DOCSLIB.ORG

The Ewish Fifty Cents

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Ewish Fifty Cents SHEVAT 5730 /JANUARY 1970 VOLUME VI, NUMBER 5 THE EWISH FIFTY CENTS Graphic by Siegmund Forst Questions ... Questions ... And No Answers THE JEWISH QBSERVER In this issue ... QuEsTioNs ... QuESTIONs ... AND No ANSWERS, Siegmund Forst ..................................................................................... 3 THE EDITOR TAKES LEAVE .............................................................................. 11 THE JEWISH OBSERVER is published EXPERIENCING ERETZ YrsROH, Yaakov Jacobs .............................. 13 monthly, except July and Aug~st, by the Agudath Israel of Amenc:i, 5 Beekman Street, New York, New York 10038. Second class THE ENCOUNTER BETWEEN AGUDAH IDEOLOGY AND postage paid at New York, N. Y. Subscription: $5.00 per year; Two AMERICAN REALITY, A SYMPOSIUM: years, $8.50; Three years, $12.00; outside of the United States, $6.00 per year. Single copy, fifty cents. INTRODUCTION, Leo Levi .................................................................. 17 Printed in the U.S.A. THE THEME IN PERSPECTIVE, Yaakov Weinberg......... 18 RABBI YAAKOV JACOBS Editor THE NEXT STAGE, Nathan Bulman ....................................... 21 Editorial Board DR. ERNEST L. BODENHEIMER SELF-PROTECTION ..• OR ENCOUNTER?, Yechiel Perr 22 Chairman RABBI NATHAN BULMAN UNDERSTANDING JEWISH HISTORY, Murray Friedman.................. 24 RABBI JOSEPH ELIAS JOSEPH FRIEDENSON RABBI MOSHE SHERER CHASSIDUS AND "SCHOLARSHIP", Yaakov Jacobs........................... 27 THE JEWISH OBSERVER does not assume responsibility for the SECOND LOOKS AT THE JEWISH SCENE: Kashrus of any product or service advertised in its pages. ON JEWISH GOBLINS ........................................................................... 29 JAN. 1970 VoL. Vl, No. 5 Siegmund For.Jt Questions ... Questions ... And No Answers We believe that the following article is among the this here to the best of our ability; but because of the most significant we have been privileged to publish in complex issues discussed, we urge the reader to read these pages. Mr. Forst ranges over a broad canvas: carefully, and to re-read-an experience which we the major intellectual and theological concerns which feel certain will be amply rewarded. Mr. Forst is a perplex the entire world; the upheaval in art and litera­ free-lance artist and writer. He has contributed signi­ ture which mirrors contemporary concerns; the rela­ ficant papers to various volumes of The Jewish Library, tionship of Orthodox Jewry to non-Orthodox institu­ a pioneering effort in the expression of Torah ideology, tions; and the role of Israel upon the world scene today. edited by Rabbi Leo Jung, and soon to be re-issued by It is an editor's responsibility to present each article the Soncino Press of London. To our pages, Mr. Forst in such a manner that the reader l1'ill have the least contributed: "Who's Afraid-Me?" (April '65); and difficulty in reading and understanding, hoping that the "Biographical Fragments and Aspects of the Life of reader lVill meet the author part way. We have done · Michael B. Weissmandl" (June '65). Things have happened and continue to happen in our time for which there is no precedent in the history of mankind; and they have radically and irrevocably changed the condition of man. The ever-shortening intervals between successive major happenings bring to mind the increasing acceleration of a falling object. Since Hiroshima, the age of explosions has set in. We speak of the Population Explosion, the Sex Explosion, the Freedom Explosion, and the Space Explosion, as if these phenomena in their inherent destructiveness were terms of reference in the relation between man and world. The utter absurdity of man's condition today can be seen in a baffling contradiction between the physical and the spiritual and the simultaneity of opposing phenomena. There is on the one hand, the technological materialism which has conditioned Western man since the time of the Industrial Revolution and is now spreading over the whole globe; and there is on the other hand, a constantly growing manifestation of its absolute rejection. Technology as reason geared to practicability, unfolds itself in a functionality with no reasonable motive and purpose outside itself. That self-propelled dynamic functionalism expanding over the globe and beyond, appears simultaneously with a vehemently rebellious withdrawal which amounts to a revulsion against the Western self and an alteration of consciousness. Simultaneously with the expansion of the world goes the painful awareness of its closing in on us, to use a metaphor of C. P. Snow. The Jewish Observer I January, 1970 3 The mood of a generation is not expressed in its "silent majority." Static masses do not create ideas and revolutions. It is rather the 20% of college students in the United States who use drugs who are motivated-and not the others--to rebel against a curriculum irrelevant to the realities of life. An educational system concerned with how to make a living instead of how to live, cannot make sense in a time when life itself cowers under a huge questionmark. The epistomological problem of education has become thus a moral issue and has led to questioning the entire premise of understanding by means of description, and of truth as synonymous with a scientific reality whose validation lies in its function as operative practicality. All this must be a bloody absurdity because it is just those practical people who now drag man into apparently inevitable doom. The Freedom Explosion-seen in this light-which has moved Western society on a way towards the abyss of a fantastic moral collapse is the spiritual equivalent of physical destruction which looms over our days. In one case it is the smashing of the atom by freeing it from the power which held it together; in the second case it is the dissolution of a