Community Center40 the Curriculum Included Hebrew, Bible, Jewish

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Community Center40 The curriculum included Hebrew, Bible, Jewish history, ethics, and practices of Orthodox Judaism.41 Despite their annual campaigns, however, the JEA still struggled financially. In 1929 the JEA appealed to the Jewish Welfare Fund for financial help, at which time the Welfare Federation became the schools’ major source of funds.42 Conservative Community Emerges As Jews of East European descent prospered economically, they left the immigrant neighborhoods of the south side and moved northward. Neither the Reform nor the Orthodox congregations satisfied the religious and educational desires of this upwardly mobile group. They found the Reform service at IHC too stripped of familiar traditions, and their school, which now only met on Sundays, also lacking. They felt the Orthodox shuls on the south side were too attached to East European habits of dress, personal manner, and religious practice, and now were too far away as well. These traditional Jews found a middle ground in Conservative Judaism. In 1927 two Orthodox congregations, Beth-El and Ohev Zedek, merged to form Congregation Beth-El Zedek, a Conservative synagogue.43 Solomon Schechter, the founder of Conservative Judaism, insisted that a synagogue must conduct an elementary Jewish school as part of its congregational function.44 As a result, Rabbi Milton Steinberg, Beth-El Zedek’s first rabbi, and one of Schechtcr’s first students, placed great importance on the congregational Sunday school, which supplemented the afternoon program of the JEA. He succeeded in raising the enrollment to 274 and introduced a confirmation class and high school study group, both of which he taught.45 The emphasis on Sunday school and the introduction of a confirmation class reflect ways in which the Conservative movement incorporated some of the changes initiated by Reform Judaism. The cessation of immigration during World War I, and the restrictive quotas enacted in the 1920s, led to notable shifts in the focus of Jewish education. Without the influx of immigrants, organized philanthropy was able to turn its attention toward the entire community. Without newly arriving immigrants, the 24.

Copy Link

Recommended publications

The Prophet's Wife New Novel by Milton Steinberg to Be
THE PROPHET’S WIFE NEW NOVEL BY MILTON STEINBERG TO BE PUBLISHED IN 2010 BY BEHRMAN HOUSE Manuscript Left Unfinished for Half a Century Release of Book is Major Literary Event Steinberg Authored As a Driven Leaf One of the Great Books of the 20th Century FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Shira Dicker 917.403.3989; shira.dicker@sd‐media.com December 17, 2009 (New York, NY) – Sixty years after the untimely death of the great American rabbi and writer Milton Steinberg, author of As a Driven Leaf, an important second novel by Steinberg will be published posthumously by Behrman House in March 2010. Discovered deep within the archives of the American Jewish Historical Society, The Prophet’s Wife delivers the lush narrative and vivid depictions that readers of As a Driven Leaf will recognize as the inimitable voice of Milton Steinberg. Set against a backdrop of unrest in ancient Israel, The Prophet’s Wife is a stirring portrait of the biblical prophet Hosea, his passionate and free‐spirited wife Gomer, and a people seduced by the lures of power and idolatry to betray their faith. Left unfinished by his death at age 46, the 440‐page typewritten manuscript of The Prophet’s Wife sat in the American Jewish Historical Society archives for over forty years before Behrman House located it and began the process of finishing the work. Through trial and tribulation, it was artfully developed into an artistic and intellectual collaboration between Steinberg and a triumvirate of important contemporary writers—Rabbi Harold S. Kushner, Ari L. Goldman and Norma Rosen.
[Show full text]
A Very Narrow Bridge
Rabbi Jay TelRav Yom Kippur Sermon 5780 A Very Narrow Bridge Earlier this year, my wife and I took our very first vacation without our children. Our son is coming up on his 9th birthday which gives you an idea how much we were looking forward to this. We planned the trip months ahead and decided on Barcelona. A city full of the things we craved like architecture and museums. We visited the masterpieces of the architect, Antoni Gaudi, and we went to the Picasso museum. We ate leisurely at a late hour and woke up calmly to sit in a cafe reading while drinking our espressos. It was the perfect escape from children! While we were taking our time in the Picasso museum, Julie decided to try to help me understand the work of the artist. We spent time on a series of works based on a masterpiece by Diego Velasquez called “Las Meninas”.1 While the original was classical renaissance style – very realistic, Picasso developed the characters and the setting using his own modernist style. He created hundreds of studies and developed each individual subject over and over again until he captured just what he was searching for. Each person in the original was still in the same location and the composition was the same but, beyond that, it was almost unrecognizable as a recreation of Las Meninas. Then, while we were talking about it, Julie said something that stuck with me. She said “Picasso is painting what he sees. He is not lying.” What an interesting way to think about the work of an artist.
