the insights of the Hasidic masters into a new religious language accessible to all those eager to build an inner life and a human society that treasures the divine spark in each person and throughout Creation.

A welcoming introduction to the most important ideas in Judaism. In an age of fluid identity, many people are honestly asking the question ''Why be Jewish?'' What in this religious and ethnic legacy is worth preserving? Does Judaism have something unique to offer a contemporary seeker free to choose a way of life and a system of values? Here is the answer of a leading spiritual teacher who has faced these questions in conversation with generations of students. With warmth, humor, personal and rabbinic stories and down - to - earth explanations, Arthur Green presents the ideas in Judaism that kept him loyal to the tradition passed on to him. The result is an enticing look into timeless Jewish wisdom that will encourage you to explore further and search out the riches of Judaism for yourself.

The first scholarly biography of Levi Yitshak of Berdychiv in English in over thirty-five years.

Defender of the Faithful explores the life and thought of Levi Yitshak of Berdychiv (1740-1809), one of the most fascinating and colorful Hasidic leaders of his time. This is an intellectual and religious biography, a reading of the development of his thought and career. Featuring examples of Levi Yitshak's extraordinary texts alongside insightful analysis by scholar and theologian Arthur Green, Defender of the Faithful is a compelling study of both Levi Yitshak's theology and broader philosophy.

Part of the World Sprituality series, this is a broad-ranging, illustrated, scholarly treatment of core topics in Jewish spirituality from the earliest text references in Biblical times, through Second Temple Judaism and the Middle Ages.

The publication of the Classics of Western Spirituality(TM) represents a cultural event of the greatest importance. It transcends all sectarian boundaries and brings to the spiritually sensitive reader the choicest creations of the human spirit when it is touched by the encounter with God. Menahem Nahum of Chernobyl: Upright Practices, The Light of the Eyes translated and introduced by Arthur Green preface by Samuel H. Dresner All began with a single point-the point of supernal wisdom, hokhmah. The power of the Creator is present in all of His creations; the wisdom of God fills and takes on the garb of every thing that is. Menahem Nahum of Chernobyl (1730-1797) Menahem Nahum of Chernobyl (1730-1797) was rabbi of the small Jewish community of Chernobyl, near Kiev in the Ukraine. A member of the Maggid school of Miezrich, he was part of the Hasidic movement that played a key role in the history of Eastern European Jewry. In this volume, two of Rabbi Nahum's works are made available to the general reader for the first time in English. Upright Practices is a devotional manual of personal practices recommended by the Hasidic master for his disciples. The Light of the Eyes is a collection of homilies based on the Book of Genesis. Until now chiefly the sacred property of the Hasidim, these homilies are prime examples of the genre that, more than any other, reveals the earnestness and depth of Hasidic spirituality. +

The most powerful Hasidic teachings made accessible--from some of the world's preeminent authorities on Jewish thought and spirituality.

The teachings of Torah, from beginning to end, are read here as a path toward liberation, a way of uplifting your soul and allowing it to journey homeward, back to its Source in the oneness of all being. Or, even better, to discover that oneness right here, in a loving but transformative embrace of both world and self.
--from To the Reader

While Hasidic tales have become widely known to modern audiences, the profound spiritual teachings that stand at the very heart of Hasidism have remained a closed book for all except scholars. This fascinating selection--presented in two volumes following the weekly Torah reading and the holiday cycle, and featured in English and Hebrew--makes the teachings accessible in an extraordinary way.

Volume 1 covers Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus, and includes a history of early Hasidism and a summary of central religious teachings of the Maggid's school. Volume 2 covers Numbers and Deuteronomy and the holiday cycle, and includes brief biographies of the Hasidic figures. Each teaching is presented with a fresh translation and contemporary commentary that builds a bridge between the eighteenth and twenty-first centuries. And each teaching concludes with a dynamic round-table discussion between distinguished Jewish scholar Arthur Green and his closest students--the editors of this volume. They highlight the wisdom that is most meaningful for them, thus serving as a contemporary circle's reflections on the original mystical circle of master and disciples who created these teachings.

Volume 1 of a 2-volume set