Core Texts

• Settings of Silver, An Introduction to Judaism; Stephen M. Wylen, 2^nd Ed. 2000
• Introduction to Judaism, A Sourcebook (Revised Ed); LydiaKukoff, 1998
• To Life! A Celebration of Jewish Being & Thinking; Harold Kushner, Little, Brown & Co., 1993
• Jews, God & History; Max I. Dimont, Penguin Books, 1994
    and/or
•   A Short History of the Jewish People; Raymond P Sceindlin, Oxford, 1998
• TANAKH; Sanhedrin JPS, 1985
    and/or
• The Jewish Study Bible; Oxford, [JPS Tanakh], 2004
• Aleph Isn’t Tough; Linda Motzkin, UAHC Press, 2000
• Aleph Isn’t Enough;Linda Motzkin, UAHC Press, 2001
• Choosing a Jewish Life; Anita Diamant, Schocken, 1997

Recommended Texts (* indicates very recommended)

Reference and General 

• *Jewish Literacy; Joseph Teluskin, William Morrow, 1991
• *Essential Judaism; George Robinson, Pocket Books, 2000
• The Jewish Home (Revised); Daniel B. Syme, URJ Press, 2004
• Judaism;Arthur Hertzberg, Free Press, 1998
• Jews;Arthur Hertzberg, Harper San Francisco, 1998

Prayer Books and Prayer

• Gates of Prayer; Chaim Stern, CCAR, 1975 [Blue Book]
• Gates of Prayer; Chaim Stern, CCAR, 1994 [Grey Book, Gender Sensitive]
• Gates of Repentance; Chaim Stern, CCAR, 1978 [Revised 1996 = Gender Sensitive] – High Holiday Prayerbook
• Doorposts of Your House; Chaim Stern, CCAR - Home prayerbook
• Entering Jewish Prayer; Reuven Hammer, Schocken, 1994
• *Pray Tell;Jules Harlow, Jewish Lights, 2003
• The Way into Jewish Prayer;LawrenceA. Hoffman, Jewish Lights

Shabbat and Festivals

• *A Day Apart: Shabbat at Home; Noam Sachs Zion, Shalom Hartman Inst., 2004
• Gates of Shabbat; Mark Dov Shapiro, CCAR, 1991
• Gates of the Seasons;Peter S. Knobel, CCAR, 1983
• Seasons of Our Joy;Arthur Waskow, Beacon Press, 1982/1990
• *A Different Night: A Family Participation Haggadah;Noam Zion, Shalom Hartman
• *A Different Light: The Hanukkah Book of Celebration;Noam Zion, Shalom Hartman

History

• Cultures of the Jews;David Biale, Schocken, 2002
• OxfordHistory of the Biblical World;Michael D. Coogan, Oxford, 1998
• Response to Modernity;Michael A. Meyer, WayneStateUniversityPress, 1988
• American Judaism;Jonathan Sarna, Yale, 2004

Israel

• *The Case for Israel;Alan Dershowitz, Wiley, 2003
• The Case for Peace;Alan Dershowitz, Wiley, 2005
• *The New Anti-Semitism;Phyllis Chesler, Jossey-Bass, 2003
• *From Beirutto Jerusalem;Thomas L. Friedman, Doubleday, 1989/90

Spirituality and Mysticism

• The Mystic Quest;David S. Ariel, Schocken, 1988
• The Way into Jewish Mystical Tradition;LawrenceKushner, Jewish Lights
• Endless Light;David Aaron, Simon & Schuster, 1997
• Seeing G-d;David Aaron, Putnam, 2001
• 6 Spiritual Paths;Rifat Sonsino, Jewish Lights, 2000
• The Way into Encountering G-d in Judaism;Dr Neil Gillman, Jewish Lights
• Souls on Fire: Portraits and Legends of Hasidic Masters;Elie Wiesel, Random House, 1972

Jewish Texts

• *The Torah: A Modern Commentary, Revised Ed.; W. Gunther Plaut, URJ, 2005
• The Way into Torah;Dr. Norman J. Cohen, Jewish Lights
• Back to the Sources;Barry Holtz, Summit, 1984
• How to Read the Bible;Marc Zvi Brettler, JPS, 2005
• Biblical Literacy;Joseph Teluskin, William Morrow, 1997
• Messengers of G-d: Biblical Portraits and Legends;Elie Wiesel, Random House, 1976
• Wise Men and Their Tales: Portraits of Biblical, Talmudic and Hasidic Masters;Elie Wiesel, Schocken, 2003
• Everyman’s Talmud; Abraham Cohen, Schocken, 1949
• The Essential Talmud;Adin Steinsaltz, Basic Books, 1976

