Selected Sources for Additional Reading on Judaism
		Part III: Kabbalah, Mysticism, and Messianism
         [Last Change: $Date: 1995/10/19 15:22:19 $ $Revision: 1.2 $]
                    [Last Post: Wed Feb 11 11:07:06 US/Pacific 2004]

     There is nothing more uniquely characteristic of the style of
     Jewish religious life than the great love Jews have for holy books.
     [Str73] 
     
   This list provides a collection of sources on "traditional" practice
   for readers of soc.culture.jewish. While no book can substitute for a
   formal course of instruction guided by one's Rabbi, these books are
   useful as reference material for the knowledgeable, and as an
   introduction for the not-yet-knowledgeable about Judaism.
   
   It is difficult to separate what is now termed "Orthodox" judaism from
   the collective term "Judaism". The practices of Orthodoxy tend to be
   the traditional practices. Furthermore, Orthodoxy is not organized as
   a movement in the same sense as Reform or Conservative; although
   Orthodox organizations exist, congregations do not need to join them
   to be considered Orthodox.
   
   In general, throughout the reading lists, North American (US/Canada)
   terms are used to refer to the movements of Judaism. Outside of North
   American, Reform is Progressive or Liberal Judaism; Conservative is
   Masorti or Neolog, and Orthodoxy is often just "Judaism". Even with
   this, there are differences in practice, position, and ritual between
   US/Canada Reform and other progressive/liberal movements (such as UK
   Progressive/ Liberal), and between US/Canada Conservative and the
   conservative/Masorti movement elsewhere. Where appropriate, these
   differences will be highlighted.
   
   The soc.culture.jewish Reading Lists have associations with
   [6]Amazon.com and [7]Artscroll. The presence of an Amazon ( [Buy At
   Amazon: URL...] ) or Artscroll ( [Buy at Artscroll: URL...] ) tag on a
   list item means the item is available from the indicated vendor. There
   is always the possibility that the items status has changed since the
   tag was added; in particular, items may have moved to special order,
   backorder, or on-order status. If you have corrections to the tag, or
   want to provide a synopsis of the book, please drop a note to
   [8]maintainer@scjfaq.org.

   Reproduction of this posting for commercial use is subject to
   restriction.