asically, the Midrash amplifies or extends the interpretation of scripture, especially regarding the first fours books of the Pentateuch, being Exodus through Deuteronomy, due to these books containing the greatest amount of biblical Halakhah, "the regulations governing the conduct of society as well as individual practice" (Goldin, 193).
In addition, the Midrash attempts to view the behavior of some of the patriarchs, such as King David, Solomon and Jacob, with much apology, meaning that some of the patriarchs are excused for their often negative behaviors while their many enemies are regarded as almost always evil in nature. Also, certain events in the books that make up the Pentateuch are seen as foreshadowing devices related to "the experiences of the patriarchs during their own times and of the future to come" (Goldin, 213). Thus, the true aim of the Midrash regarding its approach to the Torah is moral and didactic (i.e.…...

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Bibliography

Friedlander, Michael. The Jewish Religion. London: Shapiro & Vallentine, 1935.

Goldin, Judah. Studies in Midrash and Related Literature. New York: Jewish Publications Society, 1988.

Holtz, Barry W. Back to the Sources: Reading the Classic Jewish Texts. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1986.

Lehrman, S.M. The World of the Midrash. New York: Thomas Yoseloff, 1961.

For those like Ezra, such a situation threatened the very survival of the nation and faith itself. However, in addition to the idea of the "imperiled nation" embedded in the Jewish psyche during the time (and, perhaps during modern time as well), it also pointed to the lax state of Jewish life and ritual in Jerusalem during this period -- as well as the turmoil that must have existed at the time these reforms were implemented.
Although it might be imagined that at the very lease the social reform concerning mixed marriages would result in emotional turmoil -- it also resulted in real danger. This is because following his declaration that mixed marriage should be immediately dissolved, the Samaritans and other involved groups were understandably offended to a degree in which violent attack against the Jewish community became a real possibility. As a result, Ezra decided to embark on rebuilding…...

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Bibliography

Bible Web. "Ezra and Nehemiah." 2004. Retrieved from Web site on October 2, 2004 http://www.bibleweb.org/BibleOverview/bo12.htm

Donnel, J. Rabbi. "What Does God Pray?" (2004) Web site. Retrieved on October 2, 2004  http://www.tbsoc.com/sermons/donnellyk5763.html 

Mechon Mamre. "Ezra / Nehemiah -- translated from the Hebrew Bible" 2004. Retrieved from Web site on October 2, 2004  http://www.mechon-mamre.org/e/et/et35.htm 

Medial, D. "Ezra." Web Page. 2002. Retrieved from Web site on October 2, 2004, from http://www.medialdea.net/historyguy80538/ezrajerus.htm

Jewish history was promoted by the scribes or the Levites in early Jewish history and later on the popular educator and teachers promoted learning of the scriptures within the Jewish people so that history would be preserved however, at the time Christianity emerged this factor influenced the ancient writings in terms of how this history was related.
Some of Jewish history is so ancient that it has only been related by word of mouth however, there are writings which support history as it is told of the Jewish people. Furthermore, Christianity's emergence affected the form in which some of these ancient writings were reproduced and even the forms of recorded history characterized as genuine and credible Jewish history.

INTRODUCTION

In the initiative of attempting to understand Jewish history, it is necessary to understand the varying influences upon the recorded history of the Jewish people and it is most particularly to understand the influences…...

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Bibliography

Spiro, Rabbi Ken (2007) The Miracle of Jewish History. Jewish Literacy. Aish. 2007.

Fisher, Eugene J. (2008) Jewish-Christian Relations 1989-1993. International Council of Christians and Jews. A Bibliographic Update. Online available at  http://www.jcrelations.net/en/?id=809#Biblical%20Studies:%20Jewish%20and%20Christian 

Dubnow, S.M. (2005) Jewish History. Plain Label Books. ISBN:1603031006  http://books.google.com/books?id=zdQY_pHP0FYC&dq=jewish+history&pg=PP1&ots=DDVycu70fB&source=citation&sig=r6dn9cM2TswSod-OTzjaFHqQE6Q&hl=en&prev=http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=gmail&q=Jewish+History&sa=X&oi=print&ct=result&cd=1&cad=bottom-3results#PPA20,M1 

Spiro, Rabbi Ken (2007) Why Study History. Crash Course in Jewish History. Jewish Literacy. Aish. 2007.

