CCAR JOURNAL: THE REFORM JEWISH QUARTERLY

Published by the Central Conference of American Rabbis

FALL 2017

FROM THE EDITOR

• At the Gates

ARTICLES

ARZA AT 40

• The Origins of ARZA – Michael S. Satz
• The Future of Reform Zionism – Lawrence A. Englander
• The Four Principles of Reform Zionism – Eric H. Yoffie
• ARZA: A Forty-Year Perspective – Ammiel Hirsch
• Reimagining Our Approach to Hebrew in the American Reform Movement: From the Language of the Sacred and S’fat Em to S’fat HaAm – Andrew S. Ergas
• ARZA at Forty: A New Zionism for a New Generation – Josh Weinberg

FROM THE SOURCES

• God Shan’t Blush – Scott Saulson
• The Bitter Waters at Marah and the Crossing of the Sea: Prayer, Comic Relief, and Trials – Edward S. Boraz

THIS PEOPLE ISRAEL

• The Legend of Jewish Sages Who Join Muhammad and Write the Qur’an – Reuven Firestone
• Digital Judaism and the Cybernetic Yavneh: A Sketch and a Proposal – Peter Margolis

POETRY

• Lay Quiet – Brad Bloom

BOOK REVIEWS

• Details of American Jewish History – A Review Essay – The Synagogue in America: A Short History – by Marc Lee Raphael, Reviewed by Elliot B. Gertel
• JPS B’nai Mitzvah Torah Commentary – by Jeffrey K. Salkin, Reviewed by Mark Glickman
• The Man Who Never Stopped Sleeping – by Aharon Appelfeld, Translated by Jeffrey M. Green, Reviewed by Israel Zoberman

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CCAR JOURNAL: THE REFORM JEWISH QUARTERLY

Published by the Central Conference of American Rabbis

CONTENTS

Symposium Issue on Finding Our Path: Becoming a Rabbi After Ordination

ARTICLES

From the Editor- At the Gates – בשערים

Introduction to This Issue from the Guest Editors
Michael Shire and Marcus Burstein

SECTION ONE: THEORY TO PRACTICE

Fostering a Relationship between Rabbi and God
Carol Ochs

Continuing Learning and Professional Practice
Peter Jarvis

CCAR Rabbis: Learning in Order to Teach
Deborah Prinz

SECTION TWO: REFLECTED PRACTICE

The Road Frequently Not Taken: Choosing a Career as a Camp Rabbi
Vicki Tuckman

Education of the Adventure Rabbi
Jamie Korngold

My Sacred Journey to Chaplaincy
David J. Zucker

Visions of an Alternative Rabbinic Journey
Shira Stern

Aseh L’Cha Rav . . . If Only It Were That Easy
Scott Aaron

The Road Less Traveled: Evolution of Rabbinic Career
Judith Z. Abrams

“Don’t Let that Horse Bite You!” Rabbinical Leadership Lessons Learned in the Riding Ring
Jennifer A. Jaech

Dismissed from the Room
Leah Doberne-Schor

A Clearing
Mordecai Finley

The Rabbi as Ish To’eh Basadeh
Daniel S. Alexander

Lo Bashamayim Hi . . .: Journeying Towards Post-Theistic Rabbinic Practice
Howard Cooper

The Rabbi as Values-Based Corporate Leader
Edwin Goldberg

People Plan, God Laughs
Shari Shamah

I Have Learned from Each Person
Joel Mosbacher

Still Becoming a Rabbi
Sylvia Rothschild

RESPONSES TO SUMMER 2010 SYMPOSIUM ISSUE ON POLITICS AND SPIRITUALITY

POETRY

Commentary
Linda Pastan

Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh Speaks to Us of Names
Judy Neri

On What Would Have Been My Father’s Eighty-Fifth Birthday
Steve Hellyard Swartz

BOOK REVIEWS

Revelation and the God of Israel
Norbert M. Samuelson Reviewed by Philip Cohen

The Jerusalem Talmud First Order: Zeraim Tractates Peah and Demay
Edited by Heinrich W. Guggenheimer Reviewed by Judith Z. Abrams

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CCAR JOURNAL: THE REFORM JEWISH QUARTERLY

Published by the Central Conference of American Rabbis

CONTENTS

Symposium Issue on New Visions of Jewish Community

ARTICLES

From the Editor: At the Gates – בשערים

Introduction to This Issue from the Guest Editors
Alan Henkin and Paul Kipnes

A Demographer Considers the Twenty-First Century
Bruce A. Phillips

Keeping the Glass Half Full: Reinvigorating American Reform Judaism
Lance J. Sussman

