The Jewish Book of Why
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Narrated by:
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Eli Wallach
About this listen
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Neville Goddard: The Complete Reader, Includes all 10 of Neville Goddard's Spiritual Classics: At Your Command, Awakened Imagination & the Search, Feeling is the Secret, Freedom For All, Out of This World, Prayer, The Art of Believing, Seedtime and Harvest, The Law and The Promise, The Power of Awareness, and Your Faith Is Your Fortune. If you are familiar with the great American mystic, this will be a goldmine of wisdom in one book. If you are new to his work, you are in for a spiritual journey.
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Hidden Gem
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Super Attractor
- Methods for Manifesting a Life Beyond Your Wildest Dreams
- By: Gabrielle Bernstein
- Narrated by: Gabrielle Bernstein
- Length: 6 hrs and 25 mins
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Ready to turn what you want into the life that you live? The number-one New York Times best-selling author of The Universe Has Your Back shows you how. In Super Attractor, Gabrielle Bernstein lays out the essential methods for manifesting a life beyond your wildest dreams. This book is a journey of remembering where your true power lies. You'll learn how to co-create the life you want. You'll accept that life can flow, that attracting is fun, and that you don't have to work so hard to get what you want.
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Not a huge fan
- By Pamela H on 09-30-19
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The Pagan World
- Ancient Religions Before Christianity
- By: Hans-Friedrich Mueller, The Great Courses
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In The Pagan World: Ancient Religions Before Christianity, you will meet the fascinating, ancient polytheistic peoples of the Mediterranean and beyond, their many gods and goddesses, and their public and private worship practices, as you come to appreciate the foundational role religion played in their lives. Professor Hans-Friedrich Mueller, of Union College in Schenectady, New York, makes this ancient world come alive in 24 lectures with captivating stories of intrigue, artifacts, illustrations, and detailed descriptions from primary sources of intriguing personalities.
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The Pagan World
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Medieval Myths & Mysteries
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- Narrated by: Dorsey Armstrong
- Length: 5 hrs and 6 mins
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The 10 enlightening (and often humorous) lectures of Medieval Myths and Mysteries will show you how far from the “dark” times of legend these centuries were. Uncover the facts about the Knights Templar. Reveal the truth behind the tales of legendary creatures like the Questing Beast and the unicorn. Trace the events of the Black Death and the ways it altered the world in its wake, and much more. With Professor Armstrong, you will dig deep into the ways that later generations reshaped the narrative of the medieval years and perpetuated the myths.
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Interesting, but centered on Britain
- By Ximena on 04-10-20
By: Dorsey Armstrong, and others
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What listeners say about The Jewish Book of Why
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Tammy
- 09-25-24
how much information was in this book.
The historical explanations and examples given in a very interesting way. Not dry at all.
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- Yolanda
- 05-27-24
The answers to my many questions were answered.
I enjoyed the narration by Eli Wallach. I have watched every movie and TV show he was in since childhood. May he rest in peace.
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- Heather
- 05-05-18
The Jewish Religion
Absolutely loved it! I haven't always wanted to learn more about the Jewish religion. Now I have.
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- Anonymous User
- 05-27-23
Good book
This book answers many questions that even Jewish people may not know! I didn’t! Looking forward to version two.
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Overall
- Jenine
- 02-08-08
Book of Why?
If you're a considering conversion, or questioning the reasons for certain traditions, this is a wonderful book. It's broken down into very thoroughly discussed sections such as marriage, kosher diet, and Jewish holidays.
Some topics are covered multiple times in different sections, which is a bit repetitive, but overall it's a very informative listen.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Becca Eller
- 05-19-23
A darn good time!
I’m not Jewish, but I have a lot of questions! This book was a great read full of interesting facts. The narrator has a very soothing voice, I accidentally nodded off at one point… but not because I was bored. I highly recommend this book!
