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Samuel S. Cohon
Samuel Solomon Cohon (22 March 1888 – 22 August 1959) was a rabbi and Chair of Theology at Hebrew Union College, a prominent leader of American Reform Judaism in the mid-20th Century. Biography Early life Cohon was born in Lohi (modern Belorussian: Лагі) Minsk Governorate – it is unknown in which of the two settlements named thus, whether the one Krupki Raion or at the Lahoysk Raion – then in the Russian Empire. His parents were Solomon Cohon, a shoemaker, and Rachel née Starobinetz. He was traditionally educated in yeshivas at Byerazino and the city of Minsk. In 1904, the sixteen-year-old Cohon immigrated to the United States, He then chose a rabbinic career and began attending Hebrew Union College while studying concurrently for an A.B. in the University of Cincinnati. In HUC, he was a co-founder of the Ivriah Society, a club where several students and professors met to discuss matters of Hebrew culture and conversed only in that language. It was linked with the Cin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivision_type2 = Counties , subdivision_name1 = Illinois , subdivision_name2 = Cook and DuPage , established_title = Settled , established_date = , established_title2 = Incorporated (city) , established_date2 = , founder = Jean Baptiste Point du Sable , government_type = Mayor–council , governing_body = Chicago City Council , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Lori Lightfoot ( D) , leader_title1 = City Clerk , leader_name1 = Anna Valencia ( D) , unit_pref = Imperial , area_footnotes = , area_tot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abraham Geiger
Abraham Geiger (Hebrew: ''ʼAvrāhām Gayger''; 24 May 181023 October 1874) was a German rabbi and scholar, considered the founding father of Reform Judaism. Emphasizing Judaism's constant development along history and universalist traits, Geiger sought to re-formulate received forms and design what he regarded as a religion compliant with modern times. Biography As a child, Geiger started doubting the traditional understanding of Judaism when his studies in classical history seemed to contradict the biblical claims of divine authority. At the age of seventeen, he began writing his first work, a comparison between the legal style of the Mishnah and Biblical and Talmudic law. He also worked on a dictionary of Mishnaic (Rabbinic) Hebrew. Geiger's friends provided him with financial assistance which enabled him to attend the University in Heidelberg, to the great disappointment of his family. His main focus was centered on the areas of philology, Syriac, Hebrew, and classics, but ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hasidism
Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory of contemporary Western Ukraine during the 18th century, and spread rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most affiliates reside in Israel and the United States. Israel Ben Eliezer, the "Baal Shem Tov", is regarded as its founding father, and his disciples developed and disseminated it. Present-day Hasidism is a sub-group within Haredi Judaism and is noted for its religious conservatism and social seclusion. Its members adhere closely both to Orthodox Jewish practice – with the movement's own unique emphases – and the traditions of Eastern European Jews. Many of the latter, including various special styles of dress and the use of the Yiddish language, are nowadays associated almost exclusively with Hasidism. Hasidic thought draws heavily ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Haggadah
The Haggadah ( he, הַגָּדָה, "telling"; plural: Haggadot) is a Jewish text that sets forth the order of the Passover Seder. According to Jewish practice, reading the Haggadah at the Seder table is a fulfillment of the mitzvah to each Jew to tell their children the story from the Book of Exodus about God bringing the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. History Authorship According to Jewish tradition, the Haggadah was compiled during the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods, although the exact date is unknown. It could not have been written earlier than the time of Judah bar Ilai (circa 170 CE), who is the latest tanna to be quoted therein. Abba Arika and Samuel of Nehardea (circa 230 CE) argued on the compilation of the Haggadah, and hence it had not been completed as of then. Based on a Talmudic statement, it was completed by the time of "Rav Nachman". There is a dispute, however, to which Rav Nachman the Talmud was referring: Acc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Union Of American Hebrew Congregations
The Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), known as the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC) until 2003, founded in 1873 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the congregational arm of Reform Judaism in North America. The other two arms established by Rabbi Wise are the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and the Central Conference of American Rabbis. The current president of the URJ is Rabbi Rick Jacobs. The URJ has an estimated constituency of some 880,000 registered adults in 831 congregations. It claims to represent 2.2 million, as over a third of adult U.S. Jews, including many who are not synagogue members, state affinity with Reform, making it the largest Jewish denomination. The UAHC was a founding member of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, of which the URJ is the largest constituent by far. Belief and practice Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal or Progressive Judaism, embraces several basic tenets, including a belief in a theistic, personal Go ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Election Of Israel
