- Berel Wein
Rabbi Berel Wein,the founder and director of The Destiny Foundation since 1996, has, for over 25 years, been identified with the popularization of Jewish history through world-wide lectures, his more than 1,000 audiotapes, books, seminars, educational tours and, most recently, dramatic and documentary films. Rabbi Wein is a graduate of the Hebrew Theological College and Roosevelt College in Chicago. - Jacob Neusner
Jacob Neusner (born July 28, 1932, Hartford, Connecticut) is an academic scholar of Judaism - Karen Armstrong
Karen Armstrong (b. November 14 1944 in Wildmoor, Worcestershire, England) is an author who writes on Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Buddhism. Armstrong is a former nun, now a "freelance monotheist". She has advanced the theory that fundamentalist religion is a response to and product of modern culture. She was born into a family with Irish roots who after her birth moved to Bromsgrove and later to Birmingham. - Abraham J. Twerski
Rabbi Dr. Abraham J. Twerski is a well known American Hasidic Rabbi of Chernobiler descent and psychiatrist. His professional specialty is in substance abuse, and he founded the Gateway Rehabilitation Center, Pittsburgh. He is a son of the late Hornosteipler Rebbe of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He writes extensively on Judaism and self-help topics, including a book with Snoopy cartoons, drawn by Charles Schultz to explain human interaction and behavior. - N. T. Wright
Nicholas Thomas "Tom" Wright (b. 1 December 1948) is the Bishop of Durham in the Church of England and a leading British New Testament scholar. His academic work has always been published under the name N.T. Wright. He is generally perceived as coming from a moderately evangelical perspective. He is associated with the so-called Third Quest for the Historical Jesus and the New Perspective on Paul, … - Alan Dershowitz
Alan Morton Dershowitz (born September 1, 1938) is an American political figure and criminal law professor at Harvard Law School known for his extensive published works, career as an attorney in several high-profile law cases, and commentary on the Arab-Israeli conflict. He has spent most of his career at Harvard Law School, where, at the age of 28, he became the youngest full professor in the history of Harvard, … - Woody Allen
Woody Allen is a three-time Academy Award-winning American film director, writer, actor, jazz musician, comedian, and playwright. His large body of work and cerebral film style, mixing satire, wit and humor, have made him one of the most respected and prolific filmmakers in the modern era. Allen writes and directs his movies and has also acted in the majority of them. For inspiration, Allen draws heavily on literature, philosophy, psychology, Judaism, … - Aryeh Kaplan
Aryeh Kaplan was a noted American Orthodox rabbi and author, who had a background in both physics and Judaism. He is widely viewed as a prolific and original teacher; his work ranged from studies of the Torah, Talmud and works of mysticism to outreach and philosophy. - Isla Fisher
Isla Lang Fisher is an Australian actress and author. Fisher was born in Muscat, Oman to Scottish Presbyterian parents, and now resides in Los Angeles with her fiance, English comedian Sacha ..... - Tovia Singer
Tovia Singer (b. 1965) is the host of The Tovia Singer Show, a radio show that was launched in 2002, as well as a public lecturer who devotes his time to countering missionary work undertaken by such messianic organizations as Jews for Jesus. In that capacity he heads Outreach Judaism, which aims to provide educational resources to individuals targeted for conversion by missionary groups. - Love Israel
Love Israel (birth name Paul Erdman) is the leader of the hippie commune commonly known as the Love Family, a spiritual intentional community that was considered a cult by its critics. The Love Family had its beginnings on Queen Anne Hill in Seattle. In later years its center was on its 260-acre ranch in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains near Arlington, Washington. The group is currently located in Bothell, Washington. - Vilna Gaon
The Vilna Gaon (April 23, 1720 - October 9, 1797) was a prominent rabbi, Talmud scholar, and Kabbalist. Born Elijah (Eliyahu) ben Shlomo Zalman, he is commonly referred to in Hebrew as "ha'Gaon ha'Chasid mi'Vilna", meaning "the saintly genius from Vilna", or in similar forms (Gaon of Vilna, Gaon mi Vilno, or Vilna Gaon), and as "the Gra" (a Hebrew acronym of "Gaon Rabbi Eliyahu"). - Israel Shahak
Israel Shahak (April 28, 1933 - July 2, 2001) was a Polish-born Israeli Professor of Chemistry at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the former president of the Israeli League for Human and Civil Rights, and an outspoken critic of the Israeli government and of Israeli society in general. Shahak's writings on Judaism have been the source of considerable controversy - Onkelos
Onkelos is the name of a famous convert to Judaism in Talmudic times (c.35-120 CE). He is considered to be the author of the famous Targum Onkelos (c.110 CE). - Natalie Portman
Natalie Portman, born Natalie Hershlag on June 9, 1981, in Jerusalem, Israel is a Golden Globe-winning, Academy Award-nominated Israeli-American actress. - Walter Benjamin
