Download or read book Yitz Greenberg and Modern Orthodoxy written by Adam Ferziger and published by Academic Studies PRess. This book was released on 2019-09-24 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sixteen scholars from around the globe gathered at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies in the bucolic Yarnton Manor in the Oxfordshire countryside in June 2014, for the first (now annual) Oxford Summer Institute on Modern and Contemporary Judaism. The current volume is the fruit of this encounter. The goal of the event was to facilitate in-depth engagement with the thought of Rabbi Dr. Irving “Yitz” Greenberg, concentrating particularly on the historical ramifications of his theological and public stances. Consideration was given to his lifelong and complex encounter with the Modern Orthodox stream of American Judaism and the extent to which his teachings functioned as “the road not taken.” This auspicious gathering was most certainly characterized by deep appreciation for Greenberg’s original outlook, which is predicated on his profound dedication to God, Torah, the Jewish people, and humanity. But this was by no means gratuitous homage or naive esteem. On the contrary, those in attendance understood that the most genuine form of admiration for a thinker and leader of his stature—especially one who continues to produce path-breaking writings and speak out publicly—is to examine rigorously and critically his ideas and legacy. We are confident that the creative process that was nurtured has resulted in a substantive contribution to research on the religious, historical, and social trajectories of contemporary Judaism, and, similarly will engender fresh thinking on crucial theological and ideological postures that will ultimately enrich Jewish life. This volume offers readers a critical engagement with the trenchant and candid efforts of one of the most thoughtful and earnest voices to emerge from within American Orthodoxy to address the theological and moral concerns that characterize our times.
Download or read book A Torah Giant written by Shmuly Yanklowitz and published by Ktav Publishing House. This book was released on 2018 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Discover the breadth of wisdom provided by this generation's giant of Torah: Rabbi Irving "Yitz" Greenberg. His legacy is discussed at length by those who have been impacted by his inclusive model of contemporary Judaism, erudition, and commitment to fostering meaningful interfaith dialogue"--
Download or read book Modern Orthodox Judaism A Documentary History written by Zev Eleff and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2016-07-01 with total page 567 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Modern Orthodox Judaism offers an extensive selection of primary texts documenting the Orthodox encounter with American Judaism that led to the emergence of the Modern Orthodox movement. Many texts in this volume are drawn from episodes of conflict that helped form Modern Orthodox Judaism. These include the traditionalists’ response to the early expressions of Reform Judaism, as well as incidents that helped define the widening differences between Orthodox and Conservative Judaism in the early twentieth century. Other texts explore the internal struggles to maintain order and balance once Orthodox Judaism had separated itself from other religious movements. Zev Eleff combines published documents with seldom-seen archival sources in tracing Modern Orthodoxy as it developed into a structured movement, established its own institutions, and encountered critical events and issues—some that helped shape the movement and others that caused tension within it. A general introduction explains the rise of the movement and puts the texts in historical context. Brief introductions to each section guide readers through the documents of this new, dynamic Jewish expression.
Download or read book Wrestling with God and Men written by Steven Greenberg and published by Univ of Wisconsin Press. This book was released on 2004-02-23 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For millennia, two biblical verses have been understood to condemn sex between men as an act so abhorrent that it is punishable by death. Traditionally Orthodox Jews, believing the scripture to be the word of God, have rejected homosexuality in accordance with this interpretation. In 1999, Rabbi Steven Greenberg challenged this tradition when he became the first Orthodox rabbi ever to openly declare his homosexuality. Wrestling with God and Men is the product of Rabbi Greenberg’s ten-year struggle to reconcile his two warring identities. In this compelling and groundbreaking work, Greenberg challenges long held assumptions of scriptural interpretation and religious identity as he marks a path that is both responsible to human realities and deeply committed to God and Torah. Employing traditional rabbinic resources, Greenberg presents readers with surprising biblical interpretations of the creation story, the love of David and Jonathan, the destruction of Sodom, and the condemning verses of Leviticus. But Greenberg goes beyond the question of whether homosexuality is biblically acceptable to ask how such relationships can be sacred. In so doing, he draws on a wide array of nonscriptural texts to introduce readers to occasions of same-sex love in Talmudic narratives, medieval Jewish poetry and prose, and traditional Jewish case law literature. Ultimately, Greenberg argues that Orthodox communities must open up debate, dialogue, and discussion—precisely the foundation upon which Jewish law rests—to truly deal with the issue of homosexual love. This book will appeal not only to members of the Orthodox faith but to all religious people struggling to resolve their belief in the scriptures with a desire to make their communities more open and accepting to gay and lesbian members. 2005 Finalist for the Lambda Literary Awards, for Religion/Spirituality
Download or read book Rav Kook written by Yehudah Mirsky and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2014-02-11 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: DIV The life and thought of a forceful figure in Israel’s religious and political life /div
Download or read book FOR SAKE OF HEAVEN amp EARTH written by and published by Jewish Publication Society. This book was released on 2004 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A pioneer in the area of pluralism and interfaith relations, Rabbi Irving Greenberg has spent a lifetime working to overcome the history of hostility between Judaism and Christianity. This book is studded with provocative ideas, which challenge believers on both sides to grow in good faith. In sum, this book is a call for Christians and Jews to work closely together in their evolving partnership with God. Rabbi Greenberg takes us along on a personal journey, initially stimulated by his research on Holocaust testimony, that led to his rethinking of Christianity, and that ultimately gave rise to his belief that Christianity, Judaism, and indeed every religion that works to repair the world and advance the triumph of life, are valid expressions of the universal bond (brit) between God and humankind. In the second part of his book, Greenberg brings together, for the first time, seven of his most important essays on the new encounters between Judaism and Christianity in our generation. It concludes with a study guide and powerful responsive essays by leading Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish commentators, James Carroll, Michael Novak, Mary C. Boys, Krister Stendhal, and David Novak. - Back cover.
