Yonatan Y Brafman
Tufts University, Religion, Faculty Member
Contemporary arguments about Jewish law uniquely reflect both the story of Jewish modernity and a crucial premise of modern conceptions of law generally: the claim of autonomy for the intellectual subject and practical sphere of the law.... more
Contemporary arguments about Jewish law uniquely reflect both the story of Jewish modernity and a crucial premise of modern conceptions of law generally: the claim of autonomy for the intellectual subject and practical sphere of the law. Yet for all the interest in and importance of Jewish legal theory, there is no single volume that addresses it simultaneously in its historical and conceptual contexts, as well as in the context of modern legal theory more broadly defined.
Jewish Legal Theories collects representative modern Jewish writings on law and provides short commentaries and annotations on these writings that situate them within Jewish thought and history, as well as within modern legal theory. The topics addressed by these documents include Jewish legal theory from the modern nation state to its adumbration in the forms of Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform Judaism in the German-Jewish context; the development of Jewish legal philosophy in Eastern Europe beginning in the eighteenth century; Ultra-Orthodox views of Jewish law premised on the rejection of the modern nation-state; the role of Jewish law in Israel; and contemporary feminist legal theory.
Jewish Legal Theories collects representative modern Jewish writings on law and provides short commentaries and annotations on these writings that situate them within Jewish thought and history, as well as within modern legal theory. The topics addressed by these documents include Jewish legal theory from the modern nation state to its adumbration in the forms of Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform Judaism in the German-Jewish context; the development of Jewish legal philosophy in Eastern Europe beginning in the eighteenth century; Ultra-Orthodox views of Jewish law premised on the rejection of the modern nation-state; the role of Jewish law in Israel; and contemporary feminist legal theory.
Research Interests:
This chapters explores the agential, circumstantial, and affective components of the good life in Jewish tradition.
Research Interests:
The major issue for religious ethics in the 21st century is a methodological one: To move beyond the paradigm that attempts to unite religious communities around indeterminate values and to establish a framework in which determinate norms... more
The major issue for religious ethics in the 21st century is a methodological one: To move beyond the paradigm that attempts to unite religious communities around indeterminate values and to establish a framework in which determinate norms and practices can be generated out of religious traditions. This essay aims to reclaim reflection on Jewish norms and practices as a site for resisting forms of domination. It proceeds by analyzing the work of two twentieth-century Jewish thinkers, Joseph Soloveitchik and Yeshayahu Leibowitz. Both thinkers recruit
specific Jewish norms and practices, which they interpret as disciplines for the cultivation of dispositions that can aid in counteracting economic and political domination.
specific Jewish norms and practices, which they interpret as disciplines for the cultivation of dispositions that can aid in counteracting economic and political domination.
Research Interests:
VALUES IN ACTION AND VICE VERSA Dr. Jeffrey S. Kress HOW WE LEARN IS WHAT WE LEARN Allison Cook and Dr. Orit Kent TOWARD A MODERN JEWISH VIRTUE ETHICS OF EDUCATION Dr. Yonatan Y. Brafman TOWARD MOR EXPANISVE PERSPECTIVES ON GENDER,... more
VALUES IN ACTION AND VICE VERSA Dr. Jeffrey S. Kress HOW WE LEARN IS WHAT WE LEARN Allison Cook and Dr. Orit Kent TOWARD A MODERN JEWISH VIRTUE ETHICS OF EDUCATION Dr. Yonatan Y. Brafman TOWARD MOR EXPANISVE PERSPECTIVES ON GENDER, AUTHORITY, AND ROLE MODELING Dr. Rebecca J. Epstein-Levi MODELING AND LEARNING THRIVING THROUGH CIVIC ENGAGEMENT Dr. Meredith Katz OUTSIDE IN: JEWISH EDUCATION THAT MATTERS Rabbi Sid Schwarz FROM PILES OF SCHNITZEL TO LIVING EXTRAORDINARY LIVES Sharon Goldman, JD THE JCC VISION OF JEWISH THRIVING THROUGH ENGAGEMENT WITH THE WORLD Dr. David Ackerman TAKING THE TIME AND MAKING THE INVESTMENT TO THRIVE Rabbi Jennifer Goldsmith FORGING A PATH Anna Marx
