Talmud Pages
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In 1953, Mordecai Kaplan wrote an important volume A New Zionism. We asked four contributors to share with us: Their responses remind us of the complex weaving of the religious, national, and ethical threads of Kaplanian thought The focus on Israel’s rich but delicate place in Kaplanian thought, especially as we move deeper into…
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Jerusalem Post Opinion Summer 2023 By Ilan Chaim ‘Man is not free to choose between having or not having ideals, but he is free to choose between different kinds of ideals….” – Erich Fromm In this summer of noisily clashing ideologies in the background, a group of rabbis met quietly in Jerusalem to honor the…
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Talmud (study) consists of the Mishnah (original text or law) and Gemara, completion of the text. We emphasize the term Talmud (study) because it indicates that Mishnah and Gemara are part of a larger process of expansion of meaning that is fostered by sacred argument. In this selection, Mordechai Kaplan provides the original Mishnah and…
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Talmud (study) consists of the Mishnah (original text or law) and gemara, completion of the text. We emphasize the term Talmud (study) because it indicates that Mishnah and Gemara are part of a larger process of expansion of meaning that is fostered by sacred argument. In this selection, Mordecai Kaplan provides the original Mishnah and…
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After reading join the dialogue. Count yourself among the tosafot (next generation of commentators). Send a comment as short as a sentence or as long as two paragraphs to Dr. Jeffrey Schein (jeffrey@kaplancenter.org) . He will collect your comments and help us expand the Talmudic process.
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In this article Dr. Eric Caplan, the Vice-President and Academic Advisor of the Kaplan Center, explore the way in which we might “draw out” of an ancient text a value that can function for us as it did for our ancestors even if the language is changed. Mordecai Kaplan had called this process revaluation. Kaplan…
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From Rabbi Morris Allen: In a Haggadah text filled with awe and wonder, perhaps the most significant comment Marcia Falk adds to the traditional Haggadah is this:By far the most important symbol at the table is the community of participants. “Whether two people or thirty are in attendance, tonight we represent am yisra’el, the people…
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About the commentators: Rabbi Morris Allen is Rabbi Emeritus of Beth Jacob Congregation in Mendota Heights, MN and recently retired as the Senior Community Liaison for Rep. Angie Craig(MN-02) Ben Schein serves as Vice President of Data Curiosity at software company Domo, Inc. and lives in Saint Louis Park, Minnesota with his wife Robyn and…