When Jews Argue

When Jews Argue PDF Author: Ethan B. Katz
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000969568
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 353

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Book Description
This book re-thinks the relationship between the world of the traditional Jewish study hall (the Beit Midrash) and the academy: Can these two institutions overcome their vast differences? Should they attempt to do so? If not, what could two methods of study seen as diametrically opposed possibly learn from one another? How might they help each other reconceive their interrelationship, themselves, and the broader study of Jews and Judaism? This book begins with three distinct approaches to these challenges. The chapters then follow the approaches through an interdisciplinary series of pioneering case studies that reassess a range of topics including religion and pluralism in Jewish education; pain, sexual consent, and ethics in the Talmud; the place of reason and devotion among Jewish thinkers as diverse as Moses Mendelssohn, Jacob Taubes, Sarah Schenirer, Ibn Chiquitilla, Yair Ḥayim Bacharach, and the Rav Shagar; and Jewish law as a response to the post-Holocaust landscape. The authors are scholars of rabbinics, history, linguistics, philosophy, law, and education, many of whom also have traditional religious training or ordination. The result is a book designed for learned scholars, non-specialists, and students of varying backgrounds, and one that is sure to spark debate in the university, the Beit Midrash, and far beyond.

When Jews Argue

When Jews Argue PDF Author: Ethan B. Katz
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000969568
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 353

Get Book

Book Description
This book re-thinks the relationship between the world of the traditional Jewish study hall (the Beit Midrash) and the academy: Can these two institutions overcome their vast differences? Should they attempt to do so? If not, what could two methods of study seen as diametrically opposed possibly learn from one another? How might they help each other reconceive their interrelationship, themselves, and the broader study of Jews and Judaism? This book begins with three distinct approaches to these challenges. The chapters then follow the approaches through an interdisciplinary series of pioneering case studies that reassess a range of topics including religion and pluralism in Jewish education; pain, sexual consent, and ethics in the Talmud; the place of reason and devotion among Jewish thinkers as diverse as Moses Mendelssohn, Jacob Taubes, Sarah Schenirer, Ibn Chiquitilla, Yair Ḥayim Bacharach, and the Rav Shagar; and Jewish law as a response to the post-Holocaust landscape. The authors are scholars of rabbinics, history, linguistics, philosophy, law, and education, many of whom also have traditional religious training or ordination. The result is a book designed for learned scholars, non-specialists, and students of varying backgrounds, and one that is sure to spark debate in the university, the Beit Midrash, and far beyond.

Jewish Law Association Studies XXXI

Jewish Law Association Studies XXXI PDF Author: Ethan Katz
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781735179667
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description


Arguing about Judaism

Arguing about Judaism PDF Author: Peter Cave
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000045080
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 298

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Book Description
Arguing about Judaism differs from other introductions to Judaism. It is unique, not solely in its engaging dialogues between a Reform rabbi and a humanist, atheist philosopher, but also in its presentation of and challenges to the fundamental religious beliefs of the Jewish heritage and their relevance to today’s Jewish community. The dialogues contain both Jewish narratives and philosophical responses, with topics ranging from the nature of God to controversies over sexual relations, animal welfare and the environment — from antisemitism to the state of Israel and Zionism. Although the rabbi and philosopher argue strongly, clearly enjoying the cut and thrust of debate, they do so with sensitivity, charm and respect, revealing the rich intricacies of the Jewish religion and contemporary Jewish life. While essential reading for those studying Judaism and Jewish history, the book aims to stimulate debate more generally amongst Jews and non-Jews, the religious and the atheist — all those with a general interest in religion and philosophy.

Jewish Arguments and Counterarguments

Jewish Arguments and Counterarguments PDF Author: Steven Bayme
Publisher: KTAV Publishing House, Inc.
ISBN: 9780881257380
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 524

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Book Description
Steven Bayme examines the challenges facing American Jewry, the Contemprary significance of Israel and Jewish peoplehood, and the claims of Jewish tradition in the modern world.

Arguing with God

Arguing with God PDF Author: Anson Laytner
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 0765760258
Category : Covenants
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
As an old proverb puts it, "Two Jews, three opinions." In the long, rich, tumultuous history of the Jewish people, this characteristic contentiousness has often been extended even unto Heaven. Arguing with God is a highly original and utterly absorbing study that skates along the edge of this theological thin ice--at times verging dangerously close to blasphemy--yet also a source of some of the most poignant and deeply soulful expressions of human anguish and yearning. The name Israel literally denotes one who "wrestles with God." And, from Jacob's battle with the angel to Elie Wiesel's haunting questions about the Holocaust that hang in the air like still smoke over our own age, Rabbi Laytner admirably details Judaism's rich and pervasive tradition of calling God to task over human suffering and experienced injustice. It is a tradition that originated in the biblical period itself. Abraham, Moses, Elijah, and others all petitioned for divine intervention in their lives, or appealed forcefully to God to alter His proposed decree. Other biblical arguments focused on personal or communal suffering and anger: Jeremiah, Job, and certain Psalms and Lamentations. Rabbi Laytner delves beneath the surface of these "blasphemies" and reveals how they implicitly helped to refute the claims of opponent religions and advance Jewish doctrines and teachings.

