CCAR Journal: The Reform Jewish Quarterly

Published by the Central Conference of American Rabbis

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This special issue of the CCAR Journal honors Rabbi David Ellenson, z”l. The essays focus on Rabbi Ellenson’s scholarly and practical work, including on halachah, liturgy, Zionism, feminism, modern Jewish thought, and his impact on our lived Judaism. General articles, book reviews, and poetry are also included.

Fall 2024

From the Editor

• At the Gates
  Guest Editor: Rabbi Shira Koch Epstein

In Memory of Rabbi David Ellenson, z”l

• Soaring on Two Wings: Solomon Schechter, Kaufmann Kohler, and Rabbinic Education at the Turn of the Twentieth Century — Rabbi Lisa J. Grushcow, DPhil
• Exploring Tradition and Modernity: Ellenson on Holdheim — Rabbi Michael Marmur, PhD
• David Ellenson: The Passionate and Practical Zionist — Rabbi Naamah Kelman
• The Halachah of Artichokes alla Giudia: Wrestling Tradition and Modernity, Israel and the Diaspora, in Tribute to David Ellenson — Rabbi Joseph A. Skloot, PhD
• Borowitz, Durkheim, and Ellenson: Covenantal Theology and Collective Effervescence in Conversation — Rabbi Liz P.G. Hirsch
• Israeli, Reform, Halachic: Practical Meanings of Rabbi Ellenson’s Approach for Israeli Jews — Rabbi Benjamin Minich
• Keeping His Dream Alive: The Loving Legacy of David Ellenson — Rabbi Robert N. Levine, DD
• Rabbi Dr. David Ellenson, z”l: A Kind Visionary and a Visionary of Kindness — Rabbi Asher Lopatin
• Senior Sermon: Parashat Tzav — Hannah Ellenson

General Articles

• A Contemporary Controversy: Pope Pius and World War II — Rabbi Daniel Polish
• The Footnote—Reading Spinoza’s Ethics: The End of Medieval Thought — Rabbi Paul Golomb
• The Truth Judge or the True Judge? — Daniel M. Berry and Rabbi Lori Cohen
• Jacob Schiff, the RPB, and My Retirement — Rabbi Alan Henkin
• CCAR RESPONSUM 5784.1 Photographic Images on Tombstones — CCAR Responsa Committee, Rabbi Joan S. Friedman, Chair
• True Forgiveness: A Responsum and Two Case Studies — Rabbi Marc J. Rosenstein
• Responding to Moral Injury: The Healing Power of Jewish Texts, Teachings and Practices — Rabbi Kim S. Geringer and Rabbi Nancy H. Wiener
• When Sons Disappoint: The Consequences of Filial Failure in the Tanach — Rabbi Barry L. Schwartz

Book Reviews

• A Life of Psalms in Jewish Late Antiquity by Dr. A.J. Berkovitz — Reviewed by Eden Glaser
• Judaism Is About Love: Recovering the Heart of Jewish Life by Rabbi Shai Held — Reviewed by Rabbi Sam Pollak
• Books Like Sapphires: From the Library of Congress Judaica Collection by Ann Brener— Reviewed by Jordan Finkin
• Holy Rebellion: Religious Feminism and the Transformation of Judaism and Women’s Rights in Israel by Ronit Irshai and Tanya Zion-Waldoks — Reviewed by Rabbi Sara Zober
• Reading Reform Responsa: Jewish Tradition, Reform Rabbis, and Today’s Issues by Rabbi Mark Washofsky, PhD — Reviewed by Rabbi A. Brian Stoller

Poetry

• Wicked Problems — Miriam Flock
• Jacob in Luz — Janet Ruth Heller
• To See the Divine Face and Live—Or Not! — Rabbi Stephen S. Pearce
• Springtime — Wayne Norman Cochran
• 1 Tishrei — Jessica Greenbaum
• A Poem for Purim — Rabbi Natalie Louise Shribman
• The Synagogue of the Sea — Roger Nash
• Elegy: Forest Wildfires 2023 — Roger Nash
• Saving Eden — Roger Nash
• Kfar Aza — Sharon Rogoff
• The Diameter of the Massacres — Rabbi Karen Bender
• Poor God — Paul Raboff
• Englischer Garten, 1922 — Nathaniel Lachenmeyer
• Savta — Rinat Harel
• War and All — Rinat Harel
• Love and Lice — Rabbi Dr. Israel Zoberman
• Dead Sons — Rabbi Adam D. Fisher
• What Happened at Mount Sinai — Rabbi Adam D. Fisher
• Elegy in Reverse for Yom Kippur — Rabbi William (Bill) Cutter

Subscriptions and Ordering 

Back issues are available at $35 per issue plus shipping. To order copies of the CCAR Journal, please visit ccarpress.org.

