Liberal Judaism A Judaism For The Twenty First Century

'Liberal Judaism: A Judaism for the Twenty-First Century' explores how Judaism has continually sought to address the fundamental questions that have faced humankind over the millennia: the origins and purpose of human life, the existence of God, the need for rituals and practices to encourage respect for the world and justice for those who dwell in it. In this book, Rabbi Pete Tobias reaffirms the relevance of the vision that has inspired and sustained this dynamic faith for almost four thousand years and describes how that vision can be re-stated and implemented in our age.

This book seeks to set out the principles of Progressive Judaism and apply those principles to contemporary society and culture, the world of today in which Progressive Judaism and its adherents must find their moral bearings. Reconciling their beliefs with an ever-changing world is not a new experience for Jews. One of this book's underlying assertions is that Judaism has constantly adapted itself to meet the challenges posed to it by the need to survive in evolving societies - had it not done so, this ancient religion would long since have been written out of history.

Presented in the form of letters from a rabbi to his sons, Why Judaism Matters is common sense guidance and a road map for a new generation of young men and women who find Jewish orthodoxy, tradition, issues, and beliefs impenetrable in 21st Century society. By intimately illustrating how the tenets of Judaism still apply in our modern world, Rabbi John Rosove gives heartfelt direction to the sons and daughters of reform Jews everywhere.

Few subjects invoke such passion as the history and current situation of Jews in Western societies. David Goldberg, a progressive Rabbi with many years' experience of dealing with other faiths and other Jews, takes the most difficult issues of this fraught relationship and confronts them head on. He argues that it is wrong to equate anti-Semitism with anti-Zionism, that it is far more difficult to be a Muslim in twenty-first century Britain than it is to be a Jew, that Israel is far too often treated sentimentally and that the identification of Israel with the Holocaust - memorializing the latter and sacralising the former - has had baneful effects. His discussion of the perennial question, 'who is a Jew?', is equally trenchant: he rejects all strict rabbinic criteria, proposing that a Jew is simply anyone who insists that he or she is one. Forthright, challenging and witty, This is Not the Way will spark debate, criticism and delight in equal measure.

This lively accounnt brings to light an important reforming movement that radically changed the way Judaism was experienced and lived in the context of twentieth century British Society.

First published in 1947 The Essentials of Liberal Judaism explores the fundamental ideas of liberal Judaism. Rabbi Israel Mattuck explains that liberal Judaism is concerned not only with the question, where shall we find the teachings of Judaism, but also with the question, how shall we find them? He discusses important themes like conception of God in Judaism; grounds for the belief in God; problem of evil; guidance of God in human history; sin, repentance and atonement; Judaism and the social order; liberal Judaism and orthodox Judaism; differences between Judaism and Christianity and what it means to be a Jew, to argue that it is the fundamental principle of liberal Judaism that Judaism is a developing religion. This book is a must read for scholars of Judaism, history of Judaism, and religion.

Judaism and Jewish life reflect a diversity of identity after the past two centuries of modernization. This work examines how the early reformers of the 19th century and their legacy into the 20th century created a livable, liberal Jewish identity that allowed a reinvention of what it meant to be Jewish—a process that continues today. Many scholars of the modern Jewish identity focus on the ways in which the past two centuries have resulted in the loss of Jewishness: through "assimilation," intermarriage, conversion to other faiths, genocide (in the Holocaust), and decline in religious observance. In this work, author Frederick S. Roden presents a decidedly different perspective: that the changes in Judaism throughout the 19th and 20th centuries resulted in a malleable, welcoming, and expanded Jewish identity—one that has benefited from intermarriage and converts to Judaism. The book examines key issues in the modern definition of Jewish identity: who is and is not considered a Jew, and why; issues of Jewish "authenticity"; and the recent history of the debate. Attention is paid to the experiences of individuals who came to Judaism from outside the tradition: through marrying into Jewish families and/or choosing Judaism as a religion. In his consideration of the tragedy of the Holocaust, the author examines how a totalitarian regime's racial policing of Jewish identity served to awaken a connection with and reconfiguration of what that Jewish identity meant for those who retrospectively realized their Jewishness in the postwar era.