Walter Bendix Schönflies Benjamin was a German Marxist literary critic, essayist, translator, and philosopher. He was at times associated with the Frankfurt School of critical theory and was also greatly inspired by the Marxism of Bertolt Brecht and Jewish mysticism as presented by Gershom Scholem. As a sociological and cultural critic, Benjamin combined ideas of historical materialism, German idealism, … - Abraham Geiger
Abraham Geiger (1810-1874) was a German rabbi who led the foundation for Reform Judaism, where he sought to remove all nationalistic elements (particularly the "Chosen People" doctrine) from Judaism, stressing Judaism as an evolving and changing religion. In the Germany of the 19th century, Abraham Geiger and Samuel Holdheim stood out as the two founding fathers of Reform Judaism. Geiger was the more moderate and scholarly reformer, … - Isaac Luria
Rabbi Isaac Luria was a Jewish mystic in Safed. His name today is attached to all of the mystic thought in Safed: while his literary contribution to the Kabbalistic school of Safed was extremely minute (he only wrote a few poems), his fame led to the school and all its works being named after him. The main popularizer of his ideas was Hayim Vital, though Vital's claim to be the official interpreter of the Lurianic system was not undisputed. - Debbie Friedman
Debbie Friedman (born c. 1952) is an American composer and singer of songs with Jewish religious content. She was born in Utica, New York but moved with her family to Minnesota at age 5. She wrote many of her early songs as a song leader at Olin-Sang-Ruby camp in Oconomowoc, WI in the early 1970s. Since her debut in 1971, she has published more than 19 albums. Her work is inspired by such diverse sources as Joan Baez, Peter, Paul and Mary, … - Joseph Telushkin
Joseph Telushkin (born 1948) is an American Modern Orthodox rabbi, lecturer, and author. Telushkin attended the Yeshivah of Flatbush, was ordained at Yeshiva University, and studied Jewish history at Columbia University. Telushkin serves as a rabbi for the Los Angeles-based Synagogue for the Performing Arts, is an associate of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership. He is a former director of education at the Brandeis-Bardin Institute. - Mordecai Kaplan
Mordecai Menahem Kaplan (June 11, 1881-November 8, 1983) was a rabbi and the founder of Reconstructionist Judaism. Kaplan was born in Lithuania and was ordained as a rabbi at Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) in New York City in 1902. Kaplan began his career as an Orthodox rabbi at Kehillath Jeshrun, a synagogue in New York. He helped to create the Young Israel movement of Modern Orthodox Judaism with Rabbi Israel Friedlander, … - Gil Student
Rabbi Gil O. Student (born August 8, 1972) is an ordained but non-pulpit serving American Orthodox rabbi. He has written about the interface between Judaism, more specifically Orthodox Judaism, and modern controversial topics. He has also written in opposition to the claim by some Chabad Lubavitch Hasidim that the last Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, may have been the long-awaited Jewish Messiah (i.e. the "Moshiach"). - Abraham
Abraham (<small>Ashkenazi</small> "Avrohom" or "Avruhom" ;, "IbrahimGe'ez:, ') is a figure in the Torah, Bible, and Quran whom Jewish, Christian and Islamic believers regard as the founding patriarch of the Israelites, Arabs and Edomite peoples. In what is thus called Abrahamic religious tradition, Abraham is the forefather of these peoples. According to the Torah, Abraham was brought by God from Mesopotamia to the land of Canaan, … - Louis Jacobs
Dr. Louis Jacobs (b. Manchester, 17 July1920, d. London, 1 July 2006, 5 Tammuz 5766 in the Jewish calendar), was a Masorti rabbi, the first leader of Masorti Judaism (also known as Conservative Judaism) in the United Kingdom, and a leading writer and thinker on Judaism. He also became known as the focus of events in the early 1960s that came to be known as "The Jacobs Affair". - Prophets Of Islam
Prophets of Islam are human beings who are regarded by Muslims to be prophets. The term for prophet in Islam is "nabi" (pl. "anbiyaa"). Islamic tradition dictates that prophets were sent by God to every nation. Each prophet, with the exception of Muhammad, was sent to convey God's message to a specific group of people or nation. Muhammad's mission is viewed as one for the whole of mankind. - Semicha
Semicha ("leaning [of the hands]"), also "semichut" ("ordination"), or "semicha lerabbanut" ("rabbinical ordination") is derived from a Hebrew word which means to "rely on" or "to be authorized". It generally refers to the ordination of a rabbi within Judaism. In this sense it is the "transmission" of rabbinic authority to give advice or judgment in Jewish law. - Danny Maseng
Danny Maseng is a multi-talented performer based in New York City, New York. An actor, singer and writer, Maseng is particularly well known as a composer of contemporary Jewish Liturgical music. He has released over a dozen albums and appeared as a guest star on numerous television shows including "Law & Order" and "One Life to Live". Maseng was born in Israel to an American Jewish mother and a Norwegian-American Lutheran father. - Sherwin Wine
