The Strife of the Spirit explores such fundamental themes as the nature of the human soul, the path of the penitent, and the relationship between student and text. Rabbi Steinsaltz moves comfortably and effectively between essays and oral discourses, interviews and stories....

Friends, family, love, God, death, faith.

These, and others, are deceptively simple words that we use all the time. Do we know what we mean when we use these important words? Do we know what other people mean when they use them? We seldom pause to reflect on these words or to make sure that we understand them, yet we continue to use them, so we misunderstand others and they misunderstand us.

Adin Steinsaltz examines some of the meanings of these powerful words. He transforms each word into a gem, turning it this way, then that, examining it to see more clearly its brilliant facets and what lies beyond them. He challenges us to think deeply about the connotations of these commonplace words, and in so doing, to see that there may be other ways of looking at things that we have taken for granted in our lives. Simple Words is a thought-provoking -- and surprising -- adventure that may change the way we think, speak, and act....

An expanded edition of the classic text of Jewish mysticism (Kabala) by the world famous Talmudic scholar

From Madonna's music videos to the glossy pages of celebrity magazines and back to the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Jewish mysticism has stepped into the modern consciousness like never before. In this classic work, world-renowned scholar Adin Steinsaltz answers the major questions asked by modern Jews about the nature of existence in God's universe. The title The Thirteen Petalled Rose is taken from the opening of the classic Jewish text on mysticism, the Zohar, and refers to the "collective souls of the Jewish people," which scholars have likened to the fullness of a rose and its thirteen petals.

Along with a new preface by the author, this edition contains a new chapter on prayer that provides the most up-to-date account of the Kabbalistic view of devotion. Another new chapter recounts and interprets the prophet Elijah's Introduction to the Zohar. "Steinsaltz possesses a mind of the quality that occurs perhaps once or twice in a generation, or several generations.... In [The Thirteen Petalled Rose] one can encounter the classical Jewish mystical view of reality, delineated lucidly, concisely, profoundly and, what is so rare, believingly. It is an utterly authentic expression of Judaism yet so unknown even among the well-informed and therefore so necessary, so welcome." (Herbert Weiner, Oxford University)...

One of the world's most famous and respected rabbis has given us the one guide we need to practice Jewish prayer and understand the prayer book. From the origins and meaning of prayer to a step-by-step explanation of the daily services to the reason you're not supposed to chat with your friends during the service, Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz answers many of the questions likely to arise about Jewish prayer. Here are chapters on daily prayer; Sabbath prayer; prayer services for the holidays; the yearly cycle of synagogue Bible readings; the history and make-up of the synagogue; the different prayer rites for Ashkenazim, Sephardim, Yemenites, and other cultural/geographic groupings; the role of the rabbi and the cantor in the synagogue; and the role of music in the service. The book also contains a glossary, a bibliography, and biographical sketches of the rabbis who were instrumental in creating and ordering the prayers through the ages. Rabbi Steinsaltz's guide is an essential volume both for the newcomer to Jewish prayer and for those who have been engaged in prayer for years....

Rabbi Nahman de Braslav est, avec son grand-père le Baal Chem Tov, la figure la plus marquante du hassidisme, ce mouvement mystique juif né au XVIIIe siècle et qui fait de la joie la voie la plus directe pour faire entrer Dieu dans sa vie. Dans la dernière période de son enseignement, il a délaissé la voie classique du commentaire biblique pour s exprimer au travers de contes. Sous leurs dehors populaires, « Le Marchand et le Pauvre », « Le Maître de prière » ou encore « Le Sage et le Simple » reformulent dans un langage universel les vérités les plus profondes de la kabbale et du hassidisme pour les mettre à la portée de tous. Le commentaire accessible et pénétrant d Adin Steinsaltz nous accompagne dans la découverte de la signification véritable de ces six contes, qui nous invitent à ressentir la présence du divin dans le monde....