CCAR JOURNAL: THE REFORM JEWISH QUARTERLY

Published by the Central Conference of American Rabbis

• At the Gates

ARTICLES

• Exodus, Esther, and the Macabees in Conversation: “They Tried to Kill Us; We Survived; Let’s Eat” Amy Scheinerman
• Esther, Exodus, Purim, and Passover, David J. Zucker
• Violence, Laughter, and Morality: A Literary Analysis of Humor in Esther, Sarah Bassin
• “Spiking the Football” at the Fall of a Foe, Yossi Feintuch
• Eileh Toldot Esav, Edward S. Treister
• Wrestling with Jacob, the Trickster, Norman J. Cohen
• Jonah: A Book of Irony, Moshe Reiss
• The Second “Book” of Jeremiah: From Doom to Destiny, Mark Dov Shapiro
• Ancient and Modern Musings on the Akeidah: A Test Primarily of Sacrificial Devotion of Hearing the Right Message? Ian Silverman
• The God I Let In, Edward Zerin
• The Founders’ Perpetual Revolution, Stephen S. Pearce
• You Can’t Wrap Herring in an iPad: Digitization of Sacred Jewish Books, the Stripping of Embodied Ritual, and the Implication for Jewish Education, Owen Gottlieb
• Creating Community and Protecting Privacy: Seeking a Balance, Claire Gorfinkel

MAAYANOT (PRIMARY SOURCES)

• “We Have Not Reached God,” an Essay by Chava Pinchas-Cohen on Two Poems by Admiel Kosman, Stanley Nash

POETRY

• The Marrano Woman, Yakov Azriel
• Yiddish, Yakov Azriel
• Elephants in Chains, Patti Tana
• Sh’liach Tzibur, Daniel S. Alexander
• See the Oneness, Nancy S. Abraham
• If I am a Rib, Nancy S. Abraham
• In Memory of the Priestly Sons, Rita Glassman
• Women Reading Torah, Judy Katz-Levine
• B’rachah for the Golden Years, Karen Hayworth Hainbach

BOOK REVEWS

• Swimming in Moses’ Well: Poems on Numbers, Yakov Azriel. Reviewed by Adam D. Fisher
• Did Moses Really Have Horns? And Other Myths about Jews and Judaism, Rifat Sonsino. Reviewed by Donald M. Splansky
• Losses, Lea Goldberg. Edited with afterword by Giddon Ticotsky. Reviewed by Israel Zoberman
• The Man Who Never Stopped Sleeping, Aharon Appelfeld. Reviewed by Israel Zoberman

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CCAR JOURNAL: THE REFORM JEWISH QUARTERLY

Published by the Central Conference of American Rabbis

CONTENTS

Preparing for the New Machzor and the High Holidays

FROM THE EDITOR

• At the Gates

ARTICLES

• Preparing for the New Machzor and the High Holy Days: An Integrated Approach, Elaine Zecher

SECTION ONE: FROM THE EDITORS OF THE NEW MACHZOR

• The New Reform Machzor Is a Solution, but What Is the Problem? Edwin C. Goldberg
• What Happens When We Use Poetry in Our Prayer Books—and Why? Sheldon Marder
• The End of Liturgical Reform as We Know It: Creative Retrieval as a New Paradigm. Leon A. Morris
• SECTION TWO: FROM PROFESSORS OF LITURGY AT HUC-JIR
• “Lu Yehi”: High Holy Day Liturgy and Experience in Israel, Dalia Marx
• Machzor: The Poetry of Truly Awe-Inspiring Days, Richard S. Sarason
• A Tale of Three Machzorim, Richard N. Levy
• Doing It Right or Doing It Well? Lawrence A. Hoffman

SECTION THREE: FROM OUR COLLEAGUES

• When I Hear the Shofar I Taste Chocolate: Seeking the Synesthetic on the High Holy Days, Evan Kent
• Love, Liturgy, Leadership, Elyse D. Frishman
• The Yamim Nora’im: Concentric Circles of Liturgy and Relation, Lawrence A. Englander
• The Calves of Our Lips: The Inescapable Connections between Prayer and Sacrifice, Leon A. Morris
• “Baavur Sheani Noder Tzedakah Baado”, Margaret Moers Wenig
• Visions for a New/Old Reform Yizkor Service, Donald B. Rossoff
• We, the Avaryanim, Chant Kol Nidrei, Donald P. Cashman
• The Un’taneh Tokef Prayer—Sealing Our Faith, Not Our Fate, Y. Lindsey bat Joseph
• Viewing Un’taneh Tokef through a New Lens, Amy Scheinerman
• Mystical Journeys and Magical Letters: The Y’rushalmi’s Cosmology in the Machzor, Judith Z. Abrams
• The Machzor before the Machzor: Interpreting the High Holy Days during the Second Temple Period, Aaron D. Panken
• Yom Kippur in Moab: Reflections on the Setting of the Parashah, Elsie R. Stern