culture by freeing it from its inherent contents. People are instinctively aware that the continuous increase in nuclear armaments and the progressive sophistication of weapons of destruction are endangering their physical existence on a global scale. One has only to read the Proceedings of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute to learn by facts and figures the incessant preparations of the two super powers to a point from where there is no return. The notion of a "Balance of Terror" appears to be antiquated; negotiations to be exercises in futility; and there is just the drive to be the first to strike the one decisive blow. The average man cannot understand why things must take that course, dictated by a few, with such apparent inevitability. The educational outlook of youth had been geared to a stability of order, and change was only its medium; now change, per se has become the overriding purpose and disorder is the medium to survive the order. Change does therefore not mean the substitution of one order by another, but it means essentially, destruction of forms with pseudo-contents of dangerous nonsense. Forms must be destroyed by a manifestation of non-sense against pseudo-sense and an outrageous display of irreality against an illusory reality. Destruction of forms means freedom from everything and before it 4 The Jewish Observer / January, 1970 is completely and radically achieved, the drug secures at least freedom from one's own tortured self and-in Kafka's phrase-the "horror of life." The precarious balance of man's physical being and non-being is mirrored in art and literature in expressions aimed at profound nothingness. Samuel Beckett, one of the most significant writers of our time, bearing its stigmata, (he recently was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature) has come closest to the fundamentals of the issue in his Endgame and Waiting for Godot. "Beckett has gone to the root of Nihilism in our time, to the question of Being and Nothingness, of Death, and has imagined the ineluctable form of dissolution. He touches the deepest aspirations of the age by touching on its darkest dread." (Ihab Hassen in The Literature of Silence). Beckett's work has been described as an attempt "to talk himself and the whole of human culture into a nothingness" and "the ambition of putting a stop to the whole history of human thought hitherto, which he sees as a long train of error." One sees it in the asymetrical forms in music and the dissolution of harmony into a tortured shrillness of unrelated sounds, preventing predictability and aiming at the existential "sound of the moment." Also of significance in this respect is the great interest in exotic rhythm which leads nowhere but repeats itself in space with no progression. The dissolution of form in painting has been started in a spectacular way by the systematic distortions by Picasso and led over the spilled-paint canvasses of Pollock to the black pictures of Reinhardt who represents in painting a striking equivalent of Beckett in literature. It is "the choice of non-being, to escape the anxiety of being," as the theologian Tillich has put it. The attempts to create a new optical and tonal vocabulary are highly significant absurdities of existence and a rebellion against the "tyranny of things seen" and heard. It is a shock treatment to which art subjects itself and man, in order to obliterate the distinction between normalcy and abnormalcy. It is a desperate attempt to reject reality by changing it, just as use of LSD is a way to distort normal vision by distorting man's senses. These are documents perceived through the eye or the ear, containing a message of a sudden change of man vis-a-vis his world; they are memoranda of a revolution of the spirit. This totality of reaction corresponds to a totality of a global situation. The lelt>ish Observer I January, 1970 5 Political, economic, social and spiritual forces have become mutually genetic and race simultaneously towards their peak. Modern man, wherever he finds himself, is growing out of isolated patterns of individual consciousness and he is conscious of himself now in terms of this Western Civilization which in its totality is approaching its moment of truth.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Student Handbook
    YESHIVA HANDBOOK 5780/2019-2020 YESHIVA UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL FOR BOYS THE MARSHA STERN TALMUDICAL ACADEMY 2540 AMSTERDAM AVENUE • NEW YORK, NY • 10033 PHONE: 212-960-5337 • FAX: 212-960-0027 • E-MAIL: [email protected] 1 Statement of Philosophy Yeshiva University High School for Boys emphasizes the core belief that Torah is at the center of our existence and represents the lens through which we look at all of life, as it guides our response to each and every opportunity and challenge. We therefore define our lives not only by the ongoing study of Torah, but by our complete dedication to the values and ideals of Torah. Simultaneously, we recognize that proper understanding of the sciences and humanities, examined through the prism of Torah, can further our appreciation of G-d’s great wisdom. It is by the light of both of G-d's expressions of His will - through revelation and creation, Torah U’Madda - that we interact with and impact the world around us. In light of the above, the yeshiva provides a challenging academic program in an atmosphere that expects and expresses adherence to the traditional ideals and practices of Orthodox Judaism. It is designed to motivate Torah living - striving to become ever more devoted to G-d, Torah learning, personal integrity, and the kind of ethical behavior basic to Jewish life as well as to participation in contemporary society. Genuine concern for the welfare of others, observance of mitzvos, love of the Jewish people, and pride in our Jewish heritage and values should characterize the intellectual goals and the daily behavior of our talmidim.
