Most Popular Books by David Weiss

In this thought-provoking book, David Weiss Halivni asserts that the act of acknowledging and accounting for inconsistencies in the Pentateuchal text is not alien to the Biblical or Rabbinic tradition and need not belie the tradition of revelation. Moreover, the author argues that through recognizing textual problems in the scriptures, as well as e

This book discusses how ancient Japanese mythology was utilized during the colonial period to justify the annexation of Korea to Japan, with special focus on the god Susanoo. Described as an ambivalent figure and wanderer between the worlds, Susanoo served as a foil to set off the sun goddess, who played an important role in the modern construction of a Japanese national identity. Susanoo inhabited a sinister otherworld, which came to be associated with colonial Korea. Imperialist ideologues were able to build on these interpretations of the Susanoo myth to depict Korea as a dreary realm at the margin of the Japanese empire that made the imperial metropole shine all the more brightly. At the same time, Susanoo was identified as the ancestor of the Korean people. Thus, the colonial subjects were ideologically incorporated into the homogeneous Japanese “family state.” The book situates Susanoo in Japan''s cultural memory and shows how the deity, while being repeatedly transformed in order to meet the religious and ideological needs of the day, continued to symbolize the margin of Japan.

"A slim, largely cerebral, yet sometimes deeply engaging autobiography by a Holocaust survivor who has become one of the greatest talmudic scholars of the postwar era ... succinct, intellectually illuminating, and sometimes surprisingly poignant." - Kirkus Reviews The words of the Talmud were the universe for David Weiss Halivni during his childhood in Sighet, in the Carpathian Mountains. He began his studies before he was five and he became famous for his erudition even before his ordination, at the age of fifteen, in 1943. But when the Nazis crushed the Jewish community of the Carpathians in 1944, he closed his Talmud. Halivni taught in the concentration camps and risked his life to save a scrap of paper from a sacred book. But adherence to the fundamentalist worldview that insists on reconciling every apparent contradiction in the text had become impossible for him. When he arrived in New York after the war, he began struggling toward the "window" of secular learning. From that synthesis emerged his original approach to critical study of the Talmudic text not only in its modern, printed form but as it was in its original form, the Oral Torah from the mouths of countless sages. Painful, beautiful, and passionate, this memoir asks: What can the Holocaust mean for persons who have devoted their lives to the love of God? At the same time it is a unique look into the world of Talmudic learning, millennia old and still vibrant.

How is it possible, after the Shoah, to declare one''s faith in the God of Israel? Breaking the Tablets is David Weiss Halivni''s eloquent and insightful response to this question. Halivni, Auschwitz survivor and one of the greatest Talmudic scholars of the past century, declares that at this time of God''s near absence, Jews can still observe the words of the Torah and pray for God to come near again. Jews must continue to study the classic texts of rabbinic Judaism but now with greater humility, recognizing that even the greatest religious leaders and thinkers interpret these texts only as mere people, prone to human error. Breaking the Tablets is important reading for anyone who feels burdened by the question of how it is possible to believe in God and practice their religion.

From the days of Plato, the problem of the efficacy and adequacy of the written word as a vehicle of human communication has challenged mankind, yet the mystery of how best to achieve clarity and exactitude of written expression has never been solved. The most repercussive instance of this universal problem has been the exegesis of the law embodied in Hebrew scripture. Peshat and Derash is the first book to trace the Jewish interpretative enterprise from a historical perspective. Applying his vast knowledge of Rabbinic materials to the long history of Jewish exegesis of both Bible and Talmud, Halivni investigates the tension that has often existed between the plain sense of the divine text (peshat) and its creative, Rabbinic interpretations (derash). Halivni addresses the theological implications of the deviation of derash from peshat and explores the differences between the ideological extreme of the religious right, which denies that Judaism has a history, and the religious left, which claims that history is all that Judaism has. A comprehensive and critical narration of the history and repercussions of Rabbinic exegesis, this analysis will interest students of legal texts, hermeneutics, and scriptural traditions, as well as anyone involved in Jewish studies.