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Jewish Law, Legal Theory, Jewish Ethics, Immanuel Kant, Baruch Spinoza, and 13 moreRabbinic Literature, Moral Philosophy, Jewish Philosophy, Ronald Dworkin, Modern Jewish Philosophy, Franz Rosenzweig, Maimonides, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Modern Jewish Thought, Philosophy of Law, Philosophy of Religion, Modern Jewish Thought and Theology, and Eliezer Berkovits
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This article describes a conflict between rational self-understanding and contextual explanation in practical Jewish thought, specifically with reference to the halakhic philosophical issue of ta'amei ha-mitzvot (reasons for the... more
This article describes a conflict between rational self-understanding and contextual explanation in practical Jewish thought, specifically with reference to the halakhic philosophical issue of ta'amei ha-mitzvot (reasons for the commandments). It suggests that the neo-Hegelian concept of the sociality of reason promises a way to reconcile this conflict, but also raises the threat of relativism. It then examines two forms of neo-Hegelianism that both affirm the sociality of reason and also aim to avoid relativism, one articulated by Robert Brandom and the other by Jürgen Habermas. The article explains their differing consequences for practical Jewish thought, and offers reasons for preferring Habermas' approach, while suggesting that this must be revised to be serviceable for practical Jewish thought. It concludes by reflecting on the deeper implications of recognizing the sociality of reason for Jewish thought.
Research Interests:
This article explores the resources available in modern Jewish thought for overcoming the conflict between secular liberalism and religious nationalism. In addition to a monopoly on the legitimate use of violence, the modern state’s claim... more
This article explores the resources available in modern Jewish thought for overcoming the conflict between secular liberalism and religious nationalism. In addition to a monopoly on the legitimate use of violence, the modern state’s claim to sovereignty demands the reconstruction of existing social formations, normative orderings, and personal identities. The primary Jewish responses to this demand have been either the privatizing of Judaism as religion or the nationalizing of Jewishness as Zionism. However, this demand was resisted by diverse thinkers, including Akiva Yosef Schlesinger, Isaac Breuer, and Yeshayahu Leibowitz, who can be described as advancing a Neo-Ḥaredi political theory. This theory has five related characteristics: (1) an affirmation of the publicity of halakhah, or Jewish law; (2) a rejection of the construction of Judaism as a “religion”; (3) a lack of aspiration to establish halakhah as state law; (4) a refusal of the identification of the state as the unitary locus of sovereignty; and (5) an ambivalent relation to Zionism, ranging from indifference, to disappointment, and opposition. Common to these reactions is a decentering of the state and its claim to sovereignty in favor of a plurality of social formations, normative orderings, and identities. It is suggested that such an approach may provide a way of avoiding the zero-sum game for control of the state that seems to plague the current politics of both the United States and Israel/Palestine.
Research Interests:
In view of both theoretical and practical problems resulting from an almost exclusive focus on the state as a social formation and its laws as valid social norms, this article analyzes the thought of Isaac Breuer (1883–1946) and Mordecai... more
In view of both theoretical and practical problems resulting from an almost exclusive focus on the state as a social formation and its laws as valid social norms, this article analyzes the thought of Isaac Breuer (1883–1946) and Mordecai Kaplan (1881–1983). It argues that both, in different ways, decenter the state by constructing accounts of Jewish social formations that neither privatize Judaism as a religious congregation nor politicize it as a state. Correspondingly, each of them develops an account of Jewish norms that neither distorts them by modeling them on state law nor truncates them by interpreting them as religious ritual.
