Gordon Tucker
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Gordon Tucker is a prominent
rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...
, with a reputation as both a political and a theological liberal in
Conservative Judaism Conservative Judaism, known as Masorti Judaism outside North America, is a Jewish religious movement which regards the authority of ''halakha'' (Jewish law) and traditions as coming primarily from its people and community through the generatio ...
. He is the former senior rabbi of Temple Israel Center in White Plains,
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
. Since September 2020, he has served as the Vice Chancellor for Religious Life and Engagement at the
Jewish Theological Seminary of America The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) is a Conservative Jewish education organization in New York City, New York. It is one of the academic and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism and a major center for academic scholarship in Jewish studie ...
.


Education and career

A 1967 graduate of the Bronx High School of Science, Tucker holds the
A.B. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
degree from
Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...
and a
PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...
. (in Philosophy) from
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
. He was ordained a Rabbi in 1975 by The
Jewish Theological Seminary of America The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) is a Conservative Jewish education organization in New York City, New York. It is one of the academic and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism and a major center for academic scholarship in Jewish studie ...
(JTS). He has served on the faculty of JTS since 1976, currently serving as Adjunct Assistant Professor of
Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
, in addition to his duties as a congregational rabbi. From 1984 to 1992 he served as dean of the Rabbinical School at JTS. He subsequently became rabbi of Temple Israel Center in White Plains, New York, following the retirement of Rabbi Arnold S. Turetsky. Tucker has served as Chairman of the Board of the Masorti Foundation for
Conservative Judaism Conservative Judaism, known as Masorti Judaism outside North America, is a Jewish religious movement which regards the authority of ''halakha'' (Jewish law) and traditions as coming primarily from its people and community through the generatio ...
in
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
, and as a member of the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Rabbinical Assembly. In 2006, his name was listed as one of the frontrunners for the Chancellor of the
Jewish Theological Seminary of America The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) is a Conservative Jewish education organization in New York City, New York. It is one of the academic and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism and a major center for academic scholarship in Jewish studie ...
, to replace Chancellor
Ismar Schorsch Ismar Schorsch (born November 3, 1935 in Hanover, Germany) is the Chancellor emeritus of The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) and the Rabbi Herman Abramovitz Professor of Jewish history.Hüngheim">alemannia-judaica to family Schorsch and the syna ...
upon his retirement.
Arnold Eisen Arnold M. Eisen, Ph.D. (born 1951) is an American Judaic scholar who was Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. He stepped down at the end of the 2019-2020 academic year. Prior to this appointment, he served as the Koshland Pr ...
was ultimately chosen for the position.


Philosophy of Conservative Judaism

Tucker, in his writings about the Torah and the nature of divine revelation, is a leader within
Conservative Judaism Conservative Judaism, known as Masorti Judaism outside North America, is a Jewish religious movement which regards the authority of ''halakha'' (Jewish law) and traditions as coming primarily from its people and community through the generatio ...
in articulating a position between the traditional view that the Torah is of divine origin, and a secular view, in which the Torah is seen entirely as a work of human creation. He writes, "It is the particular characteristic of Conservative Judaism to insist that religious authority is a partnership, that it comes from the reality of a revealing God and the equally inescapable reality of a seeking, evolving community through which God's words get expressed over time." The Torah, according to Tucker, "is not a record of commanding utterances from God, but rather a record of the religious quests of a people, and of their understanding of how God’s will commands them." Tucker's liberalism and interest in philosophy reflect his role in Conservative Judaism as a leading scholar and interpreter of the works of Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907–1972). Heschel, a rabbi who escaped the Holocaust in Europe through the help of Hebrew Union College and ultimately joined the faculty of Jewish Theological Seminary, became famous not only for his many religious and philosophical commentaries, but also for his social activism and support of the
civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...
. In the 1950s and '60s, the two most famous scholars at Jewish Theological Seminary were Heschel and
Mordechai Kaplan Mordecai Menahem Kaplan (born Mottel Kaplan; June 11, 1881 – November 8, 1983), was a Lithuanian-born American rabbi, writer, Jewish educator, professor, theologian, philosopher, activist, and religious leader who founded the Reconstructionist ...
(1881–1983). Gordon Tucker began his studies at Jewish Theological Seminary at a time when both Kaplan and Heschel were living. Both Kaplan and Heschel confronted more traditional elements within Conservative Judaism, but each of them sought to redefine Judaism in different ways. While Kaplan favored a positivist, rationalist, and scientific approach to Judaism, Heschel's approach was philosophical, mystical, and spiritual. In effect, Heschel and Kaplan offered competing approaches to the liberalization of Jewish theology. Gordon Tucker's liberalism could be said to reflect Heschel's own political activism. According to
Neil Gillman Neil Gillman (September 11, 1933 – November 24, 2017) was a Canadian-American rabbi and philosopher affiliated with Conservative Judaism. Biography Gillman was born in Quebec City, Canada. He graduated from McGill University in 1954. He was orda ...
, a historian of Conservative Judaism, "Heschel insisted that his turn to political activism was prompted by his experience of living in Europe in the decades before World War II. He had been a personal witness to political oppression and was painfully aware that many otherwise good people stood on the sidelines and did not intervene. He was not going to repeat that pattern in America." Heschel's mystical spirituality lead him to become a champion within American Jewry of liberal causes and political activism. But Tucker is not a follower of Heschel, in the same sense that Kaplan had followers within Conservative Judaism. Rather, he is a follower of what he understands to be Heschel's tradition. For Tucker, Jewish law cannot be expressed solely through a ''positivist'' legal framework. It is motivated by an underlying and evolving sense of God's will through a process in which human beings play a critical role. To find precedent for changing Jewish law, Tucker analyzes evolving Jewish moral and legal traditions. Just as Heschel did, he turns to
aggadah Aggadah ( he, ''ʾAggāḏā'' or ''Haggāḏā''; Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: אַגָּדְתָא ''ʾAggāḏəṯāʾ''; "tales, fairytale, lore") is the non-legalistic exegesis which appears in the classical rabbinic literature of Judaism, ...
, the non-legalistic writings that are part of the oral and written tradition of Torah scholarship. He writes that Judaism has developed a precedent over time that rejects "the practice of punishing people, and causing them undue suffering, for things they are not responsible for." Ultimately, his proposal for a new halakhic response to homosexuality was based on this precedent.


