The best Judaism books: Reddit reviews

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

You've got some heavy shit to deal with. Lots of serious situations, all going down at the same time. I can offer some perspectives & procedures that have helped me, and maybe help you.

1- You are NOT your thoughts. Your thoughts are instantaneous electro-chemical impulses that are so transitory, they can barely be said to exist. They will rise. They will fall away.

They're like a massive cascading waterfall- the trick is to position yourself behind the waterfall

2- Acknowledge your feelings. Allow them to pass. The physiological effects of emotions on your body can be profound- but even the strongest ones pass in moments. Unless you continue to regenerate them. "Noting"... the act of recognizing a thought or emotion... is often enough to dispel it. Note what you're feeling in a depersonalized way ("That's anger", "That's anxiety"... NOT "I'm angry" or "I'm anxious").

3- Focus on what you CAN control, Accept what you can't. This is one of the pillars of Stoicism. There's no profit in getting twisted up about things you can't change. Viktor Frankl said that even in the worst situation, each individual has the ultimate power, "The last of the human freedoms: to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way"

4- The Obstacle is the Way Understand that every crisis, every hardship, is an opportunity to develop some other virtue. Patience, Endurance, Compassion, Courage, Resourcefulness... skills that would lie dormant unless you were challenged.

5- See things as they are, not as you wish, not as you fear. Optimism and Pessimism are for suckers. Realism is the way to go. Your fortunes will rise and fall. Determine that no matter what happens, you'll be able to handle it, with competence and dignity.

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I wish you well.

Getting out of a western mindset is a step in the right direction, but the Bible is not the product of an eastern culture either. This book certainly makes the basic mistake of not putting the Bible in its ancient Jewish context, so I'd say that's the more fundamental issue to tackle first.

Check out Kugel's How to Read the Bible: A Guide to Scripture, Then and Now for a more academic take on this topic.

Finding purpose and direction.

Check out this book. It's by a psychologist who was imprisoned in Auschwitz who made it his purpose while there to understand (and teach) what helps people through hopeless adversity.

https://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl/dp/080701429X

In addition to u/AZPD's comment above, I would James Kugel's How to Read the Bible and Dale Allison's The Historical Christ and the Theological Jesus. Both address the struggle to engage critical academic scholarship while maintaining faith in their tradition (Kugel is Jewish, Allison a Protestant Christian).

Thats exactly where this quote is from. What makes it even more powerful is that this thought is in response to being sent to a concentration camp to die.

If Frankl could maintain this mentality while being worked to near death and having to constantly outsmart gestapo, no one here has any valid excuse as to why they can't cultivate that same mindset.

Seriously, everyone get this book. Its like 200 pages (if that) of some of the most compelling writing you'll ever read.

> It is harder to say positively what Jesus meant by 'kingdom of God'. Intensive efforts over the last hundred years to define the phrase have left the issue more confused rather than clearer. There are, however, two meanings that would have been more or less self evident given standard Jewish views. One is that God reigns in heaven; the 'kingdom of God' or 'kingdom of heaven' exists eternally there. God occasionally acts in history, but he completely and consistently governs only heaven. The second is that in the future God will rule the earth. He has chosen to allow human history to run on with relatively little interference, but someday he will bring normal history to an end and govern the world perfectly. Briefly put: the kingdom of God always exists there; in the future it will exist here. These two meanings are perfectly compatible with each other. Anyone could maintain both at the same time, and in fact millions still do.

