Tag Archives: Masorah

I thank all the contributors to this symposium on Masorah and all the people who have relayed their feedback. You can access each article individually here: Introduction by Gil Student Masorah: A Philosophical User’s Guide by Alex S. Ozar How Bat Mitzvah Became Orthodox by Zev Eleff and Menachem Butler The Role and Challenges of Minhag in the 21st Century by ...

by Gil Student Jewish tradition changes but only in order to remain the same. Unlike a liberal approach to religious practice, which freely adapts the past to contemporary sensibilities, a conservative approach—which I believe Orthodox Judaism demands—strives to preserve the past by judiciously applying it to the present. The Rambam boldly claims that the Torah’s laws do not fit every ...

by J. David Bleich This essay is excerpted with permission from the introduction to Contemporary Halakhic Problems volume 7, forthcoming from Maggid.   The quintessence of Judaism is a sense of masorah, transmission from generation to generation. Fundamentally, that masorah is the corpus of the revealed Halakhah received at Sinai, passed on from generation to generation, father to son, teacher ...

by Jeffrey R. Woolf Masorah in the Teachings of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik zt”l [1]My Thanks to Professor David Berger and Sheon Karol, Esq. for their comments. All responsibility for the presentation is mine. A Word of Introduction Careful consideration of the subject of Masorah (Tradition) has become pressing in the past few years in light of significant, unprecedented changes ...

by Zev Eleff and Menachem Butler In 1972, Kehilath Jeshurun in New York announced the formation of a new synagogue ritual. On December 16, the Upper East Side congregation held a program on Saturday afternoon to “honor four young ladies from our congregational family who have recently reached their twelfth birthday and who are, therefore, recognized by the Jewish community ...

by David Brofsky The Role and Challenges of Minhag in the 21st Century [1]Aside from the many articles and books mentioned below, I would like to thank those who offered their thoughts and ideas, those helped clarify confusing halakhic sources, and those who read various … Continue reading Introduction Throughout the ages, the religious identity and spiritual experiences of a Jewish ...

by Alex S. Ozar Masorah: A Philosophical User’s Guide The charge presented to me for this symposium was to discuss the concept of Masorah “from the perspective of philosophy.” At first I was skeptical: Is not the concept an inherently halakhic, historical, and theological one, such that would be more fruitfully engaged through a specifically halakhic, historical, or theological lens? ...

by R. Gil Student [A condensed version of this introduction appeared in some newspapers this week.] I. The Importance of Masorah The concept of tradition evokes powerful emotions in religious debates. While less orthodox religious streams give tradition a vote, but not a veto, the more conservative segments give it a veto in many circumstances. [1]Generally speaking, Orthodox Judaism gives ...