Download or read book By His Light written by Aharon Lichtenstein and published by KTAV Publishing House, Inc.. This book was released on 2003 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The committed Jew confronts many weighty questions when plotting a personal course in life: What is Judaism's role in the modern world? How can I best make my own individual contribution? What are my responsibilities to humanity, the Jewish people, the Torah and myself? How should I balance these different demands? How can I infuse my life with spirituality and build a strong relationship with God? In these probing and inspiring discourses, Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein addresses these other questions. Eschewing simplistic black-and-white approaches, he explores the issues with depth and sensitivity. Based firmly on halakhic sources, yet appreciating the best of Western culture, he presents an ideology marked by balance and complexity. While demanding maximal spiritual attainment, Rabbi Lichtenstein champions tolerance of those with different approaches; and while steeped in the eternal values of Jewish tradition, he remains cognizant of the challenges and opportunities of the contemporary era.
Download or read book Beyond Sectarianism written by Adam S. Ferziger and published by Wayne State University Press. This book was released on 2015-07-15 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1965 social scientist Charles S. Liebman published a study that boldly declared the vitality of American Jewish Orthodoxy and went on to guide scholarly investigations of the group for the next four decades. As American Orthodoxy continues to grow in geographical, institutional, and political strength, author Adam S. Ferziger argues in Beyond Sectarianism: The Realignment of American Orthodox Judaism that one of Liebman’s principal definitions needs to be updated. While Liebman proposed that the “committed Orthodox” —observant rather than nominally affiliated—could be divided into two main streams: “church,” or Modern Orthodoxy, and “sectarian,” or Haredi Orthodoxy, Ferziger traces a narrowing of the gap between them and ultimately a realignment of American Orthodox Judaism. Ferziger shows that significant elements within Haredi Orthodoxy have abandoned certain strict and seemingly uncontested norms. He begins by offering fresh insight into the division between the American sectarian Orthodox and Modern Orthodox streams that developed in the early twentieth century and highlights New York’s Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun as a pioneering Modern Orthodox synagogue. Ferziger also considers the nuances of American Orthodoxy as reflected in Soviet Jewish activism during the 1960s and early 1970s and educational trips to Poland taken by American Orthodox young adults studying in Israel, and explores the responses of prominent rabbinical authorities to Orthodox feminism and its call for expanded public religious roles for women. Considerable discussion is dedicated to the emergence of outreach to nonobservant Jews as a central priority for Haredi Orthodoxy and how this focus outside its core population reflects fundamental changes. In this context, Ferziger presents evidence for the growing influence of Chabad Hasidism – what he terms the “Chabadization of American Orthodoxy.” Recent studies, including the 2013 Pew Survey of U.S. Jewry, demonstrate that an active and strongly connected American Orthodox Jewish population is poised to grow in the coming decades. Jewish studies scholars and readers interested in history, sociology, and religion will appreciate Ferziger’s reappraisal of this important group.
Download or read book The Jew in the Lotus written by Rodger Kamenetz and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-03-17 with total page 505 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While accompanying eight high–spirited Jewish delegates to Dharamsala, India, for a historic Buddhist–Jewish dialogue with the Dalai Lama, poet Rodger Kamenetz comes to understand the convergence of Buddhist and Jewish thought. Along the way he encounters Ram Dass and Richard Gere, and dialogues with leading rabbis and Jewish thinkers, including Zalman Schacter, Yitz and Blue Greenberg, and a host of religious and disaffected Jews and Jewish Buddhists. This amazing journey through Tibetan Buddhism and Judaism leads Kamenetz to a renewed appreciation of his living Jewish roots.
Download or read book Can a Robot Be Jewish and Other Pressing Questions of Modern Life written by Amy Schwartz and published by . This book was released on 2020-09-17 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A smart, hip and provocative book for anyone interested in the rich diversity of Jewish thought on contemporary religious questions.
