A Halachic Guide

Guide to Halachos

The Making of a Minhag

"The Jewish year is filled with all types of minhagim. Did you ever wonder what the source, requirement, and obligation of these classical seasonal customs are? For example: Do you have to dip an apple in honey on Rosh HaShanah? What is the source and reason for masquerading on Purim? What is Lag BaOmer all about? How much do I really have to clean for Pesach? What are the limits on traveling during the Nine Days? In The Making of a Minhag, these questions and many more are addressed clearly and thoroughly with extensive footnotes, revealing the process and development of Jewish customs. In addition, it provides a fundamental understanding of the definition, power, creation, changeability and abolishment of personal, family, and communal customs. Learn about the beauty, richness, and majesty of minhagim we are privileged to practice throughout the year and gain a greater appreciation and deeper feeling toward this important part of our lives."--Cover page 4.

A Concise Guide to Halakha

The Erez Series, A Concise Guide to Halakha is a brief, modern presentation of practical halakha (Jewish law). Although it does not presume to be a book of authoritative halakhic rulings, it nevertheless offers a survey of halakha as it is practiced today. Accordingly, it was written not as a commentary on other books but as an independent work, written in a modern style, in a language we hope will be clear and straightforward for every reader. Since we have striven to make the book current, we have dealt as much as possible with contemporary problems, while also attempting to include at least a summary of the various customs practiced by the different ethnic communities inside and outside of contemporary Israel. Due to the great scope of Jewish law, one small volume could not possibly cover all the important issues, and certainly it could not touch upon all the details and nuances that pertain to the subjects at hand. For this reason, the book is not a substitute either for halakhic works that are defined as such or for those specific problems and questions that should be presented to scholars and rabbis with whom one can speak in person. Features: - Blessings and prayers in Hebrew, English, and transliteration - Step-by-step instructions - Clarifying illustrations - Ashkenazic and Sephardic traditions - Glossary of Hebrew terms - Full integration with other Concise Guide volumes The Erez Series is comprised of the Concise Guides to the full gamut of Jewish thought, from the Torah to modern halakha (Jewish law) and Mahshava (Jewish philosophy). The late Rabbi Adin Even Israel Steinsaltz zt"l was one of the leading thinkers of the modern age and the most prolific author of Jewish thought and commentary since the middle ages. The Erez Series distills the essence of 4 of the principal schools of the Jewish tradition Torah, the Sages (Hazal), Halakha, and Mahshava as a tool for review or introduction to the world of Jewish thought.