A Jewish joke is, as Raskin suggests, one that transcends time. The Jewish joke may even transcend cultural context because the family of Jews spread around the world can use humor as a thread of connection. However, Jewish jokes do not stagnate. They evolve in order to reflect the lives and culture of the people who understand them.
Another common feature of Jewish jokes is that they reflect pain and suffering by turning sorrow into laughter. To the authors who address Jewish humor in Freudian terms such as Abrami, Jewish humor is defined by masochism. The anger that Jews could be directing externally is instead redirected at the self and at the community. Freud would have understood the phrase self-hating Jew, and wrote extensively about the ways Jewish jokes transfer anger related to political and social oppression into humor. Some authors focus on the ways Jewish humor capitalizes on stereotypes,…...

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Works Cited

Abrami, Leo M. "Psychoanalyzing Jewish Humor." My Jewish Learning. Retrieved online: http://mobile.myjewishlearning.com/culture/2/Humor/What_is_Jewish_Humor/Defining_Jewish_Humor/Psychoanalyzing_Humor.shtml

Bermant, Chaim. What's the joke?: A study of Jewish humour through the ages. Weidenfeld and Nicolson 1986.

Raskin, Richard. Life is Like a Glass of Tea: Studies of Classic Jewish Jokes. Aarhus University Press, 1992

Spalding, Henry D. Encyclopedia of Jewish Humor. Middle Village, 2001.

Both Bermant and Raskin show how all Jewish humor, and for Raskin, individual jokes, can be traced to Biblical times in light of Talmudic and other Rabbinical writings. Raskin addresses rabbinic judgment, man vs. God, ethnic disparagement, and even the humor in the Ten Commandments. Jewish mother jokes cannot be ignored in any analysis of Jewish humor, and both authors address the role of Jewish mother jokes and how they can be traced to the Bible. Raskin discusses the original function of Groucho Marx's resignation joke and places it also within a historical framework that extends back in time to the Bible and forward to oody Allen. The meaning of life is a rich topic of discussion in Jewish humor, traced through to the Bible and played out in variations of the joke of the dying Rabbi.

The connection between Jewish humor and Biblican humor is not immediately apparent to the…...

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Works Cited

Bermant, Chaim. What's the joke?: A study of Jewish humour through the ages. Weidenfeld and Nicolson 1986.

Raskin, Richard. Life is Like a Glass of Tea: Studies of Classic Jewish Jokes. Aarhus University Press, 1992

Spalding, Henry D. Encyclopedia of Jewish Humor. Middle Village, 2001.

Telushkin, Joseph. Jewish humor: What the best Jewish jokes say about the Jews. Harper Collins, 1998.

Jewish religion also known as Judaism -- is the religion of the Torah, which begins with the "Five Books of Moses and encompasses the Old Testament" (Neusner, 1992, 8). Judaism honors its beginnings as part of the creation of the whole world, Neusner explains. Jews believe that God created the world "…and for ten generations, from Adam to Noah, despaired of creation." Following those ten generations, from Noah to Abraham, God was waiting for humans to finally "…acknowledge the sovereignty of one God," who was authentically the unseen power that created heaven and earth (Neusner, 9).
Most historians explain that Judaism is a "monotheistic faith" (there is but one God) and Jews in turn often find this God "…beyond [humans'] ability to comprehend" and nevertheless Jews believe God is present in everyone's life every day (Pelala, 2013). Moreover Jews believe that each person was created "b'tzelem Elohim" (meaning "in the image…...

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Works Cited

Kol Emeth. (2012). About Us. Retrieved April 15, 2013, from  http://www.kolemethskokie.org .

Neusner, Jacob. (1992). A Short History of Judaism: Three Meals, Three Epochs. Minneapolis,

MN: Fortress Press.

Pelala, Ariela. (2013). What do Jews believe? Jewish Beliefs. About.com. Retrieved April 15,

Jewish-American Intermarriage
The United States of America has become a symbol of freedom to the rest of the world. People from nations everywhere come to this country in pursuit of the "American Dream," for America grants people opportunities that are hard to find elsewhere. In the past few centuries, our country has become a melting pot for many different ethnicities and cultures; while groups still maintain their diverse identities, many of them adapt to an American way of life. This has been the case for Jewish-Americans. Once a major target of anti-Semitism, American Jews have truly established themselves in this nation and have even earned the respect and acceptance of many. This assimilation of Jews into American society has caused a substantial increase in intermarriage, ironically increasing the possibility of destroying what is left of Jewish identity and unity.

