About - Basic Books of Judaism - 4 CD Series

Judaism is a religion and culture of books. Beginning with the Bible, Jews revere books and produce books as no other people. Basic Books of Judaism by Rabbi Berel Wein traces the development of Jewish life over the ages, through a review of the basic books of Judaism. The history of each of these books is really the story of Jewish life and the story of the Jews- as well as to confirm the outside world's view of the Jews as "the people of the book."


Features - Basic Books of Judaism - 4 CD Series

Individual Lectures in the Series:

• The Bible - No book in the history of mankind has had as widespread and profound an influence as the Jewish Bible, the Tanach. But the study of Torah raises many philosophical questions, seen in the vast number of commentaries that exist. When should Torah be understood literally and when allegorically? What is the difference between the "Mishna Torah" of Devarim and the rest of the Chumash? How does Moshe's prophecy differ with that of the later prophets? Analyzing the commentaries of such Torah giants as the Saadya Gaon, the Rambam, Rabbi Shimshon Rafoel Hirsch, the Malbim and others, Rabbi Wein pieces together some of the puzzles within this awesome "book of books."
  
  
• The Mishna - Though the Oral Tradition existed amongst the Jewish people since the times of Moshe Rabbeinu, it was not put into written form until the destruction of the Second Temple. The Men of the Great Assembly, the Jewish leaders of the time, then codified the Mishna which became a unifying force necessary for Jewish survival in the exile. Yet the act of writing down the Oral Tradition raised serious halachic questions. Rabbi Wein explains how the Rabbis reconciled these problems as well as delineating the Mishna's stages of development. Rabbi Wein gives a thorough understanding of Jewish Law within the Mishna and Jewish life under foreign rule that will leave the reader amazed at the far-sightedness of the Rabbis.
  
  
• The Talmud - For better or worse, the Jews have been called "the people of the book," and the description is more apt for the Talmud than the Bible. The Talmud in fact looms so large in Jewish life that Rabbi Wein posits that our lives are very close to those of the Talmud's original codifiers. Hear about the dynamic personalities of Chazal, the "founding fathers" of the Talmud and learn the philosophical and ethical questions they pondered.
  
  
• The Code of Jewish Law - In contrast to the Talmud, whose discussions are often esoteric, the Code of Jewish Law gives us "the bottom line" on correct Jewish behavior. Rabbi Wein unravels the complex scholarship that went into codifying the Shulchan Aruch, from the halachic works that preceded it, such as Maimonides' Yad HaChazakah and the Tor's Orach Chaim, to the works it later spawned, such as the Chofetz Chaim's Mishna Berura. Each has withstood the test of time and each wielded such authority that even today, any compendium of Jewish Law begins with them.

Check out these titles! People who bought Basic Books of Judaism - 4 CD Series also bought:

     Crash Course in Jewish History - 5 CD Series 5,000 Years in 5 Hours - Audio Format - By: Rabbi Berel Wein!
     2000 Years of Jewish-Christian Relations - 6 CDs The Origins and Development of Jewish/Christian Relations over the Millennia
     History of Modern Palestine - 3 Audio CDs The True Roots of the Ongoing Struggle
     Bible History - 30 Audio CD Set - Or Individually History as told by the Bible and its Relevance in Our Times - Creation until 900 BCE
     Basic Beliefs of Judaism - 3 Audio CD Series Explores Fundamental Jewish Beliefs - What it means to be Jewish - 3 CD Series

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