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Overview
Innovative and provocative, Evolving Halakhah affirms the system of traditional Jewish law, Halakhah, as a developing and moral structure, flexible enough to accommodate the changing realities of each generation. In this accessible analysis of Halakhah, Moshe Zemer issues a clarion call to follow the ancient and modern principles of evolving Halakhah, which demands ethical deeds, the discovery of holiness in the Commandments, a critical approach to the Tradition, and responsibility of the entire Community of Israel. These principles are viewed as the framework in which the other commandments are applied.
To Jews who sometimes see no choices but those of fundamentalist rigidity on the one hand, or total rejection of tradition on the other, Zemer argues instead for awareness of the inherent flexibility of the halakhic system. Halakhah, he argues, has had many voices, and has changed to meet every generation's needs. Equipped with this view, liberal Jews can reclaim their tradition from a conservative rabbinic establishment that all too often—especially in Israel—has seen the voice of strictness as more authentic than the voice of lovingkindness.
The product of Zemer’s thirty-five years of work in the Israel Movement of Progressive Judaism, Evolving Halakhah includes chapters on matters ranging from personal status, especially marriage and conversion, through the "political" Halakhah of a response to the intifada. It shows that the traditional framework for understanding the Torah’s commandments can be the living heart of Jewish life for all Jews—including Reform, Reconstructionist, Conservative and Modern Orthodox.
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9781683360520 |
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Publisher: | TURNER PUB CO |
Publication date: | 04/01/2003 |
Pages: | 480 |
Product dimensions: | 5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 4.00(d) |
About the Author
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements xvForeword by Justice Haim H. Cohn, Deputy President Emeritus of the Israel Supreme Court xviiIntroduction xxiI. FOUNDATIONS 1Chapter 1: Halakhah as an Evolving Ethical System 3Chapter 2: Maimonides and the "Lesser Evil" 23Chapter 3: The Essence of Evolving Halakhah 37II. MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE 59Chapter 4: Yibbum and H|alitzah 61Chapter 5: Marriages Forbidden to a Kohen 73Chapter 6: Mamzerut (Halakhic Illegitimacy) 87Chapter 7: Marriage Blacklists:
III. Conversion 121Chapter 8: Rabbi Goren's Reform Conversion 125Chapter 9: Ambivalence about Conversion 143Chapter 10: Disqualifying Jews from India to Ethiopia 157Chapter 11: You Shall Not Oppress the Stranger 171IV. THE STATE OF ISRAEL AND GENTILES 177Chapter 12: The Sabra and Shatilla Massacre 181Chapter 13: Demolishing Houses in the Territories:Chapter 14: Halakhah and the Intifada 193Chapter 15: The Attitude toward the Enemy 205Chapter 16: Ransoming Captives 225Chapter 17: “Halakhic” Justifications for Murder 231V. THE STATUS OF WOMEN 239Chapter 18: Is a Woman Permitted to Hold a Public Position? 241Chapter 19: Women and Service in the Israel Defense Forces 249Chapter 20: A “Women’s Gallery” in the Cemetery 255Chapter 21: Delaying a Funeral Until the Daughter of the Deceased Arrives 261Chapter 22: The Right of Women to Say Kaddish 265Chapter 23: Is a Woman’s Voice Sexually Enticing? 275VI. THE ULTRA-ORTHODOX 281Chapter 24: Desecrating the Sabbath in Order to Sanctify It 283Chapter 25: Religious Violence against a Progressive Congregation 291Chapter 26: The Cult of the Newly Ultra-Orthodox 295Chapter 27: Religious Tolerance among Jews: A Critique of Rulings by Rabbi Moshe Feinstein 301Chapter 28: Archaeology as a Mitzvah 313Chapter 29: Circumcising a Corpse 317
VII. MEDICINE 321Chapter 30: A Dialogue on Autopsies 323Chapter 31: Abortion Is Not Murder 335Chapter 32: Artificial Insemination 339Chapter 33: To Smoke or Not to Smoke: A Jewish Question 345Chapter 34: “It Is Forbidden to Delay Death” 351
VIII. BURIAL 357Chapter 35: For the Sake of Peace 359Chapter 36: Burial and Superstition 373Afterword 377Bibliography 379Notes 391Index 429