    [Show full text]
  • A Fresh Perspective on the History of Hasidic Judaism
    eSharp Issue 20: New Horizons A Fresh Perspective on the History of Hasidic Judaism Eva van Loenen (University of Southampton) Introduction In this article, I shall examine the history of Hasidic Judaism, a mystical,1 ultra-orthodox2 branch of Judaism, which values joyfully worshipping God’s presence in nature as highly as the strict observance of the laws of Torah3 and Talmud.4 In spite of being understudied, the history of Hasidic Judaism has divided historians until today. Indeed, Hasidic Jewish history is not one monolithic, clear-cut, straightforward chronicle. Rather, each scholar has created his own narrative and each one is as different as its author. While a brief introduction such as this cannot enter into all the myriad divergences and similarities between these stories, what I will attempt to do here is to incorporate and compare an array of different views in order to summarise the history of Hasidism and provide a more objective analysis, which has not yet been undertaken. Furthermore, my historical introduction in Hasidic Judaism will exemplify how mystical branches of mainstream religions might develop and shed light on an under-researched division of Judaism. The main focus of 1 Mystical movements strive for a personal experience of God or of his presence and values intuitive, spiritual insight or revelationary knowledge. The knowledge gained is generally ‘esoteric’ (‘within’ or hidden), leading to the term ‘esotericism’ as opposed to exoteric, based on the external reality which can be attested by anyone. 2 Ultra-orthodox Jews adhere most strictly to Jewish law as the holy word of God, delivered perfectly and completely to Moses on Mount Sinai.
    [Show full text]
  • Ordinary Jerusalem 1840–1940
    Ordinary Jerusalem 1840–1940 Angelos Dalachanis and Vincent Lemire - 978-90-04-37574-1 Downloaded from Brill.com03/21/2019 10:36:34AM via free access Open Jerusalem Edited by Vincent Lemire (Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée University) and Angelos Dalachanis (French School at Athens) VOLUME 1 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/opje Angelos Dalachanis and Vincent Lemire - 978-90-04-37574-1 Downloaded from Brill.com03/21/2019 10:36:34AM via free access Ordinary Jerusalem 1840–1940 Opening New Archives, Revisiting a Global City Edited by Angelos Dalachanis and Vincent Lemire LEIDEN | BOSTON Angelos Dalachanis and Vincent Lemire - 978-90-04-37574-1 Downloaded from Brill.com03/21/2019 10:36:34AM via free access This is an open access title distributed under the terms of the prevailing CC-BY-NC-ND License at the time of publication, which permits any non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided no alterations are made and the original author(s) and source are credited. The Open Jerusalem project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) (starting grant No 337895) Note for the cover image: Photograph of two women making Palestinian point lace seated outdoors on a balcony, with the Old City of Jerusalem in the background. American Colony School of Handicrafts, Jerusalem, Palestine, ca. 1930. G. Eric and Edith Matson Photograph Collection, Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/item/mamcol.054/ Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Dalachanis, Angelos, editor.