Judaism's Great Debates

Judaism's Great Debates PDF Author: Barry L. Schwartz
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 0827609329
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 125

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Book Description
Thanks to these generous donors for making the publication of this book possible: David Lerman and Shelley Wallock; D. Walter Cohen, Wendy and Leonard Cooper; Rabbi Howard Gorin; Gittel and Alan Hilibrand; Marjorie and Jeffrey Major; Jeanette Lerman Neubauer and Joe Neubauer; Gayle and David Smith; and Harriet and Donald Young. Ever since Abraham’s famous argument with God, Judaism has been full of debate. Moses and Korah, David and Nathan, Hillel and Shammai, the Vilna Gaon and the Ba’al Shem Tov, Spinoza and the Amsterdam Rabbis . . . the list goes on. Jews debate justice, authority, inclusion, spirituality, resistance, evolution, Zionism, and more. No wonder that Judaism cherishes the expression machloket l’shem shamayim, “an argument for the sake of heaven.” In this concise but important survey, Rabbi Barry L. Schwartz presents the provocative and vibrant thesis that debate and disputation are not only encouraged within Judaism but reside at the very heart of Jewish history and theology. In his graceful, engaging, and creative prose, Schwartz presents an introduction to an intellectual history of Judaism through the art of argumentation. Beyond their historical importance, what makes these disputations so compelling is that nearly all of them, regardless of their epochs, are still being argued. Schwartz builds the case that the basis of Judaism is a series of unresolved rather than resolved arguments. Drawing on primary sources, and with a bit of poetic license, Schwartz reconstructs the real or imagined dialogue of ten great debates and then analyzes their significance and legacy. This parade of characters spanning three millennia of biblical, rabbinic, and modern disputation reflects the panorama of Jewish history with its monumental political, ethical, and spiritual challenges.

On Liberty

On Liberty PDF Author: Daniel H. Frank
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136822283
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 222

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Book Description
The communitarian critic of liberalism argues that the socio-political context is fundamental to any understanding of the individual as such. This debate is advanced by particularising it to the experience of Jews in the modern world. Essays focus on the variety of views of the relationships between the individual Jew and the communities, religious and secular, of which he or she is a member.

Judaism and the Challenges of Modern Life

Judaism and the Challenges of Modern Life PDF Author: Moshe Halbertal
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 0826496679
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 199

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Book Description
This collection of essays, authored by scholars of the Shalom Hartman Institute, addresses three critical challenges posed to Judaism by modernity: the challenge of ideas, the challenge of diversity, and the challenge of statehood, and provides insights and ideas for the future direction of Judaism.

Jews and Judaism in the Rabbinic Era

Jews and Judaism in the Rabbinic Era PDF Author: Isaiah Gafni
Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
ISBN: 3161527313
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 557

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Book Description
"This collection of essays by Isaiah M. Gafni reflects over forty years of research on central issues of Jewish history in one of its formative eras. Questions relating to representations of the past, beginning with Josephus but primarily in rabbinic and post-rabbinic literature, represent an axial theme in this volume. Throughout the collection the author addresses the tension between realities on the ground and the historiography that shaped the image of that reality for all subsequent generations. Two specifc clusters of studies analyze the emergence and development of the Babylonian rabbinic community, as well as the complex relationship between the Judaean centre and the Jewish diaspora in Late Antiquity. A final selection of essays examines the impact of modern ideologies and revised methods of research on the image of Jewish life and rabbinic leadership in late antique Judaism."--

Being Jewish and Doing Justice

Being Jewish and Doing Justice PDF Author: Brian Klug
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780853039938
Category : Animal rights
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Now in paperback, Being Jewish and Doing Justice expands the standard concept of Jewish Studies. The prologue offers a novel reading of the idea of 'the people of God, ' placing the people firmly 'in the world.' In this spirit, the book brings argument to bear on a broad range of contemporary moral, social, and political controversies, many of them turning on puzzles about identity. The scope extends from Judaism, Zionism, and anti-Semitism to the language of race, the status of animals, and the rights of the child. Drawing on his training as an academic philosopher, his Jewish education, and his personal experience, author Brian Klug confronts uncomfortable questions with rigor, candor, and humor. And while the chapters are not a series of steps in an overall argument, collectively they develop the title theme: the inner connection between being Jewish and doing justice. Topical and controversial, the issues discussed include: whether anti-Zionism is a form of anti-Semitism * Herzl's Jewish opponents in the East End * if anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism are inextricably entangled * what draws America to Israel and what ties Israel to Auschwitz * how the climate of debate about Israel among Jews can be improved * Israel's 'right to exist' * the 'race question' on the UK census form * Arthur Balfour's take on 'the Jewish race' * ethnicity in America * Black-Jewish relations in Chicago * popular attitudes in Britain towards the 'ritual' slaughter of animals * the treatment of animals in the abattoir and laboratory