A substantial but accessible guide to reading and applying Reform responsa.
Washofsky helps curious Reform Jews navigate religious law in this critical work.
Where religious law and modern life meet, there are always questions. In a religious tradition as concerned with ethics as Reform Judaism, the number of questions is especially vast. With this volume, the author, a rabbi and emeritus professor of Jewish law and practice, attempts to address some of these questions by placing them within the context of Reform Jewish thought. “Responsa,” he writes in his introduction, refers to the practice in ancient Rome “in which judges and litigants sent difficult questions of law to legal experts who would respond in writing with learned opinions. We use the word today to describe a similar genre in Jewish law, the sh’eilot ut’shuvot, ‘questions and answers.’” Despite the Reform Jewish belief in personal religious autonomy—the freedom (within limits) of each person to make their own religious decisions—guidelines remain useful for those curious about how their personal religious choices fit within the Jewish tradition. This book includes responsa on several potentially controversial areas of modern Jewish life, from issues of medical privacy and labor unions to the appropriateness of cremation, secular holidays, and the flying of national flags at synagogues. Washofsky not only presents relevant responsa but offers critical readings of them, offering a practical demonstration of how to interpret and sometimes reject the claims made on the religious doctrine in question. His prose is deft and analytical without being abstruse, as seen here when the author considers a responsa that claims Jewish law supports the right of workers to organize unions: “We should greet a sweeping statement like this with attention and, perhaps, a degree of skepticism. Do the sources in fact support it? The concept of a ‘labor union’ is not found in the Talmud, the ultimate proof text for all halachic argument.” Those curious about the tradition of responsa in the Reform tradition, or merely about the intersection of Jewish law and modern life, will find much here of interest.
A substantial but accessible guide to reading and applying Reform responsa.Pub Date: March 1, 2024
ISBN: 9780881236439
Page Count: 288
Publisher: CCAR Press
Review Posted Online: March 7, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change.
Artist and activist Vaid-Menon demonstrates how the normativity of the gender binary represses creativity and inflicts physical and emotional violence.
The author, whose parents emigrated from India, writes about how enforcement of the gender binary begins before birth and affects people in all stages of life, with people of color being especially vulnerable due to Western conceptions of gender as binary. Gender assignments create a narrative for how a person should behave, what they are allowed to like or wear, and how they express themself. Punishment of nonconformity leads to an inseparable link between gender and shame. Vaid-Menon challenges familiar arguments against gender nonconformity, breaking them down into four categories—dismissal, inconvenience, biology, and the slippery slope (fear of the consequences of acceptance). Headers in bold font create an accessible navigation experience from one analysis to the next. The prose maintains a conversational tone that feels as intimate and vulnerable as talking with a best friend. At the same time, the author's turns of phrase in moments of deep insight ring with precision and poetry. In one reflection, they write, “the most lethal part of the human body is not the fist; it is the eye. What people see and how people see it has everything to do with power.” While this short essay speaks honestly of pain and injustice, it concludes with encouragement and an invitation into a future that celebrates transformation.
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change. (writing prompt) (Nonfiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09465-5
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
Maher calls out idiocy wherever he sees it, with a comedic delivery that veers between a stiletto and a sledgehammer.
The comedian argues that the arts of moderation and common sense must be reinvigorated.
Some people are born snarky, some become snarky, and some have snarkiness thrust upon them. Judging from this book, Maher—host of HBO’s Real Time program and author of The New New Rules and When You Ride Alone, You Ride With bin Laden—is all three. As a comedian, he has a great deal of leeway to make fun of people in politics, and he often delivers hilarious swipes with a deadpan face. The author describes himself as a traditional liberal, with a disdain for Republicans (especially the MAGA variety) and a belief in free speech and personal freedom. He claims that he has stayed much the same for more than 20 years, while the left, he argues, has marched toward intolerance. He sees an addiction to extremism on both sides of the aisle, which fosters the belief that anyone who disagrees with you must be an enemy to be destroyed. However, Maher has always displayed his own streaks of extremism, and his scorched-earth takedowns eventually become problematic. The author has something nasty to say about everyone, it seems, and the sarcastic tone starts after more than 300 pages. As has been the case throughout his career, Maher is best taken in small doses. The book is worth reading for the author’s often spot-on skewering of inept politicians and celebrities, but it might be advisable to occasionally dip into it rather than read the whole thing in one sitting. Some parts of the text are hilarious, but others are merely insulting. Maher is undeniably talented, but some restraint would have produced a better book.
Maher calls out idiocy wherever he sees it, with a comedic delivery that veers between a stiletto and a sledgehammer.Pub Date: May 21, 2024
ISBN: 9781668051351
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
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