• The Historical Figure of Jesus

From the Jewish annotated NT:

>The juxtaposed parables of the lost sheep and lost coin that immediately precede this parable suggest that it is about something more or other than repenting (despite the assertion in 15.10), for neither sheep nor coins repent. The focus of the first two is on the search for the lost and the joy of the finding. Jews would likely identify with the younger son (recalling Abel, Isaac, Jacob, and Ephraim). However, this younger son makes a rude, presumptuous request (see Sir 33.20–24) and then shames himself by dissolute practices. Listeners are thus shocked into the possibility of identifying with the elder son. Although many interpreters see the younger son as repenting, the text does not make this point. The prodigal’s motive for returning to his father may be economic need rather than theological recognition. Other interpreters see the father as symbolizing God, the son’s comment in 15.18 suggests rather a distinction. Incorrect is the common view that the father’s generous response to the prodigal—whether the father is seen loving parent or representative of God—would be surprising to Jesus’ Jewish audience. Jewish tradition sees fathers as loving their children (see 8.42n.), and God as always reaching out to bring the sinner home.
A third common reading is the identification of the older brother as the recalcitrant Pharisee, who refuses to welcome sinners. However, if the father is seen as God and the elder as the Pharisee, then the parable necessarily sees the Pharisees as heirs to God’s promises (15.31)

Before all of this, what you really need to do is grab yourself a copy of The Jewish Annotated New Testament which does an excellent job of putting the entire Christian Bible in its historical and Jewish context.

>John 8:59... Now, is resisting arrest and/or execution forbidden in the Torah?

No. There's no crime in trying not to be punished and you're entitled to defend yourself against a legal charge. That's also not really the point of John 8:33-59, which is about the essential difference between Jews and Christians (note that John doesn't like "The JEWS" and Jesus is a mouth piece for John's High-Christology).

>John 10:36... Is saying that you are G-d's son blasphemous?

No, because the entire Human race are "G-d's children," so it's technically a pointless statement in that regard. Of course, what John's Jesus means is that he is G-d's chosen, in a slightly lower christological reading that he's a better representative of G-d and a higher reading that he is literally more divine (and in the original Hebrew/Aramaic, to say you are a son of something means you are in that category, not literally something's son), for the purpose of supplanting the Jew's specific relationship with G-d, which is a direct blasphemous violation (claiming that G-d can/would nullify His eternal covenant, Deut 5:29 and also nullifying the unity of G-d - Deut 6:4, and of course that G-d would contradict himself by changing when He is unchanging - Num 23:19).

>Isn't the prophesied messiah supposed to follow the laws of the Torah pretty much 100%?

Yes, it wouldn't make sense to have a representative who rejects or changes the Torah.

I was you, about two years ago. I had fully committed to being a great dad and a great husband, but had stopped developing as an individual. Figuring that out is an excellent first step to, as you said, getting your life back in balance.

Here are two books that helped me:

Man's Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl: It's a short book by a Holocaust survivor that deals with controlling your attitude at all times, and having perspective on where you are compared to where you want to be.

A Guide to the Good Life, by William Irvine: A good modern take on Stoicism, or the philosophy of taking life in stride. Contrary to common belief, it's not about eschewing all emotions and being joyless; it's about embracing joy in all things, acknowledging and preparing for grief but not letting them overwhelm you, and being mentally present in day-to-day life. Plan for the future, but don't forget to take joy in the small moments of the present.

Edited in links.

It's gotta be really hard to be a teen in this climate. We can't go back to normal, because people will die. I know you already know that though, and it's just so shitty. I hear what you're saying about the frustration and stress. It's hard enough to be in middle school (if you ask any adult, I think they would agree that middle school is a tough time), let alone have to do this stuff with a global pandemic. It's 100% shit and nobody should disagree with that.

As an adult, I can tell you one thing (and btw - I'm giving myself advice here as I'm typing this because I need it too). This is a real-world version of the "marshmallow test". Step back one bit and take a look at yourself and how you want to manage the situation. You can either be a beacon for yourself or others, or you can go down the crapped-out road of depression. If you use this experience to check your own character, strength and resilience, you might be find that you have deep qualities that you didn't know existed. If you allow yourself just to pool in the "this sucks" mode, your brain will learn that when times get tough, the "this sucks" mode is the default. That's the equivalent of your brain sucking money out of your emotional bank account every time shit comes up in the future. Challenge that, and look back on this Covid crap as a time of immense growth and opportunity that will pay you over and over many years to come.

