A smart, hip and provocative book for anyone interested in the rich diversity of Jewish thought on contemporary questions.
Should we edit our children’s genes? Are there things that can’t be forgiven? Are Jews still expecting a messiah? Is Judaism good for women? Should Jews strive to be happy? What does Judaism say about love? Are we commanded to vote? Is democracy a Jewish idea? Does Jewish law forbid racism? Is silence consent? What sins should we atone for in our use of social media? When does life begin? Do Jews believe in an afterlife? Can robots be Jewish?
In this book, rabbis spanning the range of modern Jewish thought, from Humanist and Reform to Orthodox and beyond, consider these difficult and provocative questions of our time and many others. Sometimes they agree―but not often.
You don’t have to be a scholar to follow these lively, accessible voices. They offer intelligent discussion of topics both timely and timeless, deep interrogation of Jewish text, law and commentary and an unparalleled look at the breadth, creativity and continued relevance of the Jewish tradition.
Editor Amy E. Schwartz provides delightful commentary, celebrating the rabbinic impulse to question every assumption and highlighting the many and sometimes surprising ways ancient texts can speak to us today.
Amy E. Schwartz, editor, a longtime editorial writer and op-ed columnist at The Washington Post, is Moment Magazine’s Books and Opinions Editor, as well as editor of the magazine’s popular Ask the Rabbis section. Schwartz, who has also worked at Harper's, The New Republic and The Wilson Quarterly, is president of the multi-denominational Jewish Study Center in Washington, DC. She speaks and runs workshops on topics of Jewish commentary, psalms and literature nationwide.
Rabbi Irving (Yitz) Greenberg is a leading Jewish thinker, and has written exxtensively on Jewish tradition in post-modenity, Jewish theology after the Holocaust and the rebirth of Israel, the new encounter between Judaism and Christianity, the ethics of Jewish power, and issues of religious and cultural pluralism. He has seerved in the Orthodox rabbinate, academia (history and Jewish studies), and Jewish communal life (President Emeritus of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership; Founding President of the Steinhardt Foundation), and is the author of numerous books including "The Jewish Way: Living the Holidays" and "For the Sake of Heaven and Earth: The New Encounter Betwen Judaism and Christianity." He received his MA and PhD in American History from Harvard University. He was Associate Professor of history at Yeshiva University and founder, chairman amd professor in the department of Jewish studies of the City College of the City University of New York.
As senior rabbi of Washington DC's Sith & I Historic Synagogue, Shira Stutman has found ways to engage Jews at the intersection of Jewish practice and social justice. She graduated from Columbia University in 1995 with a degree in political science and attended the rabinnical School at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and was ordained in 2007 assuming the directorship of Jewish programmingat Sixth & I in 2010. Hailed as one of the Forward 50 in 2013, she serves as board chair of Jews United for Justice and on the J Street rabbinic cabinet.
