Bøker utgitt av Gefen Publishing House

This is a very unique guide to shemitta. It was created to help navigate anyone through the practical applications of shemitta observance in modern day Israel. Shemitta is an area of halacha that wasn't fully practiced for over a millennium. Shemitta's not being practiced created a vacuum in halachic literature pertaining to it. Over the past hundred years or so various works have been written on this topic. In recent years some books have been published which have collected many of the earlier books approaches and opinions to many of the issues pertaining to shemitta. Many of these books are thorough and well written. However, since they bring many opinions on many issues they aren't always helpful to someone who just needs to know what to do. This guide is the first English guide on shemitta to offer a singular approach on shemitta observance based on earlier leading rabbinic opinions and on what has become common practice in today's Israeli Torah communities. The guide avoids confusing the reader. Therefore, as a general rule, it does not suggest multiple or contradicting approaches to the same issue. All the approaches in the guide are in accordance with leading halachic opinions and in line with common practice. The guide is easy enough for the beginner yet sufficiently sophisticated that even the well versed can appreciate it. This guide can be used for general background and/or for halachic reference.

As a young couple about to embark on one of life s most important journeys, may you have only joy and success. An important part of this journey is developing physical intimacy the unique pleasure of the sexual experience. Your enjoyment as sexual partners is more than just physical; you can feel closeness with another person that no other experience can provide. Your sharing of physical intimacy creates an emotional bond that should include feelings of trust, acceptance, caring, and mutuality. Your intimate relationship is the glue that binds your marriage together. Yet advice about the sexual experience that was once passed from parent to child is no longer, and as a result many couples are left to face this critical area of their lives with little guidance or information. This instructive and easy-to-read guide can help you navigate this new and uncharted area of your lives. For chassan (groom) and kallah (bride), as well as for teachers, rabbis, and anyone with questions about sexuality coming from the Torah observant community. It is user-friendly, with clear and descriptive language, and the information and guidance found in this book is not available anywhere else in the religious world.

Ehud Diskin's mother wanted him to play it safe when he was drafted into the Israel Defense Forces. Instead, he volunteered for one of the IDF's most dangerous assignments in a move that altered the course of his life. In Yes, It's Possible, a compelling new translation of his Hebrew memoir, Diskin recounts his fascinating and tumultuous life story growing up and maturing alongside the State of Israel.The son of a family with deep roots in the Land of Israel, Diskin is a member of Israel's statehood generation, whose first memories are of the War of Independence. These children were later called upon to physically defend Israel's existence and sovereignty. Diskin served as a commander in the Armored Corps during the War of Attrition and the Yom Kippur War, and later in the Planning Division of the IDF, eventually reaching the rank of colonel.Yes, It's Possible is full of captivating stories, funny anecdotes, and nostalgia for the little Israel of bygone days, along with the penetrating human insights of a sharp and successful businessman.

It was during the euphoric aftermath of Israels victorious Six Day War in 1967, that Yoram (Richie) Friedman uprooted his wife and ten-year-old son from the good life; in the States, to settle on a picturesque border kibbutz in Northern Israel. In October 1973, the reality of their seemingly idyllic new home comes into sharp relief as Syrian war planes fly menacingly overhead, signaling the beginning of Israel's next (and most costly) war with its Arab neighbors the Yom Kippur War. The trauma of that horrific conflict somehow strengthens Yorams Zionist ideals of helping to rebuild the Jewish homeland, but his wife and son reject his lofty principles and decide to return to the States, resulting in a wrenching silence from both sides of the ocean lasting almost a quarter century. Then one day, Yoram receives an unexpected letter from his twelve-year-old grandson a new Boy Scout and budding adventurer. Their ensuing pen-pal relationship brings about a special bond between grandpa and grandson, as adventures of the past intermingle with present day events in a compelling and healing love story spanning the generations.

Why was the universe created? Is there a Creator? What is my connection with Him? What is the purpose of my existence in this world? Why is there so much injustice?Facing personal tragedies, diseases, natural disasters, and the death of young people even children and babies causes a loss of faith. It s not surprising that we ask ourselves: Where is God?This book is an exploration of these fundamental questions.In plain and simple language, the author tries to open the reader's eyes to all that is about us, and to provide a framework for clearly addressing the important issues of human existence.Nondenominational in approach, addressed to a wide audience, Coincidence closes the distance so many adults have put between themselves and God, encouraging a wholesome and authentic perspective on life.Brightly illustrated with well-chosen, fascinating images, this exploration of the created world and our place in it will be of interest to any thinking person who wants to live a meaningful life.