[Show full text]
RECONSTRUCTIONISM in AMERICAN JEWISH LIFE by CHARLES S
RECONSTRUCTIONISM IN AMERICAN JEWISH LIFE by CHARLES S. LIEBMAN NATURE OF RECONSTRUCTIONISM • ITS HISTORY AND INSTITUTIONS • ITS CONSTITUENCY • AS IDEOLOGY OF AMERICAN JUDAISM • FOLK AND ELITE RELIGION IN AMERICAN JUDAISM INTRODUCTION JLHE RECONSTRUCTIONIST MOVEMENT deserves more serious and systematic study than it has been given. It has recently laid claim to the status of denomination, the fourth in American Judaism, along with Orthodoxy, Conservatism, and Reform. Its founder, Mordecai M. Kaplan, probably is the most creative Jewish thinker to concern himself with a program for American Judaism. He is one of the few intellectuals in Jewish life who have given serious consideration to Jewish tradition, American philosophical thought, and the experiences of the American Jew, and confronted each with the other. Reconstructionism is the only religious party in Jewish life whose origins are entirely American and whose leading personalities view Judaism from the perspective of the exclusively American Jewish experience. The Reconstructionist has been Note. This study would not have been possible without the cooperation of many Reconstructionists, friends of Reconstructionism, and former Reconstructionists. All consented to lengthy interviews, and I am most grateful to them. I am espe- cially indebted to Rabbi Ira Eisenstein, president of the Reconstructionist Founda- tion, who consented to seven interviews and innumerable telephone conversations, supplied me with all the information and material I requested, tolerated me through the many additional hours I spent searching for material in his office, and responded critically to an earlier version of this study. Rabbi Jack Cohen read the same version. He, too, pointed to several statements which, in his view, were unfair to Reconstructionism.
[Show full text]
Ethnicity and Faith in American Judaism: Reconstructionism As Ideology and Institution, 1935-1959
ETHNICITY AND FAITH IN AMERICAN JUDAISM: RECONSTRUCTIONISM AS IDEOLOGY AND INSTITUTION, 1935-1959 A Dissertation Submitted to the Temple University Graduate Board In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY By Deborah Waxman May, 2010 Examining Committee Members: Lila Corwin Berman, Advisory Chair, History David Harrington Watt, History Rebecca Trachtenberg Alpert, Religion Deborah Dash Moore, External Member, University of Michigan ii ABSTRACT Title: Ethnicity and Faith in American Judaism: Reconstructionism as Ideology and Institution, 1935-1959 Candidate's Name: Deborah Waxman Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Temple University, 2010 Doctoral Advisory Committee Chair: Lila Corwin Berman This dissertation addresses the development of the movement of Reconstructionist Judaism in the period between 1935 and 1959 through an examination of ideological writings and institution-building efforts. It focuses on Reconstructionist rhetorical strategies, their efforts to establish a liberal basis of religious authority, and theories of cultural production. It argues that Reconstructionist ideologues helped to create a concept of ethnicity for Jews and non-Jews alike that was distinct both from earlier ―racial‖ constructions or strictly religious understandings of modern Jewish identity. iii DEDICATION To Christina, who loves being Jewish, With gratitude and abundant love iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation is the product of ten years of doctoral studies, so I type these words of grateful acknowledgment with a combination of astonishment and excitement that I have reached this point. I have been inspired by extraordinary teachers throughout my studies. As an undergraduate at Columbia, Randall Balmer introduced me to the study of American religious history and Holland Hendrix encouraged me to take seriously the prospect of graduate studies.