Also, check out Man's Search for Meaning. It's a book that explains exactly how to function in difficult times. If you ping me your info, I'll send you a copy.

So... the bible was written hundreds of years after Jesus. It's fan fic.

Most of this picture is pretty OK if you want to interpret it historically.

If you want to rage-type about fan fiction written 1800 years ago, then, go ahead. You're just as guilty of bullshit interpretations of the bible as mormons and evangelicals - note: they're all bullshit.

>shoulder

I had to go through this too. It's easy for me to get bored. I would suggest reading A Man's Search for Meaning. It helped change my perspective. https://www.amazon.com/-/es/Viktor-Frankl/dp/0807014273/ref=sr_1_2?__mk_es_US=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&dchild=1&keywords=victor+frankel&qid=1620306098&sr=8-2

This is a very common experience for non-orthodox Jews in the U.S myself included. Part of this because an orthodox Jewish curriculum spends much more time on the practice of Judaism than on "belief" or "theology", and because there are only a few things that Jews just straight up agree on. Another part of this is that in the 19th and early 20th-century Non-Orthodox and to a lesser extent Modern Orthodox Judaism became very uncomfortable with aspects of Judaism that didn't first with enlightenment ideology (ideas about the afterlife, the messiah, mysticism). Most synagogues are a lot better at this than they were in say the 50s but the general approach I find is that they would rather tell you what you need to know to be in the community than potentially scare someone off with extremely weird and complicated details of Kabbalah.

I actually have found Recon Shuls do a better job of teaching about these elements of Judaism than your average Reform or Con shul because you have more people actively choosing to be religious;y Jewish than just doing so out of habit.

As a sort of basic level, you could look into one of the intros books like Judaism for Dummies or Essential Judaism and just skip the parts you already know. For more advanced stuff you could check out Telushkin's Jewish Literacy

A good book that's large but is broken down into very tiny easy to understand segments is Jewish Literacy by Joseph Telushkin. You can read it through, or use it as a sort of encyclopedia. It has a broad coverage of basically all there is to know about Judaism. I would highly recommend it. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0061374989/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_imm_t1_K5P7B9HDF3XDK0MJDY16

It's part memoir, part self-help, but Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. It's written by a Jewish psychologist who was sent to a concentration camp during WWII, and used his experience to write a guide on coping with suffering. Despite the intimidating title, it's a short book and a quick read, and has definitely jolted me from a few ruts in my life.

I would recommend this, given the Jewish roots of the NT authors and the Jewish origins of many (but certainly not all) of their ideas and practices:

The Jewish Annotated New Testament (2017) by Amy-Jill Levine (Editor), Marc Zvi Brettler (Editor)

https://www.amazon.com/Jewish-Annotated-New-Testament-dp-0190461853/dp/0190461853/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

I’m sorry to hear you’re going through a tough time and wish you all the best.

1. Man’s Search For Meaning https://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl/dp/080701429X

2. The Stoic Challenge https://www.amazon.com/Stoic-Challenge-Philosophers-Becoming-Resilient/dp/0393652491

I’ve read many books that I think could help but I’ll start by recommending these based off what you have said.

I would read Telushkin and if you are still interested I would look into the hate crimes against Jews (it’s more than all other religions combined). If you are still considering conversion then start really looking into what that means.

I categorized it wrong, it's more of an overall compendium on Judaism: https://www.amazon.com/Jewish-Literacy-Revised-Ed-Important/dp/0061374989

However the sections on the Biblical stories are great

Terrible generalizations about Millennials aside, "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor Frankl should be required reading in highschool. Not sure what subject -- Science? History? Something. It's a first-hand account of a concentration camp written from a psychiatrist's perspective, so it explains what happens to a person's psyche when forced to undergo such horrors. It's hard to get through, and you will never question how bad the Holocaust was after that.

My research in college was on discriminations against Jews in college admissions in the 1920s-1930s. I highly recommend to you the book "How Jews Became White Folks."

