A Year with Mordecai Kaplan: Wisdom on the Weekly Torah Portion
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
You are invited to spend a year with the inspirational words, ideas, and counsel of the great twentieth-century thinker Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, through his meditations on the fifty-four weekly Torah portions and eleven Jewish holidays.
A pioneer of ideas and action—teaching that “Judaism is a civilization” encompassing Jewish culture, art, and peoplehood; demonstrating how synagogues can be full centers for Jewish living (building one of the first “shuls with a pool”), and creating the first-ever bat mitzvah ceremony (for his daughter Judith)—Kaplan indispensably transformed the landscape of American Jewry. Yet much of Kaplan’s rich treasury of ethical and spiritual thought is largely unknown.
Rabbi Steven Reuben, who studied closely with Kaplan, offers unique insight into Kaplan’s teachings about ethical relationships and spiritual fulfillment, including how to embrace the Godliness in everyday experience, our mandate to become agents of justice in the world, and the human ability to evolve personally and collectively. Quoting from the week’s Torah portion, Reuben presents Torah commentary, a related Kaplan quotation, a reflective commentary integrating Kaplan’s understanding of the Torah text, and an intimate story about his family or his community’s struggles and triumphs—guiding twenty-first century spiritual seekers of all backgrounds on how to live reflectively and purposefully every day.
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- Helps to understand Kaplan as the man and his approach to Judaism
- Offers a unique insight into Kaplan’s teachings about ethical relationships and spiritual fulfillment
- Guides twenty-first century spiritual seekers of all backgrounds on how to live reflectively and purposefully every day
GENESIS (BERE'SHIT)
- Bere'shit: Fulfillment
- Noah Good Enough
- Lekh Lekha: Purpose
- Va-yera Interconnectedness
- Hayyei Sarah: Lovingkindness
- Toledot: Family
- Va-yetse': Seeking
- Va-yishlab: God-Wrestling
- Va-yeshev: Thoughtlessness
- Mikkets: Dreams
- Va-yiggash: Destiny
- Va-yebi: Appreciation
EXODUS (SHEMOT)
- Shemot: Revelation
- Va-'era: Mercy
- Bo': Hardened Heart
- Be-shallah: Action
- Vitro: Self-Interest
- Mishpatim: Human Dignity
- Tcrumah: Indwelling
- Tetsaweh: Light Ki
- Tissa: Giving
- Va-yak'hel: Community
- Pekudei: Building
LEVITICUS (VA-YIKRA')
- Va-yikra': Prayer
- Tsav: Firelight
- Shemini: Godliness
- Tazria': Witness
- Metsori: Defilement
- 'Aharei Mot: Scapegoat
- Kedoshim: Holiness
- 'Emor: Hunger
- Be-har: Oppression
- Be-hukkotai: Free Will
NUMBERS (BE-MIDBAR)
- Be-midbar: Wilderness
- Naso': Blessings
- Be-hialotekha: Humility
- Shelah-Lekha: Perception
- Korah: Rebellion
- Hukkat: Anger
- Balak: Dwellings
- Pinhas: Women
- Mattot: Vows
- Maseei: Vengeance
DEUTERONOMY (DEVARIM)
- Devarim: Discovery
- Va-'ethannan: Oneness
- 'Ekev: Gratitude
- Re'eh: Choice
- Shofetim: Justice
- Ki Tetse': Indifference
- Ki Tavo': Experiencing God
- Nitsavim: Generations
- Va-yelekh: Teaching
- Ha'azinu: Rock
- Ve-zo't ha-berakhah: Divine Kiss
HOLIDAYS
- Rosh Hashanah: Sovereignty of God
- Yom Kippur: Transformation
- Sukkot: Gratitude
- Shemini Atzeret: Sharing the Divine Presence
- Simhat Torah: Celebration
- Hanukkah: Rededication
- Purim: Resilience
- Pesach: Freedom
- Yom ha-Shoah: Living in the Shadow
- Yom ha-Atzmaut: Building a Just Nation
- Shavuot: Torah
There is no greater sage greater than Mordecai Kaplan to walk us into an appreciation of how religion can add depth and insight to the experience of modernity, and no rabbi with greater sensitivity to guide us along the way than Steven Carr Reuben. Newcomers to Kaplan and long-time aficionados alike will revel in spending A Year with Mordecai Kaplan. Relying on the spirit and smarts of these two rabbis not only enlightens us, but elevates us.
Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson, Dean, Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, American Jewish University
Rabbi Steven Carr Reuben’s selection of insightful passages from the writings of Mordecai Kaplan and illuminating commentary from Jewish tradition and his own life experiences generates a treasure trove of wisdom to delight the mind and move the heart. A Year With Mordecai Kaplan is a spiritual gift!
Rabbi David Ellenson
As Steven Reuben probes Torah, Kaplan’s wide-ranging thought, Jewish religious experience, and human experience in wonderfully clear and often penetrating reflections, Reuben and Kaplan together awaken our desire to be ‘champions of holiness.
Ellen Davis, Amos Ragan Kearns Professor of Bible and Practical Theology, Duke Divinity School
- Title: A Year with Mordecai Kaplan: Wisdom on the Weekly Torah Portion
- Author: Rabbi Steven Carr Reuben
- Publisher: Jewish Publication Society
- Pages: 296
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
- ISBNs: 9780827612723, 0827612729
- Resource ID: LLS:YRMRDCKPTRHPRTN
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T04:32:41Z