    [Show full text]
  • Knessia Gedolah Diary
    THE JEWISH OBSERVER (ISSN 0021-6615) is published monthly, in this issue ... except July and August, by the Agudath lsrael of Ameri.ca, 5 Beekman Street, New York, N.Y. The Sixth Knessia Gedolah of Agudath Israel . 3 10038. Second class postage paid at New York, N.Y. Subscription Knessia Gedolah Diary . 5 $9.00 per year; two years, $17.50, Rabbi Elazar Shach K"ti•?111: The Essence of Kial Yisroel 13 three years, $25.00; outside of the United States, $10.00 per year Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetzky K"ti•?111: Blessings of "Shalom" 16 Single copy, $1.25 Printed in the U.S.A. What is an Agudist . 17 Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchok Ruderman K"ti•?111: RABBI NISSON WotP!N Editor An Agenda of Restraint and Vigilance . 18 The Vizhnitzer Rebbe K"ti•'i111: Saving Our Children .19 Editorial Board Rabbi Shneur Kotler K"ti•'i111: DR. ERNST BODENHEIMER Chairman The Ability and the Imperative . 21 RABBI NATHAN BULMAN RABBI JOSEPH ELIAS Helping Others Make it, Mordechai Arnon . 27 JOSEPH FRJEDENSON "Hereby Resolved .. Report and Evaluation . 31 RABBI MOSHE SHERER :'-a The Crooked Mirror, Menachem Lubinsky .39 THE JEWISH OBSERVER does not Discovering Eretz Yisroel, Nissan Wolpin .46 assume responsibility for the Kae;hrus of any product or ser­ Second Looks at the Jewish Scene vice advertised in its pages. Murder in Hebron, Violation in Jerusalem ..... 57 On Singing a Different Tune, Bernard Fryshman .ss FEB., 1980 VOL. XIV, NOS. 6-7 Letters to the Editor . • . 6 7 ___.., _____ -- -· - - The Jewish Observer I February, 1980 3 Expectations ran high, and rightfully so.
    [Show full text]
  • JO1994-V27-N05.Pdf
    l"Ol 1nr1\V1 11:i '?:> ?\V plJ~l un1N 010nn\Vl'.> 1nN n:>11 l'?:it 1nN \VIN:> n'?tlJ 1101 p11~ ,N\1J11p NJl~t:i ,111n 1N0 ,111\VNI n1olJ ntp?non:i illtllJil 1tnlJt n11nn 1\V ,'?N1\V1 '?:> ?\V 1:i1 ,i11\V11? illOlJ 11rnil\V ,~~,, ,~,,~ ,~~iit-c ptt= CC.C'J'Ci:~M ,_,,,,_, .. ~C.C .. Mili .. ,)"1JlJ1 }J"•t ,il"n??pt~T l11lJT1t)p-TJN~f.) l"tb1N 0:>1n:i1 011on n'?1nlt illtJ.lJ ,n11n nnotn 01pn1 101n 1n?tlJil O"Wil ?lJ!>f.) 11N•J? n•?tn n1J-TlN~ •Nt!>l TJ1f.) .11? i11tN ,lN pNt un1N 01n1n1 N'?il .l!>Ol'.>1 l)ll ltNl'.> ltNl'.> ll) '?J.N 1nNt lnN '?:>:>. 1il"i1'?'?p1~t 1"1n1N p":> '!>\Vn? pn1n1n un1N n1lJ1ln .N"ll p1~ '?Nu nN1:i nnn1:>. nn1n? t:>tn\V .01?\Vn11111~ 11;>1:>.N IN\V itn:>. n:>nN nn11 01pnn 1xf/ff,, 011e,, luax 111cJI n'\o ]Jlc] aJ)1x "P17x/c 11111 Passing of our great Teacher, Leader, Guide and Founder THE SANZ-KLAUZENBERGER REBBE, ZT"L '""!l}'i }'""'I' .M"Mt,t,f'i:C'I' !l..,i:i:i'l'"'l'f'-'l':ib<:C'lQ .,.. ,'lQ"Tb< His clarity of vision and complete dedication to rebuilding 'nnw1 77J have never been needed more. "tJNOn 1::> tJ7 NJ 11N" 11 woe.unto us for we have sinned." We pray that the Rebbe's, zt 11 I, family and the Jewish People be comforted along with the mourners of Zion and Yerushalayim with the coming of Moshiach speedily in our days.
