You're not idiot, of course. You can serve up a mean s'il vous plait in a French bistro, live la vida loca for a night of margaritas, and manage a sayonara! after sushi, sake, and karaoke. But when it comes to throwing around a little Yiddish, you feel like a total nebbish! Don't throw your hands in a helpless "Oy, vey" just yet! The Complete Idiot's Guide to Learning Yiddish is your guide to this unique tongue, whether you're tackling rules of grammar or just throwing around some key phrases so you sound a little less goyish. In this Complete Idiot's Guide you get a fascinating explanation of how and why Yiddish developed, an easy introduction to the Yiddish alphabet, as well as the distinctive sound of Yiddish, and all the Yiddish you'll need for communicating with family and friends or for bargain-hunting on New York's Lower East Side. This book contains a treasury of Yiddish words and phrases for every occasion.

Complete Idiot's Guide to Learning Yiddish

History

Blech, Rabbi Benjamin

World

Eyewitness to Jewish History

Come face-to-face with the major figures and events in Jewish history "It's been a long and glorious-and sometimes tragic-4,000-year run for the Jewish people. That magnificent panorama is on display in Eyewitness to Jewish History. This, however, is no ordinary history book. Instead of a historian telling the story, Rabbi Benjamin Blech . . . allows the actors in this long-running play to speak for themselves." -Washington Jewish Week Prepare to feel the joy and pain of the Jewish experience as you never have before. In Eyewitness to Jewish History, Rabbi Benjamin Blech takes you aboard a literary time machine in which you'll do more than read about major events in Jewish history-you'll witness them, take part in them, and feel their deep and lasting impact. Featuring hundreds of excerpts from diaries, journals, letters, newspaper accounts, public testimony, official communications, and ancient documents such as the Torah, this unique chronicle provides memorable snapshots of daily life from biblical times to the modern day. These vivid and passionately written accounts, arranged in chronological order, transport you across space and time to witness crucial events from the birth of the Jewish people and the building and destruction of the two Temples to the Golden Age of Spain, the horrors of the Holocaust, the founding of the modern State of Israel, and important steps in the ongoing effort to achieve peace in the Middle East.

Biographies & Memoirs

Community & Culture

wiley

The hurried pace of our lives and the all-consuming demands of our daily activities often leave us unable to pursue answers to the profound questions that define our existence and purpose on Earth. This book offers an exploration into some of these fundamental questions: How can we live lives that are spiritually ennobling and personally fulfilling? How can we be blessed with achievements that leave the world enriched by our presence? Rabbi Blech’s observations are informed by decades of study and personal wisdom, yet distilled to a few pages each. As Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once observed, “a moment’s insight is sometimes worth a life’s experience.”

Insights: Concise and thoughtful Jewish wisdom

Self-Help

Personal Transformation

Sinai Live Books

Your Name Is Your Blessing: Hebrew Names and Their Mystical Meanings represents the first time that the secrets of the Kabbalah, the mystical teachings of Jewish spiritual leaders, were introduced to the general public for the purpose of explaining the profound meanings hidden in every person’s name. Your Name is Your Blessing remains alone in its application of Kabbalistic teachings to the choice and understanding of one’s name. A name tells a story that captures a person’s character and personality, and in Your Name Is Your Blessing, Benjamin and Elaine Blech provide a guide to understanding what your name says about you and your life. The Blechs give the gematria—the total numerical value of a word, which is the starting point for kabbalistic analysis—for hundreds of names, as well as Biblical words, phrases, and blessings associated with this numerical value.

Your Name Is Your Blessing: Hebrew Names and Their Mystical Meanings

Reference

Blech, Elaine

Encyclopedias & Subject Guides

Jason Aronson, Inc.

Judaism is primarily a religion of actions rather than beliefs. When the Jewish people accepted God's covenant, they committed themselves first to obedience and practice, and then to striving to understand the message implicit in the Torah. In Understanding Judaism: The Basics of Deed and Creed, a perfect textbook for independent and classroom study, Rabbi Benjamin Blech presents a comprehensive explication of the Jewish faith. What does it meant to be a Jew? How does religion affect the ways in which Jewish people think and act? What are the basic concepts of Judaism? This volume answers these vital questions.

Understanding Judaism: The Basics of Deed and Creed

Religion & Spirituality

Judaism

Ever since the earliest times, Jewish scholars have looked to the Hebrew language as a source of holiness and a wellspring of wisdom. Both letters and words, it has always been assumed, they have hidden messages and secrets to be sought after, as if we are opening a shell to extract the fruit. Rabbi Benjamin Blech has gathered many examples of the meanings hidden within Hebrew words and has explained them to the modern reader_even those who do not know any Hebrew. The result is both a fine illustration of this activity as well as a book rich with Jewish insight and teachings.

The Secrets of Hebrew Words

One of the Guides' most popular religion titles, Understanding Judaism covers: € The major denominations of Judaism and how modern times have changed them € A history, from ancient times to current events € Threats to the religion; Israel and anti-Zionism; anti-Semitism € New concerns for the 21st century, and much more. Understanding Judaism, its roots, its beliefs, and its traditions is crucial to understanding its people and its leaders. And, in light of current world events, this understanding is more important now than ever before

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Judaism. 2nd Edition

Alpha

New for Passover 2017, the best-selling author of several books on Judaism now shares his insights into Seder night with the world. Redemption, Then and Now features the complete Haggada text alongside Rabbi Blech's fascinating commentary and essays that explore the themes of the Passover holiday.Like many Haggadot under the Koren publishing house, this edition is double-sided: the Hebrew side comprises the Koren Haggada and translation, accompanied by the author's commentary; the English side includes 23 short essays on the themes of Pesah, the Seder, and its various rituals. The commentary and essays are noted for their easy, accessible style, and the author's great love for gematria and word play, featured throughout.Redemption, Then and Now: Pesah Haggada is published by Menorah Books, an imprint of Koren Publishers Jerusalem. Menorah is your Koren destination for quality fiction and non-fiction that warm the Jewish heart, appeal to the soul, and inspire thoughtful reflection in areas of Jewish spirituality and religious experience, for both adults and young readers.

Redemption, Then and Now: Pesah Haggada with Essays and Commentary by Rabbi Benjamin Blech

Menorah

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Books by Blech, Rabbi Benjamin