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Tamar Ross is Professor of Jewish Philosophy (Emerita) at Bar-Ilan University. She has written extensively on the Musar movement, the thought of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, the ideology of Mitnagedism, and the relationship of Orthodoxy and feminism. Conversant with classical rabbinic sources and analytic philosophy, she champions the notion of cumulative revelation in pursuit of a non-foundationalist notion of truth, both religious and scientific. Responding to the feminist critique, she articulates an original and constructive Jewish theology sympathetic to the later stages of Wittgenstein’s philosophy of language and to complementary motifs in Jewish mysticism. Her philosophy of halakha similarly builds on post-positivist legal theory, demonstrating the transformative influence of women's direct input on a legal system previously managed exclusively by men.
Expanding the Palace of Torah offers a broad philosophical overview of the challenges the women's revolution poses to Orthodox Judaism, and Orthodox Judaism's response to those challenges. Writing as an insider (herself an Orthodox Jew), Ross seeks to develop a theological response that fully acknowledges the male bias of Judaism's sanctified texts, yet nevertheless provides a rationale for transforming that bias in today's world without undermining their authority. She proposes an approach to divine revelation -- the theological heart of traditional Judaism -- which she calls "cumulativism." This approach is based on a conflating of strict boundaries between text and its interpretation, or divine intent and the evolution of human understanding. Book jacket.
A comprehensive review of the entire tradition of Jewish Theology from the Bible to the present from leading world scholars.
"Dirshuni: Contemporary Women's Midrash, is the first ever English edition of an historic collection of midrashim composed by Israeli women. The volume features a comprehensive introduction to Midrash for the uninitiated reader by the distinguished scholar Tamar Kadari and extensive annotation and commentary by Tamar Biala"--
Through a critical study of the writings of Rav Shagar and Tamar Ross, Miriam Feldmann Kaye asks how Jewish theology can survive the tide of postmodernism and its refutation of a single, objective, and ultimate truth, and suggests how aspects of postmodernism might be conceived of as a potential resource for rejuvenating religion.
An innovative analysis of how creative tensions between modern Orthodox Judaism and feminism can lead to unexpected perspectives and beliefs
This work is the first study in any language of the thought and writings of Rabbi Zadok HaKohen of Lublin (1823-1900), who created a blend of ecstatic Hasidism and intellectual Talmud study. With extensive citations of his writings, it will be an entry point to his thought for many American readers. To illuminate R. Zadok's innovative spiritual path, in which one attains mystical experience through intellectual study of Torah, Brill explores the realm of spiritual psychology with particular attention to individual growth, sin, determinism, and pluralism. He shows that R. Zadok's thought combined mystical, Aristotelian, and psychological elements. This work also sheds important light on Lithu...
Anthology of writings about Jewish law in the modern world
This wide-ranging anthology takes a close look at the breadth of human sexuality from a Jewish perspective. The essays begin with a look at biblical and rabbinic views on sexuality, and then proceed to explorations of sexuality at different moments in the life cycle, sexuality and the marital model, diverse expressions of sexuality, examples of sexuality education, the nexus of sexuality and theology, and the challenges of contemporary sexual ethics. The Sacred Encounter is a thought-provoking and important Jewish resource. Perfect for personal study, or for high school or adult classes. Published by CCAR Press, a division of the Central Conference of American Rabbis
This book brings together a number of ground-breaking essays that explore the interface of language and gender-consciousness in foundation texts of Judaism and Christianity. Using critical perspectives that derive from a feminist revaluation of traditional religious discourse, the contributors to this volume address basic questions of meaning and interpretive freedom that are integral to a contemporary reading of Scripture and liturgy. They raise such issues as the relevance of a liturgical tradition in which the Deity is addressed in exclusively masculine terms, and the continued viability of scriptural texts that reflect consistently androcentric values. In each of these essays the authors can be seen to respond to the challenge of the feminist critique of patriarchalism in the Western religious tradition, as well as to the perceived need, within contemporary Judaism and Christianity, for new interpretive models for the reading of sacred texts.