Future of the Denominations: Analysis and Possibilities
Amy L. Sales

Shifting Landscapes: The Response of Modernity to Faith, Social Advocacy, and Demographic Change
Stephen S. Pearce

In this Time, In This Place: Establishing Your Voice and Defi ning Your Message
Steven Windmueller

Building and Enhancing Religious Community Online
Laura A. Baum

Moving Beyond the Limited Reach of Current “Social Media” Approaches: Why Jewish Digital Communities Require Rich and Remixable Narrative Content
Owen Gottlieb

Just Beyond the Horizon
Richard F. Address

Judaism 2111
Avi Schulman

POETRY

Biographic Bridge
Navah-Tehila

Sending My First Chumash to Sheimos
Norman Lipson

God’s Toolbox
James B. Rosenberg

BOOK REVIEWS

The Architecture of Louis Kahn and Percival Goodman— A Review Essay
Louis I. Kahn’s Trenton Jewish Community Center
Susan G. Solomon
Louis I. Kahn’s Jewish Architecture: Mikveh Israel and the
Midcentury American Synagogue
Susan G. Solomon
Reviewed by Elliot B. Gertel

Empowered Judaism: What Independent Minyanim Can Teach Us about Building Vibrant Jewish Communities
Elie Kaunfer Reviewed by Cathy L. Felix

Faithful Renderings: Jewish-Christian Difference and the Politics of Translation
Naomi Seidman Reviewed by Laurence Edwards

When I Sleep and When I Wake: On Prayers between Dusk and Dawn
Dalia Marx Reviewed by David Ariel-Joel

The Man Who Knew God: Decoding Jeremiah
Mordecai Schreiber Reviewed by David J. Zucker

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CCAR JOURNAL: THE REFORM JEWISH QUARTERLY

Published by the Central Conference of American Rabbis

FROM THE EDITOR

At the Gates

ARTICLES

An Outsider’s Look at Mishkan T’filah: Partaking and Informing
Marc Zvi Brettler

Ellis Rivkin: A Tribute
Herbert Bronstein

Theology of Experience: The Heart of a Feminist Theology
Oshrat Morag

Alternate Views for Tishah B?Av
Allen S. Maller

Mourning a Retirement: Reflections of a Thanatologist 
Daniel A. Roberts

Revisiting the Jewish Law on Intermarriage: A New Response to Today’s Challenge
Katherine A. Abend

It Is Time to Change Our View Regarding Miracles, Rituals, and Prayers
Seymour Prystowsky

BOOK REVIEWS

A REVIEW SYMPOSIUM

Sacred Attunement: A Jewish Theology
Michael Fishbane Introduction by Laurence L. Edwards

Sacred Attunement: More Transcendence
Kenneth Seeskin
Sacred Attunement: Toward Silence
Elliot R. Wolfson
Sacred Attunement: Text, Body, Spirit
Laurence L. Edwards
Sacred Attunement: A Tribute
Laura Lieber
Continuing the Conversation
Michael Fishbane

American Rabbis: Facts and Fiction
David J. Zucker Reviewed by Mordecai Schreiber

 

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CCAR JOURNAL: THE REFORM JEWISH QUARTERLY

Published by the Central Conference of American Rabbis

FROM THE EDITOR

At the Gates – בשערים

ARTICLES

Cold Case: The Micaiah Mysteries
David J. Zucker

Ich Bin Benjaminer
Brian Weinstein

Dr. Werner Weinberg: The Sources and Components of His Educational Approach
Donald Tam

Progressive Religious Zionism: An Ongoing Dialogue

Introduction
Lawrence A. Englander

Reform Zionism as Political Theology
Stanley M. Davids

Zionization Requires Peoplehoodization 
David M. Sofian

Progressive Religious Zionism: From Ideology to Practice
Lawrence A. Englander

Reform Judaism and Israel
David Ariel-Joel

Criticism from a Place of Love
Ada Zavidov

The Poster
Daniel R. Allen

The International Delegitimization Campaign against Israel and the Urgent Need of a Comprehensive Two-State, End-of-Conflict Peace Agreement
John L. Rosove

Prelude to an Arab Spring
Ruth H. Sohn

RESPONSES TO WINTER 2011 SYMPOSIUM ISSUE ON FINDING OUR PATH
Haim Asa
Walter Rothschild

