DOCSLIB.ORG

The Pew Report and the Orthodox Community (And Other Assorted Comments), Part 1

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Pew Report and the Orthodox Community (And Other Assorted Comments), Part 1 The Pew Report and the Orthodox Community (and Other Assorted Comments), part 1 The Pew Report and the Orthodox Community (and Other Assorted Comments), part 1 Marc B. Shapiro 1. Here is a short piece I wrote a right after the appearance of the Pew Report. (The endnote is not part of the original article.) There has been a great deal of discussion in the wake of the recent release of the Pew Research Center’s “Portrait of Jewish Americans.” Some have focused on the report’s evidence of increasing intermarriage and lack of any Jewish connection of many in the younger generation. Others have zeroed in on some of the survey’s anomalies and results that are simply not correct. For example, the survey informs us that 1% of Ultra- Orthodox Jews had a Christmas tree last year. I would be willing to bet that in the entire world there isn’t even one Ultra-Orthodox Jew with a Christmas tree, and 1% means at least a few thousand Ultra Orthodox households have Christmas trees. After adding in the Modern Orthodox, we are told that 4% of Orthodox Jews have Christmas trees. Being that the survey places the Orthodox at 10% of the Jewish population, and also tells us that there are 5.3 million adult Jews (another one the survey’s surprises), this leads to the result that more than 21,000 adult Orthodox Jews have Christmas trees in their homes. Since these results are not just improbable, but impossible, it raises the general question of how reliable the survey is when it comes to the Orthodox. Can anyone believe the survey when it tells us that in the 18-29 age bracket the Modern Orthodox only account for 1% of the country’s Jews while the Ultra-Orthodox account for 9%, or that in the 30-49 age bracket, the Modern Orthodox are 3% and the Ultra Orthodox 10%. We are also are told that 24% of Ultra-Orthodox Jews handle money on Shabbat but only 19 percent of Modern Orthodox Jews do so. (Who was it that said the Ultra-Orthodox are frummer than the Modern Orthodox?!) When you read results like these you can only wonder what went wrong, and I hope we get some explanation as to how such results were generated. (Professor Jonathan Sarna has written to me that all surveys have absurd results for various reasons, and “one is to look at broad trends and ignore absurdities.”) Perhaps there was confusion about the way the questions were asked. Such confusion is the only way I can explain that only 64% of the Ultra-Orthodox agree that a person can be Jewish if he works on the Sabbath. The truth is that every Ultra-Orthodox Jew knows that a person who works on the Sabbath is still Jewish (albeit a sinning Jew). I presume that those who answered “no” to the question understood it to be asking if one can be a “good Jew” and work on the Sabbath. (In case anyone has been wondering, I use the term “Ultra- Orthodox” since that is what the survey uses. I don’t know why no one told the survey directors that this term is no longer regarded as appropriate.) The sort of anomalies I have mentioned appear to be confined to matters of religious life, and other areas seem more believable. For example, we are told that 37% of Modern Orthodox households have incomes in excess of $150,000, which places them in the top ten percent of Americans. This strikes me as on the mark and illustrates one of the great problems with Modern Orthodoxy in the United States. Anyone who has been to Israel knows that there are non-haredi Orthodox Jews in all areas of life. You see men with kippot who are bus drivers, security guards, and doing every other job imaginable. Yet in the United States, Modern Orthodoxy has become largely an upper middle class phenomenon. The cost of a Modern Orthodox lifestyle, which includes expensive schools and camps, is simply beyond most people’s reach. I believe that this cost is a major reason why the Modern Orthodox camp has not picked up much in the way of ba’alei teshuvah.