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- Joe
- 06-03-12
Not An Auditory Experience
As you can tell from my rating, you have to WANT to read this book. It certainly doesn't make it easy on you. To start, the title of the book is PERFECT. This is a book that examines why certain customs are employed, both historically and philosophically. This is the entire structure of the book, no narration, no ironic touches, no chapters or arguments on the modernity of Judaism. The chapters delineate the subject matter (e.g. marriage, death, high holy days) and then ask a question about a custom and provide an answer. This book assumes you know of the custom beforehand and merely provides an answer to the same question, "Why?"
So, the bad first. Then I'll get to the good. That structure, Q&A is NOT good for an audio book. It's dry and pedantic and the pace is almost deadening. The reader is also not very good at keeping the interest level up. It's not his fault, too much, this book was written for print and without any paragraphs or narration or discussion there is little for him to grab ahold of and make his own. That said, his reading forces you to focus more than you would with other books.
Second, this book would be better if it was also an examination of custom, if there was a thread or a through-line that connected things, if the author would give us any sense of his history or his research or the strange history of customs in a religion this old. We get no personality, however. This printed book was meant to be purchased and referenced by Jewish households from time to time. Not read. So an audio book is a bad way of looking at this particular material. I can't say that enough. Referenced, not read.
But the good part. The actual information is solid and informative. This book does not discriminate for or against those who perform these customs and those who don't. It relates, then to the Conservatives just as it does to the Reform. Most of these customs are performed without any knowledge of where they originated (just like most customs in most religions) and this book provides that insight in a way I haven't found anywhere else.
I would buy this book as a paperback copy and keep it on my bookshelf. But if I had it to do over again, I would not buy the audio book.
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6 people found this helpful
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- ElleJayBee
- 12-26-22
Excellent source of general information
I really appreciated this information.
It is well read/ spoken. This was an added bonus. I totally love the film work and speaking of Eli Wallach, (loved several of his movies), Regarding the book content it self: The topics seem random and or disjointed at times (but that may not be so, my perception). I would like labelled chapters so I can select preferred topics for specific reference questions. No ruling is given on the merits of any practice just the origin or rationale for the rituals or traditions ( In many cases I wish it was a little judgy but I understand the respect with which the information is handled. Listening feels run on at times (mid chapter subheadings) and abrupt at others (Klezmer jazzy music between chapters is jarring to me). I would prefer it to be totally without the charming uptempo Klezmer music between each chapter. Too cutesy and very disruptive to the listener. I personally prefer to listen to spoken monotone Ancient history books at a slow pace with a sleep timer to put me to sleep. I like information but the monotone type talkie texts seem to knock me out well. the Klezmer music feels like someone turning on the lights. It is disruptive compared to the melodic voice work of this piece. I dis not have access to a Judaic education (although it is important to me to learn issues pertaining to my heritage, my family is mostly reform) and I am grateful for the spoken word and the information. If I had to sit and read this it would most likely wind up on a shelf. This is a special book. I really like it. If it were daytime the music would be fine. There are virtually no issues with this book. Most of this is my preference. Great book overall. I will recommend it to family members or curious friends.
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- Dr. Martha Spikes
- 03-09-23
Informative and well read.
This book, even as a Jew, was informative and Eli Wallach is well spoken and easy to follow. Loved it!
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- Scott
- 04-27-16
Terrible production ruins good book
The book was much better read than heard, at least in this recording. I read the book many years ago and was looking forward to hearing it. Eli Wallach is a terrific actor and I thought this would be the perfect audiobook. I was way wrong. The producers of this audiobook chose to create a gimmicky, kitschy " recording. It was well intended I am sure but it came out like a parody. I could have dealt with the tongue in cheek reading. It was the music that killed it for me. This is the first of hundreds of audiobooks that I literally could not listen to anymore. Relaxing and listening to the book, I am jolted every random once in a while by some mockery of Yiddish folk music or klezmer. It is high, piercing notes stuck in between every section. Because a section might be just a few paragraphs, it is way too often. I highly recommend you read this book but I would pass on this audiobook production. I sincerely hope this book is re-produced for audio by someone who has a better track record. A good reader without gimmicks would dignify this book instead of demean it.
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