Kaplanian Perspectives and Scholarship
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by Rabbi Toba Spitzer In The Meaning of God in Modern Jewish Religion (published in 1937), in the chapter on Chanukah, Mordecai Kaplan reflected on Jewish survival in the face of competing cultures. He wrote: “Paradoxical as it may seem, if a nation wishes to survive, it must not make survival itself its supreme objective,…
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As we prepare for the momentous journey that will take us through November 4th, Kaplan Center Director Dr. Jeffrey Schein offers a perspective on our “aging” candidates.
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by Dr. Deborah Waxman
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By Dr. Jeffrey Schein. This position paper explores the well-known Kaplanian notion that Jews live in two civilizations, one Jewish and one North American.
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KAPLAN in the period after the end of World War I , was concerned about the issue of free speech. Right now both in America and in Israel the matter of free speech is very much on people’s minds. With Israel at war should we allow ourselves the space to criticize the government in its…
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Video of Dr. Mel Scult’s talk at West End Synagogue
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On this page you will find a treasure of reminiscences by those who knew Kaplan directly as a person- his students, family members, and more. Jack Wolofsky Jack Wolofsky, co-founder of the Kaplan Center, shares memories of and reflections about Kaplan. Mitchell Rothman Rabbi Michael Cohen speaks with Mitchell Rothman, life-long Kaplan student and devotee…
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An Invitation to Future Kaplanian Scholarship by Dr. Vered Sakal. For many years, most of the scholars who wrote about Kaplan were people who knew him personally. During the past few decades, however, more scholars are joining the conversation about Kaplan’s work…Being one of those “second generation” Kaplan scholars, I find this transition – from…
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Soon the large canon of scholarship about Mordecai Kaplan will be expanded. Jenna Weissman Joselit, the Charles E. Smith Professor of Judaic Studies and Professor of History at George Washington University. She is currently at work on a biography of Mordecai M. Kaplan for the Jewish Lives series of Yale University Press. Our Kaplan Center…
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Mordecai Kaplan founded The Reconstructionist in 1935 to popularize his thought and to show its relevance to issues facing American Jews. Accordingly, each issue of the magazine opened with a series of editorials in which current events were analyzed from the standpoint of Reconstructionism. The editorial line was formulated collectively by the Editorial Board, which…