On a positive note, the intermarriage of Jewish-Americans has become a sign that…...

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Works Cited

Feagin, Joe R., and Feagin, Clairece B. Racial & Ethnic Relations: Seventh Edition. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 2003.

Sailor, Steve. "Interracial Marriage Gender Gap Grows." 14 March 2003. ModelMinority.com. 24 Nov. 2003 http://modelminority.com/article338.html.

Jewish-American Experience and the Yiddish Radio Project
he Jewish-American Culture in Yiddish

Oral history has become one of the most important historical movements of the last two centuries. hrough oral histories in either interview or preservation of recordings that were produced in earlier times, the history of the modern era is being retold and saved. Yiddish is a dying language the last of the Yiddish speakers are being lost and a small determined group known as the Yiddish Radio Project, in collaboration with National Public Radio is trying to save the voices of this language and culture. hrough a very successful attempt to save these voices old acetate recordings never, meant to be played repeatedly are being restored and recorded into a format that can be heard. (www.yiddishradioprojrct.org)

he history of the Jewish people in America and specifically the rich culture surrounding the Yiddish language are being retold through the voices of old…...

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The abhorrent conditions and tragedies that were perpetrated upon the European Jews in Nazi controlled countries were unreal to so many people even if they personally knew and loved people who had died there. The real life stories of the survivors and the seemingly insurmountable task of finding traces of so many lost people brought a sense of hopelessness and guilt to so many Jews elsewhere who had escaped the fate of death and/or survival of the extremes of the conditions. Through the Yiddish radio phenomena people who felt separate from and yet strongly moved by the events in Europe could hear the voices and tears of real people who had been found after many years sometimes and even more miles usually and were reunited with loved ones they had given up hope of ever seeing again. The mass grief of the whole surviving Jewish culture was given voice for hope through this incredible effort. (SPP 2002 ( http://www.yiddishradioproject.org/exhibits/reunion/ )

Listening to and reading the words and sounds of the New York Jewish Immigrant scene through the recordings of the Yiddish Radio Project gives any interested party a wealthy of information about the reality of life in New York of immigrants of every background. It tells the story of losses and gains triumphs and tragedies that should never be forgotten. Through the work of Dave Isay and all those who have made this possible there has been a piece of oral history collected that will hopefully live eternally within the memory of America.

Sound Portraits Productions. 2002 "The Yiddish Radio Project" 13 May 2003 www.yiddishradioproject.org.

Love and non-judgmental acceptance may be the most important things. Yes, money can help a person find a niche in life, but money is insufficient to get a person off the street. Following up later with some of the residents, I discovered that many would have returned to the streets a long time ago, despite their opportunity of free accommodation and food, were it not for the friends and care that they felt in these homes. Many of them, over and again, reiterated the bonds that they had formed one with another and, sometimes, with the staff members themselves. Some, through the staff members, had found support in the external community.
This presence of support was particularly evident in the foster home. There the 'foster parents' seemed to have a reputation for providing unconditional love, and I was greatly struck with the way that some of the residents, particularly the…...

Jewish Monotheism
Historians of Judaism actually date the strong Jewish emphasis on monotheism somewhat later than expected within Jewish history. The archaeological discovery of idols and artifacts indicating cultic participation from the time of Israel's presence in Canaan has seemed to indicate a relative laxity in actual practice before the Babylonian captivity, while textual criticism seems agreed that most of the Torah's foregrounded statements of strong monotheism date from textual recensions during the Babylonian captivity, and thus substantially post-date both the J-writer and the E-writer of the Old Testament (Moberly 217). But the strong emphasis on monotheism which comprises the first commandment given by Yahweh to Moses is a defining feature of Judaism in prevailing polytheistic cultures where the Jews can define their religion in opposition, so to speak. I would like to examine three separate ways in which Jewish monotheism defined itself against a kind of prevailing cultural polytheism. The…...

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Works Cited

Ferrill, Arther. Caligula, Emperor of Rome. London: Thames and Hudson, 1991. Print.

