The Non-Orthodox Jew's Guide to Orthodox Jews: Why We Do What We Do, Wear What We Wear and Think What We Think

by Baum, David

• ISBN13: 9780615342733
• ISBN10: 0615342736
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-09-21
• Publisher: Veracity Pr

Summary

The Non-Orthodox Jews Guide to Orthodox Jews offers an all-encompassing view of Orthodox Jews beliefs and actions and explains the issues that non-Orthodox Jews often find puzzling or exasperating. Readers will encounter surprisingly refreshing discussions of topics such as happiness, good and evil, personal integrity, suffering, heaven and hell, prophecy, prayer, charity, economics, feminism, love and sexuality, marriage, evolution, morality, political correctness, assimilation, intermarriage and Zionism. They will also discover that Orthodox Jews are modern, twenty-first-century men and women who embrace the benefits of modern society while affirming and perpetuating an all-important chain that stretches back more than three millennia.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. vii
Introduction	p. ix
The Jew and Himself
Why	p. 3
What Really Happened at Mount Sinai?	p. 10
Bottom Line	p. 10
Bananas	p. 10
Products of Society	p. 12
Intuition	p. 14
The Requirement of Reason	p. 15
The Four PERLS	p. 17
An Event That a Human Being Could Not Fabricate	p. 18
Laws That a Human Being Could Not Decree	p. 23
Rewards That a Human Being Could Not Promise	p. 26
Prophecies That a Human Being Could Not Predict	p. 27
Improbable and Impossible	p. 31
Playing the Odds	p. 33
Free Will and the Meaning of Life	p. 35
Who is G-d?	p. 35
The Big Question: Why?	p. 36
The Big Answer: Pleasure	p. 37
What is Spirituality?	p. 38
The Key: Free Will	p. 42
The Mission	p. 43
The Negative Inclination	p. 47
Sure, G-d Knows	p. 50
Self-Made	p. 51
The Existence of Evil	p. 52
The Soul, False Gods and Drugs	p. 52
What Exactly is the Torah?	p. 56
How Come Nobody Told Me?	p. 56
Avraham	p. 59
Instructions for Living	p. 60
Prophecy	p. 62
Written and Oral Torahs	p. 63
Additions and Subtractions	p. 65
The Mitzvot and Their Meanings	p. 66
To Life!	p. 68
Chukim	p. 69
Trading Up	p. 71
Obvious Results	p. 74
Learning Torah	p. 77
Reward, Punishment and Why Bad Things Happen to Good People	p. 79
Suffering Hurts	p. 79
My Father	p. 79
The Question Says a Lot	p. 81
Ground Rules	p. 85
Heaven and Hell	p. 89
The Customized Rule of Admission	p. 91
Resurrection of the Dead	p. 92
Reward and Punishment	p. 93
The Jewish View	p. 95
Challenges in Order to Grow	p. 97
Reincarnation	p. 99
A Real Relationship	p. 100
What Is Prayer?	p. 102
Make the Appropriate Effort	p. 104
Conclusion	p. 106
The Jew and His Society
Integrity and Interpersonal Relationships	p. 113
The Two Halves of the Whole	p. 113
Self-Love	p. 116
Be Great	p. 117
One Large Family	p. 121
Integrity	p. 123
Unflinching Honesty	p. 126
Gratitude	p. 131
Economics	p. 133
Charity	p. 136
Community	p. 138
True Wealth	p. 140
Justice	p. 141
A New Look	p. 142
Men and Women	p. 145
The Poisoned Well	p. 145
A Short History of Feminism	p. 146
Adam and Chava (Eve)	p. 157
The Real Definition of the Relationship	p. 159
Spiritual Advantage	p. 162
Tzniut	p. 164
The Synagogue	p. 170
Truth and Morality	p. 174
Absolute Truth	p. 174
Morality	p. 176
Conflict? What Conflict?	p. 180
Evolution	p. 185
Mutations	p. 189
The Genius of Creation	p. 193
Conscience	p. 197
The New Religion	p. 199
Social Darwinism	p. 204
Marriage and Intimacy	p. 207
Marriage	p. 207
Love	p. 209
Physical Relations	p. 212
The Torah's Unique Approach	p. 213
The Western View	p. 217
The Pill and the Sexual Revolution	p. 218
Abortion and the Right to Privacy	p. 220
Homosexuality	p. 222
The Separation of Church and State	p. 229
Political Correctness	p. 233
The Jews and the World
The Jews and the Nations	p. 239
Introduction	p. 239
Covenant	p. 239
The Nation of Israel	p. 244
Exile	p. 245
Assimilation and Intermarriage	p. 249
Anti-Semitism	p. 253
Amalek and the Germans	p. 260
The Modern Age	p. 268
The Really Big Picture	p. 268
Life in Exile	p. 269
Radical Changes in Europe and the Rise of Secularism	p. 270
The Siren's Call	p. 273
The Beginning of Assimilation	p. 274
The Rise of Reform	p. 277
Chasidim and Their Style of Dress	p. 280
Conservative Judaism	p. 282
An Honest Assessment	p. 283
The Land of Israel and the State of Israel	p. 290
Love of the Land	p. 290
The Meaning of the Land	p. 292
The History of the Land	p. 294
Political Zionism	p. 299
Meltdown	p. 307
The Five Rules of the Middle East "Conflict"	p. 312
The Messiah and the End of History	p. 328
Step One: The State of Israel	p. 328
The Jewish Concept of History	p. 329
Mashiach	p. 335
The End of the Exile	p. 338
Pagan or Not, Here We Come	p. 340
The Seven Noahide Laws	p. 341
A Light Unto the Nations	p. 342
A Few Last Words	p. 350
Endnotes	p. 355
Index	p. 357
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