MAAYANOT (PRIMARY SOURCES)

• Maimonides’ T’shuvah to Ovadyah the Proselyte
• Philip Matoff Posner

RESPONSES TO THE FALL 2012 SYMPOSIUM

• Kenneth D. Roseman
• Jeff Marx

POETRY

• Stretching toward S’lichot, Ruth Lerner
• Rosh HaShanah in the Pines, 2011/5772, Hara E. Person
• What If, Donald B. Rossoff
• Kol Nidrei, Jenni Person
• Yom Kippur, The Essence Does Not Change, Yehoshua November
• The Ankle of the High Priest, Joseph R. Black
• The Wilderness of Tishrei, Barbara AB Symons

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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

Section One: Progressive Judaism Around the World: Paradigms of Peoplehood

• “Like Oil and Water”: Progressive Judaism and the Nations of the World, Lawrence A. Englander, Guest Editor
• A Perspective from Europe, Walter Rothschild
• Goulash Judaism: The Case of Hungary, Ferenc Raj
• Beit Warszawa, Jewish Music, and Shabbes, Haim Beliak
• Czecho-Slovak Jewry, Andrew Goldstein
• Growth of Dutch Progressive Judaism: A Chutzpah, Menno ten Brink
• Reform Judaims in Switzerland, Reuven Bar-Ephraim
• A Sephardi in Sepharad, Rifat Sonsino
• “All in the Family”: What Binds Together and Separates Reform Jews Worldwide, Joel D. Oseran
• Reform Judaism in the South Pacific, John Levi
• Progressive Judaism in Britain: A Personal View, Julia Neuberger
• “We Were Only a Handful, and We Had a Dream of Rejuvenating Religion in the State of Israel,” Ada Zavidov, Translation by Evan Cohen
• “First We Take Manhattan, Then We Take Berlin,” Meir Azari, Translation by Baruch Geffen and Adam Azari

ADDITIONAL ARTICLES

• The Tent Peg Business, Revisited, Lawrence Kushner and Noa Kushner
• Synagogue Work Will Drive You Crazy, Schizophernogenic Inevitabilities in Congregational Practice, David A. Whiman
• Yom HaAtzma-ut as a Religious Holiday: A Note Regarding the CCAR and the American Jewish Year Book, Joel B. Wolowelsky
• Understanding the Two Creation Narratives in Genesis: Just How Many Beginnings Were There?, Daniel M. Berry
• The Garden of Eden: Peeling Back the Layers to Reveal the Simplicity of the Story, Michael D. Oblath
• The Binding of Isaac (A Different Version), Mordecai Roshwald
• Throwaway Women: Ruth as Response, David J. Zucker

By Avi Magid

POETRY

• Rabbi Stripped Naked, Daniel Meltz
• Minchah, Steven Sher
• Refer to Maker, Elias Lieberman
• Death, Be My Teacher, Ben Kamin
• Kaddish at Tiananmen Square, Israel Zoberman
• Shavuot Song, Kendrah Raye Whyte
• Jerusalem Word Play, Reeve Robert Brenner

BOOK REVIEWS

• A Congregation, A Rabbi, and A Religious Movement – A Review Essay, Elliot B. Gertel
  • Sundays at Sinai: A Jewish Congregation in Chicago, Tobias Brinkman
  • Max Lilienthal: The Making of an American Rabbinate, Bruce L. Ruben
  • The Birth of Conservative Judaism: Solomon Schechter’s Disciples and the Creation of an American Relgious Movement, Michael R. Cohen
• The JPS Bible Commentary – Ruth, Commentary by Tamara Cohn Eskenazi and Tikva Frymer-Kensky, Reviewed by David J. Zucker

CCAR JOURNAL: THE REFORM JEWISH QUARTERLY

Published by the Central Conference of American Rabbis

Sacred Teaching and Spiritual Learning

From the Editor

• At the Gates

Articles

• Introduction to This Issue by the Guest Editors, Sandy Eisenberg Sasso and Michael Shire

Section One: The State of Jewish Spiritual Education

• Beyond Romanticism: Having Something Spiritual to Say, Lawrence A. Hoffman
• The Middle Realm, the Creative Process, and the Creator in Religious Education, Jerome W. Berryman
• A Transformational Model for Jewish Education, Rami Shapiro