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Jewish Law, Martin Buber, Immanuel Kant, Baruch Spinoza, History Of Modern Philosophy, and 12 moreModern Jewish Philosophy, Franz Rosenzweig, Moses Mendelssohn, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Modern Jewish Thought, Judith Plaskow, Rachel Adler, Tamar Ross, Hermann Cohen, Yeshayahu Leibowitz, Philosophy of Religion, and Modern Jewish Thought and Theology
Zu den Eigenschaften der Jüdischen Aufklärung (Haskala), die heute noch von Bedeutung sind, gehört die Debatte über universalistische und partikulare Ele-mente in der jüdischen Philosophie und Rechtsprechung. Einen Austragungsort dieser... more
Zu den Eigenschaften der Jüdischen Aufklärung (Haskala), die heute noch von Bedeutung sind, gehört die Debatte über universalistische und partikulare Ele-mente in der jüdischen Philosophie und Rechtsprechung. Einen Austragungsort dieser Debatte stellt das Feld der Halacha (jüdisches Recht) dar – hier insbesondere die so genannten Begründungen der Gebote (Ta'amei Ha-Mitzvot). Der Beitrag diskutiert unter Bezugnahme von Habermas' Th eorie des kommunikativen Han-delns das Verhältnis von Universalismus und Partikularismus im Kontext der Begründungen der Gebote am Beispiel von Joseph B. Soloveitchik und David Novak. Ein solches Vorgehen hat vier Vorteile: (1) Es liefert ein kritisches Instru-mentarium zur Überprüfung der Stichhaltigkeit ihrer Ansichten über die Legitim-ität jüdischer halachischer Partikularität; (2) es ermöglicht eine Korrektur von Habermas' Darstellung religiöser Sprechakte; (3) es verweist in Richtung eines Neuansatzes der Begründungen der Gebote, wozu (4) die Rückbindung der Hala-cha an die komplexe soziale Position jüdischer Gemeinschaften zählt, ohne dabei ihr philosophisches Gewicht zu reduzieren.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Call for Proposals (paid opportunity): Courses on Halakhah We invite proposals for the design of two semester-long (12 weeks) university courses that introduce students with a general interest in the study of Jews and Judaism to the... more
Call for Proposals (paid opportunity): Courses on Halakhah
We invite proposals for the design of two semester-long (12 weeks) university courses that introduce students with a general interest in the study of Jews and Judaism to the study of halakhic texts, and to methods of researching topics concerning halakhah/Jewish law: “Readings in Jewish Law” (BA level, with texts in English translation) and “Research Methods in Jewish Law” (MA level, presupposing reading knowledge of Hebrew).
We invite proposals for the design of two semester-long (12 weeks) university courses that introduce students with a general interest in the study of Jews and Judaism to the study of halakhic texts, and to methods of researching topics concerning halakhah/Jewish law: “Readings in Jewish Law” (BA level, with texts in English translation) and “Research Methods in Jewish Law” (MA level, presupposing reading knowledge of Hebrew).
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This is a paper that I delivered at the recent annual AJS conference for a panel on "Pragmatism and Modern Jewish Thought." Feedback is appreciated.
Research Interests:
Ethics and Religion are perhaps the most compelling and contentious areas of life. The intensity of engagement with them, however, is seldom matched by sustained and careful examination. This course aims to fix that by providing an... more
Ethics and Religion are perhaps the most compelling and contentious areas of life. The intensity of engagement with them, however, is seldom matched by sustained and careful examination. This course aims to fix that by providing an introductory survey of questions and approaches in religious ethics. These include philosophical and theological inquiries about the basis of morality: Is God a prerequisite or a hindrance for morality? How do religious claims feature in ethical arguments? It also includes normative and methodological issues: How do the interpretation of scripture, moral reasoning, and ritual practices relate in religious ethics? What do religious communities think about current ethical topics, including abortion, the death penalty, and income inequality? How do they develop these positions?
Research Interests:
Jewish philosophy developed at the intersection of the Jewish tradition, Greek philosophy, and its prior reception by Islamic thinkers. This course explores its central texts and questions, including: What is human perfection and how is... more
Jewish philosophy developed at the intersection of the Jewish tradition, Greek philosophy, and its prior reception by Islamic thinkers. This course explores its central texts and questions, including: What is human perfection and how is it achieved? What is the relation between reason and revelation? How do religious and political law contribute to the ideal state? It begins by surveying the ideas that set the agenda for Jewish philosophy as expressed in earlier Jewish, Greek, and Islamic texts. It then turns to examine how Jewish philosophers, including Saadia Gaon, Moses Maimonides, and Baruch Spinoza among others, grappled with this conflicted intellectual inheritance. Along the way, parallels between Jewish, Muslim, and Christian thinkers are explored
Research Interests:
This course is an examination of central themes in modern Jewish thought, including God, revelation, authority, suffering and eschatology, with an emphasis on their modern and contemporary ramifications. It is an introduction to both the... more
This course is an examination of central themes in modern Jewish thought, including God, revelation, authority, suffering and eschatology, with an emphasis on their modern and contemporary ramifications. It is an introduction to both the content of modern Jewish thought and the textual and analytical skills for the study of modern Jewish thought.