[1] I have no doubt that many of the non-Orthodox admire the Modern Orthodox lifestyle, and would be willing to try it out, before learning the cost. Many non-Orthodox would also be happy to send their kids to Modern Orthodox schools, but they are not going to sacrifice a middle class lifestyle for this. Those who grow up Modern Orthodox and remain in the community are prepared to make the financial sacrifices (as well as limiting how many children they have). But for those who are not part of the community, the entry fee is simply too high. Needless to say, there are also those among the Modern Orthodox who drift away because of the financial cost, and this drifting often begin when the first child is enrolled in public school. As I see it, the financial burden is the great Achilles’ heel of Modern Orthodoxy, and what prevents it from any real growth. By the same token, those of us in the Modern Orthodox world must recognize that one of the great strengths of the haredi community is that there is room in it for everyone, from the wealthy real estate developer to the blue- collar worker. If, as so many predict, the future of American Orthodoxy is with the haredim, money (or lack of it) will play an important role in this story. * * * * * * The Pew Report reported very high levels of intermarriage in the Jewish community.[2] Yet even among those who would never dream of intermarrying, we know that some engage in sexual relations with non-Jews. There is an interesting responsum in this regard by the late R. Moshe Stern, the Debrecener Rav, Be’er Moshe, vol. 4 no. 141. R. Stern testifies to receiving numerous questions regarding this matter by the very people engaged in such behavior. For those who don’t know anything about R. Stern and who asked him questions, I can tell you that these were definitely not Modern Orthodox people or members of the Lithuanian yeshiva world.[3] This volume of Be’er Moshe was reprinted in 1984 without any changes. However, sometime after that the volume was reprinted again. There is no indication of when this took place, as the title page is the same as the 1984 edition. (Presumably, the reprint was after R. Stern’s passing in the summer of 1997.) Someone called my attention to how the responsum appears in this most recent reprint. The censorship of this responsum can only have one purpose, namely, so that people don’t learn about how some members of R. Stern’s community (the Hungarian hasidic world) are having sexual relations with non-Jewish women. What is the remedy for these men who are intimate with non- Jewish women? Repentance, of course. Yet there is a very strange opinion as to how to go about this repentance. R. Solomon Ephraim Luntshitz, in his Keli Yekar[4] to Numbers 19:21, says something which is so “out of the box” that I am shocked that it has not yet been censored from the Mikraot Gedolot. (Yes, I realize that it is just a matter of time.) R. Luntshitz is discussing the statement in Yoma 86b: “How is one proved a repentant sinner? Rav Judah said: If the object which caused his original transgression comes before him on two occasions, and he keeps away from it. Rav Judah indicated: With the same woman, at the same time, in the same place.” In context, this means only what it says, but not that someone should actually put himself in this situation. Yet this is exactly the lesson R. Luntshitz derives. He refers to Berakhot 34b, “In the place where penitents stand even the wholly righteous cannot stand.” R. Luntschitz cites an opinion that the ba’al teshuvah (penitent) of a sexual sin has to put himself in the exact same situation as he was before, that is, to be alone with the very same woman and overcome his inclination. This is not permitted to one who is “wholly righteous” since he is forbidden to put himself in this situation. But the penitent needs to do this in order for his repentance to be complete, and this explains how a wholly righteous one cannot stand where the penitent stands, since the penitent has to put himself in a situation that would be forbidden for the righteous one. R. Luntshitz explains that the very act of repentance, i.e., being alone with the woman, “makes the pure [the tzaddik] impure and the impure [the sinner] pure.” This is a strange passage for any number of reasons, not least of which that the action of being alone with the woman is itself sinful, even if it never leads to any sexual activity. Yet R. Luntshitz tells us that in this case we have an exception, and true repentance requires intentionally putting oneself in the exact same situation one was beforehand and this time overcoming one’s inclination. Of course, there is no guarantee that the person will emerge successfully from this self-imposed test. R. Israel Isserlein reports such an occurrence, where an individual put himself in this situation in order to achieve proper repentance, but ended up sinning again![5] Sefer Hasidim earlier warned against falling into precisely this trap.[6] R.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • © in This Web Service Cambridge University
    Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-65217-9 - Jewish Texts on the Visual Arts Edited With Commentary by Vivian B. Mann Index More information INDEX Aaron, 126—9 Alshekh, Moses (d. after 1593), 86,194n6i Abasban, Solomon (16th century), 86,194n6i Amado, David (ca. 1745), 48, 50, 54 Aboab, Samuel (1610-94), i7> 58-60, Amos (prophet, 765-50 BCE), 1741132 i88n85, i88n87, i89n89 Amsterdam Haggadah (1695), 127 Abraham, Jacob (1732-1800), 140,14if Angelo di Elia (ca. 1507), 11 Abraham de Orefice (ca. 1492), 78 animals, images of: in prayer books, no—11; Abstract Expressionism, 152,153, 155 on seals, 24f; in stained glass, 33, 71-5; Abulafia, Samuel haLevi (1320-61), 76-8 and Talmud on idolatry, I78ni5, i8on36, Adler, Cyrus (1865-1940), 158 182ml; on textiles, 39-42,183^1-3; on Adret, Solomon ben (1235-1310), 11, 54, 57, Torah ark, 116-20,120-3 95, i86n56, i88n76 Applied Arts Museum (Kunstgewerbemu- aesthetics: and appreciation of beauty of art seum, Diisseldorf), 156 in rabbinic texts, 13-16; and communal Aragon (Spain), n ownership of ceremonial art, 80; and architecture: and churches of medieval Israel Isserlein on ornaments for the Cologne, 72; and copies of famous eccle­ Torah scroll, 115; and manuscript illumi­ siastical structures in Middle Ages, 8, nations in prayer books, 109; and syna­ i94n7o; property rights and expansion of gogue lamps, 123—6 synagogue, 90,1741125; and reuse of Agam, Yaacov (b. 1928), 151 Church and mosque buildings as syna­ Ahab (king of Samaria, 874-52 B.C.E.), 8, gogues, 66-8, 78-9,192n33; and i74-n32 20th-century synagogues in U.S., 97-9.
    [Show full text]
  • MARRANOS of SPAIN
    B. Netanyahu THE MARRANOS of SPAIN From the Late 14TH to the Early i6th Century, According to Contemporary Hebrew Sources Third Edition, Updated and Expanded ) * > THE MARRANOS OF SPAIN From the Late 14th to the Early 16th Century According to Contemporary Hebrew Sources by B. NETANYAHU Third Edition, Updated and Expanded Cornell University Press Ithaca and London Third edition, updated and expanded, copyright© 1999 by Cornell University Copyright © 1966, 1972 by The American Academy for Jewish Research First Edition: January, 1966 Second Edition: September, 1972 Third edition, updated and expanded, first published 1999 by Cornell University Press First printing, Cornell Paperbacks, 1999 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Netanyahu, B. (Benzion), b. 1910 The Marranos of Spain, from the late 14th to the early 16th century, according to contemporary Hebrew sources I by B. Netanyahu. —3rd cd. u p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8014-3586-2 (cloth : alk. paper). - ISBN 0-8014-8568-1 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Marranos—Spain — Historiography. 2. Rabbinic and polemical literature —History and criticism. I. Title. DS135.S7N39 1999 946'.004924—dc21 98-55165 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Cloth printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Paperback 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 To CELA for toil, and faith, and dedication FOREWORD This study is part of an inquiry designed to establish what we can learn about the Marranos, as well as about the genesis of the Spanish Inquisition, from non-Inquisitional sources. In pursuit of this aim, I have undertaken a dual approach — an analysis of all the evidence on the Marranos contained in the Hebrew sources, and a scrutiny of all related testimony con­ tained in the non-Hebrew documents.
    [Show full text]
  • Science in Medieval Jewish Cultures
    Science in Medieval Jewish Cultures Edited by GAD FREUDENTHAL cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao˜ Paulo, Delhi, Tokyo, Mexico City Cambridge University Press 32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, ny 10013-2473, usa www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107001459 C Cambridge University Press 2011 ! This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2011 Printed in the United States of America A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication data Science in medieval Jewish cultures / edited by Gad Freudenthal. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-1-107-00145-9 (hardback) 1. Jewish scientists – History – To 1500. 2. Science, Medieval. 3. Judaism and science – History – To 1500. I. Freudenthal, Gad. q128.s35 2011 508.992"4–dc22 2010037107 isbn 978-1-107-00145-9 Hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urlsforexternalorthird-party Internet Web sites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Web sites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. 6 Astronomy among Jews in the Middle Ages Bernard R. Goldstein In the Middle Ages Jews were deeply involved in the practice of astronomy and they depended on the Greco-Arabic tradition largely based on Ptolemy’s Almagest composed in the sec- ond century c.e.