Proposed takkanah on homosexuality

Tucker's prominence as both a political and theological liberal within Conservative Judaism is reflected in the role he played in the movement's recent debates on the issue of homosexuality. As a member of the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards (CJLS), he authored a proposed teshuvah (responsa) arguing that the biblical prohibition on male homosexuality should be overturned. In doing so, he proposed that the Conservative movement should accept a new, more liberal approach to halakhah (Jewish law). (Tucker originally offered his paper as a responsum, but the committee voted instead to consider it as a takkanah, requiring 13 votes for adoption.) An important difference between Conservative and Orthodox Judaism is that Conservative Judaism empowers modern rabbis to issue
takkanot A ''takkanah'' (plural ''takkanot'') is a major legislative enactment within ''halakha'' (Jewish law), the normative system of Judaism's laws. A ''takkanah'' is an enactment which revises an ordinance that no longer satisfies the requirements of t ...
(decrees) modifying Biblical prohibitions, when perceived to be necessary. However, such decrees must be rooted in halakhic process and precedent. Conservative Judaism has adopted takkanot only for a few exceptional matters, such as the abolition of the biblical category of mamzer (a child whose mother is married to a someone other than the biological father or is the product of an incestuous relationship). Orthodox Judaism takes a more limited view as to how law can be changed. Both Conservative and Orthodox Judaism address most questions of Jewish law through
responsa ''Responsa'' (plural of Latin , 'answer') comprise a body of written decisions and rulings given by legal scholars in response to questions addressed to them. In the modern era, the term is used to describe decisions and rulings made by scholars i ...
, through a written, rabbinical interpretation of Jewish law, analogous to a court decision. In Orthodox Judaism, responsa are the product of individual rabbis, and their authority derives from the recognition of the author within the larger Orthodox community as a posek or decisor. In Conservative Judaism, both responsa and takkanot are products of the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, whose voting members are ordained rabbis within the Conservative movement. On December 6, 2006, The CJLS adopted three different responsa, somewhat contradictory, on issues that address the participation of male homosexuals in Conservative Judaism: * By 13 of 25 votes, the minimum majority, the CJLS adopted a responsum authored by Rabbi
Elliot N. Dorff Elliot N. Dorff (born 24 June 1943) is an American Conservative rabbi. He is a Visiting Professor of Law at UCLA School of Law and Distinguished Professor of Jewish theology at the American Jewish University (formerly the University of Judaism) in C ...
,
Daniel Nevins Daniel S. ("Danny") Nevins (born March 18, 1966) is an American rabbi and a leader in the Conservative Movement who is head of school at Golda Och Academy in West Orange, NJ On January 29, 2007, Rabbi Nevins was named the Dean of the Rabbinical S ...
, and
Avram Reisner Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Jews ...
, lifting most restrictions on homosexual conduct and opening the way to the ordination of openly gay and lesbian rabbis and acceptance of homosexual unions, but stopping short of religiously recognizing gay marriage. The responsum maintained the Biblical prohibition on male-male anal sex. * Also by 13 of 25 votes, the committee adopted a traditionalist responsum, by Rabbi Joel Roth, reaffirming a general prohibition on homosexual conduct. * By six votes, the minimum for adoption as a minority position, the committee approved another responsum by Rabbi Leonard Levy, delineating ways in which to ensure that gays and lesbians would be accorded human dignity and a respected place in Conservative communities and institutions while maintaining the authority of the traditional prohibitions against same-sex sexual activity. The Committee rejected Gordon Tucker's takkanah. Details of this issue are discussed in Conservative Halakha. Tucker's proposed takkanah became, in effect, a dissenting opinion.