POETRY

Prayer
Steven Critelli

A Blessing for Eric
Daniel T. Barkowitz

BOOK REVIEWS

A Garland of Israeli Literary Excellence
Four Book Reviews of Recently Published Works

Homeland Grasp (Ahizat Moledet)
Abraham B. Yehoshua

1948
Yoram Kaniuk

When Heroes Fly
Amir Gutfreund

Rose of Lebanon
Lea Aini

Reviewed by Israel Zoberman

Syndrome or Symbol? Story, Place, and Masculinity in Recent Fiction about Israel—A Review Essay

Wherever You Go
Joan Leegant

Almost Dead
Assaf Gavron

Reviewed by Stephanie Friedman

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CONTENTS

Symposium Issue on Judaism and Science

FROM THE EDITOR

At the Gates – בשערים

ARTICLES

Editors’ Introduction: Why Science Matters to Judaism
Philip Cohen and Hava Tirosh-Samuelson

Part I: Responding to Norbert Samuelson

The Challenges of the Modern Sciences for Jewish Faith
Norbert M. Samuelson

Searching for the Quantum God: On Judaism and Modern Science 
Victoria Ziva Frappollo

Jewish Philosophy, Science, and the Humanities
Zachary Braiterman

Part II: Judaism and the Physical Sciences

Judaism and Physics 
Peter Ochs

Revisiting Creation, Natural Events and Their Emergent Patterns
Bradley Shavit Artson

Why We Need Process Theology
Toba Spitzer

Part III: Science and Judaism: Methodological Considerations

A Jewish View of the Evolution of Religion
Allen S. Maller

Dreams: The True Religion-Science Conflict
Russell Jay Hendel

Rethinking Conjoined Twins 
Jonathan K. Crane

Part IV: The Human Sciences: Neuroscience, Psychology, and Education

Mystical and Spiritual, Neurological and Theological 
Ralph D. Mecklenburger

Neuro-Jewish Education: An Introduction
Justus N. Baird

The Science behind Yetzer Hara
Geoffrey A. Mitelman

The Case for Science Education in Our Religious Schools
Laurie Green

Part V: Rethinking Creation Theology

Science and Judaism in Light of Today’s Ecological Imperative 
Fred Scherlinder Dobb

Not Playing to Empty Benches: The Role of Mind in the Search for Meaning
Lawrence Troster

Judaism and Science: Selected Bibliography

RESPONSE TO THE SPRING 2011 SYMPOSIUM
Michael Perelmuter

RESPONSES TO THE SUMMER 2011 ISSUE
Paul Golomb
David Zucker
Joshua Segal

BOOK REVIEWS

Poetry Feeds the Jewish Soul: Introducing Four Reviews 
Adam D. Fisher

Finding Words 
Merle Feld Reviewed by Ruthie Gelfarb

God’s Optimism 
Yehoshua November Reviewed by James Rosenberg

70 Faces: Torah Poems
Rachel Barenblat Reviewed by Adam D. Fisher

Until the Blue Kingdom Comes
James B. Rosenberg Reviewed by Adam D. Fisher

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CCAR JOURNAL: THE REFORM JEWISH QUARTERLY

Published by the Central Conference of American Rabbis

FROM THE EDITOR

At the Gates — בשערים

MAAYANOT (PRIMARY SOURCES)

The Maaseh Avraham Avinu Alav HaShalom: Translation, Notes, and Commentary
Bernard H. Mehlman

ARTICLES

Trauma and Recovery: Abraham’s Journey to the Akeidah
Naomi Graetz

Parent’s Torah
Ilana B. Grinblat

Preaching Against the Text: An Argument in Favor of Restoring Leviticus 18 to Yom Kippur Afternoon
Jeffrey Brown

Orthodox Women (Non-)Rabbis
Darren Kleinberg

Shabbat Weddings Revisited: The Pro Side for a Change
Reeve Robert Brenner

An Eye for an Eye—Indeed!
Stephen Passamaneck

Eric Bram: A Portrait of a Rabbi as an Educational Visionary
Samuel K. Joseph and Jeffrey Schein

Why Jews Wear Costumes on Purim
Farhad Arbad and Daniel M. Berry

The “Man” as “Fool-King”: Alexander the Great and the Wisdom of Women
Admiel Kosman

Sh’ma Echad
David L. Kline

BOOK REVIEWS

Early Modern Jewry: A New Cultural History
David Ruderman Reviewed by Paul J. Citrin

Wisdom of the Heart: The Teachings of Rabbi Ya’akov
of Izbica-Radzyn
Ora Wiskind-Elper Reviewed by Lawrence Kushner