Research Interests:
This course considers fundamental questions of Jewish ethics: What are the relationships in the Jewish tradition among morality, law, and theology? How does Jewish ethics relate to Western philosophical ethics? What are the interpretive... more
This course considers fundamental questions of Jewish ethics: What are the relationships in the Jewish tradition among morality, law, and theology? How does Jewish ethics relate to Western philosophical ethics? What are the interpretive issues involved when traditional texts are made to address contemporary problems? In addition to conceptual and methodological concerns, the course will also inquire into several normative issues from the perspective of Jewish ethics.
Research Interests:
An examination of the way Maimonides treats the major themes in medieval philosophy, including God’s existence, divine attributes, creation, prophecy, providence, and the commandments. The course will focus on Maimonides’s Guide of the... more
An examination of the way Maimonides treats the major themes in medieval philosophy, including God’s existence, divine attributes, creation, prophecy, providence, and the commandments. The course will focus on Maimonides’s Guide of the Perplexed.
Research Interests:
In this course we will explore what it means to be human, whether life has a purpose, how we should live together, and how we should relate to others, including humans, nature, and the divine, through readings and re-readings of the first... more
In this course we will explore what it means to be human, whether life has a purpose, how we should live together, and how we should relate to others, including humans, nature, and the divine, through readings and re-readings of the first chapters of Genesis. The first chapters of Genesis narrate God’s creation of the world, Adam and Eve’s expulsion from Paradise, and the halting attempts of humanity to establish civilization. As such, they can and have been read to reflect on basic existential, religious, social, and political questions. This course will explore these reflections with the aim of providing orientation in the contemporary world. Our journey begins with the Biblical text itself as well as the classical and medieval commentaries on it. It then continues with modern philosophical, theological, and literary works that both adapt and critique the Biblical story to grapple with the meaning of humanity.
Research Interests:
This seminar introduces major positions and topics in legal theory as well as models their applicability for understanding Jewish law. It also places Jewish legal theories in the context of modernity and explores their relation to the... more
This seminar introduces major positions and topics in legal theory as well as models their applicability for understanding Jewish law. It also places Jewish legal theories in the context of modernity and explores their relation to the rise of the nation-state.
Research Interests:
An examination of the relation between religion and politics, from the perspective of classical and contemporary political liberalism. The course begins with the development of political liberalism among early modern philosophers,... more
An examination of the relation between religion and politics, from the perspective of classical and contemporary political liberalism. The course begins with the development of political liberalism among early modern philosophers, including Benedict Spinoza, John Locke, and Moses Mendelssohn, assessing both the intellectual roots of their positions and their implications for religious traditions. It then turns to the contemporary debate centered on the thought of John Rawls. After a study of Theory of Justice and Political Liberalism with a focus on the role of religion in the public sphere, Rawls's critics and defenders are analyzed.
Judaism is a vibrant contemporary religion whose traditions and practices are rooted in antiquity and developed across the globe. This course is an introduction to Judaism as a diverse textual tradition and lived religion, with a focus on... more
Judaism is a vibrant contemporary religion whose traditions and practices are rooted in antiquity and developed across the globe. This course is an introduction to Judaism as a diverse textual tradition and lived religion, with a focus on beliefs, ethics, and rituals. It begins in the present with a global perspective on Jewish communities, their identities and history. It then examines the different ways these communities have read and applied Jewish scripture-the Written and Oral Torah-with a focus on both narratives and norms. It explores the relations among law, philosophy, and mysticism as well as among religion, ethics, and political power. Judaism is understood in its cultural variety and religious plurality.
This course examines contemporary philosophical perspectives on God, including God's existence and attributes, as well as God's relation to creation, evil, miracles, revelation, and morality. Modes of human knowledge of God, including... more
This course examines contemporary philosophical perspectives on God, including God's existence and attributes, as well as God's relation to creation, evil, miracles, revelation, and morality. Modes of human knowledge of God, including through reason and experience, as well as its expression in language are also analyzed. Course readings are principally of recent philosophical articles and chapters. Focus is placed on understanding and assessing philosophical arguments with the aim of developing a rationally defensible and compelling Jewish theology.