In this groundbreaking study Avi Sagi outlines a broad spectrum of answers to important questions presented in Jewish literature, covering theological issues bearing on the meaning of the Torah and of revelation, as well as hermeneutical questions regarding understanding of the halakhic text. This is the first volume to attempt to provide a comprehensive map of the available views and theories concerning the theological, hermeneutical, and ontological meaning of dispute as a constitutive element of Halakhah. It offers an attentive reading of the texts and strives to present, clearly and exhaustively, the conscious account of Jewish tradition in general and of halakhic tradition in particular concerning the meaning of halakhic discourse.

The Open Canon: On the Meaning of Halakhic Discourse (The Robert and Arlene Kogod Library of Judaic Studies)

Religion & Spirituality

Sagi, Avi

Judaism

Continuum

In this groundbreaking study Avi Sagi outlines a broad spectrum of answers to important questions presented in Jewish literature, covering theological issues bearing on the meaning of the Torah and of revelation, as well as hermeneutical questions regarding understanding of the halakhic text. This is the first volume to attempt to provide a comprehensive map of the available views and theories concerning the theological, hermeneutical, and ontological meaning of dispute as a constitutive element of Halakhah. It offers an attentive reading of the texts and strives to present, clearly and exhaustively, the conscious account of Jewish tradition in general and of halakhic tradition in particular concerning the meaning of halakhic discourse.

Transforming Identity: The Ritual Transition from Gentile to Jew - Structure and Meaning (The Robert and Arlene Kogod Library of Judaic Studies)

Of all Judaic rituals, that of giyyur is arguably the most radical: it turns a Gentile into a Jew - once and for all and irrevocably. The very possibility of such a transformation is anomalous, according to Jewish tradition, which regards Jewishness as an ascriptive status entered through birth to a Jewish mother.
What is the internal logic of the ritual of giyyur, that seems to enable a Gentile to acquire an 'ascribed' identity? It is to this question, and others deriving from it, that the authors address themselves.
Interpretation of a ritual such as giyyur is linked to broad issues of anthropology, religion and culture: the relation of 'nature' and 'culture' in the construction of group boundaries; the tension between ethnicity and religion; the interrelation of individual identity and membership in a collective. Fully aware of these issues, this groundbreaking study focuses upon a close reading of primary halakhic texts from Talmudic times down to the present as key to the explication of meaning within the Judaic tradition.
In our times, the meaning of Jewish identity is a core issue, directly affecting the public debate regarding the relative weight of religion, nationality and kinship in determining basic aspects of Jewish life throughout the world. This book constitutes a seminal contribution to this ongoing discussion: it enables access to a wealth of halakhic sources previously accessible only to rabbinic scholars, fleshes out their meanings and implications within the cultural history of halakha, and in doing so situates halakha at the nexus of contemporary cultural discourse.

Zohar, Zvi

Of all Judaic rituals, that of giyyur is arguably the most radical: it turns a Gentile into a Jew once and for all and irrevocably. The very possibility of such a transformation is anomalous, according to Jewish tradition, which regards Jewishness as an a

To Be a Jew: Joseph Chayim Brenner as a Jewish Existentialist (The Robert and Arlene Kogod Library of Judaic Studies)

To Be a Jew deals with the question of the meaning and rationale that the writer Joseph Chayim Brenner attributes to Jewish existence. Many of Brenner's readers assumed that Brenner completely negated Jewish existence and sought to form a new way of life completely disconnected from the traditional Jewish existence. In contrast to this perception, Avi Sagi proves that not only did Brenner not reject the value of the Jewish existence, but the core of his creation was written out of a deep Jewish commitment. Brenner's greatest innovation is found in his new conception of Jewish existence. To be a Jew, according to Brenner, involves the willingness to discover solidarity with actual Jews, to participate in a society in which Jews can live a free life and to fashion their culture as they wish. Sagi presents the idea that Brenner's is not a Utopian, but a realistic, conception of Jewish existence. Thus this unique conception of Jewish existence is founded on an infrastructure of existential thought.

Politics & Social Sciences

Philosophy

To Be a Jew deals with the question of the meaning and rationale that the writer Joseph Chayim Brenner attributes to Jewish existence. Many of Brenner's readers assumed that Brenner completely negated Jewish existence and sought to form a new way of life completely disconnected from the traditional Jewish existence.In contrast to this perception, Avi Sagi proves that not only did Brenner not reject the value of the Jewish existence, but the core of his creation was written out of a deep Jewish commitment. Brenner's greatest innovation is found in his new conception of Jewish existence. To be a Jew, according to Brenner, involves the willingness to discover solidarity with actual Jews, to participate in a society in which Jews can live a free life and to fashion their culture as they wish. Sagi presents the idea that Brenner's is not a Utopian, but a realistic, conception of Jewish existence. Thus this unique conception of Jewish existence is founded on an infrastructure of existential thought.