Ruth Abraham and Maria Nickel would never have met each other if it hadn't been for the Shoah. But when Hitler turned Germany into a cauldron of anti- Semitism, Maria Nickel decided that morality and ethics were more important than even life itself.This story of unbridled compassion made world headlines in May, 2000 in Berlin, Germany when Ruth, then 87 and recovering from heart bypass surgery, met her friend Maria, 90, for the last time.In 1942 Ruth, eight months pregnant, and on her way to certain death, was stopped by a German woman in a gray coat who offered her food, saying, Take this. It's the Christmas rations for Germans. I can't have Christmas with my family knowing that you are carrying a baby and don't have enough to eat. Their long and arduous journey together reached its climax when Maria and her husband gave their identity papers to Ruth and Walter and with it the precious gift of life.Reha Sokolow, the daughter of Ruth and Walter, tells the story of her parents' escape from death using the voice of both Maria and Ruth so that the reader begins to understand the many levels of fear, trepidation, and love that was an integral part of the lives of both the savior and the saved.

A Tale of Two Avrahams follows the lives or two men: one modern day, the other who lived 400 years ago. Both the heroes are fleeing from the threat of death: the first from renegade Jewish fanatics; the other from the Catholic Inquisition. The Israeli Avraham makes his way to Greece and Italy, with foes at his heels. In Crete, he discovers the tale of another Avraham, this one Italian and from the Renaissance, who is also fleeing from deadly enemies. These intermingled tales weave together with startling similarities and riveting differences as the two Avrahams cross four centuries and thousands of miles pursued by Jews, Roman Catholics, Greek Orthodox, and Muslims alike and pull us into their conflicts and danger, friendships, and love. Living in ever-present danger, both Avrahams struggle to find hope and freedom from the fear that has driven them away from everything they know and love. Dr. Avi-hai draws upon his rich cultural background as well as his Jewish heritage to bring to life the men and the women whose souls are touched by the two Avrahams.

This is the story of Jackie Semha, a young girl born in Tunisia to a loving family and community, yet one in which only boys are celebrated. Her journey from Tunisia, to France, Israel, Canada and finally the United States forces her to confront the disparity between the land of her birth and the land of her mature years. Her transition from a learning-handicapped tomboy sheltered in the womb of a loving community to a successful professional in a foreign land with an unfamiliar language and alien customs and values is heartbreaking and inspiring at the same time. The words of her teacher, Madame Sabban: Si tu veux, tu peux If you want to succeed, you can succeed gave Jackie strength and inspired her to help others find the faith in themselves to achieve greatness. Jackie s story is brought to life through a collection of superbly written vignettes with the help of the writer Hillary S. Liber.

Perhaps no other city has been spoken of as often or as passionately as Jerusalem. The Jerusalem Book of Quotations brings together the kaleidoscopic impressions and perspectives of a representative group of those who have responded to the wonder of the Holy City from the biblical period to the present: Jews, Christians, and Muslims; pilgrims as well as skeptics, travelers, conquerors, scholars, and statesmen. The work gives expression to the discordant notes of contrasting perspectives about the meaning of Jerusalem. At the same time, it reflects the city s unique distinction as the embodiment of mankind s highest ethical and spiritual aspirations.

Judaism today is radically different from the Judaism described and mandated in the Torah, writes Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin, a noted authority on Jewish life, history and thought. Around the time of the destruction of the Temple, rabbinic reinterpretation changed both the observance and the religious significance attributed to the festivals. Thus, the biblical day of Passover on Nissan 14 was totally eliminated and the seven-day holiday called the Festival of Matzot, beginning Nissan 15, was renamed Passover. Likewise, the biblical holidays Yom Teruah and Yom Hakippurim were transformed into Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The practice of building huts during Sukkot is likely more tied to the lack of lodging space in Jerusalem during the harvest festival than any biblical origin, says the rabbi.This book challenges some of the basic assumptions about Judaism, showing how many of them are nowhere to be found in the Hebrew Bible, and some even have their origins in pagan cultures. It will surprise readers to hear, for example, about bizarre wedding practices, the Queen of Sheba myths, or the fact that classical religious sources are not always right. At its core, , the book stridently challenges discriminatory practices against women, such as the seclusion of women during religious services and the problem of the aguna, women held in failed marriages by husbands who will not provide a religious divorce.. With topics spanning the range of religious practice, Mysteries of Judaism will astonish and enlighten readers as it reveals the complex relationship between biblical and rabbinic Judaism.

