Discover how to make virtually any moment in your day a significant part of a meaningful Jewish life.
As we have discovered, and as our sages have long known, there is no experience in the life of a Jew that cannot be marked in Jewish ways…. The book you hold in your hands is the result of the kinds of rituals we have sculpted together over the years. It is not a prayer book or even a compendium of obligatory Jewish rituals. Rather, it is a source for all to use creatively.
—from the Introduction
Decades of experience by CLAL—The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership in connecting spirituality with daily life come together in this one comprehensive handbook. In these pages, you have access to teachings that can help to sanctify almost any moment in your day.
Offering a meditation, a blessing, a profound Jewish teaching, and a ritual for more than one hundred diverse everyday events and holidays, this guide includes sacred practices for:
- Lighting Shabbat candles
- Blessing your parents
- Running a marathon
- Visiting the sick
- Building a sukkah
- Seeing natural wonders
- Moving into a new home
- Saying goodbye to a beloved pet
- Making a shiva call
- Traveling … and much more
Drawing from both traditional and contemporary sources, The Book of Jewish Sacred Practices will show you how to make more holy any moment in your daily life.
Table of Content
Acknowledgments viii
About the Contributors ix
Preface xi
Introduction: Renew the Old, Sanctify the New 1
EVERYDAY LIFE
Waking Up 8
Praying for What We Need 10
Washing Our Hands 14
Eating 16
Making a List of Things to Do 18
Preparing a Family Recipe 22
Going to Work 24
Organizing Your Room, Your House, Your
Office, Your Affairs, Your Life 28
Traveling 30
Keeping a Sense of Home When You Are on the Road 32
Spending Time with Family 34
Having Guests of Different Faiths at Our Table 38
Bringing Home a New Pet 40
Gardening 42
PARENTS AND CHILDREN
Hoping to Have a Child 46
Celebrating Pregnancy 50
Welcoming a New Child 54
Nursing 58
Guiding Our Growing Children toward Independence 60
Preparing for Your Bar or Bat Mitzvah 62
Sending a Child to College 66
Blessing One’s Parents 68
RELATIONSHIPS
Falling in Love 72
Celebrating the Difference You’ve Made in Each Other’s Lives 74
Ending a Relationship 78
Healing Relationships 82
Receiving Guests 86
Blessing One’s Hosts 90
SPECIAL MOMENTS
Celebrating a Private Miracle 94
Celebrating Birthdays 96
Hearing Good News 98
Being a Guest at a Wedding 100
Seeing Natural Wonders 102
Standing at a Crossroads 106
Running a Marathon 110
Noticing a Change in the Seasons 114
Moving into a New House 118
Joining a Synagogue 122
Taking on a Jewish Name 126
Wearing a Tallit for the First Time 130
Retiring 132
HEALING
Praying for Healing 136
Visiting the Sick 138
Finding Hope in a Time of Illness 142
Treating a Patient 144
Starting to Work Out 148
Quitting Smoking 152
Creating Opportunities, Opening Doors 154
LIFE AND DEATH
Hearing of a Death 158
Making a Shiva Call 160
Remembering the Loss of Someone You Love 164
Moving Out of Mourning and Back into Life 168
Writing an Ethical Will 170
Saying Good-Bye to a Beloved Pet 172
LEARNING
Starting School 176
Beginning to Study Torah for the First Time 178
Studying Sacred Texts Each Day 182
Finishing an Important Book 186
Honoring a Teacher at the End of the Year 188
LEADERSHIP AND COMMUNAL LIFE
Building a Pluralist Jewish Community 192
Examining Ourselves as Leaders 196
Taking on New Responsibilities 200
Taking on a Volunteer Role 204
Holding a Meeting 208
Installing a New Communal Leader 210
Celebrating a New Community Building 214
Naming a Community 218
I
SRAEL
Going to Israel 222
Visiting Jerusalem 226
Sending Your Child to Israel 230
Returning from Israel 232
TZEDAKAH
Preparing Ourselves to Do Sacred Work 236
Donating Food and Clothing 240
Soliciting Support 242
Receiving Requests for Contributions 246
Making a Contribution 248
Dedicating a Wall or Plaque that Honors Donors 250
Wearing Your Commitments 254
HOLY DAYS
Shabbat 257
Lighting Shabbat Candles 258
Blessing Children on Shabbat 260
Rosh Hashanah 263
Changing Your Fate for the Coming Year 264
Preparing Your Prayers for the High Holidays 268
Casting Away Our Sins (Tashlikh) 272
Hearing the Shofar 276
Yom Kippur 279
Fasting 280
Sukkot 283
Building a Sukkah 284
Receiving Sukkah Guests 286
Waving the Lulav and Etrog 290
Taking Down a Sukkah 294
Simchat Torah 297
Dancing with the Torah 298
Chanukah 301
Lighting the Menorah 302
Rededicating Your Home on Chanukah 306
Purim 309
Preparing Mishloach Manot 310
Passover 313
Removing Chametz from One’s Home 314
Searching for the Afikoman (for Grown-Ups) 318
Counting the Omer 322
Yom Ha’atzma’ut 325
Celebrating Yom Ha’atzma’ut, Israel’s Independence Day 326
Shavuot 329
Studying Together on Shavuot 330
Rosh Chodesh 333
Celebrating Rosh Chodesh 334
About the Translations 337
About CLAL—The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership 338
About the author
Vanessa L. Ochs is the Ida and Nathan Kolodiz Director of Jewish Studies and associate professor of religious studies at the University of Virginia. A recipient of a fellowship in creative writing from the National Endowment of the Arts, she is author of several books, coauthor of The Jewish Dream Book: The Key to Opening the Inner Meaning of Your Dreams, and co-editor, with Rabbi Irwin Kula, of The Book of Jewish Sacred Practices: CLAL’s Guide to Everyday & Holiday Rituals & Blessings (both Jewish Lights).Vanessa L. Ochs is available to speak on the following topics:Jewish Ritual Innovation Haggadah Jewish Feminism What Makes a Jewish Home Jewish Raising Kids with Jewish ValuesMore ebooks from the same author(s) / Editor
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