Making the Timeless Timely
Thoughts and Reflections of a Contemporary Reform Rabbi
By Rabbi Samuel M. Stahl
Contents
I. CONFRONTING LIFE'S CHALLENGES
- Life's Three Most Difficult Tasks
- Appropriate Self-Love
- Making Friends: The Problems and the Joys
- After the Honeymoon
- Viewing Life Positively
- Growing Pains
- When Success Saddens
- The Blessings of Failures
- Uses and Misuses of Guilt
- Good and Bad Luck Days
- What I Learned from My Mother's Death
- Winter Loneliness
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II. REPAIRING OUR WORLD
- How Virtuous Must Our Public Officials Be?
- Is America a Christian Country?
- Voluntary School Prayer: Its Dangers
- Jews and Puritans
- Jews and Blacks: Can We Revive the
- Old Alliance?
- The Return of Capital Punishment
- A Perspective on Abortion
- Animal Sacrifices and Animal Rights
- The Synagogue and the AIDS Crisis
- The Problem with JAP Jokes
- Patriotism
- On Criticizing Israel
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III. JUDAISM AND OTHER RELIGIONS
- A Jewish Attitude toward Jesus
- The Jew Confronts the Cross
- The Christian-Jewish Dialogue:
- Obstacles and Opportunities
- Was the Last Supper a Seder?
- A Seder in a Christian Church
- Who are the Jews for Jesus?
- Prayers that Hurt
- Pope John Paul II: A Jewish Assessment
- Martin Luther and the Jews
- When Christian Science Attracted Jews
- A Reform Rabbi Looks at Unitarianism
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IV. PRACTICING JUDAISM
- The Shofar: Judaism's Oldest Audio-Visual Instrument
- The Controversy over Kol Nidre
- Why Fast on Yom Kippur?
- Purim: Holiday with a Safety Valve
- An Unusual Time for a Seder
- The Counting of the Omer: A Reexamination of an Ancient Custom
- Current Reform Views of Cremation
- Rabbi, Do I Need a Jewish Divorce?
- Influences of the Moon: Thoughts on Rosh Hodesh
- Reform Judaism Requires Discipline
- Suggested Jewish Behaviors for Mourners
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V. EXAMINING JEWISH BELIEFS
- Changing Our Names
- Do Jews Regard Themselves as the Chosen People?
- Is Everything in the Bible True?
- Judaism Minus Moses: Is Anything Left?
- Do Jews Believe in Heaven and Hell?
- What Do We Jews Mean by "Faith"?
- Atheism and Judaism
- Allowing the Terminally Ill to Die
- Living Again and Again: Some Thoughts on Reincarnation
- The Role of Angels in Judaism
- When Will the Messiah Come?
- What Happens after We Die?
- G-d or God?
- Adam's Fall: Do Jews Believe in Original Sin?
- Are Jews Really Semites?
- Why is Judaism a Minority Faith?
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VI. JUDAISM IN AMERICA
- Jewish Leadership from Moses Until Now
- Let Us Clean Up Our Language
- The Changing American Reform Rabbinate
- Saving the Jewish Mind
- How Much Should We Emphasize the Holocaust?
- Why Texas Jews Love Texas
- Why Organized Religion?
- The Non-Denominational Synagogue Jew
- What is Reconstructionist Judaism?
- Non-Observant Jews Who Embrace Orthodoxy
- What Happened to the Reform Judaism We Knew?
- Organ Music in the Synagogue
- The Famous Shrimp Banquet of 1883
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VII. SOME WHO MADE A DIFFERENCE
- Moses
- Elijah
- Moses Mendelssohn
- Moses Montefiore
- Eliezer ben Yehudah
- Samson Raphael Hirsch
- Abraham Lincoln
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt
- Harry S. Truman
- Albert Einstein
- Martin Luther King
- I. B. Singer
Order Making the Timeless Timely!
If you have any questions concerning Rabbi Stahl's book, just e-mail him!
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