Freud, Sigmund. Civilization and its Discontents. Translated with an introduction by James Strachey. New York: W.W. Norton and Co, 1962. Print.

Freud, Sigmund. Moses and Monotheism. Translated by Katherine Jones. London: Hogarth Press, 1939. Print.

Gay, Peter. Freud: A Life for Our Time. New York: Norton, 1998. Print.

Care Case Study
Slide 1 Footnotes

There have been enormous changes due to introduction of various cultural elements in the continuum of care. Before, when people were admitted to assisted living facilities or hospital settings, there were very little cultural elements outside of the majority culture which had sponsored the facility. For example, if a facility was associated with some sort of church or temple, there were elements of that religion present, but there was little alternatives for members of other cultures or religions.

Yet, today, there are now a much wider array of cultural elements available in assisted living homes and hospital facilities. Assisted living programs are regulated on the level of the state.

As such, different states have different types of programs and policies that impact the degree to which cultural characteristics are included or excluded within various assisted living facilities. Some programs encourage cultural elements of patients to be brought…...

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References

ALFA - Assisted Living Federation of America. (2009). Assisted Living Regulations and Licensing. Retrieved from  http://www.alfa.org/State_Regulations_and_Licensing_Informat.asp 

Medicare Payment Advisory Commission. (2011). Report to the Congress: Medicare Payment Policy. Retrieved from http://www.medpac.gov/documents/Mar11_EntireReport.pdf

National Caregivers Library. (2012). Independent Living Facilities. Retrieved from  http://www.caregiverslibrary.org 

Next Step in Care. (2012). Reducing the Stress of Hospitalization for Patients with Dementia and their Family Caregivers: A Guide. Family Caregiver Alliance. Retrieved from  http://caregiver.org/caregiver/jsp/content_node.jsp?nodeid=2449#researchpractice

Einstein's Theory of Relativity Jewish Science?
This study examines the work of Gimbel (2012) entitled "Einstein's Jewish Science: Physics at the Intersection of Politics and Religion" and specifically pages 112-217 and seeks to answer the question of how the categorization of Einstein and others functions from a sociological perspective. This study seeks to answer as to if Einstein as a second-class Jewish citizen also resounded in the Jewish community itself and particularly among the Jewish intelligentsia and how important this is for understanding the nature of religion? This study will answer as to whether there are Jewish aspects to liberal universalism and if so what was found in the reading of Gimbel. Finally, this study will answer as to what was found to be most interesting and most insightful and what was found to be contentious in Gimbel's work.

Gimbel: Categorization of Einstein and Function from Sociological Perspective

Gimbel conducts an examination…...

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Bibliography

Gimbel, S. (2012). Einstein's Jewish Science: Physics at the Intersection of Politics and Religion, Pages 112-217

Weinstein, D. And Zakai, A. (nd) Exile and Interpretation: Reinventing European Intellectual History in the Age of German Tyranny and Barbarism. (Or "How German-Speaking Jewish Intellectual Exiles -- Hans Baron, Karl Popper, Leo Strauss, Erich Auerbach -- Transformed Modern Intellectual History"). Retrieved from:  http://college.wfu.edu/politics/exileandinterpretation/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Exile-and-Interpretation-manuscript2.pdf 

Zeve, Rosenkranz (2013) Steven Gimbel, Einstein's Jewish Science: Physics at the Intersection of Politics and Religion. The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science, Vol. 3, No. 1 (Spring 2013), pp. 160-164. Retrieved from:  http://www.einstein.caltech.edu/images/news/Rosenkranz%20review%20of%20Gimbel,%20Einstein 's%20Jewish%20Science.pdf

Ancient Jewish Weddings
Weddings in Ancient Jewish Custom

There is an example of a wedding feast from the gospel of Luke that is not of the famous Cana Wedding Feast that takes place at the beginning of Jesus' ministry, but a gathering in the house of a Pharisee. The Pharisees and scribes invited Jesus there because, as always they were trying to test Him. It was on the Sabbath, and there had already been some discussion of this seminal event in the Jewish week, but the discussion had changed because Christ had been asked to heal a man who walked up to him who had dropsy (an abnormal swelling due to excessive water retention). He asked them if they thought it was lawful to heal a man on the Sabbath, and as they were testing Him, they did not answer. So, he told them that they would definitely take their ox out…...

