Righteous Indignation: A Jewish Call for Justice

by Or N. Rose (Editor), Jo Ellen Green Kaiser PhD (Editor), Margie Klein (Editor), David Ellenson (Foreword by)

Overview

Can the teachings of Judaism provide a sacred framework for repairing the world?

In this groundbreaking volume, leading rabbis, intellectuals, and activists explore the relationship between Judaism and social justice, drawing on ancient and modern sources of wisdom. The contributors argue that American Jewry must move beyond "mitzvah days" and other occasional service programs, and dedicate itself to systemic change in the United States, Israel, and throughout the world. These provocative essays concentrate on specific justice issues such as eradicating war, global warming, health care, gay rights and domestic violence, offering practical ways to transform theory into practice, and ideas into advocacy.

Rich and passionate, these expressions will inspire you to consider your obligations as a Jew, as an American and as a global citizen, while challenging you to take thoughtful and effective action in the world.

Contributors:

Martha Ackelsberg, PhD • Rabbi Rebecca Alpert, PhD • Diane Balser, PhD • Jeremy Benstein, PhD • Rabbi Phyllis Berman • Ellen Bernstein • Marla Brettschneider, PhD • Rabbi Sharon Brous • Aryeh Cohen, PhD • Stephen P. Cohen, PhD • Rabbi Elliot N. Dorff, PhD • Aaron Dorfman • Jacob Feinspan • Rabbi Marla Feldman • Sandra M. Fox, LCSW • Julia Greenberg • Mark Hanis • Rabbi Jill Jacobs • Rabbi Jane Kanarek, PhD • Rabbi Elliot Rose Kukla • Joshua Seth Ladon • Arieh Lebowitz • Rabbi Michael Lerner, PhD • Shaul Magid, PhD • Rabbi Natan Margalit, PhD • Ruth Messinger • Jay Michaelson • Rabbi Micha Odenheimer • Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner • Judith Plaskow, PhD • Judith Rosenbaum, PhD • April Rosenblum • Adam Rubin, PhD • Danya Ruttenberg • Rabbi David Saperstein • Joel Schalit • Rabbi Sidney Schwarz, PhD • Martin I. Seltman, MD • Dara Silverman • Daniel Sokatch • Shana Starobin • Naomi Tucker • Abigail Uhrman • Rabbi Arthur Waskow, PhD • Rabbi Melissa Weintraub

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781684425211
Publisher:	TURNER PUB CO
Publication date:	12/01/2009
Pages:	386
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Rabbi Or N. Rose is an associate dean at the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College. He is the coeditor of God in All Moments: Mystical and Practical Spiritual Wisdom from Hasidic Masters and Righteous Indignation: A Jewish Call for Justice; Jewish Mysticism and the Spiritual Life: Classical Texts, Contemporary Reflections and Speaking Torah: Spiritual Teachings from around the Maggid's Table, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 (all Jewish Lights).

Jo Ellen Green Kaiser, PhD, has fostered Jewish thinking about social justice for over a decade as an editor at Tikkun and at Zeek: A Journal of Jewish Thought and Culture.

Margie Klein is a passionate activist and budding religious leader. Founder and director of Moishe House Boston: Kavod Jewish Social Justice House, she is a student at the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College. She is the founder of Project Democracy, a program that mobilized 97,000 students to vote in the 2004 election.

Dr. David Ellenson is president of Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion. Dr. Ellenson was ordained as a rabbi at HUC JIR and received his PhD from Columbia University. His book After Emancipation: Jewish Religious Responses to Modernity won the National Jewish Book Award. His most recent book, Pledges of Jewish Allegiance: Conversion, Law, and Policymaking in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Orthodox Responsa, was coauthored with Daniel Gordis.

Table of Contents

Foreword
David Ellenson
Acknowledgments
Introduction

PART 1. Judaism, Justice, and American Life
Can Social Justice Save the American Jewish Soul?
Sidney Schwarz
What Does Tikkun Olam Actually Mean?
Jane Kanarek
Divine Limitation and Human Responsibility
Or N. Rose
Preaching What I Practice: The Power of Jewish Organizing
Margie Klein
The Legacy of Abraham Joshua Heschel: Jewish Spirituality and Political Transformation
Michael Lerner
Religious Leadership and Politics
David Saperstein

PART II. Renewing Creation: Judaism and the Environment
Rereading Genesis: Human Stewardship of the Earth
Ellen Bernstein
Jewish Textual Practice and Sustainable Culture
Natan Margalit
Wonder and Restraint: A Rabbinical Call to Environmental Action
COEJL
Toxic Waste and the Talmud
Jeremy Benstein
Judaism, Oil, and Renewable Energy
Shana Starobin