Translation and commentary on Heschel

Rabbi Tucker's most widely known scholarly work is his translation with notes and commentaries of writings of Abraham Joshua Heschel. Tucker translated Heschel's ''Torah min HaShamayim BeAspaklariah shel HaDorot'' (''Heavenly Torah as Refracted through the Generations'') from the original Hebrew into English, and provided many notes, essays, and commentaries. In her forward to ''Heavenly Torah'', Heschel's daughter
Susannah Heschel Susannah Heschel (born 15 May 1956) is an American scholar and the Eli M. Black Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College. The author and editor of numerous books and articles, she is a Guggenheim Fellow and the recipient of ...
describes the scope and magnitude of this translation. "Gordon Tucker (and Rabbi Leonard Levin) have done a superb job of assembling, editing, abridging, and translating a huge, not-quite-finished manuscript. Others literally died trying to translate this sprawling masterpiece. There may be some dissent from the inevitable omissions, some few typos, some doubts about Tucker's interpretations. But on the whole, the introductions to each chapter, the explanatory notes on almost every page (including identifying Heschel's often obscure sources) are wonderful aids in working through this massive work." Heschel differed with the more legalistic approach to Torah of the Lithuanian rabbis who dominated the interpretation of halacha and the exegesis of Torah in the 20th century. He emphasized
aggadah Aggadah ( he, ''ʾAggāḏā'' or ''Haggāḏā''; Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: אַגָּדְתָא ''ʾAggāḏəṯāʾ''; "tales, fairytale, lore") is the non-legalistic exegesis which appears in the classical rabbinic literature of Judaism, ...
and
midrash ''Midrash'' (;"midrash"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''.
he, מִדְרָשׁ; ...
, the often speculative writings of the rabbinical sages that were outside the Torah's legal framework. Because these writings were not as heavily edited or redacted as the Mishna and
Gemara The Gemara (also transliterated Gemarah, or in Yiddish Gemo(r)re; from Aramaic , from the Semitic root ג-מ-ר ''gamar'', to finish or complete) is the component of the Talmud comprising rabbinical analysis of and commentary on the Mishnah w ...
, Heschel's Hebrew manuscript reflects a variety of difficult Hebrew prose styles. Or N. Rose, a reviewer of ''Heavenly Torah'', praised Tucker and Levin for capturing the qualities of Heschel's original manuscript in their translation. "Not only is this English version a lucid and thoughtful reworking of the original text, but Tucker and Levin even manage to introduce into their translation a measure of the poeticism readers have come to expect of Heschel."


Family life

Tucker is currently married to Dr. Amy Cohn, with whom he has a son and daughter, Micah and Becky. He was previously married to Hadassah Freilich (now Lieberman), with whom he has a son, Rabbi
Ethan Tucker Ethan Tucker is rosh yeshiva (rabbinic dean) and co-founder of Yeshivat Hadar in Manhattan. Early life and education Tucker is the son of Rabbi Gordon Tucker and Hadassah Lieberman, and the stepson of former U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman. ...
, a
rosh yeshiva Rosh yeshiva ( he, ראש ישיבה, pl. he, ראשי ישיבה, '; Anglicized pl. ''rosh yeshivas'') is the title given to the dean of a yeshiva, a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primar ...
at
Yeshivat Hadar Yeshivat Hadar is a traditional egalitarian yeshiva on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The Yeshiva offers both summer and year-long fellowships for students to learn full-time in the yeshiva setting. Prominent rabbis associated with the Yeshiva i ...
. His first wife later married Senator Joseph Lieberman, who became the first Jewish candidate for national office with a major political party.


References


Sources


All Eyes On Rabbi Tucker At Panel
''
The Jewish Week ''The Jewish Week'' is a weekly independent community newspaper targeted towards the Jewish community of the metropolitan New York City area. ''The Jewish Week'' covers news relating to the Jewish community in NYC. In March 2016, ''The Jewish We ...
''
Hazon Bio

Temple Israel of White Plains bio (official)

Forward article
* Haber, Gedalia. "Lost In Translation: Abraham Joshua Heschel's 'Heavenly Torah'—A Review Essay". ''Modern Judaism'', volume 29, number 3, October 2009, pp. 405-427. * Heschel, Abraham Joshua. ''Heavenly Torah: As Refracted through the Generations''. Edited and Translated with Commentary by Gordon Tucker with Leonard Levin. (New York, London: Continuum, 2004) * Rose, Or N

JBooks.com, the Online Jewish Book Community. * Tucker, Gordon
Halakhic and Metahalakhic Arguments Concerning Judaism and Homosexuality
* Tucker, Gordon. "The Importance of Orientation: Etz Hayyim and the Conservative Jewish Perspective." United Synagogue Review. Spring 2003 {{DEFAULTSORT:Tucker, Gordon American Conservative rabbis Living people The Bronx High School of Science alumni Harvard College alumni Princeton University alumni Jewish Theological Seminary of America semikhah recipients Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century American rabbis 21st-century American rabbis