MSI Press Blog

  The following excerpt comes from Since Sinai by Shannon Gonyou. Foreword This book is about my journey as a woman raised Catholic in a town with very little exposure to Jews and Jewish ideas who subsequently became Jewish. If you picked up this book, it could mean one of a few things. Maybe your family has been Jewish for generations, and you’re curious about why a total stranger to Judaism would want to join the community. Maybe you’re considering Judaism for yourself and are curious about what the process of conversion will look and feel like. Perhaps you’re a devoted Christian, curious about what would lead someone away from Christianity. This book will strive to provide a satisfactory answer to all of those questions. My high school English teacher told me that every piece of writing is a persuasion piece. I think that’s true, but this book is not here to persuade you that Christianity is “wrong” or that Judaism is “right.” I won’t even attempt to persuade you that Judaism

  It's here!!!! After five months of waiting on pre-order, orders are being fulfilled, and Shannon Gonyou's fascinating journey into Judaism is now available everywhere great books are sold! Already selling in the top 1% of books on Amazon ! Get it at our webstore and save 25% with the coupon code FF25. Description:  Raised in a heavily Catholic suburb of Detroit, Michigan, Shannon grew up focusing on two things: how to do enough good deeds to get into heaven and how to stay pure enough to escape hell. In college, she followed many of her peers into an Evangelical church known for guitars, drum, religious-based shame, and the idea that without Jesus she was nothing. But when she encountered Judaism on that same campus, a spark ignited within her and refused to be put out. Judaism felt obvious, familiar. After a falling out with her biological mother and two miscarriages, she found the courage to send the most important email of her life: she asked the local Jews by Choice progr

  San Juan Books is the hybrid division of MSI Press LLC. It allows first-time writers to become published in a traditional way through the reduction of risk by sharing publication costs. All other publishing features are traditional in nature, and most SJB authors go on to be offered traditional contracts for their subsequent books. SJB publications are available as paperback, hard cover, and e-book versions. SJB authors' books very much hold their own against their contemporaries in the traditional publishing division. Indeed, a number of them have outsold their traditional compatriots. Today, San Juan Books presents author and convert to Judaism Shannon Gonyou. Shannon is a practicing attorney, Jewish content writer, and convert to Judaism. She is affiliated with the Conservative Judaism movement. A Michigan native, she now lives in New York City with her family. She is the author of  Since Sinai . Therein lies her story. It just came out two weeks ago. To see more posts about

Introduction This book examines the critical role of modern architecture and individual architects in shaping and transforming national Israeli symbols, especially in the Old City of Jerusalem. It is generally held that Israeli national symbols image Zionism as a pioneering movement awakening the Jewish nation from a stagnant Diaspora tradition and restoring to it its biblical origin in Palestine as a sovereign progressive Jewish state. The opening section of the book analyses pre-1967 designs by architects including Baehrwahld, Geddes, Mendelsohn, “Bauhaus” practitioners, and Rau, each of whom attempted to construct a National Jewish style in Palestine. The analysis reveals the elusiveness of the hard-sought national Jewish style, and the problems inherent to the search. The Diaspora’s memory was still too vivid to be discarded, especially in regard to the Old City of Jerusalem. Indeed, the “official” Zionist memory’s suppression of more than two thousand years of Jewish experi

  Honoring Chanukah – A Personal Reflection   (This is the sermon on Chanukah that Steven Steven Greenebaum gave on December 17 th at the Living Interfaith Sanctuary) Chanukah may not be the most pivotal of Jewish holy days but is likely the most universally known. It lasts 8 nights, with an additional candle added every night. In Judaism, the traditional menorah (Jewish candelabra) has 7 candles, but there’s a special menorah just for Chanukah – with room for 8 candles plus the Shamash, the special candle used to light the others. Chanukah also has a hero, Judah the Maccabee, the military leader about whom Fredrick Handel wrote an oratorio, right after writing his world-famous Messiah . That said, what is Chanukah truly about? I take Chanukah seriously, light candles, ponder the holiday, and offer prayers all 8 nights. But it wasn’t always that way. In truth, in my 74 years and counting, Chanukah for me has never seemed to stand still. How I see it keeps changing. This morning, I’d l

Shannon is a practicing attorney, Jewish content writer, and convert to Judaism. She is affiliated with the Conservative Judaism movement.  She is the author of Since Sinai . A Michigan native, she now lives in New York City with her family. Read more posts about Shannon and her book HERE .

  To be released June 15:  Since Sinai: A Convert's Path to Judaism by Shannon Gonyou For more posts on Jewish topics, click HERE . _________________________________ MSI Press  website . MSI Press  wiki page .

  excerpt from A Theology for the Rest of Us (Yavelberg) -  7 “You’re not the boss of me!” (just about any 7th grader) Assuming the existence of free will, given the stakes involved—both for the individual and, in today’s highly technological, interconnected world, for all humanity—it is obviously imperative that people use their freedom to choose wisely. Dostoyevsky’s “Grand Inquisitor” and Father Zossima are both right. Thousands of years of terrible suffering, death and destruction are more than ample testimony as to just what happens when people make the wrong decisions. But how can one make sure to choose wisely? Access to information is supposed to be essential to choosing wisely and there is certainly ample information on any topic imaginable today. Unfortunately, there is so much information available today that it has practically become more of an obstacle than an aid. As I understand it, a typical Sunday edition of The New York Times has more information in it than the

Arthur Yavelberg, author of the multi-award-winning book,  A Theology for the Rest of Us , shares the following column from his blog: “If there is nothing for which you would commit murder, you cannot play the role of  Lady MacBeth! ”  That is how the now aging opera diva,  Maria Callas , dismissed a young, pretty, but not quite ripened, ingenue who aspired to one day take center stage on her own.  She had the voice, yes, and even something of “the look,” but she lacked the life experience to be able to channel the passions depicted by a  William Shakespeare  or  Giuseppe Verdi.   While this production at the  Arizona Theater Company  did not intend a spiritual debate, it is significant that Callas insisted "for which you would commit murder” and not “if you have not murdered.”  In religious terms, Callas was echoing the famous line of Jesus: “But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.“ (Matthew 5:2