In Fate And Destiny: From The Holocaust To The State Of Israel, Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik presents an extended, informative, insightful, inspiring theological meditation on the Holocaust and the rise of the State of Israel; a profound examination of the Jewish "covenant of faith"; and the "covenant of fate and destiny" which links all Jews, whether they be religious, irreligious, or non-religious. This covenant of faith manifests itself in shared circumstances, shared responsibility, and shared activity. Fate is thrust upon the Jews, while destiny is freely chose by the individual Jew and the Jewish people by adopting a Torah lifestyle thereby possessing both significance and purpose. Fate And Destiny is an impressive presentation and a highly recommended addition to Judaic Studies reading lists and library collections.

Joseph Privitera is trained in romance languages and has been a musician, salon photographer, university professor, and U.S. Foreign Service Officer. The author of a dozen books, his gift of language and his knack for imagery makes his poetry as memorable as it is unique. The Womb: The womb,/Man's link with the past,/The far, far past,/When human life began./The Womb/Ties generation to generation,/Bad lot to bad lot,/Good lot to good./Solomon knew this/When he decreed that/One is a Jew only/When the womb is Jewish./The womb melds races/And keeps them apart./It fosters beauty and good,/Ugliness and evil, too./It holds the seed/And cuddles it into life,/New life tied to the past,/The distant, far-off past./The seed lies fallow/Outside the womb./But once within,/It forms a chain/From Past to Present to Future/And on and on and on/ad in-fin-ni-tum.

To start off, let me first say that in general, I like the whole series of Dover Children's Thrift Classics Fairy Tales. Filled with murder and betrayal, this book is questionably appropriate for young children, though it does leave behind some important morals.

A beautifully produced (and large size) history/reference of FDR. It gives a solid general overview of his life and career, but the best feature has to be the large photos throughout (be sure to consider getting the more sturdy hardbound edition)...

I found out about Akhmatova when I read Jane Kenyon's translations (One Hundred White Daffodils). This audio cassette is one of the best productions I've heard. The voices (Christopher Reeves is of course wonderful) are authentic and it is like seeing a play on stage. Her story is fascinating and for all her suffering, she continues to stay loyal to her love of her country and to love. Her poetry is so beautiful. You'll love this cassette & Anna.

This compact volume makes a good read and a great gift to any thinking person. A series of transcribed lectures, Fearless Speech introduces the notion of parrhesia - roughly "telling of the unvarnished truth" - as it has developed from Greek thought onwards. Foucault, acting here as the master historian of ideas, is precise and erudite, his language is clear, and his story inspires. The discussion begins with the origins of the word in early Greek thought and its use by Euripides in tragedy, and then moves on to discuss the place of parrhesia in democratic institutions, and ultimately its practices and its games.

Parrhesia is a type of speech that is neither rhetoric nor dialectic, though it has historically occupied an important space among both - forming perhaps a trialectic. Parrhesia is a species of truth that mandates its own telling, in a quasi-spiritual fashion if need be: the parrhesiastes, or truth-teller, is one who puts him- or herself at considerable risk, including the risk of death, with his or her words. It can easily be seen that parrhesia is an essential antecedent to criticism and critical theory, but it is also ubiquitous in many forms of discourse. The Jeremiads of prophetic speech, the jokes of court jesters, Che's formative travelogues around South America, Taussig's defacing messages to the academy, and the best-selling literature of Rushdie that was in the 1990s so ill-received by the Muslim community - all of these are examples of this powerful discourse-form at work and play.

I first ran across the term in Arpad Szakolczai's excellent volume on Weber and Foucault, "Parallel Life-Works." After reading FS, I was frankly amazed that the idea is not more widely discussed in university rhetoric classes. The concept is extremely fruitful, first of all, for anyone interested in rhetoric, dialectic, philosophy, and law. Moreover, for anyone studying Foucault's life or epistemic universe (orders of discourse, manifestation, dispositifs, and so on), parrhesia needs to be on the list of terms. For those interested in neo-Enlightenment thinkiers like Habermas and the communicative ethics thinkers like Benhabib and Miller, Rorty and the pragmatists, or the large and diverse group of scholars studying ideology (such as Teun van Dijk) within Critical Discouse Analysis, it's also a very worthwhile read.

Most of all, though, the book shows everyone - and not just the intellectual - that parrhesia needs to be incorporated within our everyday modes of thinking and speaking. To what extent are "we" speaking, and to what extent is ideology speaking through us? What power does our speech reproduce, and what might it transform? Is our speech emancipatory? Does it contribute to the complexity of thought? Does it leave more questions open than closed? Do we break new ground, or just re-hash the useless play of words? This is a book that will fuel the mind and inspire questions like these like few others I've recently read. If you're tired of reading about the "end of history" and post-post-everything thought, try this slim volume. Highly recommended.

It is most surprising to me that a book which has been on the market for such a length of time has yet to receive a review in this location. When one of the Church's premier theologians writes as profoundly as this concerning a source of great confusion among Catholics today, we should surely pay attention.

Cardinal Ratzinger returns us to something that is very basic where the Mass is concerned. It is first and foremost a sacrifice which expresses a reality with which Catholics are required to come to grips for as the Cardinal, himself says, "Its price was the death of Christ himself."

If there is confusion in the Eucharistic Liturgy today, and I believe that the now "famous poll" bears this out, then this little tome is the perfect antidote to begin to set things aright. The author combines theological expertise and a profound depth of spirituality before which one can only stand in awe.

This should be madatory reading for every liturgist and musician in the Church today.

For a book to begin by grabbing you in the first few pages and then keep up that pace, gotta be some writer. I will be watching for more books from this author

This is one of the best sttories I havde ever read. It is about a Jewish community in rural Russia trying to keep their traditional way of life durring thee russian revolution. I think the characters are very realistic and I think this story is one of the most imaginative books in the world. I esspecially like the way Tevye makes up quotaations from the Bible in order to teach his children a lesson. I also find the way the entire town of Anatevka acts. In short, i hearttilly recomend this book to anyone who likes a good story that is funny and an exiting read.