To subscribe, please email CCAR Press at info@ccarpress.org.

CCAR Journal: The Reform Jewish Quarterly

Published by the Central Conference of American Rabbis

Order the issue

Spring/Summer 2024

From the Editor

• At the Gates

Articles

• Unconsumed: The Burning Bush, Burnout, and a World on Fire — Rabbi Lisa J. Grushcow, DPhil
• L’Dor Vador: The Formation of Reform Rabbis in IberoAmerica —Rabbi Sergio Bergman
• Seasons of Love, Grief, and Healing: Sacred Moments of Pastoral Care in the Jewish Preschool — Rabbi Lauren S. Cohn, RJE
• Bless All These Things: Reflections on Clinical Pastoral Education — Cantor Gabriel Snyder
• Pervasive Sorrow: Disenfranchised Grief, October 7th, and the Power of Jewish Ritual — Rabbi Lauren Ben-Shoshan, MARE, and Betsy Stone, PhD
• The Four Worlds of Abraham Joshua Heschel, z”l — Rabbi Morris M. Faierstein, PhD
• The Gender Wage Gap in the Reform Movement: The Third United Data Narrative — Bradley Katcher
• Rabbis and Revolutionaries: Dealing with the Destruction of the Second Temple — Anthony Sheppard
• Removing the Evil from Jewish Souls: A Pesach Prayer for Liberal Jews — Rabbi Mark H. Levin, DHL
• Deborah, a Woman’s Leadership: When Is It Desirable? — Rabbi Nancy Myers
• Reimagining Shehecheyanu: Spiritual Insights from the Hospital Bed — Rabbi Michael N. Stevens
• Type Scenes: Sister-Wives and More — Muriel Lederman
• Moral Injury: What Rabbis Need to Know —Rabbi Kim S. Geringer, MSW, and Rabbi Nancy H. Wiener, DMin

Book Reviews

• Resisters: How Ordinary Jews Fought Persecution in Hitler’s Germany by Wolf Gruner — Reviewed by Rabbi Margaret J. Meyer
• Trans Talmud: Androgynes and Eunuchs in Rabbinic Literature by Max K. Strassfeld — Reviewed by Rabbi Jane Rachel Litman
• When a Human Gives Birth to a Raven: Rabbis and the Reproduction of Species by Rafael Rachel Neis — Reviewed by Rabbi Chelsea Feuchs
• Hasidism, Haskalah, Zionism: Chapters in Literary Politics by Hannan Hever — Reviewed by Rabbi Wendy Zierler, PhD
• From Time to Time: Journeys in the Jewish Calendar by Rabbi Dalia Marx — Reviewed by Rabbi Elyse Goldstein
• The Amen Effect: Ancient Wisdom to Mend Our Broken Hearts and World by Rabbi Sharon Brous — Reviewed by Rabbi Andrew Kaplan Mandel
• Loving Our Own Bones: Disability Wisdom and the Spiritual Subversiveness of Knowing Ourselves Whole by Julia Watts Belser — Reviewed by Rabbi Ariel Tovlev

Poetry

• Life Blood — Rabbi Stephen S. Pearce, PhD
• Spring Cleaning: “No” to Desire; “Yes” to Restraint — Rabbi Stephen S. Pearce, PhD
• One — Rabbi Dr. Israel Bobrov Zoberman
• Rosh Hashanah 5784 — Rabbi Norman Hirsh
• Schmultze’s — Stewart Florsheim
• Leitmotif — Stewart Florsheim
• Origins of the Heart — Stewart Florsheim
• From the Lost Notebook – 29 — Nan Cohen
• A Wall in Poland — Roger Nash
• Sticks — Roger Nash
• Best-By — Roger Nash
• Gnawing Bones Dry — Rabbi Pamela Wax

Subscriptions and Ordering 

Back issues are available at $35 per issue plus shipping. To order copies of the CCAR Journal, please visit ccarpress.org.

To subscribe, please email CCAR Press at info@ccarpress.org.

