Liberal jødedom og reformjødedom

The Holiness of Doubt is a timely and essential contribution to the study of sacred Jewish texts. What does it mean for a book of faith for millions of people to be riddled with the uncertainties evoked by hundreds of questions? Rabbi Joshua Hoffman has chronicled the questions of the Torah and offers personal insights and the accumulated wisdom of interpretations, ancient and modern, to discover the meaning of questions and the holiness of doubt. This book offers the reader a chance to see the wisdom of the Torah refracted through its questions.Divided according to the weekly Torah portions as traditionally studied in the Jewish community, this book explores the purpose of questions in the text and becomes a unique interpretation of the Torah on its own. There are also summaries for the portions which do not contain questions to explore what impact the absence of questions has on the Torah as a whole.In confronting doubt, we gain a renewed permission to explore the deepest questions of our time. We can discover, like our ancestors dreamed, that the wisdom of the biblical tradition echoes eternal truth in every generation.

Classification is an inherent feature of all societies. The distinction between Jews and non-Jews has been a major theme of Western society for over two millennia. In the middle of the twentieth century, dire consequences were associated with being Jew ish. Even after the Shoah, the labelling of Jews as "other" continued. In this book, leading historians including Michael Brenner, Elisheva Carlebach and Michael Miller illuminate the meaning of Jewishness from pre-modern and early-modern times to the present day. Their studies offer new perspectives on constructing and experiencing Jewish identity.

Few stories are as compelling as the Creation story in the Book of Genesis. Our readings of Creation are incredibly diverse.

Rabbi Samuel Hirsch (Thalfang 1815 - Chicago 1889) was instrumental in the development of Reform Judaism in Europe and the USA. This volume is the first lengthy publication devoted to this striking personality whose significance was no less than that of his contemporaries Abraham Geiger and David Einhorn.En route from Thalfang via Dessau and Luxembourg to Philadelphia, Hirsch left his mark on societal, religious, and philosophical developments in manifold ways. By the time he was appointed Chief Rabbi of the Jewish community in Luxembourg in 1843, he had already written many of his most important works on the philosophy of religion. In them he engaged in debate with the Young Hegelians on the importance of Judaism, the religion that, more than any other, enabled the human actualization of freedom so central to Hegel's philosophy.Over time Hirsch took an increasingly radical stance on issues such as Jewish rituals and mixed marriage. The goal of his reforms was not assimilation. He strove to strengthen Judaism to meet the demands of modernity and enable its survival in the modern era.Hirsch's story is key to understanding the transnational history of Reform Judaism and the struggle of Jews to secure a place in history and society.

Jødedommen og moderniteten – Strømninger i europæisk jødedom fra Oplysningstiden til Anden Verdenskrig er en idehistorisk fremstilling af jødedommens møde med moderniteten i Europa. De voldsomme forandringer, som det jødiske samfund gennemgik i kølvandet på de politiske tiltag baseret på oplysningstidens nye ideer, fik meget forskellig modtagelse blandt de jødiske intellektuelle. Med ghettoens fald og de nye muligheder, der fremkom, var der meget at vinde for den enkelte jøde. Det traditionelle jødiske verdensbillede og samfunds hidtidige opbygning kom imidlertid under pres, og de nye tider blev derfor ikke af alle modtaget positivt, men snarere opfattet som en trussel mod selve jødedommens overlevelse. Hvordan reaktionerne faldt ud, kom til at udgøre fundamentet for de grupperinger, jødedommen siden har været delt op i, og er derfor grundlaget for at forstå jødedommen i dag.