Commandment and Community

Daniel H. Frank is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Kentucky. He is the editor of Autonomy and Judaism: The Individual and the Community in Jewish Philosophical Thought and A People Apart: Chosenness and Ritual in Jewish Philosophical Thought, both published by SUNY Press.

"The intersection of politics and Judaism is a subject to which ever greater attention is being paid, not much of it as intelligent and well grounded as the essays in this book." — Menachem Kellner, University of Haifa, Israel

• Introduction PART 1. JUDAISM AND POLITICAL PRAXIS Toward a Jewish Philosophy of Justice Lenn E. GoodmanIs a Jewish Practical Philosophy Possible? Oliver LeamanReason in Action: The "Practicality" of Maimonides's Guide Daniel H. FrankJewish Tradition and National Policy Elliot N. DorffPART 2. HALAKHA AND THE POLITICAL ORDER Underdetermination of Meaning by the Talmudic Text Aryeh BotwinickNachmanides's Conception of Ta'amei Mitzvot and Its Maimonidean BackgroundJosef SternThe Attitude Toward Democracy in Medieval Jewish PhilosophyAbraham MelamedAbravanel and the Jewish Republican Ethos Reuven KimelmanSpinoza's Challenge to the Doctrine of Election David NovakMorality and War: A Critique of Bleich's Oracular Halakha Noam J. ZoharResponse to Noam Zohar  J. David BleichReply to David Bleich  Noam J. ZoharContributors Index