    [Show full text]
  • The Haredim As a Challenge for the Jewish State. the Culture War Over Israel's Identity
    SWP Research Paper Peter Lintl The Haredim as a Challenge for the Jewish State The Culture War over Israel’s Identity Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik German Institute for International and Security Affairs SWP Research Paper 14 December 2020, Berlin Abstract ∎ A culture war is being waged in Israel: over the identity of the state, its guiding principles, the relationship between religion and the state, and generally over the question of what it means to be Jewish in the “Jewish State”. ∎ The Ultra-Orthodox community or Haredim are pitted against the rest of the Israeli population. The former has tripled in size from four to 12 per- cent of the total since 1980, and is projected to grow to over 20 percent by 2040. That projection has considerable consequences for the debate. ∎ The worldview of the Haredim is often diametrically opposed to that of the majority of the population. They accept only the Torah and religious laws (halakha) as the basis of Jewish life and Jewish identity, are critical of democratic principles, rely on hierarchical social structures with rabbis at the apex, and are largely a-Zionist. ∎ The Haredim nevertheless depend on the state and its institutions for safeguarding their lifeworld. Their (growing) “community of learners” of Torah students, who are exempt from military service and refrain from paid work, has to be funded; and their education system (a central pillar of ultra-Orthodoxy) has to be protected from external interventions. These can only be achieved by participation in the democratic process. ∎ Haredi parties are therefore caught between withdrawal and influence.
    [Show full text]
  • Yeshiva of Ocean Catalog 2020-2021
    YESHIVA OF OCEAN ♦♦♦ CATALOG 2020-2021 Table of Contents Board of Directors........................................................................................................................... 4 Administration ................................................................................................................................ 4 Faculty............................................................................................................................................. 4 History............................................................................................................................................. 5 Mission Statement ........................................................................................................................... 6 State Authorization and Accreditation ............................................................................................ 6 The Campus and Dormitory............................................................................................................ 6 Library............................................................................................................................................. 7 Textbook Information ..................................................................................................................... 8 General Information ........................................................................................................................ 8 Admissions Requirements .............................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Sect, Subsidy and Sacrifice
    1%(5:25.,1*3$3(56(5,(6 6(&768%6,'<$1'6$&5,),&( $1(&2120,67¶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¶V 9LHZRI8OWUD2UWKRGR[-HZV (OL%HUPDQ 1%(5:RUNLQJ3DSHU1R $XJXVW -(/1R''+,--12 $%675$&7 ,VUDHOL8OWUD2UWKRGR[PHQVWXG\IXOOWLPHLQ\HVKLYDWLOODJHRQDYHUDJH:K\GRIDWKHUV ZLWKIDPLOLHVLQSRYHUW\5KRRVH\HVKLYDRYHUZRUN"'UDIWGHIHUPHQWVVXEVLGL]H\HVKLYDDWWHQGDQ5H \HWDWWHQGDQ5HW\SL5DOO\5RQWLQXHVORQJDIWHUH[HPSWLRQ)HUWLOLW\UDWHVDUHKLJKC7)5
    [Show full text]
  • םיאבה םיכורב Rabbi Pesach Raymon
    Rabbi Pesach Raymon Yeshiva Empowers Thinkers, Enriches Souls Welcome Rabbi Pesach Raymon Yeshiva From pre-nursery through eighth grade, RPRY is committed to providing a stellar foundation for our students’ academic success and emotional well-being. An RPRY education is much more than absorbing facts; it’s learning to formulate questions, analyze and synthesize information, research and problem solve. This ability to problem solve creatively in an environment of metacognitive development centers our educational model. Our small teacher-to-student ratio, strong academic programs, and attention to each and every child’s success provide a springboard for academic achievement. Our warm, nurturing environ- ment provides stability and promotes our students’ confidence to reach their full potential. Love .and for fellow Jews permeates every part of the education הבאים,for Torah, for the Land of Israel !to welcoming you and your child to the RPRY family ברוכיםWe look forward The RPRY Difference Small Group & Differentiated Instruction Love for Being a Jew, & for the Land of Israel Comprehensive Support & Enrichment Services Built in Social Emotional Learning Hands on Learning Academic Philosophy Academic excellence at RPRY reflects our whole child approach as framed through the prism of metacognition. Students succeed in a self-reflective environment where academic rigor is bolstered through thoughtful social and emotional learning. Teachers and students set learning goals and plan, with teachers scaffolding student learning, to consistently provide students with the tools to raise their independent learning levels. RPRY students become lifelong learners. A hallmark of an RPRY education is the centrality of questions. Students query; they search and they ponder.
