The faculty and staff of MJR Yeshiva recommend the following works to build your home Judaica library. These works are considered integral to developing a truly Jewish hashqafah and halakha. Several of these are used as textbooks in MJR Yeshiva courses.

Ethics

Pies, Ronald. Becoming a Mensch: Timeless Talmudic Ethics for Everyone. Lanham, Md.: Hamilton Books, 2011.

Telushkin, Joseph. A Code of Jewish Ethics, Volume 1: You Shall be Holy. New York, N.Y.: Crown Publishing, 2006.

Telushkin, Joseph. A Code of Jewish Ethics, Volume 2: Love Your Neighbor as Yourself. New York, N.Y.: Crown Publishing, 2009.

Halakha

Donin, Hayim Halevy. To Be a Jew: A Guide to Jewish Observance in Contemporary Life. New York, N.Y.: Basic Books, 1972.

Kagan, Yisrael Meir. Sefer Chofetz Chaim. Zhetel, Poland, 1873.

Neusner, Jacob. Mishna: An Introduction. Northvale, N.J.: Jason Aronson, Inc., 1994.

Hashkafah

Arush, Shalom. The Universal Garden of Emuna. Chut shel Chesed, 2012.

Tice, Brian. Reflecting on the Rabbis: Sage Insight into First-Century Jewish Thought. Grand Rapids, Mich.: MJR Press, 2017.

Minhag Resources

Greenburg, Blu. How to Run a Traditional Jewish Household. Northvale, N.J.: Jason Aronson, Inc., 1988.

Primary Source Study

The Five Books of Moses. The Schocken Bible; New York, N.Y.: Schocken Books.

This work is an English translation of the Torah which tries to be true to not only the meaning of the Hebrew text but also masterfully strives to carry across the natural rhythm of the Hebrew into the English.

Mishnah

Talmud

This work tells us how to live out Torah in our lives (halakha) in one of two settings. In the Land, the Yerushalmi is authoritative. In the Diaspora, the Bavli sets the standard. The Talmud Bavli is a two-part compilation consisting of the Mishnah (instruction received by Moshe, elucidated by the Tannaim) and the Gemara (halakhic rulings of the Sages).

Roth, Andrew Gabriel. Aramaic-English New Testament. 4th Edition.

Secondary Source Study – Commentaries by Important Sages

[Ashkenaz] Maimonides. Mishneh Torah. Egypt, 12th C. CE.

[Mizrahi] Sa’adiah Gaon. Tafsir RaSaG. Egypt, 10th C. CE.

[Sephardic] Karo, Joseph. Shulchan Arukh. Venice, 1565.

Womanhood

Aiken, Lisa. To Be a Jewish Woman. Reno, Nev.: CreateSpace, 2016.

Chaim, Yoseph. Laws for Women. SalemBooks, 1906.

Worship

a chumash

a siddur

a machzor

a haggadah