Join Joe Bobker in his humorous adventure through Torah and Talmud, history and halacha, law and lore, and much more. This enjoyable volume on Jewish practice and law serves, in the author s words, as an envelope to be opened from time to time in order to learn something new. Packed with nuggets of information, this pithy tome is a lighthearted introduction to the serious business of being Jewish.

Pirkei Avos with a Twist of Humor is a unique and whimsical journey through the impressive Sayings of Our Sages. Enjoy Joe Bobker's educational romp through Jewish ethics, heritage, law and lore, all stirred with a twist of humor and served with the intent of inspiring the reader to explore Judaism!

Read and enjoy Joe Bobker s uniquely entertaining Middos Manual, a fifty-two-week guide with dozens of anecdotes from gedolim and tzadikim that explains how Middos + Morals = Menschlichkeit 101... all with a twist of humor!

A VOICE CALLED - STORIES OF JEWISH HEROISM is a collection of articles about some of the great Jewish heroes of modern times. The book is a collage of role-models and inspiring makers of Jewish history. The first chapter tells the story of Theodor Herzl, father of modern Zionism, who died at the age of forty-four. He accomplished so much in just a few short years. His story is followed by an array of chapters about unique heroes and heroines including poets and song-writers, spies and underground fighters, soldiers and statesmen, boxers and a basketball player, a religious Christian, an astronaut and many others. The stories are written to shed light on Jewish history and to inspire the reader to live in the present with pride and dignity and to help build a better future. Some of the heroes are famous like Chaim Nachman Bialik, Sarah Aaronsohn, Rachel the Poetess, David Marcus and Menachem Begin. Other chapters deal with little known heroes like Michael Halpern, Manya Shochat and Zivia Lubetkin and then there are the unsung heroes like Michael Levin, Adam Bier, Alex Singer and Brian Bebchick. Readers will meet courageous fighters like Roi Klein and inspiring poets like Naomi Shemer. They will learn about the struggle after 1967 to free Soviet Jews from perspectives on both sides of the Iron Curtain. The book title takes its name from a poem by the great Hebrew poetess and fighting partisan Hannah Senesh who wrote, A voice called and I went . Hannah answered an inner calling when she moved to Israel in 1939 and again when she volunteered to parachute into Nazi occupied Europe to help rescue her Jewish people. She gave her life to light a fire that continues to burn brightly today. The legacy of these inspiring Jewish heroes is one that will remain with the reader for an eternity.

Join Joe Bobker on a fascinating journey through the Jewish Festivals. You will laugh, you will cry but this roller-coaster cyclical ride through Jewish history, holidays, halacha, lore and minhag is worth the trip! In this extraordinary, insightful analysis of the Jewish calendar, Joe Bobkers refreshingly unique and playful approach of asking questions and searching for answers brings thousand-year-old Jewish festival practices into easy focus. In his examination of each Jewish festival, Joe Bobker utilises a wealth of knowledge, personal experience and a fiery dedication to the tenets of Yiddishkeit to bring forth this stirringly original work.

Original painter and set designer, throughout his career David Sharir has creatively combined painting and theater. Now the public can enjoy the artist s entire collection of interpretive paintings on the psalms, beautifully showcased in this stunning book. An intriguing blend of straightforward meaning and artistic exegesis, Sharir s paintings produce fascinating interpretations of the psalms poignant scenes.

Over 500,000 Jews fought under the Soviet banner in World War Two, of which an approximate 40 percent gave their lives the highest percentage of all the nations of the Soviet Union and among all the other nations that fought in the Second World War. Dr. Arad now sets the record straight on the immense contribution of Soviet Jewry in the battle against Nazi Germany, a part of history long concealed by the Soviet government. After outlining the military progress of the war, the book documents the contributions of Soviet Jewry on the battlefronts and in the weapons development industry, in the ghetto undergrounds and in partisan warfare. In addition, the book records the Soviet government s deliberate attempts to downplay the Jewish effort and the anti-Semitism that Jewish soldiers and partisan groups suffered at the hands of the Soviet establishment, even while giving their lives for their country. Replete with the stories of individual heroes of all ranks, the book pays a debt of gratitude to those who paid the ultimate price to achieve our victory.

