Open Minded Torah
Of Irony, Fundamentalism and Love
1st Edition
Published on 19. May 2011
200 pages
978-1-4411-9514-2 (ISBN)
Description
In essays as likely to turn to baseball, Denzel Washington, and the NASDAQ as to Macbeth, quantum physics and psychoanalysis, William Kolbrener provides powerful - and often surprising - insights into how open mindedness allows for authentic Jewish commitment in an age otherwise defined by fundamentalism and unbelief. Open Minded Torah presents - on topics ranging from parenting a son with Down syndrome to Biblical criticism to Talmudic interpretation of dreams - a perspective on Torah which emphasizes scepticism, creativity and the need to embrace difference. Through a personal synthesis of Western and Jewish learning, popular culture and philosophy, Kolbrener offers a compelling new vision where being open minded allows for a non-dogmatic and committed Jewish life. Informed by Kolbrener's considerable erudition, but always accessible, the essays show that scepticism informs belief, commitment grounds creativity, and non-defensive receptiveness makes individual autonomy possible. For every person, it is said, there is a corresponding letter in the Torah: this innovative collection shows Kolbrener writing his letter, and providing the inspiration for others to write their own.
More details
Edition
1. Auflage
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
Professional and scholarly
ISBN-13
978-1-4411-9514-2 (9781441195142)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
03/2011
Continuum Publishing Corporation
€49.75
Shipment within 15-20 days
Person
William Kolbrener is a professor of English Literature at Bar Ilan University in Israel. An internationally renowned authority on Renaissance poetry and philosophy, with books on John Milton and the eighteenth-century proto-feminist Mary Astell, Kolbrener also publishes widely on Jewish life and learning. Visit his blog at www.openmindedtorah.com.
Content
Prologue: Velvel, Govorovo, 1939 \ I. Desire and Self \ 1 Making Exceptions \ 2 Do it Again Denzel: Fantasy and
Second Chances \ 3 Caught in the Act: Torah and Desire \ 4 Just Dreamin': The Talmud and the Interpretation of Dreams \ 5 The Big Game: Baseball, John Milton and Making Choices \ 6 Of Rabbis and Rotting Meat \ 7 Identity is Out! \ 8 Isaac's Bad Rap \ 9 Cheeseburger \ 10 Writing an Inspirational Story \ 11 Eros and Translation \ 12 Swaying Towards Perfection: Torah, Worldliness and Perversion \ 13 Jacob's Scar: Wounding and Identity \ 14 Torah and the Pleasure Principle \ II. Dispute and Community \ 15 Oedipus in a Kippa \ 16 Open Minded Torah I: Judaism and Fundamentalism \ 17 Irony Über Alles: An Episcopal Passover \ 18 Of False Kabbalists and Conjurers:
Parenting and Idolatry \ 19 From Sinai to the Uzi: New and Old Zionisms \ 20 Modernity is Hell: Korah and Hobbes \ 21 Lost and Found \ 22 The Poetry of the World: God's Place \ 23 Open Minded Torah II: Judaism and Postmodernism \ 24 Stepping Up \ 25 Prayer and the People: A New Siddur \ 26 A Religion for Adults? \ 27 Of Fundamentalists, Rabbis and Irony \ 28 Don't Take Away My Mitzva! \ 29 Fear and Loathing in Jerusalem \ 30 Open Minded Torah III: Between Fundamentalism and Postmodernism \ III. Time and Memory \ 31 Carpe Diem, Dude \ 32 The Antidote for Religion: Fear of God \ 33 Speech in Exile and the Voice of the Shofar 34 Back to the Future: Yom Kippur and Creative Repentance \ 35 Shades of Faith: My Sukka is Not Insured by AIG \ 36 'A Special Conversation': Freud, the Maharal and the Sabbath \ 37 Lighting Up: The Beauty of Hanuka \ 38 Whose Letter is it Anyway: Esther, Aristotle and the Art of Letter-Writing \ 39 Cosmic Consciousness: The Beatles, Passover and the Power of Storytelling \ 40 Trauma's Legacy: On Israel's Memorial Day \ 41 Why I Gave Up Biblical Criticism and Just Learned to Love \ 42 Faceless: the Ninth of Av \ Epilogue: Shmuel, Jerusalem, 2011 \ Citations \ Select Bibliography \ Index
Second Chances \ 3 Caught in the Act: Torah and Desire \ 4 Just Dreamin': The Talmud and the Interpretation of Dreams \ 5 The Big Game: Baseball, John Milton and Making Choices \ 6 Of Rabbis and Rotting Meat \ 7 Identity is Out! \ 8 Isaac's Bad Rap \ 9 Cheeseburger \ 10 Writing an Inspirational Story \ 11 Eros and Translation \ 12 Swaying Towards Perfection: Torah, Worldliness and Perversion \ 13 Jacob's Scar: Wounding and Identity \ 14 Torah and the Pleasure Principle \ II. Dispute and Community \ 15 Oedipus in a Kippa \ 16 Open Minded Torah I: Judaism and Fundamentalism \ 17 Irony Über Alles: An Episcopal Passover \ 18 Of False Kabbalists and Conjurers:
Parenting and Idolatry \ 19 From Sinai to the Uzi: New and Old Zionisms \ 20 Modernity is Hell: Korah and Hobbes \ 21 Lost and Found \ 22 The Poetry of the World: God's Place \ 23 Open Minded Torah II: Judaism and Postmodernism \ 24 Stepping Up \ 25 Prayer and the People: A New Siddur \ 26 A Religion for Adults? \ 27 Of Fundamentalists, Rabbis and Irony \ 28 Don't Take Away My Mitzva! \ 29 Fear and Loathing in Jerusalem \ 30 Open Minded Torah III: Between Fundamentalism and Postmodernism \ III. Time and Memory \ 31 Carpe Diem, Dude \ 32 The Antidote for Religion: Fear of God \ 33 Speech in Exile and the Voice of the Shofar 34 Back to the Future: Yom Kippur and Creative Repentance \ 35 Shades of Faith: My Sukka is Not Insured by AIG \ 36 'A Special Conversation': Freud, the Maharal and the Sabbath \ 37 Lighting Up: The Beauty of Hanuka \ 38 Whose Letter is it Anyway: Esther, Aristotle and the Art of Letter-Writing \ 39 Cosmic Consciousness: The Beatles, Passover and the Power of Storytelling \ 40 Trauma's Legacy: On Israel's Memorial Day \ 41 Why I Gave Up Biblical Criticism and Just Learned to Love \ 42 Faceless: the Ninth of Av \ Epilogue: Shmuel, Jerusalem, 2011 \ Citations \ Select Bibliography \ Index
