Rabbis of our Time
Authorities of Judaism in the Religious and Political Ferment of Modern Times
Marek Čejka author Roman Kořan author
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd
Published:19th Oct '15
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
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- Paperback£39.99(9780367870430)
The term ‘rabbi’ predominantly denotes Jewish men qualified to interpret the Torah and apply halacha, or those entrusted with the religious leadership of a Jewish community. However, the role of the rabbi has been understood differently across the Jewish world. While in Israel they control legally powerful rabbinical courts and major religious political parties, in the Jewish communities of the Diaspora this role is often limited by legal regulations of individual countries. However, the significance of past and present rabbis and their religious and political influence endures across the world.
Rabbis of Our Time provides a comprehensive overview of the most influential rabbinical authorities of Judaism in the 20th and 21st Century. Through focussing on the most theologically influential rabbis of the contemporary era and examining their political impact, it opens a broader discussion of the relationship between Judaism and politics. It looks at the various centres of current Judaism and Jewish thinking, especially the State of Israel and the USA, as well as locating rabbis in various time periods. Through interviews and extracts from religious texts and books authored by rabbis, readers will discover more about a range of rabbis, from those before the formation of Israel to the most famous Chief Rabbis of Israel, as well as those who did not reach the highest state religious functions, but influenced the relation between Judaism and Israel by other means. The rabbis selected represent all major contemporary streams of Judaism, from ultra-Orthodox/Haredi to Reform and Liberal currents, and together create a broader picture of the scope of contemporary Jewish thinking in a theological and political context.
An extensive and detailed source of information on the varieties of Jewish thinking influencing contemporary Judaism and the modern State of Israel, this book is of interest to students and scholars of Jewish Studies, as well as Religion and Politics.
A useful source for those interested in contemporary Orthodox Judaism. An insight into an unknown world often deemed forbidding and inaccessible.
Yakov Rabkin, Professor of Contemporary Jewish History, University of Montreal.
Rabbis of Our Time presents informative portraits of over 50 prominent rabbinic personalities, primarily Orthodox (hence male) leaders, who have influenced the religious and political lives of modern Jews. In accessible language, the authors place each figure in his historical context and explain how he shaped the thinking and practice of fellow Jews. In the political climate of the 20th and early 21st centuries, rabbis in Israel and the Diaspora have exercised considerable influence, which makes this overview, with references provided for further reading, a distinctly helpful resource for Jews and non-Jews alike.
Dr. Yehezkel Landau, Associate Professor of Interfaith Relations Hartford Seminary
The overview of rabbis provided in the book is supremely relevant to contemporary political issues and demonstrates unmistakably that Orthodoxy did not and does not speak with one voice... Overall, this book provides an overview of numerous contemporary religious figures, references to their writings, and their engagement with contemporary questions of Jewish life and the Jewish state.
Guy Ben-Porat, Ben-Gurion University, Israel Studies Review
ISBN: 9781138813168
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 498g
234 pages