The Center Cannot Hold
Ours is an era when the unthinkable has become thinkable again.
When American Jews Talk About Israel, We’re Really Talking About Ourselves.
Why do American Jews talk about Israel so much? Because it is easier than turning the lens on the endangered condition of our Judaism.
Tradition and (50 Years of) Change
Few books have an iconic status specifically for Conservative Jews, but it is fair to say that “Tradition and Change: The Development of Conservative Judaism” is one of them. This year marked the 50th anniversary of the publication of this landmark volume of essays on movement ideology, edited by the late Rabbi Mordecai Waxman. For a half-century, it has served as a veritable reference manual — the *vade mecum — *for anyone interested in the intellectual roots of Conservative Judaism and its institutional arms. Today, “Tradition and Change” continues to illuminate Conservative Judaism’s rich past, but it also offers valuable insights for a movement that has been struggling with uncertainty about its future.
Where Have All the Theologians Gone?
Name five contemporary Jewish theologians saying something interesting about Jewish belief who had not already published a major work by 1990. Stumped? So am I.
‘Greatest British Jew,’ 85, Synthesized Faith and Modernity
Louis Jacobs, the most prolific and controversial rabbi of contemporary British Jewry, died July 1 in London. He was 85.The cause was esophageal cancer, said his son, Ivor.Jacobs was trained as an Orthodox rabbi, and his theological profile took on international significance in the 1960s when he was barred from a prominent rabbinical seminary post
When a Scholar Became Chancellor
Who is Arnold Eisen?Few of my colleagues in the Conservative rabbinate have ever met this Stanford University professor, who was named last month to replace Ismar Schorsch as chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. The appointment is sure to shape the character of the premier American institution of Jewish studies and the