    [Show full text]
  • Jewish Studies
    GUIDE TO MAJORS AT YESHIVA COLLEGE: JEWISH STUDIES Choosing a major can be stressful, but it is important to understand that you can pursue almost any career regardless of which major you choose. While there are some exceptions, most entry-level positions simply require general transferable skills—those that can be learned in one setting and applied in another. Relevant experience through internships and activities is generally more important to employers than a major. It is best to choose an area that you find interesting and where you have the ability to do well. What is the Jewish Studies Major? Academic Jewish Studies at Yeshiva College, which combines the rigorous application of the methodology of the relevant academic disciplines with a reverence for tradition, lies at the heart of YU's mission. The Jewish Studies major should evoke interest on the part of the student who has a desire to attain a broad and sophisticated appreciation of Judaism and the Jewish people. The Jewish Studies Department includes programs in Jewish History, Bible, Hebrew, and Jewish Philosophy and Thought. Beyond the subject matter, these disciplines teach critical thinking, analytical and research skills, and mastery of challenging texts. What can I do with a Major in Jewish Studies? A major in Jewish Studies is excellent preparation for careers working for the Jewish community, most often in the areas of Jewish education or Jewish communal services. Jewish educational and communal professionals work in day schools, community centers, synagogues, congregational schools, federations, universities, social service agencies, and the military, among others. The Jewish Studies major also prepares students for a variety of careers in the secular community, as well as provides a foundation for graduate study.
    [Show full text]
  • Guide to the Yeshiva
    YU Admissions Guide to the Yeshiva The Undergraduate Torah Experience Welcome to Yeshiva! Our Yeshiva has a long and profound history and legacy of Torah scholarship, Jewish values, and spiritual aspirations. Grounded in the world-view of Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik and guided today by our world-renowned Roshei Yeshiva, we prepare each student on his personal path to greatness. We have assembled in one Yeshiva an unparalleled group of warm Rebbeim, insightful Mashgichim, and helpful support staff to enable you to have an uplifting and enriching Torah experience—ranging from beginner to advanced 3 Yeshiva Program/ levels. Beyond the Beit Midrash and classroom Mazer School of Talmudic Studies (MYP) learning, we provide programming, shabbatonim, 4 Isaac Breuer College of and extracurricular events with Rebbeim, often in Hebraic Studies (IBC) their homes. As you decide where you will spend 7 The James Striar School the next stage of your life’s journey, we hope that (JSS) you will join us here in Yeshiva and take full 8 Irving I. Stone Beit Midrash advantage of all that we have to offer you here. Program (SBMP) 10 Masmidim Program With Torah Blessings, 13 BA/Semicha Program 14 Support Staff Administration/ Mashgichim/ Madrichim/ Shiur Assistants 16 Annual Programming Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman, Rabbi Dr. Yosef Kalinsky, President Dean ROSHEI YESHIVA AND REBBEIM Rabbi Elchanan Rabbi Eliyahu Rabbi Mordechai Rabbi Yitzchak Rabbi Daniel Rabbi Meir Adler Ben-Haim Benhaim Cohen Feldman Goldwicht Rabbi David Hirsch Rabbi Dr. Dovid Rabbi Aharon Kahn Rabbi Eliakim Rabbi Yaakov Rabbi Hershel Horwitz Koenigsberg Neuburger Reichman Rabbi Dr. Michael Rabbi Avi Sarfaty Rabbi Hershel Rabbi Eliahu Rabbi Baruch Rabbi Zvi Rosensweig Schachter Baruch Shulman Simon Sobolofsky Rabbi Daniel Stein Rabbi Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • American Jewish Denominationalism: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
    American Voices American Jewish Denominationalism: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow David Ellenson In approaching the topic of Jewish religious denominationalism in America today, I will begin with an autobiographical “confession.” I was raised in an Orthodox synagogue, sent all of my children either to Solomon Schechter schools or Camp Ramah, was a member of a Conservative as well as a Reform congregation for over twenty years of my life, am an Associate member of the Reconstructionist Rab- binical Association as well as an alumnus of the rabbinical school of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, and currently serve as President of the premiere educational institution of the Reform Movement. My journey across denominational lines may well be instructive for a discus- sion of denominationalism, for my story of “boundary-crossings” is hardly unique among present-day American Jews. After all, denominational commitments and affiliations can be and have been approached on a host of different levels — ideolog- ical, institutional and folk. The first refers to the set of overarching general beliefs that inform the diverse movements and that are articulated by the elite leaders of each movement, while the second marks the organizational structures that mark each one. Finally, the folk level bespeaks those informal and highly eclectic sets of practices and beliefs that characterize the persons who affiliate with the diverse movements that are present in modern-day Jewish life. My journey is “instructive” precisely because it represents how permeable the borders often are for so many Jews as they traverse the diverse and multi-layered paths of modern Jewish life in their search for spiritual meaning and community.
    [Show full text]