Articles

Seder HaAvodah: Its Structure and Contemporary Possibilities

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Rabbi Leon A. Morris The words of Seder HaAvodah recall the approach of the High Priest into the Holy of Holies and the sending off of the scapegoat into the wilderness. With the destruction of the Temple, sacrifices ceased, and the ancient rite of Yom Kippur came to an end. The sole means for effectuating … Read more

Did Moses Intermarry? Who Says He Did—and Why Do They Want To Know?

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Rabbi Leon Morris and Prof. Steven Cohen, Tablet, February 4, 2014 Moses’ marriage has become the subject of much speculation in Reform circles recently. The websites of some of the most prominent outreach organizations in Jewish life, such as the Jewish Outreach Institute,Interfaith Family, and the Union for Reform Judaism all feature pieces about the … Read more

Adding Benches to the Study Hall

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Adding Benches to the Study Hall – Rabbi Leon A. Morris Originally published in Hanan Harchol: Jewish Food for Thought – Exhibition Catalogue and Commentary. There is an intriguing story in the Babylonian Talmud about the ousting and succession of the man who held the highest rabbinic position in the land of Israel, the Nasi, or … Read more

Religion matters: Beware the American Cultural Jew

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Ha’aretz, October 9th, 2013 When being culturally ‘Jew-ish’ in America means little more than lox and bagels and a vague duty to repair the world, Israel should also be worried. The recent Pew Study revealed that 22 percent of American Jews describe themselves as having “no religion” (up from just 7 percent a decade ago). … Read more

The End of Liturgical Reform as We Know It: Creative Retrieval as a New Paradigm

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Rabbi Leon A. Morris (originally published in CCAR, Summer, 2013) Prayer book reform was always one of the most significant and defining features of Reform Judaism in both Europe and America. While some reforms of the liturgy were driven by practical concerns, such as abbreviating the service or removing passages that were deemed to be inconsistent with … Read more

The Calves of Our Lips: The Inescapable Connections between Prayer and Sacrifice

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Rabbi Leon A. Morris Published in the summer of 2013 in CCAR Journal: The Reform Jewish Quarterly. See here for a PDF of the article. The notion of sacrificial offerings was an anathema in the shaping of a modern Jewish life. Since the earliest days of Reform Judaism, those most ancient forms of divine service were … Read more

Judaism Not Just A Matter Of Faith

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First published in The Jewish Week The British Supreme Court ruled last Wednesday that it is illegal for a state-sponsored Jewish school to base its admission policy on whether one’s mother is Jewish. The case involved a 12-year-old boy whose father was born Jewish and whose mother was converted to Judaism by a Progressive (one of … Read more

Finally, A Book Of (Mostly) Common Prayer

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Leon A. Morris, The Jewish Week, May 13th, 2009 Traditional liturgy is incompatible with contemporary life. Or so we thought. If only the prayer book could be made more relevant, if its words reflected what we truly believe, then Jews would flock to synagogue and find meaning and inspiration through prayer. Of course, many new prayer books … Read more

The Imaginative Power of Sacrifice

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Nothing lasts forever. Upon resolving to build the Temple, Solomon sends a message to King Huram of Tyre requesting wood and additional craftsmen. He writes about dedicating a House in the name of God, “as is Israel’s duty forever.” (II Chronicles 2:3) The rabbis, in the aftermath of the Temple’s destruction, are faced with the … Read more