- 376 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
About This Book
A Year with the Sages uniquely relates the Sages' understanding of each Torah portion to everyday life. The importance of these teachings cannot be overstated. The Sages, who lived during the period from the fifth century BCE to the fifth century CE, considered themselves to have inherited the oral teachings God transmitted to Moses, along with the mandate to interpret them to each subsequent generation. Just as the Torah and the entire Hebrew Bible are the foundations of Judaism, the Sages' teachings form the structures of Jewish belief and practice built on that foundation. Many of these teachings revolve around core concepts such as God's justice, God's love, Torah, Israel, humility, honesty, loving-kindness, reverence, prayer, and repentance. You are invited to spend a year with the inspiring ideas of the Sages through their reflections on the fifty-four weekly Torah portions and the eleven Jewish holidays. Quoting from the week's Torah portion, Rabbi Reuven Hammer presents a Torah commentary, selections from the Sages that chronicle their process of interpreting the text, a commentary that elucidates these concepts and their consequences, and a personal reflection that illumines the Sages' enduring wisdom for our era.
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Table of contents
- Cover
- Series Page
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1. Genesis (Bere’shit)
- Bere’shit: A Fence Too Tall
- Noaḥ: Human Nature
- Lekh Lekha: Making Souls
- Va-yera’: Loving One Another
- Ḥayyei Sarah: Sarah’s Tent
- Toledot: The Voice of Jacob
- Va-yetse’: The Place
- Va-yishlaḥ: Jacob’s Dilemma
- Va-yeshev: Joseph the Youth
- Mikkets: The Dangers of Power
- Va-yiggash: Learning with a Sage
- Va-yeḥi: No Unworthy Children
- 2. Exodus (Shemot)
- Shemot: Where Was God?
- Va-’era’: Steeped in Idolatry
- Bo’: Divine Protection
- Be-shallaḥ: A Surfeit of Prayer
- Yitro: Diminishing the Image
- Mishpatim: Mitzvot with Meaning
- Terumah: Creating the Sanctuary
- Tetsavveh: For Whom the Light Burns
- Ki Tissa’: Sin and Reconciliation
- Va-yak’hel: Enough Gold
- Pekudei: A Symbol to the Nations of Forgiveness
- 3. Leviticus (Va-yikra’)
- Va-yikra’: Sacrifices Then and Now
- Tsav: Concern for Our Welfare
- Shemini: Alien Fire
- Tazriaʿ: Dealing with Impurity
- Metsoraʿ: Speaking Evil
- ’Aḥarei Mot: Attaining Atonement
- Kedoshim: The Essence of Torah
- ’Emor: Am I a Barbarian?
- Be-har: Do No Wrong
- Be-ḥukkotai: The Hope
- 4. Numbers (Be-midbar)
- Be-midbar: Surviving the Wilderness
- Naso’: Great Is Peace
- Be-haʿalotekha: The Evil Tongue
- Shelaḥ-Lekha: Fringe Benefits
- Koraḥ: Controversies Proper and Improper
- Ḥukkat: A Perplexing Law
- Balak: The Ways of Peace
- Pinḥas: Respecting Difference
- Mattot: People before Wealth
- Maseʿei: Defiling the Land
- 5. Deuteronomy (Devarim)
- Devarim: Words of Rebuke
- Va-’etḥannan: The Grace of God
- ʿEkev: Searching for Truth
- Re’eh: One Sanctuary for the One God
- Shofetim: Justice for All
- Ki Tetse’: Cruelty versus Kindness
- Ki Tavo’: Coming to the Land
- Nitsavim: Not in the Heavens
- Va-yelekh: Caring for the Flock
- Ha’azinu: Destruction, Vengeance, and Vindication
- Ve-zo’t ha-berakhah: The Death of Moses
- 6. Holidays
- Rosh Hashanah: Sound the Shofar
- Yom Kippur: Sending Our Sins Away
- Sukkot: The Festival Par Excellence
- Shemini Atzeret: Tarry a While
- Simḥat Torah: The Never-Ending Cycle
- Hanukkah: Light versus Might
- Purim: Why Not Bow Down?
- Pesach: Festival of Freedom
- Yom ha-Shoah: The Cry of the Lowly
- Yom ha-Atzmaut: Land of Milk and Honey
- Shavuot: The New Covenant
- Selected Bibliography
- About Rabbi Reuven Hammer
- Series List