Amelia Glaser Adventures in Yiddishland: Postvernacular Language & Culture. Jeffrey Shandler, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of CA Press, 2006. 271 pp., $39.95 Late one night during the summer of 2002, I found myself in a dorm room with four fellow graduate students listing the serious Yiddish scholars under the age of 40. We estimated … More »
Talk and Gossip
Laura Geller At Temple Emanuel in Los Angeles, we try to organize our High Holy Day sermons around a theme; this year’s topic was “the Jewish conversation.” The subtext of these sermons was that the richer the Jewish conversation, the more meaningful the Jewish identity. We spoke about different types of conversation: engagement and dialogue … More »
Pluralist Education
Susan Shevitz
As an approach to Jewish education, pluralism is intertwined with the basic question that has challenged the Jewish community since the Enlightenment: how is Jewish identity maintained in a free and open society? The question is even sharper today as Jews and others are faced with endless choices about every aspect of life. … More »
Dynamic Dreams in Israel
Bambi Sheleg
The Torah is not only written in books; it is being written in the cumulative experiences of Jews. It is impossible to assume that everything that has happened to us has already been explained in our ancient legal texts. … More »
Elu Ve-elu Divrei Elohim Hayyim: A Biblical View
Marc Brettler
To the extent that the Bible is the central Jewish text and it embodies pluralism, pluralism is a fundamental Jewish value. … More »
Discussion Guide - Pluralism
1. Are there boundaries for a Jewish pluralist stance? What are they?
2. How can we stretch to include a wider variety of modalities within which to express one’s Judaism?
3. Why is Judaism sectored into denominations, and what are the obstacles to collaboration among the various movements?
4. How does the idea, that we are all made in the image of God, influence pluralism?
… More »