PART III. The Temple of the Spirit: The Human Body
Redemption for Radicals: Jewish Congregation-Based Community Organizing
Jonah Dov Pesner
The Blood of Our Neighbors: American Health Care Reform
Sandra Fox and Martin Seltman
The Global AIDS Crisis: Caring for the Sick by Standing with the Activists
Jacob Feinspan and Julia Greenberg
A Jewish View of Embryonic Stem Cell Research
Elliot N. Dorff
The Brownsville Legacy: Judaism and Reproductive Rights
Judith Rosenbaum
Looking Inward: Domestic Violence within the Jewish Community
Naomi Tucker

PART IV. The Yoke of Oppression: Social and Economic Justice
Hearing the Voice of the Poor
Aryeh Cohen
A Jewish Vision for Economic Justice
Jill Jacobs
Why a Labor Movement Matters
Arieh Lebowitz
And If Not Together, How? Jews and Immigration in the United States
Dara Silverman
Gracious Giver of Wisdom: Recovering America's Great Public School System
Marla Feldman and Joshua Seth Ladon
The Possibility of Change: An Argument for Restorative Justice
Sharon Brous and Daniel Sokatch

PART V. Klal Yisrael: Creating an Inclusive Community
The Significance of Sex: Social Order and Post-Mythic Religion
Jay Michaelson
Beyond Same-Sex Marriage: Social Justice and Sexual Values in Judaism
Martha Ackelsberg and Judith Plaskow
Priority Lists: A Dialogue on Judaism, Feminism, and Activism
Rebecca Alpert and Danya Ruttenberg
Created Beings of Our Own: Toward a Jewish Liberation Theology for Men, Women, and Everyone Else
Elliot Rose Kukla
Multiracial Jewish Families: A Personal and Political Approach to Justice Politics
Marla Brettschneider
Differently Abled: The Lesson of Rabbi Elazar
Abigail Uhrman

PART VI. Seeking Peace: Israel, Palestine, and American Jewry
Warriors, Prophets, Peacemakers, and Disciples: A Call to Action in the Face of Religiously Inspired Violence
Melissa Weintraub
Plotting the Middle Path to Israeli-Palestinian Peace: The Role of American Jews
Diane Balser
Imitatio Dei and/as Shared Space: A Jewish Theological Argument for Sharing the Holy Land
Shaul Magid
Everything Falls Apart
Joel Schalit
The Challenge of Making Peace
Stephen P. Cohen

PART VII. The Seventy Nations: Global Concerns
Am I My Brother's Keeper If My Brother Lives Halfway Around the World-yet
Ruth Messinger and Aaron Dorfman
A Jewish Response to Globalization
Micha Odenheimer
"Silence Is Akin to Assent": Judaism and the War in Iraq
Adam Rubin
Once Again: Genocide in Darfur
Mark Hanis
How to Split the Sea: Anti-Semitism and Social Change
April Rosenblum
Reopening the Tent of Abraham
Phyllis Berman and Arthur Waskow

Notes
Credits
Righteous Indignation on the Web
About the Editors

Editorial Reviews

"A must-have book.... This anthology will probably play an important role in advancing the progressive agenda in ... American elections."
—Association of Jewish Libraries

"An essential and engaging source to read, study, refer to and strengthen our resolve. Let all who care about justice or Judaism enter here."
—Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz, PhD, author, The Colors of Jews: Racial Politics and Radical Diasporism

“Unites the memory of yesterday with the promise of tomorrow. Addresses all of us, here and now.”
—Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis, Valley Beth Shalom

“Rich and passionate, these expressions will inspire you to consider your obligations as a Jew, as an American and as a global citizen, while challenging you to take thoughtful and effective action in the world.”
—Jewish Media Review

“A passion for justice infuses the articles, and the inspiration of Abraham Joshua Heschel shines through clearly.... Gives us hope for a reinvigorated Judaism in the twenty-first century, and a world that will come closer to redemption.”
—Professor Susannah Heschel, author, Abraham Geiger and the Jewish Jesus

“Marvelous … inspires us to do more to bring about the changes that our world so desperately needs.”
—Rabbi J. Rolando Matalon, Congregation B'nai Jeshurun, New York City

“Particularly noteworthy in exploring the role of social action and community organizing as a means of expressing one's Jewishness and Judaism.”
—Jewish Book World

“Varied and interesting … represents the cutting edge of the Jewish prophetic tradition in our contemporary world. Read it and be inspired!”
—Rabbi Arthur Green

“More than meets its mark.... [A] wonderful buffet of ideas, replete not just with tradition, but with innovative interpretations suited to a twenty-first century approach toward social action and reform. A must-have.”
—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher