Judaism in a Post-Halakhic Age [Hardcover]

Judaism in a Post-Halakhic Age tackles the following questions: 1. What is Halakhah, and what role has it played in the creative survival of the Jewish people for two millennia? 2. Why is Halakhah no longer capable of functioning as it has until now? 3. What sort of polity and religious culture can be recommended to replace the Halakhic tradition in an era of freedom, democracy, scientific research, and religious pluralism? The author, however, out of his great respect for Halakhic culture, asks what it can still contribute to Jewish civilization and the advance of a united humanity.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. 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. 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 Colla