Section Two: Children’s Jewish Spiritual Education

• Avirah Ruchanit—Creating a “Spiritual Atmosphere” for Jewish Teens, Moshe Ben-Lev
• Good Grief: Helping Jewish Children Live with Death, Jennifer Gubitz
• Choose Life: Identifying and Addressing the Spiritual Needs of B’nei Mitzvah Students and Families, Goldie Milgram
• An Experiment in Spiritual Education: Teacher as Researcher, Student as Theologian, Joel Mosbacher and Wendy Grinberg
• Practices that Nurture Young Jewish Children’s Spiritual Development, Deborah Schein
• “I Knew That Within Me There Was God”—Teaching Spiritual Awareness to Children, Amy Scheinerman

Section Three: Jewish Spiritual Guidance and Formation

• The Quest for Meaning: Insights on Nurturing Adult Spiritual Development, Roberta Louis Goodman
• Jewish Spiritual Direction: Developing a Vocabulary for the Experiences of Our Inner Lives, Jacob J. Staub
• The Practice of Teaching Jewish Spirituality: Some Lessions I Have Learned, Sheila Peltz Weinberg

Section Four: The Arts and Jewish Spirituality

• (Re)Learning L’Hitpaleil: The Performance of Prayer as Spiritual Education, Tamar Heather Havilio
• Jewish Early Adolescent Spirituality, Micah Lapidus
• Storytelling and Spirituality: Sacred and Shared between Generations, Peninnah Schram

Poetry on the Theme of the Symposium

• She Said Yes, Barbara AB Symons
• Akiva, Joseph Black
• Hide and Seek, Brad L. Bloom
• Morning Prayer, Tamara Cohen
• Astronauts, Judy Katz

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CCAR JOURNAL: THE REFORM JEWISH QUARTERLY

Published by the Central Conference of American Rabbis

Sacred Teaching and Spiritual Learning

FROM THE EDITOR

• At the Gates

ARTICLES

• A Brief Introduction to this Section
• Personal Theology, Arthur Green
• Teaching Judaism as a Spiritual Religion: Every Bush is Burning, Seymour Rossel
• Changing Seats, Changing Perspectives: Thoughts on Worship and Spirituality in Congregations, Rex D. Perlmeter
• A Spiritual Dynamics Approach to Spiritual Education, Mike Comins
• Discovering Ourselves in the Text: Reclaiming the Sacred in Congregational Torah Study Groups, Jeffrey W. Goldwasser
• Making Prayer Meaningful: Empowering Sophisticated Prayer Communities through School Worship, Saul Kaiserman, Daniel Reiser, Lisa Kingston, and Hannah Goldstein
• Muscar as Spiritual Education, Marcia R. Plumb

MAAYANOT (PRIMARY SOURCES)

• Midrash Al Yithallel (Do Not Boast): Introduction, Translation, and Expostion, Bernard H. Mehlman

FROM THE SOURCES

• Separation – Individuation and Oedipal Motifs in the Abraham Narrative, Steven Lebow
• Rabbis Undermining Rabbis: Subversive Midrashic Narratives, Amy Scheinerman

ON BEING A RABBI

• Spirituality and Appreciative Inquiry in the Jewish Chaplaincy and Elsewhere, Reeve Robert Brenner
• Sources from Talmud and Midrash on Dilemmas with End-of-Life Care, Peter Joel Hurwitz
• A Prisoner Cannot Free Himself: Helping Very Smart Rabbis Learn, David A. Whitman
• A Laboratory of Living Judiasm, Mark S. Shapiro
• “With Vision and Boldness”: Opening HUC-JIR to Applicants and Students with Non-Jewish Partners, Daniel Kirzane

THIS PEOPLE ISRAEL

• Memories of 1948, Miriam B. Elkins

RESPONSES TO THE SUMMER 2013 ISSUE

• Preparing for the New Machzor: A Plea Regarding the New Machzor, Seymour Prystowsky
• Not Dead Yet: A Response to Leon Morris on the End of Liturgical Reform, Dan Fink

POETRY

• Far from the Tree, Madeline Kirsch
• Living Between Dad’s Life and Death, Michele E. Lenke
• A Babel Rabble, Judy Neri

BOOK REVIEWS

• Open Heart, Elie Wiesel, Reviewed by Israel Zoberman
• Neuland, Eshkol Nevo, Reviewed by Israel Zoberman
• On God: An Uncommon Conversation, Norman Mailer, with Michael Lennon, Reviewed by Allen Howard Podet
• Rabbi Gabrielle’s Scandal and A Kiss for Rabbi Gabrielle, Roger Herst, Reviewed by Thomas P. Liebschutz