CCAR Journal: The Reform Jewish Quarterly

Published by the Central Conference of American Rabbis

Order the issue

Winter 2024: Symposium: On Being a Jew and a Human Being amid Rapid Technological Change

From the Editor

• At the Gates

Symposium: On Being a Jew and a Human Being amid Rapid Technological Change

• On Being Human: Jewish Theology and the Digital Life – Rabbi Joseph A. Skloot, PhD
• Response to Joseph Skloot: Deactivating the Golem – Rabbi Shirley Idelson, PhD
• Divine Transcendence as an Answer to the Problem of Ethical Loneliness – Rabbi Kari Hofmaister Tuling, PhD
• Response to Kari Tuling: Reimagining a Transcendent God — Rabbi Rachel Gurevitz, PhD
• A Holistic Jewish Life – Rabbi Sari Laufer
• Response to Sari Laufer: Facing the Demise of Reform Jewish Particularism – Rabbi Amy R. Perlin
• Freeing Ourselves from Kant’s Dichotomy – Rabbi Leon A. Morris
• Response to Leon Morris: Choosing to Accept What is Beyond Choice – Rabbi Lisa J. Grushcow
• Toward a Reform Jewish Theological Renewal in Dark Times – Dr. Alyssa M. Gray
• Response to Alyssa Gray: Tragic Vision, Stubborn Hope – Rabbi David Stern
• How We Should Teach Reform Jews to Read the Torah Since We All Know That the World Is Round: Seven Guidelines for Reform Jewish Leaders – Rabbi Jeremy S. Morrison, PhD
• Response to Jeremy Morrison: Ruthlessly Relevant Torah – Rabbi Hilly Haber

General Articles

• My Religious Philosophy: A Religious Naturalist Approach – Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, PhD
• A New Yahrzeit Ritual Practice: Yahrzeit Observance in the Home on the Deceased’s Birthday – Rabbi Mark S. Kram
• 60th Ordination Anniversary Sermon – Rabbi Alan D. Fuchs
• The Akeidah as Dream Sequence – Rabbi Neil Amswych

Book Reviews

• Biblical Women Speak: Hearing Their Voices through New and Ancient Midrash by Rabbi Marla J. Feldman, reviewed by Rabbi Rachael Klein Miller
• Jewish Sunday Schools: Teaching Religion in Nineteenth-Century America by Laura Yares, reviewed by Rabbi Samuel K. Joseph, PhD
• Undesirables: A Holocaust Journey to North Africa by Aomar Boum and Nadjib Berber, reviewed by Rabbi Samuel Kaye
• Fractured Tablets: Forgetfulness and Fallibility in Late Ancient Rabbinic Culture by Mira Balberg, reviewed by Rabbi Matthew Kraus
• The King Is in the Field: Essays in Modern Jewish Political Thought edited by Julie E. Cooper and Samuel Hayim Brody, reviewed by Rabbi Joshua Herman
• The Last Consolation Vanished by Zalman Gradowski, edited by Arnold I. Davidson and Philippe Mesnard, translated by Rubye Monet, and reviewed by Rabbi Rachel Maimin
• Women and the Religion of Ancient Israel by Susan Ackerman, reviewed by Rabbi Elizabeth W. Goldstein, PhD
• Biblical Women and Jewish Daily Life in the Middle Ages by Elisheva Baumgarten, reviewed by Rabbi Susan L. Einbinder, PhD

Poetry

• Klaf – Jehanne Dubrow
• Bouldering – Jehanne Dubrow
• Saying Kaddish – Jehanne Dubrow
• To Inherit and Bequeath – Rabbi Stephen S. Pearce, PhD
• Sh’mana – Rabbi Albert Micah Lewis
• Obituary for a Dog (Seder K’lavim) – Immanuel Suttner
• When We Left – Rabbi Adam D. Fisher
• Elijah’s Cup: A Child’s Pesach – Roger Nash
• Living by a Lunar Calendar – Roger Nash
• A Story of Mizrach in My Town – Roger Nash
• Hillel on the Roof – Philip Terman
• On Reading the Akeidah as a Dream Sequence on Rosh HaShanah – Rabbi Daniel Polish
• At the Tashlich Pond – Rabbi Dan Fink
• Predicate Psalm – Michael Sandler
• Unlike Jacob – Rabbi Israel Bobrov Zoberman, PhD

CCAR Responsum 5783.1: Medical Assistance in Dying

Subscriptions and Ordering 

Back issues are available at $35 per issue plus shipping. To order copies of the CCAR Journal, please visit ccarpress.org.

To subscribe, please email CCAR Press at info@ccarpress.org.