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References

Celine. (2010). Difference between Talmud and Torah. Retrieved from miscellaneous/difference-between-talmud-and-torah/http://www.differencebetween.net/miscellaneous/religion-

Orthodox Judaism. (2010). A guide to Jewish wedding tradition. Retrieved from  http://www.orthodox-jews.com/jewish-wedding-tradition.html#axzz1qcIRRWOQ 

Rich, T.R. (2011). Marriage. Retrieved from  http://www.jewfaq.org/marriage.htm 

West, J. (2003). Ancient Israelite marriage customs. Quartz Hill School of Theology. Retrieved from  http://www.theology.edu/marriage.htm

Religious Studies
The things that Orthodox Judaism and Jewish Renewal have in common appear to originate from the foundations of the Jewish faith. Both make use of the Jewish scriptures such as the Talmud, and both adhere to Jewish traditions in terms of holidays and general practices. Another significant similarity is the importance that both directions have for women. The Orthodoxy is reported to give significance to the feminine style of devotion to God, which includes a more emotional, nurturing relationship with him. The Renewal appears to be an inclusion of more emotional qualities in the style of worship for both women and men.

The differences are more marked, and thus easier to identify. Regarding the role of women, for example, the Jewish Renewal seeks to include women in all aspects of Jewish worship. They are thus not excluded from leadership roles or practices within the synagogue.

The style of worship also differs.…...

Black, White, Jewish
Black, White, and Jewish -- the Source of All Rebecca Walker's Angst?

Rebecca Walker's memoir Black, White, and Jewish, is subtitled "Autobiography of a Shifting Self." Walker states that is a woman who is most comfortable "in airports" because they are "limbo spaces -- blank, undemanding, neutral." (3) In contrast, because of her multi-racial and multi-ethnic identity, she is both never 'neutral' and also never quite 'of a color.' nly in airports to the rules of the world completely apply to her as well as to the rest of the world, Walker states -- and even then, this statement has an irony, given the recent events and controversies over airport racial profiling that occurred after the book's publication. The book does on to describe, with great poignancy, the author's perceived difficulty of living with a dual, often uncomfortable identity of whiteness and blackness, of Jewishness and 'gentileness.'

It should be…...

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One might ask Walker, however, if this sense of alienation from one's own parents, from one's own past identity, even one's own ancestry, is a condition of a multi-racial and mixed religious background, or a product of American adolescence? But the conventional existence eventually chosen by her father suggests that a White man can return to the mainstream after spurning all these things as a rite of adolescent passage, while Walker cannot. Walker's physical appearance forces her into a continual existence of protest, whether she chooses to conform or not. Even her mother's bohemian existence is chosen, and offers the comfort of ancestry, even an enslaved one.

How constructed, however, one might ask is the idea of ancestry and connection? The unbroken line between African-Americans might itself, one say, be a construction, a tracing together between various Africans who were enslaved centuries ago. An African-American immigrant from Haiti might be 'read' the same by white eyes as one from South Carolina, causing a sense of identity diffusion because of societal mis-reading, as one cannot always see Rebecca Walker's Jewishness upon her. Making a social argument about the destructive legacy of the 1960's from hurt, from the depression and parental and personal conflict that seems to be characteristic of American adolescence is difficult. Individuals of different sexualities, of conflicted relationships even with homogenous paths might make the same argument of placenessness, of existing in a space they must create, rather than find. Although Rebecca Walker's book is a powerful personal testimony, it does not quite hold up -- nor perhaps should it aspire to -- as a sociological document. It is written, as the author admits, with emotion and in her own blood, and cannot admit the alternative perspectives of other American twenty and thirty-somethings undergoing similar identity crisis.

But unlike the identity crisis of leaving and returning to the bosom of the family, Walker has no family to return to -- her parents are divorced and have returned from their respective crisis of identities, into the bosoms of their own ethnic identities. They have been changed and perhaps improved by their heightened cultural exposure. But after her own rebellion, Rebecca Walker has no place to comfortably rest and return to -- except, ironically, the airport, she might say. "I am flesh and blood but I am also ether," she states at the end of her work. She attempts to create anew rather than return to ancestors, like her parents, and this re-creation is a constant source of consternation.