Lander College of Arts and Sciences Books

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  Science-Based Ethics: A Scientific Approach to Bioethical Decision Making

  John D. Loike and Ruth L. Fischbach

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  Torah from the Years of Wrath 1939-1943: The Historical Context of the Aish Kodesh

  Henry Abramson

  Discovered in the rubble of the Warsaw Ghetto, Rabbi Kalonymus Kalmish Shapira's wartime writings exemplify the faith of Hasidic Jewry under the unimaginable conditions of the Nazi occupation. Published in 1960 under the Hebrew title Aish Kodesh, the notes of Rabbi Shapira's weekly Sabbath sermons and annotations have been studied by pious Hasidim and secular academics alike, seeking his answers to the searing theological questions posed by the war. Why do the righteous suffer? Where was God during the Holocaust?

  Torah from the Years of Wrath provides a new and essential scholarly contribution by placing Rabbi Shapira's writings in their immediate historical context. Using a wide variety of primary sources in Yiddish, Hebrew, Polish and German, Abramson situates the sermons within the daily experience of Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto, demonstrating that Rabbi Shapira's often enigmatic discourses contained veiled messages-opaque to later readers, but readily understood by his congregants at the time-that related directly to the traumatic events endured by his Hasidim. Abramson's reconstruction of the micro-history of the Ghetto reveals that Rabbi Shapira's work represents a sustained act of spiritual heroism, helping his followers place their individual tragedies within the cosmic meta-history of the Jewish people, as expressed in the Torah itself.

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  Maimonides on Teshuvah: The Ways of Repentance

  Henry M. Abramson

  Teshuvah: from the Hebrew root “to return” and often translated as “repentance,” teshuvah represents an answer to spiritual or intellectual challenge, just as a question requires a response and a home awaits a return. Maimonides on Teshuvah is a translation and commentary on The Ways of Repentance, the first comprehensive study of teshuvah in Jewish literary history.

  This is the fifth edition of this work.

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  The Kabbalah of Forgiveness

  Henry M. Abramson

  The Kabbalah of Forgiveness is a translation of the first chapter of Rabbi Moshe Cordovero’s classic work Date Palm of Devorah (Tomer Devorah) with a commentary by Dr. Henry Abramson. Emerging from the 16th-century Safed Circle of Jewish mystics, this book earned a rare exception to the centuries-old ban on the study of Kabbalah by students under 40 because of its profound ethical value.

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  Reading the Talmud: Developing Independence in Gemara Learning

  Henry M. Abramson

  Reading the Talmud is a textbook designed for students who want to move beyond translations to learning the Talmud on their own. This book presents a proven, “no shortcuts” approach based on the traditional Yeshiva model. If you have enough Hebrew skills to work out a Biblical verse, and a healthy determination to toil in the Talmud, this book will help you develop independence in Gemara learning.

  This is the second edition of this book.

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  The Sea of Talmud: A Brief and Personal Introduction

  Henry M. Abramson

  Scholarly yet readable, The Sea of Talmud combines basic, authoritative information on the Talmud with the author’s unique and personal journey to traditional Judaism. Tracing the history of the Talmud from its origins in ancient Israel and Babylon to Internet-based texts, Dr. Abramson describes the excitement and thrill of studying Talmud from an insider’s perspective.