Jeffrey L. Rubenstein offers a translation from the Hebrew of The Formation of the Babylonian Talmud by David Weiss Halivni. Halivni''s work is widely regarded as the most comprehensive scholarly examination of the processes of composition and editing of the Babylonian Talmud.

The classic and beloved song is brought to life with bright and colorful illustrations by Tim Hopgood. First recorded in 1967 by Louis Armstrong, and with sales of over one million copies, "What a Wonderful World" has become a poignant message of hope for people everywhere. Sweet and positive in its message, with bright, beautiful art, this book is sure to be a hit. Perfect for sharing!

This book contains both black and white and colour plates of Peter Fischili and David Weiss''s sculptures.

Attorney Peter Lambert lands a case to challenge his courtroom skills. Jack Boyland has been charged with robbing his business partner, and murder looms as a possibility. Complications ensue when Peter becomes romantically involved with a witness.

"This book discusses how ancient Japanese mythology was utilized during the colonial period to justify the annexation of Korea to Japan, with special focus on the god Susanoo. Described as an ambivalent figure and wanderer between the worlds, Susanoo served as a foil to set off the sun goddess, who played an important role in the modern construction of a Japanese national identity. Susanoo inhabited a sinister otherworld, which came to be associated with colonial Korea. Imperialist ideologues were able to build on these interpretations of the Susanoo myth to depict Korea as a dreary realm at the margin of the Japanese empire that made the imperial metropole shine all the more brightly. At the same time, Susanoo was identified as the ancestor of the Korean people. Thus, the colonial subjects were ideologically incorporated into the homogeneous Japanese "family state." The book situates Susanoo in Japan''s cultural memory and shows how the deity, while being repeatedly transformed in order to meet the religious and ideological needs of the day, continued to symbolize the margin of Japan."--

It''s phonics! It''s comics! It''s awesome! Perfect for early and developing readers, each paperback includes three exciting, easy-to-read stories! Exhilarating adventures, daring heroes, magic, time travel and much, much more! Each cool 24-page comic book feature three exciting, phonetically decodable stories. Developed and leveled with the help of reading specialists, these 6" x 9" paperbacks are easy to read and hard to put down! Fountas and Pinnell Guided Reading leveled! . Think you know how the story goes? Think again! Find out what REALLY happened to Goldilocks, Humpty Dumpty, and the Frog Prince... ONCE UPON A TIME!

Collision on I-75 tells an extraordinary public health story that has not been told before, and it tells it in a compelling and exciting way. It details over two decades of struggle by public health professionals, legislators, state officials, and law enforcement to compel a huge corporation to prevent deadly, suspected industrial-fog-related collisions. A couple of weeks before Christmas in 1990, nearly one hundred vehicles collided on Interstate-75 northeast of Chattanooga in an unusually dense fog bank, leaving 12 dead and dozens seriously injured. Within days of the collision, Attorney Douglas Fees was contacted by Evelyn Piper whose son, Craig, had burned to death in the cab of his truck on I-75. Fees became the lead attorney in the case, eventually representing nearly all the accident victims who sought legal assistance. It became clear to Fees that the cause of the tragedy was an artificial industrial fog that originated at the Bowater pulp mill a couple of miles up the valley from where the collision occurred. Bowater was the largest pulp mill in the United States, and the largest employer and landowner in Tennessee. This is the true story of a tragic incident involving large numbers of people, corporate negligence, faulty state regulation, and a risk-taking attorney in pursuit of uncertain compensation for the victims and himself.

An eminent authority on the Talmud offers here an analysis of classical rabbinic texts that illuminates the nature of Midrash, Mishnah, and Gemara, and highlights a fundamental characteristic of Jewish law. Halivini chronicles the persistence of justificatory Midrash, the culmination of its development in Gemara in the fifth and sixth centuries, and its continuation down through the ages.