    [Show full text]
  • The Blackwell Companion to Judaism Blackwell Companions to Religion
    The Blackwell Companion to Judaism Blackwell Companions to Religion The Blackwell Companions to Religion series presents a collection of the most recent scholarship and knowledge about world religions. Each volume draws together newly-commissioned essays by distinguished authors in the field, and is presented in a style which is accessible to undergraduate students, as well as scholars and the interested general reader. These volumes approach the subject in a creative and forward-thinking style, providing a forum in which leading scholars in the field can make their views and research available to a wider audience. Published The Blackwell Companion to Judaism Edited by Jacob Neusner and Alan J. Avery-Peck The Blackwell Companion to Sociology of Religion Edited by Richard K. Fenn The Blackwell Companion to the Hebrew Bible Edited by Leo G. Perdue The Blackwell Companion to Postmodern Theology Edited by Graham Ward The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism Edited by Gavin Flood The Blackwell Companion to Political Theology Edited by Peter Scott and William T. Cavanaugh The Blackwell Companion to Protestantism Edited by Alister E. McGrath and Darren C. Marks The Blackwell Companion to Modern Theology Edited by Gareth Jones The Blackwell Companion to Religious Ethics Edited by William Schweiker The Blackwell Companion to Christian Ethics Edited by Stanley Hauerwas and Sam Wells Forthcoming The Blackwell Companion to the Study of Religion Edited by Robert A. Segal The Blackwell Companion to Eastern Christianity Edited by Ken Parry The Blackwell Companion to Judaism Edited by Jacob Neusner Bard College Alan J. Avery-Peck College of the Holy Cross © 2000, 2003 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd except for editorial material and organization © 2000,2003 by Jacob Neusner and Alan Avery-Peck 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148-5020, USA 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 IJF, UK 550 Swanston Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia The right of Jacob Neusner and Alan J.
    [Show full text]
  • Printing, Hebrew Book Culture and Sefer Ḥasidim
    Printing, Hebrew Book Culture and Sefer Ḥasidim Joseph A. Skloot Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2017 © 2017 Joseph A. Skloot All rights reserved ABSTRACT Printing, Hebrew Book Culture and Sefer Ḥasidim Joseph A. Skloot This dissertation is a contribution to the fields of the history of the Hebrew book and ear- ly modern Jewish cultural history. It is a study of Sefer Ḥasidim, a text that originated in the me- dieval Rhineland, in its first two printed editions (of 1538 and 1581, respectively). By analyzing these editions closely, and by comparing them to their manuscript antecedents, it is possible to determine how the work of printing changed Sefer Ḥasidim and how printing shaped readers’ understanding of the text. These investigations advance the argument that the printing of Hebrew books was a creative act, not merely a process of reproduction and dissemination. Like all cre- ative productions, moreover, these editions can be read as witnesses to the particular social and cultural contexts from which they emerged—in this case, a period of upheaval in Jewish life and European society. Moreover, the varied cast of characters who produced these editions—printers, editors, proofreaders, press workers, among others—were influenced by commercial, intellectual and religious interests unique to the sixteenth century and to Italy. These interests left their mark on the texts of Sefer Ḥasidim that emerged from their presses (in the form of censorship and emendations), as well as their associated paratexts (e.g.
    [Show full text]
  • Erensya 2015, Paisaje Humano
    CATÁLOGO Erensya 2015 Paisaje Humano Edición Red de Juderías de España ISBN: 978-84-606-9522-6 Depósito Legal: Gi 1253-2015 Comisaria de la exposición: Assumpció Hosta Rebés Documentalistas: Xavier Marcó y Marc Francesch Correctores de texto: Lídia Donat y Juan Cuevas Empresa de Diseño: Hélice Comunicación: Neorg Empresa realizadora de los vídeos: Vidicam Equipo técnico: Neus Casellas y Mario Colomer Fotografía portada: Kamarero CATÁLOGO Índice Presentación, 5 Erensya Introducción, 7 Àvila, 9 Barcelona, 11 2015 Besalú, 15 Cáceres, 17 Paisaje Calahorra, 20 Castelló d’Empúries, 23 Humano Córdoba, 26 Estella-Lizarra, 28 Girona, 31 Hervás, 34 Jaén, 37 León, 39 Lucena, 42 Monforte de Lemos, 45 Oviedo, 48 Palma de Mallorca, 51 Plasencia, 54 Ribadavia, 56 Segovia, 59 Sevilla, 62 Tarazona, 65 Toledo, 68 Tortosa, 72 Tudela, 76 Documentalistas, 79 Índice onomástico, 80 Bibliografía, 85 Cresques, Palma de Mallorca. 4 Presentación ¿NO HE DE BESAR LLORANDO TUS PIEDRAS? EL SABOR DE TU TIERRA EN LA BOCA ¿NO ME SERÁ MÁS DULCE QUE LA MIEL? Yehudá Ha-Levy Como Presidente de turno de la Red de Juderías de España, tengo el orgullo de presen- tar en este cuaderno, los esfuerzos realizados por nuestras ciudades para comprender mejor un largo período de vida de un pueblo con el que compartimos anhelos y espe- ranzas, y cuya historia cerró un ciclo con el decreto de expulsión de 1492, promulgado por los Reyes Católicos, después de un largo período de hostilidades y agresiones. Aquellos que se quedaron vieron endurecidas sus vidas por la aparición de la Inqui- sición Los expulsados trataron de rehacerlas, allá donde el destino los llevó, y esta es justamente la historia que perseguimos, la que queremos conocer, con este proyecto.
