The Right Not to Remain Silent: Living Morally in a Complex World

A lifetime of hard-won wisdom and insight into the human heart is contained in this collection of eighty impassioned essays on ethical and spiritual issues ranging from racial injustice and the abuses of power to the legacy of the Holocaust, from the evolving relationship between American Jewry and Israel to raising morally sensitive children, from the mystery of death to the meaning of God in the modern world. If there is a single motif dominating this treasury of rabbinic wisdom, it is the need for ethical accountability on the part of both individuals and institutions.

Each of these sermons faces life's dilemmas squarely with courage and a deep understanding of the complexities of human nature. They do not offer facile answers to difficult questions nor are they ever self-righteous but rather thoughtful, reflective, sensitive, often funny, intensely Jewish and deeply human, deriving their profound insights from Jewish tradition and the joys and sufferings of the author's own life. The best sermon is a reflection of wisdom forged by experience and infused with ancient truths. The best sermon is a well-lived life.

Rabbi Jack Stern is Rabbi Emeritus ofWestchester Reform Temple, Scarsdale, NewYork, where he served for 29 years. Throughout hiscareer, he concerned himself with the ethicalissues which challenge our society and the moraldilemmas which confront us all. He is a formerpresident of the Central Conference of AmericanRabbis, the national association of Reform rabbis.He lives in Great Barrington, MA and is a memberof Hevreh of Southern Berkshire.