January 2016 – Excerpted

“Modern Orthodoxy…will have to invest in initiatives that engage the social, cultural, and political issues of the day…”

31 January 201625 January 2016 Drew KaplanModern Orthodoxy

As for the broader challenges confronting Modern Orthodoxy, its religious and lay leadership, if it intends to be relevant, will have to invest in initiatives that engage the social, cultural, and political issues of the[…]

“Gordimer’s refusal/failure to propose a new model of Modern Orthodoxy…bespeaks a failure in his thinking…”

31 January 201625 January 2016 Drew KaplanModern Orthodoxy

Orthodox Jewry of our days needs new constructs. Tradition, once again needs to be reshaped. As opposed to the reformers of the nineteenth century, Open Orthodoxy is not looking to abandon Jewish praxis or belief[…]

“American fantasies differ in another way: They usually end with a moral lesson learned…”

29 January 201625 January 2016 Drew KaplanLiterature

…the British have always been in touch with their pagan folklore, says Maria Tatar, a Harvard professor of children’s literature and folklore. After all, the country’s very origin story is about a young king tutored[…]

“The basic requirement to respect the existing legal framework of a territory has long been under pressure, for a variety of reasons”

28 January 201625 January 2016 Drew KaplanWar

The basic requirement to respect the existing legal framework of a territory has long been under pressure, for a variety of reasons. This apparently straightforward rule needs interpretation in light of the particular facts of[…]

“…my impressions of much of Los Angeles Jewish life — creative, casual, relaxed — particularly compared to New York”

28 January 201625 January 2016 Drew KaplanJewish Community

…consistent with my impressions of much of Los Angeles Jewish life — creative, casual, relaxed — particularly compared to New York. “New York is more bookish, more organically Jewish,” David Wolpe, author and rabbi of[…]

“The Prohibition movement was also partly a good-government movement, and the saloons it targeted were associated not only with disorderly drunkenness but with big-city corruption…”

27 January 201625 January 2016 Drew KaplanAmerica

Who were the Prohibitionists? Many of the leaders were, as McGirr acknowledges, Progressives, engaged in a broad and idealistic project of reform. The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, founded in 1873, fought for both Prohibition and[…]

“Rabbinic writing about Jesus was very popular in the mid 19th century, especially by liberal and Reform rabbis arguing for Jewish emancipation”

27 January 201625 January 2016 Drew KaplanNew Testament

Rabbinic writing about Jesus was very popular in the mid 19th century, especially by liberal and Reform rabbis arguing for Jewish emancipation. What is striking about R. Elijah Zvi’s work is how different it is[…]

“Backed by a strong, anti-corporate ideology, the communities of craft beer drinkers congregate in new environments…”

26 January 201625 January 2016 Drew KaplanAmerica

In the wake of America’s national Prohibition, public consumption of alcohol declined to a marked degree for a number of reasons, but with the growth of smaller breweries there is a resurgence of communal drinking[…]

“Rabbi Gordimer…offers nothing to those who ask the questions addressed by Open Orthodoxy”

26 January 201619 January 2016 Drew KaplanModern Orthodoxy

Rabbi Gordimer is not obliged to endorse or even respect Open Orthodoxy’s agenda or its approach to Orthodox Judaism. But he has never once acknowledged that it is Open Orthodoxy alone, that addresses some of[…]

“R. Elijah Zvi Soloveitchik…wanted Christians to understand their scripture anew through sympathetic Jewish eyes and to educate his Jewish readers about their misunderstanding of Christianity”

25 January 201619 January 2016 Drew KaplanRabbis

R. Elijah Zvi Soloveitchik, the traditional rabbi from Lithuania…is actually more sympathetic to Christian doctrine, even the doctrine of the Trinity, and much more positive about the symbiosis between Judaism and Christianity than almost all[…]

Excerpted

Excerpts of Interest

Month: January 2016

“Modern Orthodoxy…will have to invest in initiatives that engage the social, cultural, and political issues of the day…”

“Gordimer’s refusal/failure to propose a new model of Modern Orthodoxy…bespeaks a failure in his thinking…”

“American fantasies differ in another way: They usually end with a moral lesson learned…”

“The basic requirement to respect the existing legal framework of a territory has long been under pressure, for a variety of reasons”

“…my impressions of much of Los Angeles Jewish life — creative, casual, relaxed — particularly compared to New York”

“The Prohibition movement was also partly a good-government movement, and the saloons it targeted were associated not only with disorderly drunkenness but with big-city corruption…”

“Rabbinic writing about Jesus was very popular in the mid 19th century, especially by liberal and Reform rabbis arguing for Jewish emancipation”

“Backed by a strong, anti-corporate ideology, the communities of craft beer drinkers congregate in new environments…”

“Rabbi Gordimer…offers nothing to those who ask the questions addressed by Open Orthodoxy”

“R. Elijah Zvi Soloveitchik…wanted Christians to understand their scripture anew through sympathetic Jewish eyes and to educate his Jewish readers about their misunderstanding of Christianity”