Louis Jacobs
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781874774587
- eISBN:
- 9781800340305
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781874774587.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter highlights the ethical precepts of Judaism that present less of a problem than the purely ritual precepts in which human beings can understand and to which they respond of their own ...
More
This chapter highlights the ethical precepts of Judaism that present less of a problem than the purely ritual precepts in which human beings can understand and to which they respond of their own volition. It focuses on a question that is much discussed by religious thinkers that demands whether the good in the ethical sense is good because God wills it to be so, or rather whether God wills it to be so because it is good. The religious Jew, fundamentalist or non-fundamentalist, is not necessarily concerned with theological or historical niceties. A Jew acts out his Judaism within the context of the particular fraternity to which he belongs. The chapter also talks about a Hasid that shouts aloud the words of the Shema that will not only be tolerated but admired by his fellow-worshippers. A different, contemplative type of hasid may be lost in silent contemplation during a good part of the recitation of the Shema.Less
This chapter highlights the ethical precepts of Judaism that present less of a problem than the purely ritual precepts in which human beings can understand and to which they respond of their own volition. It focuses on a question that is much discussed by religious thinkers that demands whether the good in the ethical sense is good because God wills it to be so, or rather whether God wills it to be so because it is good. The religious Jew, fundamentalist or non-fundamentalist, is not necessarily concerned with theological or historical niceties. A Jew acts out his Judaism within the context of the particular fraternity to which he belongs. The chapter also talks about a Hasid that shouts aloud the words of the Shema that will not only be tolerated but admired by his fellow-worshippers. A different, contemplative type of hasid may be lost in silent contemplation during a good part of the recitation of the Shema.
Louis Jacobs
- Published in print:
- 1982
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780197100394
- eISBN:
- 9781800340299
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9780197100394.003.0017
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This chapter explores the future of the halakhah. There are many religious Jews who see supreme value in the vocabulary of Jewish worship provided by the halakhah in all its ramifications. For this ...
More
This chapter explores the future of the halakhah. There are many religious Jews who see supreme value in the vocabulary of Jewish worship provided by the halakhah in all its ramifications. For this reason, they have not the slightest desire to embrace the interpretation of Reform Judaism in which the halakhah is relegated to very much a secondary place. But these same Jews cannot bring themselves to compromise their intellectual integrity by accepting traditional theories, as opposed to traditional practices, which seem to them untenable. They have no need to despair once they appreciate that the halakhah has always possessed sufficient vitality to assimilate new knowledge. Likewise, it is neither illogical nor cowardly for a non-fundamentalist Jew to be loyal to the halakhah. The halakhah is a living corpus whose practitioners were far more than mere transmitters of a noble heritage. They were creative thinkers, responding both intellectually and emotionally to the challenges and needs of the age in which they lived, with their quota of human temperament and failings, as well as being highly gifted leaders who tried to pursue the truth objectively as a divinely ordained task.Less
This chapter explores the future of the halakhah. There are many religious Jews who see supreme value in the vocabulary of Jewish worship provided by the halakhah in all its ramifications. For this reason, they have not the slightest desire to embrace the interpretation of Reform Judaism in which the halakhah is relegated to very much a secondary place. But these same Jews cannot bring themselves to compromise their intellectual integrity by accepting traditional theories, as opposed to traditional practices, which seem to them untenable. They have no need to despair once they appreciate that the halakhah has always possessed sufficient vitality to assimilate new knowledge. Likewise, it is neither illogical nor cowardly for a non-fundamentalist Jew to be loyal to the halakhah. The halakhah is a living corpus whose practitioners were far more than mere transmitters of a noble heritage. They were creative thinkers, responding both intellectually and emotionally to the challenges and needs of the age in which they lived, with their quota of human temperament and failings, as well as being highly gifted leaders who tried to pursue the truth objectively as a divinely ordained task.
Jonathan Sacks
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- February 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781874774006
- eISBN:
- 9781800340831
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Discontinued
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781874774006.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Judaism
This is the first book-length study of the major problem confronting the Jewish future: the availability or otherwise of a way of mending the schisms between Reform and Orthodox Judaism, between ...
More
This is the first book-length study of the major problem confronting the Jewish future: the availability or otherwise of a way of mending the schisms between Reform and Orthodox Judaism, between religious and secular Jews in Israel, and between Israel itself and the diaspora — all of which have been deepened by the fierce and continuing controversy over the question of ‘who is a Jew?’ The book studies the background to this and related controversies. It traces the fragmentation of Jewry in the wake of the Enlightenment, the variety of Orthodox responses to these challenges, and the resources of Jewish tradition for handling diversity. Having set out the background to the intractability of the problems, the book ends by examining the possibilities within Jewish thought that might make for convergence and reconciliation. The Chief Rabbi employs a variety of disciplines to clarify a subject in which these dimensions are inextricably interwoven. He also explores key issues such as the underlying philosophy of Jewish law, and the nature of the collision between tradition and modern consciousness. Written for the general reader as much as the academic one, this is a thought-provoking presentation of the dilemmas of Jewish Orthodoxy in modernity.Less
This is the first book-length study of the major problem confronting the Jewish future: the availability or otherwise of a way of mending the schisms between Reform and Orthodox Judaism, between religious and secular Jews in Israel, and between Israel itself and the diaspora — all of which have been deepened by the fierce and continuing controversy over the question of ‘who is a Jew?’ The book studies the background to this and related controversies. It traces the fragmentation of Jewry in the wake of the Enlightenment, the variety of Orthodox responses to these challenges, and the resources of Jewish tradition for handling diversity. Having set out the background to the intractability of the problems, the book ends by examining the possibilities within Jewish thought that might make for convergence and reconciliation. The Chief Rabbi employs a variety of disciplines to clarify a subject in which these dimensions are inextricably interwoven. He also explores key issues such as the underlying philosophy of Jewish law, and the nature of the collision between tradition and modern consciousness. Written for the general reader as much as the academic one, this is a thought-provoking presentation of the dilemmas of Jewish Orthodoxy in modernity.
