A decade in the making, The Observant Life: Ritual and Ethics in Contemporary Judaism distills a century of thoughtful inquiry into the most profound of all Jewish questions: how to suffuse life with timeless values, how to remain loyal to the covenant that binds the Jewish people and the God of Israel and how to embrace the law while retaining an abiding sense of fidelity to one s own moral path in life. Written in a multiplicity of voices inspired by a common vision, the authors of The Observant Life explain what it means in the ultimate sense to live a Jewish life, and to live it honestly, morally, and purposefully. The work is a comprehensive guide to life in the 21st Century. Chapters on Jewish rituals including prayer, holiday, life cycle events and Jewish ethics such as citizenship, slander, taxes, wills, the courts, the work place and so much more . . . The Observant Life explains the way halakhah (Jewish law) impacts on the way Jews actually live in the world and interact with the world. It will serve as an excellent guide for anyone seeking to create a course devoted to contemporary Conservative theology and belief. The Observant Life is hailed by Jonathan D. Sarna, the Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History at Brandeis University. With this volume, the Conservative movement spells out in unprecedented detail and wondrously accessible form how to live the observant life . Combining the timeless teachings of Judaism on a range of expected and unexpected topics, with a keen sensitivity to ethics and to the challenges of modern Jewish life, this guide provides a comprehensive and up-to-date answer to an age-old question: what does it mean to be a good Jew?
