Shalom and blessings my friend. On the whole the point of this website is to teach you everything you need to know about religion and practice, and supply resources. Ultimately it is my prayer that you will be independent and able to navigate the straits of religion.
My secret dream is that you become a rabbi, meaning a master teacher.
My list of the top ten works for you to have in your resource library follows. You will need a hardcover library.
Ezra will have his own list. Contact him for ordering the books in my list. —
Number one: Rebecca’s Children. Alan F. Segal Harvard 1986.
This study moves the reader beyond a Sunday school understanding of Judaism and Christianity, and is a must read. The birthright belongs to both religions.
Number Two: The Crucifixion of the Jews, Franklin H. Littell, Harper and Row 1975, and Rose edition, 1986 and 1996.
One of the ten most important books of the 20th century, Dr. Little explores
The crisis of Christianity and the failure of other religions to understand the Jewish experience.
Number Three: The Sabbath, Abraham Joshua Heschel, any edition.
Shabbat is number four on God’s list of the top ten teachings commonly called the Ten Commandments. A return to Shabbat and ‘Torah Time” is essential for our personal redemption, the redemption of Israel, and all of humankind.
Number Four, also by Rabbi Heschel The Prophets. Harper Collins, 1962 or Prince Press, Peabody Mass. 2004.
Traditionally we never read any Torah portion without a prophetic addition, the Haftorah. This is a reminder that the prophets are the mediators of all truth. To return to this prophetic spirit we turn once again to Heschel. Begin with Chapter Nine, which focuses on history and the idolatry of power.
Number Five: Edwin Friedman. A Failure of Nerve, Seabury, N.Y. 2007
Groundbreaking. You may want to begin with Friedman’s Fables. There, begin with the Chapter “Tradition” which redefines the roles of disciples and leaders.
Number Six: Final Testament.
This work of scriptural fiction is a western religious education. A rewrite of the basic story of the west, father and son, knife and altar, submission, and crucifixion, this novel work unbinds religion from some of its basic assumptions.
Number Seven: Final Acts .
Christendom is not the final act of the play we call history. The education of a modern day Elijah heralds the coming of an era of Peace.
Number Eight: Final Revelation.
Who says the canon of sacred literature is closed? Revelation and revelations continue.
Number Nine. Kabballah.
Being receptive to revelations new worlds are literarily created.
Number Ten. Consider Me a Dream.
A moving picture of modernity, the final age begins, and ends, in the Kafkan.