In Judaism, the concept of the Jews as the chosen people ( he, הָעָם הַנִבְחַר ''ha-ʿam ha-nivḥar , IPA: haʕam hanivħar'') is the belief that the Jews, via descent from the ancient Israelites, are the chosen people, i.e. selected to be in a covenant with God. The idea of the Israelites being chosen by God is found most directly in the Book of Deuteronomy as the verb ''baḥar'' (בָּחַר), and is alluded to elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible using other terms such as "holy people". Much is written about these topics in rabbinic literature. The three largest Jewish denominations—Orthodox Judaism, Conservative Judaism and Reform Judaism—maintain the belief that the Jews have been chosen by God for a purpose. Sometimes this choice is seen as charging the Jewish people with a specific mission—to be a light unto the nations, and to exemplify the covenant with God as described in the Torah. While the concept of "chosenness" may be understood by some to connote e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Judaism As A Civilization
''Judaism as a Civilization: Toward a Reconstruction of American-Jewish Life'' is a 1934 work on Judaism and American Jewish life by Rabbi Mordecai M. Kaplan, the founder of Reconstructionist Judaism. The book is Kaplan's most notable work and has influenced a number of American Jewish thinkers. Kaplan's work centers around the concept that Judaism ought not to be defined as the religion of the Jews, but the sum of Jewish religion, culture, language, literature and social organization. Background In 1934, Kaplan published ''Judaism as a Civilization'', a seminal work that eventually provided the theological foundation for the new Reconstructionist movement. Kaplan was deeply influenced by the new field of sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ... and its definit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mordecai 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 branch of Judaism along with his son-in-law Ira Eisenstein. He has been described as a "towering figure" in the recent history of Judaism for his influential work in adapting it to modern society, contending that Judaism should be a unifying and creative force by stressing the cultural and historical character of the religion as well as theological doctrine. Life and work Mordecai Menahem Kaplan was born Mottel Kaplan in Sventiany in the Russian Empire (present-day Švenčionys in Lithuania) on June 11, 1881, the son of Haya (née Anna) and Rabbi Israel Kaplan. His father, ordained by the leading Lithuanian Jewish luminaries, went to serve as a dayan in the court of Chief Rabbi Jacob Joseph in New York City in 1888. Mordecai was brou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ahad Ha'am
Asher Zvi Hirsch Ginsberg (18 August 1856 – 2 January 1927), primarily known by his Hebrew name and pen name Ahad Ha'am ( he, אחד העם, lit. 'one of the people', Genesis 26:10), was a Hebrew essayist, and one of the foremost pre-state Zionist thinkers. He is known as the founder of cultural Zionism. With his secular vision of a Jewish "spiritual center" in Israel, he confronted Theodor Herzl. Unlike Herzl, the founder of political Zionism, Ha'am strived for "a Jewish state and not merely a state of Jews". Biography Asher Zvi Hirsch Ginsberg (Ahad Ha'am) was born in Skvyra, in the Kiev Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Ukraine) to pious well-to-do Hasidic parents. At eight years old, he began to teach himself to read Russian. His father, Isaiah, sent him to heder until he was 12. When Isaiah became the administrator of a large estate in a village in the Kiev district, he moved the family there and took private tutors for his son, who excelled at his studies. G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solomon Freehof
Solomon Bennett Freehof (August 8, 1892 – 1990) was a prominent Reform rabbi, posek, and scholar. Rabbi Freehof served as president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis and the World Union for Progressive Judaism. Beginning in 1955, he led the CCAR's work on Jewish law through its responsa committee. He also spearheaded changes to Reform liturgy with revisions to the ''Union Prayer Book'' (siddur). For many years, he served as the pulpit rabbi at Rodef Shalom in Pittsburgh, PA. According to the congregation, "For more than 35 years, Dr. Freehof's weekly book review series attracted audiences of more than 1,500 Christians and Jews."Rodef Shalom Congregation, Pittsburgh, PA - More information ...
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Pittsburgh Platform
The Pittsburgh Platform is a pivotal 1885 document in the history of the American Reform Movement in Judaism that called for Jews to adopt a modern approach to the practice of their faith. While it was never formally adopted by the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC) or the Central Conference of American Rabbis founded four years after its release, and several rabbis who remained associated with Reform in its wake attempted to distance themselves from it, the platform exerted great influence over the movement in the next fifty years. The Platform The most important principles of Judaism as practiced by the largest Jewish denomination in the United States were laid out in eight concise paragraphs: Historical context This founding document of what has come to be called "Classical Reform" ideology was the culmination of a meeting of Reform rabbis from November 16–19, 1885 at the Concordia Club in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It explicitly calls for a rejection of those l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
