Judaism in a Post-Halakhic Age

Rabbi Dr. Jack J. Cohen has had a long distinguished career as an educator, author and public servant. Before settling in Israel in 1961, he served as the Educational Director of Park Synagogue in Cleveland, the Director of the Jewish Reconstructionist Foundation, and the Rabbi of the Society for the Advancement of Judaism. During the last six and a half years of his tenure in the States, he also taught courses in the philosophy of religion and education at the Jewish Theological Seminary. In Israel, Dr. Cohen served for 23 years as the Director of the Hillel Foundation at Hebrew University and taught an annual seminar for students of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and a course in Jewish thought at the David Yellin College of Education. Dr. Cohen has been widely published in Jewish journals and is the author of a number of books, among them The Case for Religious Naturalism, Jewish Education in Democratic Society, The Reunion of Isaac and Ishmael, Guides for an Age of Confusion and Major Philosophers of Jewish Prayer in the 20th Century.

"Venerable Reconstructionist thinker Jack Cohen here offers a thoughtful, balanced, and morally sensitive viewpoint on the place of halakhah in a contemporary Judaism. His well-reasoned positions will have to be taken seriously as non-Orthodox Jews both in Israel and the diaspora struggle with this key issue."

• Preface. Chapter 1: The End of a Remark able Era. Chapter 2: Law and Standards in a Changing World. Chapter 3: Is the Halakhah Viable? A View from Jerusalem. Chapter 4: Toward an Ideology for Post-Halakhic Jews. Chapter 5: The Halakhah and Jewish Identity. Chapter 6: Halakhah and Conversion. Chapter 7: Halakhah and Educative Ritual. Chapter 8: The Parameters of Jewish Law. Chapter 9: Reflections on the Future. Index.