Download or read book Sanctified Sex written by Noam Sachs Zion and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2021-08 with total page 663 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sanctified Sex draws on two thousand years of rabbinic debates addressing competing aspirations for loving intimacy, passionate sexual union, and sanctity in marriage. What can Judaism contribute to our struggles to nurture love relationships? What halakhic precedents are relevant, and how are rulings changing? The rabbis, of course, seldom agree. Underlying their arguments are perennial debates: What kind of marital sex qualifies as ideal--sacred self-control of sexual desire or the holiness found in emotional and erotic intimacy? Is intercourse degrading in its physicality or the highest act of spiritual/mystical union? And should women or men (or both) wield ultimate say about what transpires in bed? Noam Sachs Zion guides us chronologically and steadily through fraught terrain: seminal biblical texts and their Talmudic interpretations; Talmud tales of three unusual rabbis and their marital bedrooms; medieval codifiers and mystical commentators; ultra-Orthodox rabbis clashing with one another over radically divergent ideals; and, finally, contemporary rabbis of varied denominations wrestling with modern transformations in erotic lifestyles and values. Invited into these sanctified and often sexually explicit discussions with our ancestors and contemporaries, we encounter innovative Jewish teachings on marital intimacy, ardent lovemaking techniques, and the art of couple communication vital for matrimonial success.
Download or read book Modern Judaism written by Nicholas Robert Michael De Lange and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 472 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of newly-commissioned essays covers the major areas of thought in contemporary Jewish studies, including considerations of religious differences, sociological, philosophical and gender issues, geographical diversity and inter-faith relations.
Download or read book Between the Yeshiva World and Modern Orthodoxy written by Marc B. Shapiro and published by Liverpool University Press. This book was released on 1999-11-01 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Compellingly and authoritatively written, this biography illuminates the dilemmas that Europe’s Jews have faced over the past century. The discussion of the inner struggles of one of twentieth-century Judaism’s most enigmatic religious leaders—a figure who became a central ideologue of modern Orthodoxy despite his traditional training in a Lithuanian yeshiva—elucidates many institutional and intellectual phenomena of the Jewish world, and especially in pre-war Europe, that have so far received little attention.
Download or read book The New American Judaism written by Jack Wertheimer and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-31 with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the National Jewish Book Award in American Jewish Studies—an engaging firsthand portrait of American Judaism today American Judaism has been buffeted by massive social upheavals in recent decades. Like other religions in the United States, it has witnessed a decline in the number of participants over the past forty years, and many who remain active struggle to reconcile their hallowed traditions with new perspectives—from feminism and the LGBTQ movement to "do-it-yourself religion" and personally defined spirituality. Taking a fresh look at American Judaism today, Jack Wertheimer, a leading authority on the subject, sets out to discover how Jews of various orientations practice their religion in this radically altered landscape. Which observances still resonate, and which ones have been given new meaning? What options are available for seekers or those dissatisfied with conventional forms of Judaism? And how are synagogues responding? Offering new and often-surprising answers to these questions, Wertheimer reveals an American Jewish landscape that combines rash disruption and creative reinvention, religious illiteracy and dynamic experimentation.
Download or read book Soloveitchik s Children written by Daniel Ross Goodman and published by University of Alabama Press. This book was released on 2023-07-18 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A close study of three of Soloveitchik's most influential disciples in Jewish thought and philosophy
Download or read book Jewish Sages of Today written by Aryeh Rubin and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Who are our jewish heroes? Who inspires us, makes us think, gives us hope? Who is making a difference in the jewish world? Here are the profiles of twenty-seven accomplished individuals dedicated to improving our world.
Download or read book How Judaism Became a Religion written by Leora Batnitzky and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2011-09-11 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new approach to understanding Jewish thought since the eighteenth century Is Judaism a religion, a culture, a nationality—or a mixture of all of these? In How Judaism Became a Religion, Leora Batnitzky boldly argues that this question more than any other has driven modern Jewish thought since the eighteenth century. This wide-ranging and lucid introduction tells the story of how Judaism came to be defined as a religion in the modern period—and why Jewish thinkers have fought as well as championed this idea. Ever since the Enlightenment, Jewish thinkers have debated whether and how Judaism—largely a religion of practice and public adherence to law—can fit into a modern, Protestant conception of religion as an individual and private matter of belief or faith. Batnitzky makes the novel argument that it is this clash between the modern category of religion and Judaism that is responsible for much of the creative tension in modern Jewish thought. Tracing how the idea of Jewish religion has been defended and resisted from the eighteenth century to today, the book discusses many of the major Jewish thinkers of the past three centuries, including Moses Mendelssohn, Abraham Geiger, Hermann Cohen, Martin Buber, Zvi Yehuda Kook, Theodor Herzl, and Mordecai Kaplan. At the same time, it tells the story of modern orthodoxy, the German-Jewish renaissance, Jewish religion after the Holocaust, the emergence of the Jewish individual, the birth of Jewish nationalism, and Jewish religion in America. More than an introduction, How Judaism Became a Religion presents a compelling new perspective on the history of modern Jewish thought.
