Lecture Series - hosted by the Institute of Jewish Spirituality and Society

Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review, 2014

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.

Modern Judaism, 2012

Journal for The Study of Religions and Ideologies, 2010

The authors review the profound and diverse ways in which mysticism is embedded in and influences belief, lifestyle, identity and politics in Jewish life in Israel and North America. They outline some existential and cultural dimensions of the conditions in which this phenomena flourish, specifically relating to the condition of post-modernity. The seeming dominance of mysticism over more rational forms of religious belief and behavior is explored. The opposite ideational and historic trends within Jewish mysticism as they relate to national lifestyle, being alternatively closed and parochial or open and universal are reviewed. The authors suggest that, in light of the current situation within and outside of the Jewish people, the latter approach needs to be strengthened.

2007

With delicious irony, modern Jews' escape from religious tradition has led to a renaissance of religious sentiment. Today's "spirituality" is, in part, the product of a rebellion against the way that Judaism has been practiced and conveyed in American synagogues, homes, and schools. The popular usage of the word conveys this. Spirituality connotes a highly individualized, uncharted, and not yet completed quest in which the individual's immediate feelings are of greater importance than the observance of halachah and inherited norms. Religion, on the other hand, signifies a fixed heritage that is packaged for transmittal from one generation to the next.