Religious Toleration: Political Theory and Practical Arrangements—A Review Essay
Divided by Faith: Religious Confl ict and the Practice of Toleration in Early Moden Europe
Benjamin J. Kaplan

The Hebrew Republic: Jewish Sources and the Transformation of European Political Thought
Eric Nelson Reviewed by Marc Saperstein

Sacred Treasure—The Cairo Genizah: The Amazing Discoveries of Forgotten Jewish History in an Egyptian Synagogue Attic
Mark Glickman Reviewed by Charles H. Middleburgh

POETRY

Waking Yom HaDin
Daniel F. Polish

To Make Sacred Dance Lessons from My Sister
Reeve Robert Brenner

Yom Kippur
Kendrah Raye Whyte

I am that I am
I am that I will be
Alison Burchett

The Man in the Picture
Sinéad Mac Devitt

Naso and Nisuin
Nancy S. Abraham

Surcease
Michael A. Meyer

A Midrash on Deuteronomy 6:5
Norman Hirsh

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CCAR JOURNAL: THE REFORM JEWISH QUARTERLY

Published by the Central Conference of American Rabbis

CONTENTS

Symposium Issue on Judaism, Health, and Healing

FROM THE EDITOR

At the Gate – בשער

ARTICLES

Introduction to this Issue from the Guest Editors
Michele Prince and Nancy H. Wiener

Spirituality and Religion in Health Care: A Rabbi’s Personal Journey
Samuel E. Karff

My Daughter or Son the Nurse: Jews in Nursing and the Healing Role of Nurses
Ellen Olshansky

The Kalsman Institute Research Roundtable: Building a Field of Judaism and Health
Michele Prince

Of Teachers and Angels: Jewish Insights on Transforming the Relationship between Patient and Health Professional
Carol Levy and Richard N. Levy

Standing in the Doorway: Pastoral Perspectives on In-Home Chaplaincy
Jo Hirschmann

Beyond Membership to True Belonging: Jewish Responses to an Unchanging Need for Deep Attachment and Meaning in an Ever-Changing World
Edythe Held Mencher

The Torah of Despair
Elliot Kukla

The Stigma of Infertility
Eleanor Steinman

Ruth, Naomi and Levina’s Other: Asymmetrical Pastoral Care
Ruth Gais

On Illness
Douglas Kohn

P’tach Libi B’Toratecha (Open My Heart to Your Torah): Jewish Pastoral Theology in Process
Barbara E. Breitman, Mychal B. Springer, and Nancy H. Wiener

Rabbi’s Support of Older Couples’ Second Marriages
Harriet Rosen and Marlene Levenson

A New Ritual for Healing and Well-Being
Geri Newburge

The Intermediate Blessings of the Amidah as the Model for a Personal Twelve-Step Program
Jeffrey Ableser

A Very Personal Reflection: Debbie Friedman’s Setting of Mi Shebeirach as a Sonata
Evan Kent

Standing in Life before God: Report and Reflection on One Congregation’s First Steps for Creating a Congregation-Based Program on Health and Wellness
Richard F. Address

Sacred Communities: The Potential for Synagogues to be Communities of Caring and Meaning in the Older Population
Marion Lev-Cohen

Experiencing Judaism through Thematic Temple Programming
Richard Steinberg

The Rabbi Does Handstands: An Exploration of the Emerging Field of Jewish Yoga in North American Synagogues and Beyond
Marcus J. Freed

Verbatim with God
Robert Tabak

MAAYANOT (PRIMARY SOURCES)

The Origins of the Reform Concept of Prayer: An Eighteenth Century Essay by Isaac Euchel
Translation and Introduction
Michael A. Meyer

POETRY

I Met a Man Today
Daniel S. Alexander

Between Earthquake and Hurricane
Daniel S. Alexander

After Psalm 16
Daniel S. Alexander

A Meditation: Healing the Broken-ness
Paulette Rochelle-Levy

Not Knowing
Abby Caplin

MRI
Linda Hepner

Words of Wisdom from Four Poets
Dawn Gross, Paulette Rochelle-Levy, Allen S. Maller, Patti Tana

BOOK REVIEWS

Midrash and Medicine: Healing Body and Soul in the Jewish Interpretive Tradition
Edited by Rabbi William Cutter, Ph.D., Reviewed by Rabbi Rochelle Robins

No Offense, Self-Defense, and On the Fence: Rabbis in Search of American Jewish Identity-A Review Essay