Literature & Fiction

History & Criticism

Faith: Jewish Perspectives explores important questions in both modern and premodern Jewish philosophy regarding the idea of faith. Is believing a voluntary action, or do believers find themselves within the experience of faith against their will? Can faith be understood through other means (psychological, epistemic, and so forth), or is it only comprehensible from the inside, that is, from within the religious world? Is a subjective experience of faith fundamentally communicative, meaning that it includes intelligible and transmittable universal elements, or is it a private experience that we can point to or talk about through indirect means (poetic, lyrical, and so forth), but never fully decipher? This book presents various manifestations of the concept of faith in Judaism as a tradition engaged in a dialogue with the outside world. It will function as an opening and an invitation to an ongoing conversation with faith.

Faith: Jewish Perspectives (Emunot: Jewish Philosophy and Kabbalah)

Schwartz, Dov

Academic Studies Press

Faith: Jewish Perspectives explores important questions in both modern and premodern Jewish philosophy regarding the idea of faith. Is believing a voluntary action, or do believers find themselves within the experience of faith against their will? Can faith be understood through other means (psychological, epistemic, and so forth), or is it only comprehensible from the inside, that is, from within the religious world? Is a subjective experience of faith fundamentally communicative, meaning that it includes intelligible and transmittable universal elements, or is it a private experience that we can point to or talk about through indirect means (poetic, lyrical, and so forth), but never fully decipher? This book presents various manifestations of the concept of faith in Judaism as a tradition engaged in a dialogue with the outside world. It will function as an opening and an invitation to an ongoing conversation with faith.

Religious-Zionism developed in Israel as an attempt to combine halakhic commitment with the values of modernity, two networks of meaning not easily reconciled. This book presents a study of the discourse on the body and sexuality within religious-Zionism as it has developed in recent decades, including in cyberspace, and considers such issues as homosexuality, lesbianism, masturbation, and the relationships between the sexes. It also analyzes the shift to a pastoral discourse and alternative religious perspectives dealing with this discourse together with its far wider social and cultural implications, offering a new paradigm for reading religious cultures.

Sexuality and the Body in New Religious Zionist Discourse (Israel: Society, Culture, and History)

History

Englander, Yakir

World

The widespread view is that prayer is the center of religious existence and that understanding the meaning of prayer requires that we assume God is its sole destination. This book challenges this assumption and, through a phenomenological analysis of the meaning of prayer in modern Hebrew literature, shows that prayer does not depend at all on the addressee―humans are praying beings. Prayer is, above all, the recognition that we are free to transcend the facts of our life and an expression of the hope that we can override the weight of our past and present circumstances.

Prayer After the Death of God: A Phenomenological Study of Hebrew Literature (Emunot: Jewish Philosophy and Kabbalah)

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Sagi, Avi. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Sagi, Avi

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Sagi, Avi. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Open Canon: On the Meaning of Halakhic Discourse (The Robert and Arlene Kogod Library of Judaic Studies)

The Open Canon: On the Meaning of Halakhic Discourse (The Robert and Arlene Kogod Library of Judaic Studies)

Transforming Identity: The Ritual Transition from Gentile to Jew - Structure and Meaning (The Robert and Arlene Kogod Library of Judaic Studies)

Transforming Identity: The Ritual Transition from Gentile to Jew - Structure and Meaning (The Robert and Arlene Kogod Library of Judaic Studies)

To Be a Jew: Joseph Chayim Brenner as a Jewish Existentialist (The Robert and Arlene Kogod Library of Judaic Studies)

To Be a Jew: Joseph Chayim Brenner as a Jewish Existentialist (The Robert and Arlene Kogod Library of Judaic Studies)

Faith: Jewish Perspectives (Emunot: Jewish Philosophy and Kabbalah)

Faith: Jewish Perspectives (Emunot: Jewish Philosophy and Kabbalah)

Sexuality and the Body in New Religious Zionist Discourse (Israel: Society, Culture, and History)

Prayer After the Death of God: A Phenomenological Study of Hebrew Literature (Emunot: Jewish Philosophy and Kabbalah)