Jewish spirituality and divine law
Adam Mintz2005
The Orthodox Forum, convened by Dr. Norman Lamm, Chancellor of Yeshiva University, meets each year to consider major issues of concern to the Jewish community. Forum participants from throughout the world, including academicians in both Jewish and secular fields, rabbis, rashei yeshiva, Jewish educators, and Jewish communal professionals, gather in conference as a think tank to discuss and critique each other's original papers, examining different aspects of a central theme. The purpose of the Forum is to create and disseminate a new and vibrant Torah literature addressing the critical issues facing Jewry today. The Orthodox Forum gratefully acknowledges the support of the Joseph J. and Bertha K. Green Memorial Fund at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. v Contents Contributors viii Series Editor's Preface xiii Contributors Judith Bleich is associate professor of Judaic Studies at Touro College in New York City. She has written extensively on modern Jewish history. Alan Brill was ordained by the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary and received his PhD from Fordham University. He is assistant professor of Jewish mysticism and thought at Yeshiva University and founding director of Kavvanah, a Center for Jewish Spirituality. He is the author of Thinking God: The Mysticism of Rabbi Zadok of Lublin. Erica Brown is the scholar-in-residence for the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington and director of its Leadership Institute. Formerly, she served in that capacity for the Federation of Boston. She did her undergraduate studies at Yeshiva University and continued her graduate work at the University of London and Harvard University. She was a Jerusalem Fellow and is a faculty member of the Wexner Heritage Foundation. She has been teaching Jewish adult education for sixteen years and has lectured widely in the United viii ix Contributors States, London and Israel in addition to having written extensively in journals of education and Jewish Studies, and has chapters in Jewish Legal Writings by Women and Torah of the Mothers. She is the author of the forthcoming book, The Sacred Canvas: The Hebrew Bible in the Eyes of the Artist. Shalom Carmy teaches Jewish Studies and philosophy at Yeshiva University and is Consulting Editor of Tradition. He has published extensively on Jewish thought and biblical studies. He is the editor of two volumes in the Orthodox Forum series, Modern Scholarship in Talmud Torah: Contributions and Limitations, and Suffering: A Jewish Perspective. Yaakov Elman is professor of Jewish Studies at Yeshiva University. He is the author of Authority and Tradition and The Living Prophets. He is a prolific writer on talmudic literature, biblical interpretation, and ḥ asidic thought.
