A Vital, Living Judaism Can Be Found When the Voice of the Past Engages Modern Experience

"[This] synthesis of tradition and modernity is not a philosophy meant to serve as the platform for a new movement or institution, but a process of living experience among individuals and communities that choose to adopt its angle of vision. It is a process that demands constant introspection and renewal and cannot be branded or co-opted by any formal or official frame of reference. It stands separate from all expressions of institutionalized Judaism, as it never knows what new forces it will absorb as it moves into the future."
—from the Introduction

Dr. David Hartman, the world's leading modern Orthodox theologian, presents his own painful spiritual evolution from defender of the rule-based system of Jewish law to revolutionary proponent of a theology of empowerment, one that encourages individuals and communities to take greater levels of responsibility for their religious lives. In this daring self-examination, he explains how his goals were not to strip halakha—or the past—of its authority but to create a space for questioning and critique that allows for the traditionally religious Jew to act out a moral life in tune with modern experience.

In achieving this synthesis of tradition with the sensibilities of contemporary Judaism, Hartman captures precisely what creates vitality in living Judaism and charts the path to nurture its vitality forever.

Introduction: From Loving Defender to Loving Critic:
An Intellectual Autobiography ix

Part I: The Spirituality of Halakha: Early Essays
1 The Joy of Torah 3
2 The Body as a Spiritual Teacher: Learning to Accept Interdependency 25
3 Democratizing the Spiritual: The Risks and Rewards of Halakha 39
4 Embracing Covenantal History: Compassion, Responsibility, and the Spirituality of the Everyday 71
5 Creating a Shared Spiritual Language: The Urgency of Community and the Halakhic Roots of Pluralism 91
6 Conquering Modern Idolatry: Building Communities of Meaning around Shared Aspirations 111
7 Learning to Hope: A Halakhic Approach to History and Redemption 127

Part II: Abraham's Argument: Reclaiming Judaism's Moral Tradition
8 Abraham’s Argument: Empowerment, Defeat, and the Religious Personality 157
9 A Covenant of Empowerment: Divine Withdrawal and Human Responsibility 177
10 Mishpachtology: Judaism as a Family System 187
11 Custom and Innovation: Stepping Beyond the Parameters of the Past 199
12 My Daughter Is Not My Mother: Rethinking the Role of Women in Traditional Judaism 211
13 Hillel’s Decision: Subjective Piety as a Religious Value 227
14 Halakha as Relationship: Toward a God-Centered Consciousness 247
15 Among Abraham’s Children: The Confrontation of the Particular with the Universal 257

Notes 267
Bibliography 293
Index 298

A Vital, Living Judaism Can Be Found When the Voice of the Past Engages Modern Experience

"[This] synthesis of tradition and modernity is not a philosophy meant to serve as the platform for a new movement or institution, but a process of living experience among individuals and communities that choose to adopt its angle of vision. It is a process that demands constant introspection and renewal and cannot be branded or co-opted by any formal or official frame of reference. It stands separate from all expressions of institutionalized Judaism, as it never knows what new forces it will absorb as it moves into the future."
—from the Introduction

Dr. David Hartman, the world's leading modern Orthodox theologian, presents his own painful spiritual evolution from defender of the rule-based system of Jewish law to revolutionary proponent of a theology of empowerment, one that encourages individuals and communities to take greater levels of responsibility for their religious lives. In this daring self-examination, he explains how his goals were not to strip halakha—or the past—of its authority but to create a space for questioning and critique that allows for the traditionally religious Jew to act out a moral life in tune with modern experience.

In achieving this synthesis of tradition with the sensibilities of contemporary Judaism, Hartman captures precisely what creates vitality in living Judaism and charts the path to nurture its vitality forever.