Short History of Jewish Ethics

Alan Mittleman is Professor of Jewish Thought at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City. His books include Hope in a Democratic Age (2009) and The Scepter Shall Not Depart from Judah (2000). Mittleman's work seeks to bring Jewish thought into a constructive conversation with ethics, political theory, and philosophy of religion.

“This is a fine study and relatively accessible for an academic work . . . The book is mostly descriptive rather than evaluative. Dr. Mittleman does seem particularly concerned to show the value of Jewish ethics to those operating from mainstream secular philosophical schools of thought. Recommended.”  (Association of Jewish Libraries Reviews, 1 September 2012)“For those with some background, Mittleman provides a thoughtful tour through a number of seminal moments in Jewish ethical reflection.  Summing Up: Recommended.  Some advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and researchers/faculty.   (Choice, 1 July  2012)"[It] admirably recounts the Jewish tradition of ethical inquiry from its biblical beginnings until today. Mittleman is thoroughly at home in the primary sources and secondary literature. He is also an expert on contemporary moral philosophy, which enables him to contextualize Jewish thought within a wider framework of ethical theory ... He covers a vast amount of information in 200 pages, and the reader who perseveres will learn much about the broad sweep of Jewish ethical thinking." Jewish Ideas Daily

• Acknowledgments viii Introduction 11 Ethics in the Axial Age 162 Some Aspects of Rabbinic Ethics 523 Medieval Philosophical Ethics 884 Medieval Rabbinic and Kabbalistic Ethics 1245 Modern Jewish Ethics 156Conclusion 199Index 202