Open Minded Torah: Of Irony, Fundamentalism and Love - Softcover

Kolbrener, William

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1441118667 ISBN 13: 9781441118660

Publisher: Continuum, 2011

Synopsis

Open Minded Torah elicits unheard voices from the Jewish past for a twenty-first century Judaism at a time when fundamentalists and fanatics often dominate conversations about religion. Kolbrener's brilliant and unorthodox essays are a must-read for anyone who wants to pursue a life of faith, based on commitment yet sensitive to the complexities and demands of the modern world.
 
In essays as likely to turn to baseball, the NASDAQ and Denzel Washington as to Shakespeare, quantum physics and psychoanalysis, Kolbrener provides powerful - and often surprising - insights into how open mindedness allows for authentic Jewish engagement in an age otherwise defined by fundamentalism or unbelief.
 
Open Minded Torah presents - on topics ranging from parenting a son with Down syndrome to Biblical criticism to Talmudic interpretation of dreams - a perspective on Judaism which emphasizes skepticism, pluralism and the need to embrace difference. Through a personal synthesis of Western and Jewish learning, popular culture and philosophy, Kolbrener offers a compelling new vision where being open minded allows for a non-dogmatic and committed Judaism. Informed by Kolbrener's considerable erudition, but always accessible, the essays of Open Minded Torah are critical for those wanting to pursue a non-coercive, tolerant and creative Jewish life.
 
For every person, it is said, there is a corresponding letter in the Torah: this innovative collection shows Kolbrener writing his letter, and providing the inspiration for others to write their own.

About this title

About the Author:

William Kolbrener is a professor of English Literature at Bar Ilan University in Israel. An internationally renowned authority on Renaissance poetry and philosophy, with books on John Milton and the eighteenth-century proto-feminist Mary Astell, Kolbrener also publishes widely on Jewish life and learning. Visit his blog at openmindedtorah.com.

Review:

This beautiful book is an exhilarating hybrid, steeped in traditional learning but at home in the modern world, centered on universal questions and yet deeply personal, informed by theology and philosophy and yet guided quite humbly by the challenge of living each day with wisdom and kindness.—Jonathan Rosen, author of The Talmud and the Internet

William Kolbrener is adept at finding Torah in places where you don't expect it and at finding the unanticipated in the Torah. This is a book for people who want help listening for the elusive, important silences that course beneath the clamor of everyday life.—Judith Shulevitz, author of The Sabbath World

When a great and capacious mind, blessed with sensibility and sensitivity, engages in conversation with the timeless texts of Torah, the result is both enlightening and enthralling. That is what William Kolbrener's new book represents, and all whose Judaism is reflective and thoughtful will be enlarged by it.—Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks

'This beautiful book is an exhilarating hybrid, steeped in traditional learning but at home in the modern world, centered on universal questions and yet deeply personal, informed by theology and philosophy and yet guided quite humbly by the challenge of living each day with wisdom and kindness.'
- Jonathan Rosen, author of The Talmud and the Internet

'When a great and capacious mind, blessed with sensibility and sensitivity, engages in conversation with the timeless texts of Torah, the result is both enlightening and enthralling. That is what William Kolbrener's new book represents, and all whose Judaism is reflective and thoughtful will be enlarged by it.'
- Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks

'William Kolbrener is adept at finding Torah in places where you don't expect it and at finding the unanticipated in the Torah. This is a book for people who want help listening for the elusive, important silences that course beneath the clamor of everyday life.'
- Judith Shulevitz, author of The Sabbath World

Recommendation on the Jewish Daily Forward Sisterhood blog, http://blogs.forward.com/sisterhood-blog/139549/

'When a great and capacious mind, blessed with sensibility and sensitivity, engages in conversation with the timeless texts of Torah, the result is both enlightening and enthralling. That is what William Kolbrener’s new book represents, and all whose Judaism is reflective and thoughtful will be enlarged by it.'
- Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks

'William Kolbrener is adept at finding Torah in places where you don’t expect it and at finding the unanticipated in the Torah. This is a book for people who want help listening for the elusive, important silences that course beneath the clamor of everyday life.'
- Judith Shulevitz, author of The Sabbath World

Short article on author/book at http://www.mishpacha.com/Browse/Article/1220/A-Vital-Relationship

About this edition

• Publisher: Continuum
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1441118667
• ISBN 13: 9781441118660
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 200