Of all the personalities associated with Anne Frank, the most important figure, without whom Anne Frank would never have been able to write her diary, is perhaps the least known. He is Victor Kugler, the Mr. Kraler of the diary. The principal business partner of Otto Frank, Victor Kugler assumed managerial control of the Frank's Amsterdam spice-importing business when Nazi persecution forced the Frank family into hiding. It was Victor Kugler who kept the business going and obtained food rations under what was the harshest German wartime occupation in all of Western Europe. Without Victor Kugler, Anne Frank and her family would have starved to death a month after going into hiding. For this heroism, Victor Kugler himself was arrested and sent to a series of German labor camps in Holland where he survived by his wits and finally escaped a few weeks before the end of the war. Several years after the end of the war, when the Dutch spice business collapsed following the Indonesian revolution that nationalized Dutch holdings, Victor Kugler emigrated to Toronto, Canada. There, he led a quiet life where nobody knew who he was and what he had done during the war. Only twenty years later he began to reveal his story. The modern-day saga of this Righteous Gentile, who was honored as such at Israel s Yad Vashem Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Authority, is told here in semi-documentary style, largely in his own words as told to Torontonian Eda Shapiro, herself of Eastern European Jewish background; and by many others who knew him, as compiled by well-known Toronto writer-journalist Rick Kardonne.

Throughout the generations, Jews have been inspired and guided by the tales of gedolim, our great masters of piety and wisdom. Simcha Raz s Tales of the Righteous, newly translated by Rabbi Dov Peretz Elkins, brings the lives of these masters to life. Raz s pithy vignettes and awe-inspiring tales show that together with their brilliance in Torah study, these rabbis were also paragons of sensitive, ethical behavior.

When she was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer in 2007, Deborah Masel s life collapsed. Two and a half years later, her struggle to find meaning in the shadowy world of terminal disease induced her to write not only of her cancer experience, but of threads from the past that were woven into the fabric of this final curtain. In her search for comfort and meaning, Deborah found that the world of cancer was dominated by stories of physical survival, which was assumed to constitute victory. Yet her most treasured teacher, a Torah scholar who had perished in the Holocaust, had awakened her, through the text he left behind, to the meaning of spiritual victory. If he could keep his disciples focused on God while the Nazis brutalized and dehumanized them, surely she could stay focused and not panic even when the cancer threatened to devour her. Her challenge was to accept the fact of death without losing her love for this dappled world and for the glory of its passing days.

The three stories in this volume are derived from real-life experiences, mostly during Arieh Larkey s more than forty years of living out his dream in the Jewish Homeland.The first story, An Improbable Zionist Recollections, is a light autobiographical sketch of life s twists and turns, which lead the author on adventures he could never have envisioned as a youth growing up in the Jewish neighborhood of Newark, New Jersey; adventures in a place that lies six thousand miles to the east of his hometown namely, the fledgling Jewish State of Israel.To round out the trilogy, the two additional short stories in this volume, entitled Nazi Germany and the Sinai a Link to the Past and My First Time...under Katyusha Fire, show tantalizing glimpses of the author s extraordinary adventures in his adopted home. Sometimes he uses fictional characters to tell the story. Other times, he himself is the protagonist. But in either case, the readers will enjoy a full 360 panoramic view of the author s physical and emotional surroundings as the stories unfold.

To Be a Princess travels the route from high school romance in the sixties to today s high-tech markets. With fascinating variety, the tales depict young people s travel experiences and students odd jobs, physicians afflictions, soldiers battles in the Middle East and terror fighter s dilemmas. This prose collection reaches the snow-capped peaks of the Peruvian Andes, Paris s working-class bars, the submarine realm in tropical seas and the vineyards of rural Greece. Mostly fictional, these short stories are all based on true events.

