December 4, 2023
Isaac Herzog, President of the State of Israel, says Rabbi Dalia Marx, PhD’s work is “greatly enriching the ongoing and vital conversation that is our Jewish heritage with Jews around the world.”
New York, NY: CCAR Press, a division of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, is pleased to announce the publication of From Time to Time: Journeys in the Jewish Calendar by Rabbi Dalia Marx, PhD, the Rabbi Aaron D. Panken Professor of Liturgy at Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in Jerusalem. From Time to Time was first published in Israel in 2018 as Bazman and has been translated into German, Spanish, and now English. This bookincludes a foreword by Rabbi David Ellenson, PhD, chancellor emeritus of HUC-JIR and professor emeritus at Brandeis University. Rabbi Peretz A. Rodman, a prolific scholar and teacher based in Jerusalem, translated the volume. From Time to Time is published by CCAR Press’s Reform Judaism Publishing imprint.
Time is fundamental to the human experience, and in Judaism it is even more—time is sanctified. Understanding the Jewish calendar is thus essential for fully comprehending Judaism. In From Time to Time, Rabbi Marx presents a fascinating exploration of the treasures of the Jewish year. The book artfully blends traditional and contemporary perspectives on each Hebrew month and its holidays, both secular and religious. Rabbi Marx explores the likes of Passover and Yom HaAtzma-ut (Israeli Independence Day), but also lesser-known holidays including Sigd (celebrated by Ethiopian Jewry) and Rosh Chodesh Tevet’s Festival of the Women (celebrated by those from North Africa).
From Time to Time features a diverse selection of poetry, prayers, and songs from wide-ranging Jewish sources, including the work of Lea Goldberg, Shaul Tchernichowsky, Natan Alterman, Abba Kovner, and Yoram Taharlev. To help readers maximize their learning experience, a study guide and a playlist of featured songs are also available as resources on the CCAR Press website. Taking a distinctively Israeli, feminist, and progressive approach, From Time to Time is a comprehensive, indispensable companion you will want to return to each season.
Rabbi Dalia Marx, PhD, is dedicated to promoting liberal Judaism, religious pluralism, and interfaith understanding. A tenth-generation Jerusalemite, Rabbi Marx earned her doctorate at the Hebrew University and her rabbinic ordination at HUC-JIR in Jerusalem and Cincinnati. She is the author of several books, including A Feminist Commentary on the Babylonian Talmud: Tractates Tamid, Middot, and Qinnim (Mohr Siebeck, 2013). She is the chief editor of T’filat HaAdam, the Israeli Reform prayer book (MaRaM, 2020), and the coeditor of several other volumes.
Isaac Herzog, president of the State of Israel said, “I have no doubt that this new book will contribute a great deal to the global Jewish cultural field, offering Dalia Marx’s evocative and singular voice of insight and wisdom to the interpretation of our Jewish calendar.”
Rabbi Angela Warnick Buchdahl, senior rabbi of New York City’s Central Synagogue said, “Dalia Marx’s brilliant book From Time to Time offers extraordinary new ways of understanding Jewish time. With poetry, ancient and modern texts, ritual suggestions, and historical reflections, Marx illuminates traditional holidays, features lesser-known celebrations such as Moroccan Mimouna and Ethiopian Sigd, and brings an evolved scholarship that includes feminist, pluralist, and gender-fluid perspectives. This rich tapestry allows us not only to learn more about the expanded Israeli calendar, but about Jewish views of time across the world and the centuries. This indispensable volume will help every one of us make our time more meaningful and sacred.”
Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman, PhD, professor emeritus at HUC-JIR said, “This is, quite simply, a genius of a book, not just the best of its kind but the only thing of its kind: a moving combination of scholarly depth and mastery of Jewish tradition—served up with personal anecdote, poetic sensitivity, and an uncanny ability to make the seasons, the holidays, and even ordinary time come alive with meaning.”
From Time to Time: Journeys in the Jewish Calendar is available at time.ccarpress.org.