What the Rabbis Said: The Public Discourse of Nineteenth Century American Rabbis
Naomi W. Cohen

Speaking of Jews: Rabbis, Intellectuals, and the Creation of an American Public Identity
Lila Corwin Berman

Jewish Preaching in Times of War 1800-2001
Marc Saperstein

Reviewed by Rabbi Richard Hirsh

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CCAR JOURNAL: THE REFORM JEWISH QUARTERLY

Published by the Central Conference of American Rabbis

CONTENTS

Symposium Issue on Inspiration and Opportunity: The Arts in Jewish Life

FROM THE EDITOR

• At the Gates

ARTICLES

• Introduction to This Issue from the Guest Editors, Eve Ben-Ora and Vicki Reikes Fox

GENESIS/B’REISHIT: A NEW VIEW

• A Gift to the Community: The Los Angeles Temple Isaiah’s Festival of Jewish Artisans, Marcia Reines Josephy and Meira Josephy
• Becoming a Modern Judaica Artist: A Stranger in a Strange Land No More, Gary Rosenthal
• Painting by Numbers: Reporting on the Emergence of Modern Jewish Art, Tal Gozani
• Visual Art as a Spiritual Practice, Miriam Terlinchamp

EXODUS/SH’MOT: ART AS A GUIDE TO WHERE WE ARE GOING

• A Nu Way Forward: Reaching Jewish Young Adults in Creative Ways, Anne Hromadka
• The New Authentics: Artists of a Post-Jewish Generation, Yael Rooks-Rapport
• Towards a Taxonomy of the “Cultural Jew”, Richard A. Siegel
• Choosing Art for the Jewish Chapel at the U.S. Air Force Academy, Joel Schwartzman

LEVITICUS/VAYIKRA: ARTISTS’ VOICES

• Art and Prayer, Isaac Brynjegard-Bialik
• Engaging Community, Mark Hurvitz
• Collaboration and Participation, Flora Rosefsky
• Transformative Experience, Peretz Wolf-Prusan, Lisa Sloane
• Spiritual Journey, Yehudis Barmatz-Harris
• The Passion of a Rabbi and Artist, Josh Plaut
• An Artists’ Beit Midrash
  • Words of Introduction, Leon A Morris
  • The Artists’ Words
    • Barbara Freedman
    • Susan Kaplow
    • Larry Frankel
    • Rachel Kanter
• Bezalel’s Legacy, Richard McBee

NUMBERS/B’MIDBAR: CHALLENGE AND PERSPECTIVE

• Text and Commentary: Contemporary Jewish Art, Ori Z. Soltes
• Jew as (German) Product: Rubber Ducks and Other Commodifi cations of Jewish Identity, Michal S. Friedlander
• The Presence of What Is Absent: Art as Inquiry into Jewish Text, Adina Allen and Pat Allen
• Visual Midrash: The Role of Art and Artists in Our Seminaries, Jean Abarbanel and Anne Hromadka
• Jewish Art and Artists in the Seminary Setting, Jean Bloch Rosensaft and Laura Kruger
• Faith in Irony: Judaica Today, Daniel Belasco

DEUTERONOMY/D’VARIM: MOVING FORWARD CREATIVELY

• On the Path to Jewish Universalism: Art and Literature in Modern Hebrew Culture, William Cutter
• Mishkan and Sukkah: Toward Jewish Sacred Space, Amy Reichert
• Daring to Alter a Perfect Twentieth-Century Sanctuary to Meet the Needs of the Twenty-First Century, Roy A. Walter and Garey F. Marks
• Transforming a Congregation through the Arts, Cheri Ellowitz
• Faith in Art: Visual Culture and the Future of Judaism, Lance J. Sussman

 

POETRY

• I Was at Sinai, Rick Lupert
• Exercises in Uncertainty that Resolve in Embrace, James Stone Goodman
• The Story of a Ring, Navah-Tehila

 

BOOK REVEWS

• Blood, Resurrection, and New Paradigms in Dialogue—A Review Essay
• Resurrection: The Power of God for Christians and Jews, Kevin J. Madigan and Jon D. Levenson
• Blood and Belief: The Circulation of a Symbol Between Jews and Christians, David Biale. Reviewed by Daniel F. Polish
• I Have a Story to Tell You. Edited by Seemah C. Benson. Reviewed by Susan Jacobson

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Back issues are available at $35 per issue plus shipping.

To order copies of CCAR Journal, contact CCAR Press at info@ccarpress.org or call 212-972-3636 x244.