Jewish Wisdom and Philosophy

• Jewish Wisdom;Joseph Telushkin, William Morrow, 1994
• *When Bad Things Happen to Good People; Harold Kushner, Schocken, 1981
• A Jewish Theology;Louis Jacobs, Berman House, 1973
• Choices in Modern Jewish Thought: A Partisan Guide;Eugene Borowitz, Behrman House, 1995
• Liberal Judaism;Eugene Borowitz, URJ Press, 1984
• The Dignity of Difference;Jonathan Sacks, Continuum, 2002
• I and Thou;Martin Buber, Touchstone, 1970
• *G-d in Search of Man;Abraham Joshua Heschel, Farrar, Strauss, Giroux, 1955
• What is Judaism;Emil Fackenheim, Syracuse University Press, 1987
• Man’s Search for Meaning Revised Ed.;Victor Frankl, Pocket, 1997

Lifecycle

• Gates of Mitzvah;CCAR, 1979
• Beyond the Breaking Glass;Nancy H Weiner, CCAR, 1995
• The Jewish Way in Love and Marriage;Maurice Lamm, Jonathan David, 1991
• The Jewish Way in Death and Mourning;Maurice Lamm, Jonathan David, 1969
• Putting G-d on the Guest List: How to Reclaim the Spiritual Meaning of Your Child’s Bar or Bat Mitzvah; Jeffrey Salkin, Jewish Lights, 1992
• The New Jewish Wedding, Revised;Anita Diamant, Scribner, 2001

With provisional dates for subjects.

#	Topic	Date
What is Judaism?
1	What is a Jew?	11/6/05
2	G-d	11/13/05
	-Break for URJ Biennial	11/20/05
3	Torah	12/04/05
	-Federation Dinner at SST - No Class	12/11/05
4	Festivals: Chanukah – The Little Festival That Could	12/18/05
	-Break for Winter Holidays
Jewish Faith and Practice
5	From Cradle to Grave: Jewish Lifecycle 1	1/8/06
6	From Cradle to Grave: Jewish Lifecycle 2	1/15/06
7	The World to Come: Life, Death and Afterlife	1/22/06
8	Rituals and Customs of Daily Life – Mitzvot	1/29/06
9	Worship and Prayer	2/5/06
10	Festivals: Day of Rest – Shabbat	2/12/06
11	Festivals: Days of Awe - Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur	2/19/06
12	Festivals: Days of Joy – Sukkot and Simchat Torah	2/26/06
13	Festivals: Minor Festivals – Tu B’Shevat, Tisha B’Av, Rosh Chodesh, and the Festivals of The State of Israel	3/5/06
Judaism Through the Ages - History
14	Festivals: Purim	3/12/06
15	Bible	3/19/06
16	First Century: The Fall of the Temple; The Rise of Rabbinic Judaism	3/26/06
17	Jewish Life in the Middle Ages	4/2/06
18	Festivals: Passover and the Omer	4/9/06
19	Mysticism - Kabbalah, Shabatai Zvi and Hasidism	4/16/06
20	Jewish Life in Eastern Europe	4/23/06
21	Jews off the Beaten Track: The Arab World Ethiopia, India and China	4/30/06
Judaism in the Modern Age
22	Enlightenment and Haskalah – Opening of the Ghettos and the Jewish Mind	5/7/06
23	Response to Modernity – Orthodox, Reform and Conservative	5/14/06
24	Anti-Semitism and The Holocaust	5/21/06
25	Festivals: Shavuot	5/28/06
26	Zionism and the State of Israel	6/4/06
27	America – Goldene Medina or Treifa Medina?	6/11/06
The Present and the Future – Themes and Trends
28	Spirituality and Ethnicity	6/18/06
29	Assimilation and Intermarriage	6/25/06
	- Break for July 4th -	7/2/06
30	Social Action	7/9/06
31	Sexuality	7/16/06
32	Sectarian Divisions and Interactions	7/23/06
33	Israel – Moral Quandaries and the New Anti-Semitism	7/30/06
34	The Continuing Challenges and Opportunities of Modernity	8/6/06