[Show full text]
Money and the Meaning of Life
The International Journal of Ethical Leadership Volume 3 Article 5 2015 Money and the Meaning of Life Rabbi Richard A. Block Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/ijel Part of the Applied Ethics Commons, Business Law, Public Responsibility, and Ethics Commons, Leadership Studies Commons, and the Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility Commons Recommended Citation Block, Rabbi Richard A. (2015) "Money and the Meaning of Life," The International Journal of Ethical Leadership: Vol. 3 , Article 5. Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/ijel/vol3/iss1/5 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Cross Disciplinary Publications at Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in The International Journal of Ethical Leadership by an authorized administrator of Case Western Reserve University School of Law Scholarly Commons. Block: Money and the Meaning of Life Money and the Meaning of Life Rabbi Richard A. Block Temple-Tifereth Israel, Beachwood, Ohio Jack Benny’s most famous gag involved a confrontation with a man who accosted him, brandishing a gun, and threatened, “This is a stickup . Your money or your life.” For two or three minutes, Benny—who often played a comical miser—fidgeted, but did not reply. Finally, the exasperated rob- ber demanded, “Look, bud, I said, ‘Your money or your life.’” To which Benny replied, “I’m thinking it over!”1 In fact, Jack Benny, the son of Jewish immigrant parents, was one of the most generous, charitable people in Hol- lywood, but his renowned skit points to a deeper truth, that we sometimes cling to our material possessions as if they were as dear to us as life itself.
[Show full text]
Download Basic Judaism, Milton Steinberg, Harcourt, Brace, 1947
Basic Judaism, Milton Steinberg, Harcourt, Brace, 1947, 0156106981, 9780156106986, 172 pages. Concise and elegant, this is a book about the Jewish religion - not about the Jewish culture or Zionism, but about those beliefs, ideals, and practices that make up the historic Jewish faith. Including both the modernist and the traditionalist view in his exploration, Rabbi Steinberg discusses the Torah, what Judaism says about God and the relationship, and what exists in the Kingdom of God. He also talks about the laws that define Judaism, the practices and rituals that sustain it, and the synagogue and the rabbinate that support it. For all students of Judaism - be they practicing Jews, uncommitted Jews, or curious non-Jews - Rabbi Steinberg offers a brilliant chance to understand what the Jewish faith is, why it has elicited such intense devotion, and why it remains such a mighty force in the lives of its believers and, beyond them, the world.. DOWNLOAD HERE The making of the modern Jew , Milton Steinberg, 1934, History, 317 pages. American Judaism A History, Jonathan D. Sarna, 2004, Religion, 490 pages. This magisterial work chronicles the 350-year history of the Jewish religion in America. Tracing American Judaism from its origins in the colonial era through the present day .... Genesis , Walter Brueggemann, 1982, Religion, 384 pages. Each biblical book is presented for its most effective use by teacher or preacher, taking into consideratoin its centra purpose, its use in the liturgical and confessional .... An Introduction to Judaism , Nicholas Robert Michael De Lange, 2000, Religion, 247 pages. This book is intended for students of religion and others who seek an introduction to Judaism.
[Show full text]
Special Article the Future of American Jewry: a History
Special Article The Future of American Jewry: A History BY STEPHEN J. WHITFIELD A HE 23 JEWISH REFUGEES who arrived in Nieuw Ams- terdam 350 years ago were a sorry lot. Some were so obscure that historians cannot agree on identifying all of them. The captain of the Ste. Catherine, the ship that brought the Jews, sued them for failing to cover the cost of passage. Having fled the Portuguese in- quisition in Recife, they had to be sustained by a relief fund pro- vided by their coreligionists in Amsterdam, including a budding philosopher named Baruch de Spinoza. These two dozen Jews were neither unified nor even civil enough to eschew suing, slan- dering, and even fighting one another. By landing in the Dutch colony in 1654, these boat people would inaugurate Jewish history in the future United States. But the first institution that they created hardly exhibited optimism—they built a cemetery. (A public house of worship was forbidden.) Only two years were needed for the first Jew to marry a Christian. The groom was Solomon Pietersen, an Amsterdam merchant who arrived just ahead of this gathering of fugitives from Brazil; his daughter was baptized.1 Whether North America would become home for a se- rious Jewish community could hardly have been prophesied, so in- auspicious were its origins. A century ago, in 1904, when Jewry celebrated a quarter of a millennium on American soil, the traits that Gentile observers emphasized were vibrancy and resilience. The Jews were adapting smoothly to the New World, and thriving. In 1899 Mark Twain had described the Jews as an imperishable people whose powers seemed to get replenished.
