Communities of Meaning: Conversations on Modern Jewish Life Inspired by Rabbi Larry Hoffman

Weekly Torah portion study guide.

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A URJ Press Publication

Foreword by Rabbi Daniel Zemel 

Foreword by Rabbi Carole Balin 

Piece by Dr. Rabbi Joel M. Hoffman

Introduction by Joseph A. Skloot and Lisa J. Grushcow 

Part 1. The Worship Revolution 

Section 1: Worship as Drama 

Chapter 1: Liturgy as Art by Rabbi Sonja Pilz 

Chapter 2: Worship: A conversation and vision by Professor Janet Walton 

Chapter 3: Creativity is our Birthright by Liz A. Lerman 

Section 2: Writing Prayers 

Chapter 4: Memory, Vulnerability, and Return by Rabbi Angela Warnick Buchdahl 

Chapter 5: Bridge of One’s Own by Rabbi David E. Stern 

Chapter 6: How Prayers Mean by Rabbi Dalia Marx 

Section 3: Reimagining Jewish Worship 

Chapter 7: Notes on a Theology of the Internet by Rabbi Jodie M. Gordon and Rabbi Rachel Steiner 

Chapter 8: Future of Jewish Prayer by Rabbi Daniel Medwin 

Chapter 9: Jewish Values Shaped by Sacred Space by Dr. Richard S. Vosko 

Chapter 10: Building Bridges by Yolanda Savage-Narva 

Part 2. Rethinking North American Judaism 

Section 4: You Are Here 

Chapter 11: A Faith Bounded by Reason by Professor Andrew Rehfeld 

Chapter 12: To be a Jewish Community, Worthy of that Name by Rabbi Arnold Eisen 

Chapter 13: Reconstructing “belong” by Rabbi Deborah Waxman 

Chapter 14: A View from Outside by Rabbi Daniel A. Judson 

Section 5: From Common Cold to Uncommon Healing 

Chapter 15: Living at the Margins by Rabbi Shira I. Milgrom 

Chapter 16: Finding God with Other People by Rabbi Noa Rachael Kushner 

Chapter 17: From Common Cold to Uncommon Pandemic  by Professor Jonathan D. Sarna 

Section 6: Non-Jews and Jewish Lifecycle Liturgy 

Chapter 18: Abraham or Ruth? by Rabbi Joshua M. Davidson 

Chapter 19: The Place Where Tradition and the World Collide by Rabbi Hilly Haber 

Section 7: The Jewish Leader You Want to Be 

Chapter 20: Speaking Differently by Cantor Sarah Grabiner 

Chapter 21: Artists of the Jewish Message by Rabbi Joshua I. Beraha 

Part 3. On What Jews Do and Believe 

Section 8: What Counts for Jewish Knowledge

Chapter 22: What will “Jew” be? by Rabbi Delphine Horvilleur 

Chapter 23: A Foot in Each Camp: Pushing the Boundaries of Both by Rabbi Tony Bayfield 

Chapter 24: In Conversation with Silence by Rabbi Emily Langowitz 

Section 9: Authenticity 

Chapter 25: What Does it mean to be authentically Jewish by Cantor Jill Abramson 

Chapter 26: On Authenticity by Rabbi Yael Splansky 

Chapter 27: Choose Life by Rabbi Daniel Reiser 

Section 10: Land of the Sick 

Chapter 28: We Do Not Know What to Do by Rabbi Nicole Kauffman Roberts 

Chapter 29: Time Zone of the Kingdom of the Sick by Rabbi Elliott Kukla 

Section 11: I Do Believe 

Chapter 30: Faith and Hope in Time of Challenge by Rabbi David H. Ellenson 

Chapter 31: Hoffman’s Metafaith by Rabbi Gordon Tucker 

Section 12: Recovery of Hope 

Chapter 32: Ideas Matter by Professor Gordon W. Lathrop 

Chapter 33: Ideas that Matter by Rabbi Margaret Moers Wenig 

About the Contributors