Rabbi Sherwin Theodore Wine (b. January 25, 1928 in Detroit, Michigan), founded the Birmingham Temple, the first congregation of Humanistic Judaism, which is now in Farmington Hills, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, in 1963. In 1969 he founded the Society for Humanistic Judaism and has since been the founder of other organizations that espouse and promote Humanistic Judaism, which is also called Secular Humanistic Judaism. - Belshazzar
Belshazzar (or "Baltasar"; Akkadian "Bel-sarra-usur") was a prince of Babylon, the son of Nabonidus, the last king of Babylon. In the "Book of Daniel" (chapters 5 and 8) of the Jewish Tanakh or Christian Old Testament, Belshazzar is the King of Babylon before the advent of the Medes and Persians. - James Tabor
James D. Tabor is Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte where he has taught since 1989. He previously held positions at Ambassador College (1968-70 while a student), the University of Notre Dame (1979-85) and the College of William and Mary (1985-89). - Shammai
Shammai (50 BCE-30 CE) was a Jewish scholar of the 1st century, and an important figure in Judaism's core work of rabbinic literature, the Mishnah. Shammai was the most eminent contemporary and the halachic opponent of Hillel, and is almost invariably mentioned along with him. Shammai's school of thought became known as the House of Shammai, and Hillel's was known as the House of Hillel ("Beit Hillel"). - Adam
Adam (Standard Hebrew אָדָם, masculine proper noun; Arabic آدم) was the first man created by God in Jewish, Christian and Islamic traditions. He is considered a prophet by the Jewish, Islamic, Mandaean and Bahá'í faiths. He is also commemorated as a patriarch in the Calendar of Saints of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod with Eve on December 19.fact} - David Hartman
David Hartman (born 1931) is an American rabbi and philosopher of contemporary Judaism and an internationally renowned Jewish author. Born in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, New York, Hartman attended Yeshiva Chaim Berlin and the Lubavitch Yeshiva. In 1953, having studied with Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, he received his rabbinical ordination from Yeshiva University in New York. He continued to study with Rabbi Soloveitchik until 1960, … - David Ellenson
David Ellenson is a rabbi who is known as a leader of the Reform movement in Judaism. He is the president of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR), and the I.H. and Anna Grancell Professor of Jewish Religious Thought. He is also a fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute of Jerusalem, and a fellow and lecturer at the Institute of Advanced Studies at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Ellenson is the author of "Tradition in Transition: Orthodoxy, … - Josephus
Josephus, who became known, in his capacity as a Roman citizen, as Titus Flavius Josephus, was a 1st-century Jewish historian and apologist of priestly and royal ancestry who survived and recorded the Destruction of Jerusalem in 70. His works give an important insight into first-century Judaism. - Rashi
Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaqi, better known by the acronym Rashi, (February 22, 1040 - July 13, 1105), was a rabbi from France, famed as the author of the first comprehensive commentaries on the Talmud, Torah and Tanakh. Acclaimed for his ability to present the basic meaning of the text in a concise yet lucid fashion, Rashi appeals to both learned scholars and beginning students, and his works remain a centerpiece of contemporary Jewish study. - David Flusser
David Flusser was the professor of Early Christianity and Judaism of the Second Temple Period at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities and a recipient of the national Israel Prize in 1980 for his academic achievements. Lawrence Schiffman, chairman of the Skirball department of Hebrew and Judaic studies at New York University, … - Martin Hengel
Martin Hengel is a German scholar of religion, focusing on the "Second-Temple Period" or "Hellenistic Period" of early Judaism, which encompasses 200 BCE to 200 CE. He is Emeritus Professor of New Testament and Early Judaism at the University of Tübingen. Martin specializes in the early period of Rabbinical Judaism including early Christianity and the field known as Christian Origins. - Michael Isaacson
Michael Isaacson (born 1946 in Brooklyn, New York, USA) is an influential composer of Jewish synagogue music, as well as one of the originators of the Jewish Camp Song movement. His camp songs, often written and premiered in the same day, defined the camp music movement in the 1960s, and have been cited as influences by modern Jewish pop stars such as Debbie Friedman and Craig Taubman. Initially studying composition with Robert Starer at Brooklyn College, Dr. - Abayudaya
related = "Tradition" :<br/>Jews<br/> African Jews<br/> Abayudaya<br/>"Ethnobiology" :<br/> Baganda<br/> AbayudayaThe Abayudaya ("Abayudaya" is Luganda for "People of Judah", analogous to Children of Israel) are a Baganda community in eastern Uganda near the town of Mbale who practice Judaism. Although they are not genetically or historically related to other ethnic Jews, …
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