    [Show full text]
  • Concise and Succinct: Sixteenth Century Editions of Medieval Halakhic Compendiums*
    109 Concise and Succinct: Sixteenth Century Editions of Medieval Halakhic Compendiums* By: MARVIN J. HELLER* “Then Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with grain, and to restore every man’s money into his sack, and to give them provision for the way (zeidah la-derekh); and thus did he to them.” (Genesis 42:25) “And the people of Israel did so; and Joseph gave them wagons, accord- ing to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way (zeidah la-derekh).” (Genesis 45:21) “And our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spoke to us, saying, Take provisions (zeidah la-derekh) with you for the journey, and go to meet them, and say to them, We are your servants; therefore now make a covenant with us.” (Joshua 9:11) We are accustomed to thinking of concise, succinct, popular halakhic digests, such as R. Abraham Danzig’s (Danziger, 1748– 1820) Hayyei Adam on Orah Hayyim with an addendum entitled Nishmat Adam (Vilna, 1810) and Hokhmat Adam with an addendum called Binat Adam (1814-15) and R. Solomon ben Joseph Ganzfried’s (1801–66) Kizur Shulhan Arukh (Uzhgorod, 1864) as a * I would like to express my appreciation to Eli Genauer for reading this article and for his suggestions. ________________________________________________________ Marvin J. Heller writes books and articles on Hebrew printing and bibliography. His Printing the Talmud: A History of the Individual Treatises Printed from 1700 to 1750 (Brill, Leiden, 1999), and The Six- teenth Century Hebrew Book: An Abridged Thesaurus (Brill, Leiden, 2004) were, respectively, recipients of the 1999 and 2004 Research and Special Libraries Division Award of the Association of Jewish Libraries for Bibliography.
    [Show full text]
  • The Jewish Literary Annual
    T HE J E W I S H L I T E R A RY A N N UA L 1 9 0 3 PUBLISHED FOR UNION OF JEWISH LITERARY SOCIETIES M E T HYA SON HON . E AL R M . S C ETA Y B , R R , 102 GROSVENOR ROAD HIGHBURY , , N fiONDO , N. Pric e One S hilli ng. J \ ‘ inted b YNE NS N r BALLANT A O Gr 00 . P y , H At the Ballantyne Press THIS VOLUME 18 D E D I C A T E D T O DR MI HAEL FRIEDLANDER . C , THE HONORARY CHAIRMAN OF THE UNION OF JEWIS H LITERARY S OCIETIES , ON THE OCCASION OF HIS S EVENTIETH BIRTHDAY AS A T B OF A O AND S M RI UTE FFECTI N E TEE , BY HIS S A M R S AND I S FRIEND , D IRE PUP L THE MEMBERS OF THE CONSTITUENT SOCIETIES F THE O O UNI N . C ON T E N T S PREFACE UNION OF JEWISH LITERARY SOCIETIES E"ECUTIVE BRADY S TR EET CLUB FOR WORKING BOYS BUTLER STREET GIRLS’ CLUB THE CITY JEWISH SOCIAL AND LITERARY SOCIETY EAST LONDON ASSOCIATION OF JE WISH YOUTH HAMPST A ST JOHN’S WOO J ISH LITER E D AND . D EW ARY SOCIETY THE JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND ' THE JEWISH S TUDY SOCIETY JEWS’ COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY ’ JEWS COLLEGE UNION SOCIETY NORTH LONDON JEWIS H LITER ARY AND SOCIAL UNION S OUTH-EAST LONDON JEWISH LITERARY AND MUSICAL SOCIETY SOUTH HACKNEY JEWISH S OCIAL AND LITERARY SOCIETY SOUTH LONDON JEWIS H LITERARY AND SOCIAL SOCIETY ’ STEPNEY JEWIS H LADS CLUE ’ T HE WEST CENTRAL JEWISH WORKING LADS CLUB WEST-END JEWISH LITERARY S OCIETY ’ BIRMINGHAM JEWIS H YOUNG MEN S AS SOCIATION BRISTOL JEWIS H SOCIAL AND DERATING SOCIETY CARDIFF JEWISH LITERARY AND S OCIAL SOCIETY V l l CONTENTS PAGE UNION OF JEWISH LITERARY SOCIETIES (continued) GLASGOW JEWISH LITERARY AND SOCIAL SOCIETY LEEDS JEWISH YOUNG MEN’S ASS OCIATION LIVERPOOL JEWIS H YOUNG MEN’S SOCIETY ’ MANCHESTER JRWIS H WORKING MEN S CLUB THE PARK PLACE SYNAGOGUE ASSOCIATION; MANCHES TER NE PO T MON JE ISH LIT ER AND S OCI I STITUTE W R ( .
    [Show full text]
  • Judaism Jewish Culture
    Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-82597-9 — The Cambridge Dictionary of Judaism and Jewish Culture Edited by Judith R. Baskin Frontmatter More Information THE CAMBRIDGE DICTIONARY OF JUDAISM AND JEWISH CULTURE The Cambridge Dictionary of Judaism and Jewish Culture is an authoritative and accessible ref- erence work for a twenty-first-century audience. Its entries, written by eminent scholars, define the spiritual and intellectual concepts and the religious movements that distin- guish Judaism and the Jewish experience. They cover central personalities and places, formative events, and enduring literary and cultural contributions, and they illuminate the lives of ordinary Jewish women and men. Essays explore Jewish history from ancient times to the present and consider all aspects of Judaism, including religious practices and rituals, legal teachings, legendary traditions, rationalism, mysticism, and messianism. This reference work differs from many others in its broad exploration of the Jewish experience beyond Judaism. Entries discuss secular and political movements and achievements and delineate Jewish endeavors in literature, art, music, theater, dance, film, broadcasting, sports, science, medicine, and ecology, among many other topics from the ancient Near East to the Internet. Judith R. Baskin is Philip H. Knight Professor of Humanities and Associate Dean for Humanities in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Oregon. Her books include Pharaoh’s Counsellors: Job, Jethro, and Balaam in Rabbinic and Patristic Tradition (1982) and Midrashic Women: Formations of the Feminine in Rabbinic Literature (2002). She is the editor of Jewish Women in Historical Perspective (1991; 2nd edition, 1998) and Women of the Word: Jewish Women and Jewish Writing (1994) and is coeditor of The Cambridge Guide to Jewish History, Religion, and Culture (with Kenneth Seeskin, 2010), which received the 2010 National Jewish Book Award for anthologies and collections.
    [Show full text]
  • Yeshiva University • the Benjamin and Rose Berger Torah To-Go® Series • Sivan 5773
    1 Yeshiva University • The Benjamin and Rose Berger Torah To-Go® Series • Sivan 5773 Richard M. Joel, President and Bravmann Family Professor, Yeshiva University Rabbi Kenneth Brander, The David Mitzner Dean, Center for the Jewish Future Rabbi Joshua Flug, General Editor Rabbi Michael Dubitsky, Editor Andrea Kahn, Copy Editor Copyright © 2013 All rights reserved by Yeshiva University Yeshiva University Center for the Jewish Future 500 West 185th Street, Suite 413, New York, NY 10033 • [email protected] • 212.960.5263 This publication contains words of Torah. Please treat it with appropriate respect. For sponsorship opportunities, please contact Genene Kaye at 212.960.0137 or [email protected]. 2 Yeshiva University • The Benjamin and Rose Berger Torah To-Go® Series • Sivan 5773 Table of Contents Shavuot 2013/5773 Introduction President Richard M. Joel . Page 4 Notes on Aspects of Hag Ha-Shavu‘ot and Megillat Ruth Rabbi Dr. David Horwitz . Page 7 Megillas Naami: Identity, Alienation and Redemption Dr. Yitzchak Schechter . Page 16 The Centrality of the Message of Megillat Ruth in Biblical Canon Mrs. Natalie Taylor . Page 21 The Individualized Experience of Matan Torah Dr. Ilana Turetsky . Page 27 Feature Section: Leadership Ben Zoma and the Qualifications for Leadership Rabbi Ozer Glickman . Page 32 Humility: The Essential Ingredient in Great Leadership Mr. Charles Harary . Page 36 Answering the Call, In Life and Leadership Rabbi Josh Joseph . Page 42 Editor's Note: A correction from Meira Davis: I apologize for an inaccuracy in my interview about the Rav (which appeared in the most recent Pesach To Go) regarding the Rav's objection to the Boston Eruv.
    [Show full text]
  • NEW BEGINNINGS Renewed
    VO L UME 6 . I SSUE 1 . FALL 1997 The NATIONAL CENTER ror Worn 9Cippur: JEWISH HEALING Renew Us for Life by Rabbi Amy Eilberg, Rabbinic Consultant to the National Center for Jewish Healing daism, in its wisdom, teaches us to know our own mortality. [AThrough an elegant tapestry of n ual practices, Yom Kippur gently leads [Rosh 8?aefhannah: us to confront our own finiteness, and then return to life, refreshed and NEW BEGINNINGS renewed. We dress in white - the color of by Rabbi Nancy Flam , purity, the color of the shroud. We Rabbinic Consultant to the National Centerfor Jewish Healing recite the Unetaneh Toker. which poses the question of who will live New Beginnings and who will die in the year to come. know a woman who celebrates any New Year she can find: January We chant the Viddui, confessing sin 1st, Rosh HaShannah, the Chinese New Year, Tu BiSh'vat (the and confronting our own imperfection. We acknowledge our losses in the Jewish New Year of the trees), the first of Nisan at the beginning of I Yizkor, memorial, service; we look Spring, the new academic year, her own birthday. Whence her doggedness death in the face, we remember, and about celebrating new years? "I can't bear to pass up an opportunity to we weep. begin anew." I understand her impulse. As the day draws to a close, we Rosh HaShannah is truly about beginning anew. For the full month enter the territory of death. Our preceding the holiday (and until Yom Kippur) , we are instructed to bodies ache, our physical strength is diminished, the Mahzor, the high review our actions and inactions over the past year, repent for our holiday prayer book, tells us that failings, and begin a new year.
    [Show full text]
  • Torah Codes: New Experimental Protocols
    Torah Codes: New Experimental Protocols Robert M. Haralick Intelligent Systems Laboratory Department of Electrical Engineering University of Washington Seattle, WA 98195 Abstract. Because of its unexpected nature, finding words in as equidis- tant letter sequences (Torah codes) in a text may appear to be interest- ing. However, there is a significant probability that they occur by chance. In this paper we discuss a repeatable and objective methodology for defining a priori related pairs of key words for use in an experiment and we define a testing methodology for testing the hypothesis of whether such related equidistant letter sequences found in the Torah text are more spatially close in the text than expected by chance. 1 Introduction A Torah code is an occurrence of one or more given words spelled out by taking its successive letters, at some distance other than one from each other, in a Hebrew Torah text from which inter-word spaces and punction marks have been removed. Equal interval skips between successive letters of a word is the usual way Torah codes are found, but one can envision other skip patterns as well. On the one hand it would seem that the formation of words formed by suc- cessive letters at equal letter skip intervals is surprising. On the other hand it would seem that since there are so many ways to potentially form such words, that one can argue that they form just by a chance happening. The question is whether the observed phenomena is just a chance phenomena. Books authored by Rambsel[9] and Novick[8] use the Torah code device to reinforce the religious point they are trying to teach.
    [Show full text]