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https://www.amazon.com/Became-White-Folks-About-America/dp/081352590X

We used [This](https://www.amazon.com/How-Read-Bible-Guide-Scripture/dp/0743235878/ref=asc_df_0743235878/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312021238077&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=10988280908228386782&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9027823&hvtargid=pla-453943688779&psc=1) in my Intro to OT class in seminary.

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A good study Bible can be helpful to that. The New Oxford Annotated NRSV is the gold standard for that. That can give you helpful information as your read. Especially their short digests of historical information. Depending on what else you need, there are a lot of options, but you may end up buying a lot of books. But there are plenty of resources about the history surrounding the bible, particular passages or books of the bible, and topics you want to know about. As you narrow down what you want to know more about, it's easier to recommend.

When I'm back in my office, I can look at other good books I've got.

I started with this. There are a lot of sources quoted and referenced in it.

I see a lot of comments saying that exercise relieves anger and certainly it does just that. I would add that if anger keeps Coming back you’re just going to exercise yourself to death. There are some books that address this issue so that you can stop creating all this anger. Here is one book https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009U9S6FI/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0. Jordan Peterson has many YouTube videos on forgiveness. There are also many Buddhist and Zen books and videos on forgiveness and general gratitude. You’re going to have to stop the creation of the anger and Nippet in the bud. If a Holocaust survivor can’t forgive and thrive it’s possible that you can too

This is, in fact, a widely accepted interpretation of and likely the original intent of the parable, as explained here by Dr. Amy-Jill Levine of Vanderbilt Divinity School.

As for this:

>The father never said that the older brother needed to repent. The younger brother was lost, dead. The younger brother repented and returned to the father.

To make this parable (or the other two in this series) about repentance is to insert things into the text that are not there. In fact, there are many reasons to believe that the younger son has *not* repented at all. From Dr. Levine and Dr. Marc Brettler of Duke University:

>Parable of the prodigal son (lk 15.11–32)
>
>The juxtaposed parables of the lost sheep and lost coin that immediately precede this parable suggest that it is about something more or other than repenting (despite the assertion in 15.10), for neither sheep nor coins repent. The focus of the first two is on the search for the lost and the joy of the finding.

>
>Jews would likely identify with the younger son (recalling Abel, Isaac, Jacob, and Ephraim). However, this younger son makes a rude, presumptuous request (see Sir 33.20–24) and then shames himself by dissolute practices. Listeners are thus shocked into the possibility of identifying with the elder son.
>
> Although many interpreters see the younger son as repenting, the text does not make this point. The prodigal’s motive for returning to his father may be economic need rather than theological recognition.

yes! it’s this one:

https://www.amazon.com/Jewish-Annotated-New-Testament/dp/0190461853

sorry for the am*zon link, it just has the cheapest available option i’ve found in the kindle format. however, i will say i wish i had splurged on the physical copy because i think i would be able to get more out of it; i’ve genuinely been enjoying reading it a lot.

As Dr. Amy-Jill Levine of Vanderbilt Divinity School and Dr. Marc Zvi Brettler of Duke Universtity explain in their excellent study bible, The Jewish Annotated New Testament,

>Jewish tradition does not separate the messiah and messianic age and thus has no “second coming.”

I highly recommend Dr. David B. Levenson of FSU's essay on Jewish messianic movements, which can be found in the excellent study bible The Jewish Annotated New Testament.

The Hebrew Bible, called the Tanakh, consists of 24 books and is equivalent more or less to the Christian "Old Testament". However, you really need a Jewish translation with light commentary to understand the Jewish approach to the content. I suggest the Jewish Study Bible from JPS.

Judaism does not believe in the validity of the New Testament so there will be no such thing.

The Book of Enoch is part of the Apocrypha, a collection of extra-biblical books that are not considered part of the canon.

For the Tanakh ("Old Testament"): NJPS

For the Apocrypha and the New Testament: NRSV, or possibly NRSVUE.