With a blend of the old and new, traditional and modern Reform principles, Rabbis Plaut and Washofsky elucidate issues of the history and practice of Reform Jews. Topics range from synagogue matters to personal life; from guns on temple property to genome research; from private ordinations to apostasy. Topics also include the role of a humanistic congregation in the Reform Movement and the participation of Gentiles in Jewish worship. This is the latest volume in the vast collection of Reform Responsa from the CCAR.

This book studies the Jewish community of Champagne from the fifth century to the expulsion of 1306. It documents the growth and decline of the community, examines its interrelationships with the larger Christian culture, and presents a model for the study of other communities. The economic and political consolidation of the county, coupled with the development of Jewish self-government and a system of education in Talmudic law, were important factors in the growth of Champagne's Jewish community. The subsequent decline of the community in the mid-13th century was also attributable to economic and political factors, as well as a growing church influence. The Jews of Medieval France: The Community of Champagne also offers an in-depth analysis of women's place in the Jewish and gentile worlds of medieval France. Details and comparisons of women's status within the family and in business, and examples of attitudes toward women in literature and law are all thoroughly integrated into the text.

Philosophy and Rabbinic Culture is a study of the great, and curiously underappreciated, engagement of a Medieval European Jewish community with the philosophic tradition. This lucid description of the Languedocian Jewish community's multigenerational cultivation of - and acculturation to - scientific and philosophic teachings into Judaism fulfils a major desideratum in Jewish cultural history. In the first detailed account of this long-forgotten Jewish community and its cultural ideal, the author gives an expansive reappraisal of the role of the philosophic interpretation in rabbinic culture and medieval Judaism. Looking at how the cultural ideal of Languedocian Jewry continued to develop and flourish throughout the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, with particular reference to the literary style and religious teaching of the great Talmudist, Menahem ha-Meiri, Stern explores issues such as Meiri’s theory of "civilized religions", including Christianity and Islam, controversy over philosophy and philosophic allegory in Languedoc and Catalonia, and the cultural significance of the medical use of astrological images. This book will be of great interest to scholars and students of Religion, of Judaism in particular, and of Philosophy, History and Medieval Europe, as well as those interested in Jewish-Christian relations.

A recipient of the Outstanding Reference Award from the Association of Jewish Librarians in its earlier edition, this updated edition of Judaica Reference Sources maintains its editorial excellence while revising and expanding coverage for the new century. Virtually every aspect of Jewish life, knowledge, history, culture, religion, and contemporary issues is covered in this annotated, bibliographic guide. A critical collection development tool for college, university, public school, and synagogue libraries, Judaica Reference Sources provides entries for over 1,000 reference works, as well as a selective list of related Web sites, in English, French, German, Yiddish, and Hebrew. Works published since 1970 are emphasized. Unique in providing expert guidance to Judaica material for the librarian, the layperson, the student, and the researcher, this reference guide is a versatile tool that will fulfill your every need for Judaica material.

"As I write this introduction, the third season of the Israeli series, Schtisel, has arrived on Netflix, eagerly awaited by viewers around the world who would never have imagined how caught up they would get by this family drama of four generations of ultra-Orthodox Jews living in Jerusalem. One episode focuses on Ruchami and Hanina, a young couple who have been married for five years, but without children. It turns out that pregnancy and childbirth would threaten Ruchami's life. She is using an IUD, but she keeps threatening to have it removed, risking her life to become a mother. Finally, with great reluctance, Hanina visits the rebbe, the spiritual authority in their community, to discuss the possibility of using a surrogate. They are, says the rebbe, caught between two "non-ideal" situations: surrogacy, normally forbidden, is non-ideal, but so is Ruchami's unhappiness and the possibility that she might go ahead and take the risk, which is also forbidden"--

This interdisciplinary handbook provides extensive information about research in medieval studies and its most important results over the last decades. The handbook is a reference work which enables the readers to quickly and purposely gain insight into the important research discussions and to inform themselves about the current status of research in the field. The handbook consists of four parts. The first, large section offers articles on all of the main disciplines and discussions of the field. The second section presents articles on the key concepts of modern medieval studies and the debates therein. The third section is a lexicon of the most important text genres of the Middle Ages. The fourth section provides an international bio-bibliographical lexicon of the most prominent medievalists in all disciplines. A comprehensive bibliography rounds off the compendium. The result is a reference work which exhaustively documents the current status of research in medieval studies and brings the disciplines and experts of the field together.