In 1977, Israel s Mossad spy agency was given an assignment far different from its usual cloak and dagger activities. It was ordered by then Prime Minister Menachem Begin to rescue thousands of Ethiopian Jewish refugees in Sudan and deliver them to me in the Jewish state. No stranger to action in enemy countries, the agency established a covert forward base in a deserted holiday village in Sudan, and deployed a handful of operatives to launch and oversee the exodus of the refugees to the Promised Land, by sea and by air, in the early 1980s. Gad Shimron, the author of this book, was one of their number. First published in Hebrew in 1998, this updated English version of the book offers a thrilling firsthand account of how the operation was put in place, and how the Mossad team in Sudan brought it off, despite great personal risk, running a partying vacation spot for wealthy tourists by day as they stole through the Sudanese desert to rescue desperate refugees by night. The book sheds light on American involvement in the latter stages of the operation, when the White House facilitated an airlift of Ethiopian Jews and the CIA station in Khartoum sheltered the last Mossad operatives, on the run from Libyan secret service agents, and spirited them out of Sudan in special boxes labeled Diplomatic Mail. Enhanced by Gad Shimron s wide-ranging historical observations and his crisp, incisive prose, this is at once an entertaining read and a powerful tale of idealistic heroism.

The Prophets sublime poetry, phantasmagoric visions, and sonorous voices have intrigued us and moved us over the centuries. The writings of the great seers of the Hebrew Bible resonate with us in ways that go beyond our own short lives, tapping in to a human consciousness that transcends our age. How do we understand them? How do we appreciate them? Nahum HaLevi has painted the prophetic visions in unified, loud, and explosively colorful visual-literary canvases, which he has then retranslated back into fresh literary-biblical analyses, providing novel understandings of the Bible and insights into the genesis of biblical thought. The Color of Prophecy contains fifteen chapters, one chapter for each of the fifteen books in the Prophets. Each chapter is accompanied by a copy of an original oil painting and the biblical analysis derived from it. This book addresses those who have an interest in the visual arts, the Bible, or both. Although it is a Jewish-inspired book, it strikes a universal chord and broadly appeals to Jews, Christians, and those of all faiths who share a common love of the Bible and art.

At one time or another every person of faith asks himself questions like these: What must I do to deserve some Divine intervention in my life? Is there anyone really listening to my prayers? When do miracles happen, and when do they not? Where s my miracle? Am I not worthy? Here is a fresh, new, thought-provoking approach to the eternal mystery of the miracle, based on the multiple texts found in Jewish tradition as well as lessons learned from experience. The Al Aksa Intifada and its bloody consequences serve as backdrop for the many important messages about belief contained in this book. The Intifada forced Jews and rabbinic leaders to actively confront the difficult philosophical questions that arose in the wake of continual, random acts of violence in Israel. Having made aliyah just weeks before the onset of the bloody violence, the author took note of the reactions of survivors and spiritual leaders throughout the years of violence and was struck with the pat, simplistic, and often not-well-thought-out reactions and explanations offered by Israeli spiritual leaders to give meaning and purpose to the violence. Rabbi Morey Schwartz, an only child, orphaned by age twenty, has spent more than twenty years searching for a satisfying answer to his personal misfortune. Searching traditional Jewish responses, he never found a response that addressed his need to believe in a benevolent, merciful and all-powerful divine being, while simultaneously honoring what he considers his right to understanding. To believe in a God that was less than all-powerful seemed pointless, and to accept that we just cannot understand seemed to be meaningless. The author, is a graduate of Yeshiva University and Bernard Revel Graduate School, and musmach of the Rabbeinu Yitzchak Elchanan Theological Seminary. During his twelve years in the American rabbinate, helping others to deal with suffering and loss, the author found himself expressing a refreshing theological approach to this question, one which has helped countless individuals work through these difficult issues in their own lives. The book provides a look at the way the sages dealt with the suffering of the innocent throughout the centuries, providing the reader with easy to read rabbinic texts arranged in a text and counter-text format, for the purpose of presenting multiple Jewish approaches to some very difficult questions. In addition, the author provides a new, inspiring way of looking at the whole business of miracles. The age-old idea that miracles arise for those who deserve them is reconsidered, and a whole new perspective on the function and incidence of miracles is proposed. Any person of any faith will want to read these words and ponder the Divine s role in our lives, in the good times and the bad. This book will become a source of great comfort to Jews looking for alternative Jewish approaches to suffering and to God s role in suffering. This book is a must for those who counsel, for they above all need to be sympathetic to the deep sensitivities of those who seek consolation.