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CCAR JOURNAL: THE REFORM JEWISH QUARTERLY

Published by the Central Conference of American Rabbis

Renewing Our Relationship with the Talmud

FROM THE EDITOR

• At the Gates

ARTICLES

• Guest Editors’ Introduction: Introduction to Finding and Re-Finding the Talmud in Reform Judaism, Daniel Bronstein and Debra Landsberg Summer 2014 At the Gates

Section One: Reform Judaism and the Case for Talmud

• A Talmudist Manifesto: Why Reform Judaism Needs the Talmud, and Why the Talmud Needs Reform Judaism, Aaron D. Panken
• It’s Our Book: A Talmudic Reading for Reform Jews, Mark Washofsky
• Talmud beyond Halachah, Alyssa M. Gray
• Pragmatism versus the Talmudic Process in Reform Judaism: The Minyan as Case Study?, Leon A. Morris

Section Two: Reflections from the Field

• Talmud and Reform Judaism Renewing Each Other, Amy Scheinerman
• Reform Jews Study the Talmud, Hillel Gamoran
• Living Talmud, Adrienne P. Scott
• A Twelve-Step Guide to Become Addicted…to Talmud Study, Judith Z. Abrams

Section Three: Reform Reflections on the Siyum

• Hadran Alach: One Rabbi’s Reflections on the 2012 Daf Yomi Siyum, Marc Katz
• Reflections of a Mesayem, Gershon Zylberman

Section Four: A View from Israel

• Neither Chareidi Nor Trembling: Theory and Practice in the World of the Babylonian Talmudic Sages, Ruchama Weiss and Yona Arzi

MAAYANOT (PRIMARY SOURCES)

• Ruchama Weiss: Hebrew Poetry and Its Burdens of the Present, William Cutter

RESPONSE TO THE FALL 2013 ISSUE, Israel Zoberman

POETRY

• The Asenath Cycle: Poems of Identity and Heritage
• A Jerusalem Quintet, Daniel F. Polish
• With My Daughter, At the Mikveh, Gila Ruskin
• Behind the Window, Jeffrey A. Summit
• Fathers and Sons, Israel Zoberman

BOOK REVIEWS

• Go to the Nineveh: Medieval Jewish Commentaries on the Book of Jonah, Translated and Explained, Steve Bob: Reviewed by Norman M. Cohen
• My Father and Mother, Aharon Appelfeld: Reviewed by Israel Zoberman
• The Jewish Annotated Bible—New Revised Standard Version, Edited by Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler: Reviewed by David J. Zucker
• On the Edge, Amy Carb Sussman Reviewed by Adam Sol

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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

• A Positive Perspective on the Three Embarrassing Wife-Sister Stories in Genesis, Henry A. Zoob
• Three Biblical Bases of Rabbinic Repentance, Scott Hoffman
• Legal Authority and Verbal Harm in a Talmudic Narrative, Karl A. Plank
• Chesed Shel Emet: Reconsidering the Future of Jewish Burial, Yoni Regev

A TRIBUTE TO DAVID ELLENSON

• Tradition in Transition: The Incredible Journey of President David Ellenson, Robert Levine
• For These I Weep: A Theology of Lament, Rachel Adler
• At the Turning: Reflections on My Life, David Ellenson

THIS PEOPLE ISRAEL

• The Unholy Scramble for Pulpits: A History of Reform Rabbinic Placement (Part 1): 1893–1961, Alan Henkin
• Kaskel’s Chutzpah, Gary Stein
• The Sigd: From Ethiopia to Israel, Shai Afsai

POETRY

• To a Grandson Yet to Be Born, Reeve Robert Brenner
• Rising Higher, Israel Zoberman

• Women’s Bible Commentary, 3rd edition, edited by Carol A Newsom, Sharon H. Ringe, and Jacqueline E. Lapsley
• The New Reform Judaism: Challenges and Reflections, Dana Evan Kaplan

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CCAR JOURNAL: THE REFORM JEWISH QUARTERLY

Published by the Central Conference of American Rabbis

Winter 2015

Symposim: Poetry After Auschwitz

FROM THE EDITOR

• At the Gates

ARTICLES

SYMPOSIUM: POETRY AFTER AUSCHWITZ

• Introduction to Poetry After Auschwitz, Bruce Kadden
• Adorno, Celan, and the Dictum against Poetry after Auschwitz, Nicolaas P. Barr Clingan
• Silence and Words after Auschwitz, Bruce Kadden
• “The Holocaust without Smoke”: Irena Klepfisz’s “Bashert,” Lisa Marcus
• The Moral Responsibility of Survival? Victims, Poetry, and Conflict after Auschwitz, Beth Kraig

