{"id":35,"date":"2025-06-02T15:57:07","date_gmt":"2025-06-02T15:57:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.davidkurzauthor.com\/?page_id=35"},"modified":"2025-09-08T12:01:01","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T12:01:01","slug":"home","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.davidkurzauthor.com\/","title":{"rendered":"Home"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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bruria<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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- a novel by david kurz -<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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In 62 CE, twelve-year-old Bruria is thrust into adulthood when Roman Legions lay siege to her hometown. Her family\u2014and most Gamlans\u2014are killed in battle. Heeding her father\u2019s last words\u2014 \u201cChoose life!\u201d \u2014Bruria and four friends escape, only to be attacked by Zealots. Bruria, Hanna (her best friend), and Misha (Hanna\u2019s betrothed), are rescued by the Queen\u2019s Troopers. Travelling together, Bereniki introduces Bruria to a new world of sensuality and Mitzri, the Troop\u2019s top sergeant, teaches her Tahtib, the Egyptian style of stick-fighting.<\/p>

In Jerusalem, Yohanan ben Zakai adopts Bruria. She discovers that Yohanan\u2019s public persona as Torah teacher and leader of the Peace Party covers a secret: he is designing radical religio-legal seeds for the continuity of the Jewish People following the Temple\u2019s destruction, and generating a new organizational infrastructure in which those seeds will flourish. The risk: if known, his life would be forfeit to fanatic Zealots who would vilify him as a traitor and heretic. Or worse.<\/p>

Yohanan\u2019s revolutionary innovations require careful preparation, using and shaping major changes in Jewish communal life: the idea of the local synagogue is spreading; the ordinance to create schools for orphaned boys\u2014proclaimed by Yehoshua ben Gamla as Hight Priest\u2014is being executed and expanded. As the quality and reputation of national leadership deteriorates, Yohanan develops working relationships with local leaders and later reconnects to them from Yavne.<\/p>

Recognized for his Torah acumen, Yohanan expands his comfort zone into skill-areas we know today as strategic social planning, organizational development, board (Sanhedrin) management, public education, fundraising, and marketing. Bruria joins Yohanan\u2019s group of advisors who serve as his intellectual foil and emotional support. When Yohanan falters, Bruria reminds him of the Jewish vision: a society permeated by justice, kindness, protecting the weak, recognizing God\u2019s image in every person\u2026. <\/em>Meanwhile, her Tahtib skills are put to lethal tests.<\/p>

Bruria meets characters later noted in the Talmud: Abba Sikra, the wise leader of the Biryonim; Mirta bat Boetus, wife of Yehoshua ben Gamla; and Yohanan\u2019s student Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, an early romance. More contemporary names, like Biniyahoo, also appear. Bruria and Betzalel, a repentant Zealot, each resolve sexuality issues to complete their betrothal. Bruria helps smuggle Yohanan out of the city and is part of the conversation where Titus allows a new Academy in Yavne.<\/p>

Bruria and Betzalel arrive in Yavne as Yohanan opens his Academy. His seminars wrestle with values and organization for a new Jewish society: will prayer and good deeds suffice to replace Temple sacrifices? Will the People accept the transfer of spiritual focus from Temple to Synagogue, from Jerusalem to Yavne, from the xenophobic power of religious fanatics to the principled pragmatism of local community? Will women be accepted as scholars and leaders?<\/p>

Even as Yohanan trains the next generation of rabbi-teachers, the Legions close the noose around Jerusalem, Roman spies search out rebellion in the Academy, and Zealots watch Yohanan\u2019s every move. Will Yohanan\u2019s experiment succeed? The future of the Jewish People is at stake.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Buy this book here<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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NOW ON SALE!<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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$19.99<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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AUTHOR\u2019S BIOGRAPHY<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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After correcting his third-grade teacher (Moses\u2019 sister was Miriam, not Deborah), David Kurz was expelled from his Los Angeles synagogue Sunday School\u2014thus ending his formal Jewish education. He has been reading Jewish history and thought ever since.<\/p>\n

David completed his Masters in Social Work at San Diego State University, specializing in community and organizational development. Hebrew Union College certified him \u2013 and awarded him an Honorary PhD \u2013 in professional Jewish Communal Work. While reading of Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakai in Talmud and Josephus through those lenses, he came to admire Yohanan\u2019s planning and organizational skills and his principled pragmatism, as well as his acumen in Torah.<\/p>\n

Ever since arriving in Israel in 1974, David has practiced his profession, working to create a society of \u201cjustice and kindness.\u201d He currently lives in Haifa with his partner, author Judy Lev. Bruria is his first novel.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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contact me anytime<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Shalom aleichem.
Peace to you and yours.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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