[Show full text]
What Can a Modern Jew Believe? (Wipf & Stock, 2007), 255Pp
Studies in Christian-Jewish Relations Volume 4 (2009): Berger R 1-2 REVIEW Gilbert S. Rosenthal What Can a Modern Jew Believe? (Wipf & Stock, 2007), 255pp. + index Reviewed by Alan L. Berger, Raddock Family Chair of Holocaust Studies, Florida Atlantic University Over a half century ago, Rabbi Milton Steinberg’s Basic Judaism, a learned yet accessible book, became a classic for those interested in the Jewish religious tradition. Steinberg’s book was read by contemporaries, both Jews and non-Jews. In addition to his command of the Jewish material, the author had a firm grasp of Christian philosophy and, especially, theology. Despite the subsequent appearance of many other basic texts in the intervening decades, some of them quite good, Steinberg’s book is still being sold and read. I mention this as background to Rabbi Gilbert S. Rosenthal’s well written and sensitive response to the title query of his newest book, which may well attain the same status as Steinberg’s text. Rosenthal, who is Executive Director of the National Council of Synagogues, served as a pulpit rabbi for over three decades. His book combines the wisdom of the scholar with the insights of one who, like Steinberg, was in the “theological trenches” and knows well what concerns his congregation when tradition seems under assault by modernity. The book, divided into sixteen chapters and an Afterword, may be seen as an intelligent and sensitive discussion of Jewish religion and how its main tenets can continue to address twenty- first century Jews. Rosenthal cites Jonathan Swift’s satirical observation: “We have just enough religion to make us hate one another but not enough to love one another” (8).
[Show full text]
Diary of a Los Angeles Jew, 1947-1973” By: Marc Lee Raphael October 28, 1959 "The Best Teacher I Ever Had."
Excerpt from “Diary of a Los Angeles Jew, 1947-1973” By: Marc Lee Raphael October 28, 1959 "the best teacher I ever had." When Confirmation was over, Rabbi Lewis suggested that I continue my Jewish education at the College of Jewish Studies, a city-wide, evening adult education program partially filled with students, of all ages, from Reform synagogues. Some were working towards Certification as religious school educators, some were laymen and laywomen who simply wanted to learn, and some, like myself, were unofficial pre-rabbinic students, Thanks to a scholarship from Rabbi Lewis, I took one course each semester during the 11th and 12th grades at Wilshire Boulevard Temple and at 590 Vermont Ave. (the Bureau of Jewish Education) and I received some credit later at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion for these courses. In one course we read Mordecai M. Kaplan's Judaism as a Civilization, and this was my first serious introduction to what would become a life-long interest, American Judaism. My copy of this book is marked throughout with my marginalia, as I see, with 50 years of hindsight, that I was already interested in questions about the synagogue and the various branches of American Judaism. I know that I thought Kaplan even more brilliant than Milton Steinberg, my first intellectual hero, and, like so many before me, I have found stimulation for teaching and for lectures from this book throughout my career. But it was a course in a section of the Mishnah, Pirkei Avot, (Ethics of the Talmud), that stimulated me more than any course I had ever taken, anywhere, and which would plant the idea in my mind that I might not only be a rabbi but a professor.
[Show full text]
'A WORTHY CAUSE America's ::PHICOSOPHER:-RAB~I, ."
