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Pluralism

Recent overtures into the arts — visual, performance, theatrical — have demonstrated just how expansive and powerful those explicitly Jewish experiences can be. We will always be a text based people, but opening our texts to interpretive arts affords us a new way of experiencing Judaism, explicating text, and engaging other Jews. This issue of Sh’ma addresses pluralism in its broadest understanding: theological pluralism, based on our belief that all of us are created in the Divine image; textual pluralism, which highlights the breadth of diversity in our interpretative tradition; educational pluralism where both curriculum and culture support pluralist ideals; and expressive pluralism, opening the experience of Judaism to a wider range of practice.

With this issue we launch A New Artistic Nish’ma page. Every second month, our simulated page of Talmud will be offered as a full-color, poster-sized centerfold with artists engaging each others’ work in the fashion of talmudic times. In upcoming months we hope to broaden that invitation to performance artists as well, as they interact with the artistic image through music and video clips on our website.

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.
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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.
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Marc Brettler: To the extent that the Bible is the central Jewish text and it embodies pluralism, pluralism is a fundamental Jewish value.
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Quote of the Month

"Pluralism, Eugene Borowitz argues, is inherent to a postmodern liberal theology because of our awareness that our understanding of God is limited." 

Rachel Sabath Beit-Halachmi

Our Mission
Sh'ma serves as a gathering place for independent dialogue -- rich conversation of differing positions presented in an honest, respectful, and sacred conversation. Our readers, like our authors, are intellectually sharp, seeking, concerned and literate. Sh'ma is a publication of Jewish Family & Life! JFLMedia.com