MAAYANOT (PRIMARY SOURCES)

• Selections from Arnold B. Erhlich’s Die Psalmen (The Psalms), Bernard H. Mehlman and Gabriel E. Padawer

FROM THE SOURCES

• The Human God and the Divine Human: “And” or “Or,” Amy Scheinerman
• Of Mice and Men, “Idiots First,” and Genesis 22, David J. Zucker
• (Re-)Naming the Tradition: Jo Sinclair’s Wasteland as a Lesbian Jewish Novel, Wendy Zierler

ON BEING A RABBI

• “For I Have Given You Good Counselors, You Shall Not Forsake Them,” Daniel Utley
• Making the Undiscussable Discussable, David A. Whiman
• The Palestinian Arab Citizens of Israel, Stanley A. Ringler
• It’s Time to End Our Silence on Syria, Nicole Roberts

POETRY

• Of Course, I do not know, Benjamin Z. Rudavsky
• The Divine Tragedy, Norman Gordon
• The West Bank, Norman Gordon
• Not Ready Yet, Norman Gordon

POETRY AFTER AUSCHWITZ

BOOK REVIEWS

• Behind Heschel’s Theology – A Review Essay, Elliot B. Gertel
  • Abraham Joshua Heschel: The Call of Transcendence, Shai Held
  • Theodicy of Culture and the Jewish Ethos: David Keigen’s Contribution to the Sociology of Religion, Martina Urban
  • Abraham Heschel and the Phenomenon of Piety, Joseph Harp Britton

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CCAR JOURNAL: THE REFORM JEWISH QUARTERLY

Published by the Central Conference of American Rabbis

Summer 2015

FROM THE EDITOR

• At the Gates

ARTICLES

ON BEING A RABBI

• Audacious Education: Why Educating to the Boy Brain Educates All, Jon Hanish and Becky Hoffman
• Addiction in Body, Mind and Jewish Spirituality, Paul Steinberg
• Becoming Jewish in a Taxi: Borders and Behaviours on the Journey towards Judaism, Barbara Borts
• To Wait for the Law to Change or Not to Wait, That Is the Question: A Guide for Same-Sex Couples and Rabbis on the Necessity of Using Private Law to Protect the Rights of Same-Sex Relationships, Sona Gala and Arthur Gross-Schaefer

FROM THE SOURCES

• Philo on Moses, Joshua David Garroway
• Secular(?) Versions of the Kaddish in the Kibbutz Movement, Dalia Marx
• Was Rashi Wrong?: A Minor Mystery, Stephen M. Passamaneck
• God Language: A Medieval Perspective, Leonard Kravitz
• The Sh’ma as D’varim, Elliot B. Gertel

POETRY

• Beyond, Rowena Silver
• Passover’s Peace Partners, Israel Zoberman
• Zayde Reeven, One, Two, Three, Reeve Robert Brenner

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

CCAR JOURNAL: THE REFORM JEWISH QUARTERLY

Published by the Central Conference of American Rabbis

Fall 2015

FROM THE EDITOR

• At the Gates

ARTICLES

SYMPOSIUM: YOUTH ENGAGEMENT

• Guest Editors’ Introduction, Michael White and Karen Thomashow
• Kids Today: A Brief Psycho-Social Overview, Samuel K. Joseph and Betsy Stone
• Revolutionizing Bar/Bat Mitzvah, Isa Aron
• Spark! Spiritual Engagement of Jewish Adolescents, Michael Shire
• Not Just Pitching a Tent in the School: What Jewish Specialty Camps Teach Us About Engaging Teens, Michael Shapiro Abraham
• Jewish Youth Engagement and Social Justice, Jonah Pesner
• “Don’t Talk At Us, Walk With Us”: BBYO’s Growing Teen Movement, David M. Kessel and Ira J. Dounn
• Professionalizing the Field, Melissa Frey
• An Overview of the Union for Reform Judaism’s Youth Strategy, Bradley Solmsen

FROM THE SOURCES

• Postbiblical R&B: Reuben’s Rhythms and Bilhah’s Blues, Daniel J. Zucker and Moshe Reiss
• Giving Voice to the Unspeakable: Rabbinic Responses to Disaster, Amy Scheinerman
• How the Son of the Kingfish Became an Advocate for Societ Jewry, David Goldstein

POETRY

• Welcoming Arms Well Armed, Reeve Robert Brenner
• D-G Spelled Backwards? An Ode, Daniel Polish

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