. ~. ; . 'A WORTHY CAUSE REMEMBERING:... ~ :. AMERiCA's ::PHICOSOPHER:-RAB~I, ." I lift your sock from Tel Aviv , Milton Steinberg: Portl7ilt of a Rabbi,by Simor Nov~c~,,'NeINYorklK1AY~'~." 1978. " . ,. '., your poor shoe" covered with the dust and ,fine bone of Masada a grain of desert sand sticking to the sole . Milton Steinberg very much typified his gel}erattdn Q(~m~rlc~~~e&~h. copper sulfate from the Dead Sea thinkers, even as he towered above it in his considerablejnt.eUect~~·,,~lfts;~nd ' prulosoprucal passion. Like many ofhisconteJ11PoJad~s~,'~le, Jl~dyl:faitil'jri' A little stitching America and indeed in the perfectibility of mankind-wiuch":weflildiitdlffifw;t on ,behalf of Israel [0 embrace; unlike most in his gener~tion, he tookthe;ta*;of,J.e~sh.theol~gy A little mending seriously, and unlike even most of our :own Jewish thlnkers:soughtab,ovc.,hll' and folding , else to fashion a credible' synthesis of faith and ;e.ason:Tbe:,nlo~e,~'b~Qgr~phX;;. for our brethren in Israel such as tlus one' by SiillonNoveck brings U$ closer to Stcinpel'g, the~ore:we.,·~te; I " led 10 wonder why tl;e distance between him and us'· remains;:so:Hnmense.· . As you can seC' t-:x IraMdinarily perceptive as he was, Steinberg's questions';are:not'our,QwlJ.';~<>,tl,. J make my contributioll are we certain they should be. ••. ,.' ' ..•.... ' ".' , '. ", '<, He had in essence tw.o qu~stions, and Noveck's b6ok~akesjtclea~~b.a~ Like a Hadassah lady he asked both of them from the beginning. Born to an immigrant father·wJj() 1 rise had lost hjs faith to nineteenth-century rationalism, an'd,to.'an"Ameri~an~b9m in the dark Illother who hadn't, Steinberg was raised in th~ Je..w,i~Ply.obserYilnth01lle·,of.: his grandparents in Rochester.
[Show full text]
Siegel Papers MSS Collection # 61 40 Linear Feet
Seymour Siegel Papers MSS Collection # 61 40 linear feet Biographical Seymour Siegel was born September 12, 1927 in Chicago, Illinois. He was educated at University of Chicago, received his M.H.L. in 1951 and D.H.L. in 1958 from Jewish Theological Seminary, New York City where he was a professor of Jewish Ethics and Theology. He was the author of hundreds of articles, editor of two books, lecturer, and was an authority on religious law. He served as Director of the United States Memorial Holocaust Commission, opened the door for the ordination of female rabbis, and articulated the Conservative view on abortion. Rabbi Siegel never married, he died February 24, 1988 in New York City Scope & Content The collection consists of the collected writings of Seymour Siegel arranged by subject. Included are such subjects as abortion, divorce, euthanasia, Judaism, religion, Sh'ma, Vietnam to name a few. Also included are his personal files arranged by subject with photographs, lecture and speech notes, course materials (bio- ethics, Jewish ethics, Nachman, Talmud), newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, and materials from the Presidents Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research. Provenance St. Lawrence University purchased the collection in 1988 from the Siegel estate. 61.1 Abortion Abortion -- A Jewish View Acera de judio, er terror y La moral politica Majshevat 9/79 Affirmative Action After the AWACS - AJF Newsletter & Sh’ma Again - Who is a Jew? Jewish Week articles The Aged and Human Values, Jewish
[Show full text]
MOSAIC LAW CONGREGATION CONVERSION to JUDAISM PACKET (Updated July 18, 2019)
MOSAIC LAW CONGREGATION CONVERSION TO JUDAISM PACKET (Updated July 18, 2019) Steps and Process for Conversion to Judaism Under the Supervision of Rabbi Reuven Taff Contents of Information Packet (to be reviewed by the Candidate before initial meeting with Rabbi Taff): Steps and Process for Conversion to Judaism (Pages 2-5) 1. Application Form for Mosaic Law Conversion to Judaism Program (Pages 6-7) 2. Declaration of Faith Document (Pages 8-9) 3. Conversion Progress Report Form to be completed before each private meeting with the Rabbi (Pages 10-12) 4. Article on Conversion written by Rabbi Alan Silverstein (Pages 13-24) 5. Article entitled Legal Perspectives on Conversion (from ITIM, The Jewish Life Information Center in Israel) (Pages 25-26) 6. Book List (Pages 27-31) 7. 100 Questions on Basic Judaism ( to be completed by the end of the conversion process ) (Pages 32-35) 8. Essay Questions ( to be submitted by the end of the conversion process ) (Page 36) 9. Outline for Bet Din (Page 37) 10. How to Choose a Hebrew Name (Pages 38-39) 11. Guidelines and Preparation for Immersion in a Mikvah (Pages 40-46) Conversion to Judaism is a very important decision for anyone considering this life-changing process. It is required that anyone wishing to become a Jew by Choice set up an appointment with Rabbi Taff. Prior to the meeting with the Rabbi, it is advisable for the candidate to review all 46 pages contained in this Packet. It is suggested that the first document to be read in this packet should be the Declaration of Faith (Pages 8-9) .
[Show full text]