There has been a new development in the Reform movement of Judaism, the largest and most liberal branch of Judaism in the U.S. There’s a new prayer book out, and it has been designed to be useful to everyone, with more Hebrew for those who want that, and also more sensitivity to women and to contemporary values.
Watch this report featuring Rabbi Leon Morris here. You can also read the transcript below.
Rabbi Leon Morris NEW YORK (JTA) – The forthcoming publication of Mishkan T’filah, the first new Reform prayer book in 30 years, reminded me of these words by Abraham Joshua Heschel in “Man’s Quest for God”: “The crisis of prayer is not a problem of the text. It is a problem of the soul,” Heschel … Read more
Rabbi Leon A. Morris, Conservative Judaism, May 2007 It is a matter of debate whether or not Jewish life in America is becoming “post-denominational.” While the leadership of the religious movements in American Judaism is nogeah b’davar and cannot be expected to confirm or embrace this trend, it has obvious ramifications for our movements and its … Read more
Walking in Jerusalem, a precarious experience, as size dictates right of way There is nothing more meaningful to me than walking the streets of Jerusalem. This has been a city of pedestrians for millennia. Omdot yahu ragleinu b’shaarayich Yerushalayim – “Our feet are standing at your gates, O Jerusalem” (Psalm 122.) While walking the city … Read more
April 2006 Scott M. Korb a Roman Catholic from Brooklyn, NY, is co-author with Peter Bebergal, of “The Faith Between Us,” forthcoming from Bloomsbury Rabbi Leon A. Morris is director of the Skirball Center for Adult Jewish Learning at Temple Emanu-El in NYC. In the Book of Exodus, after hearing God’s own voice, and with Moses up … Read more
In a time when many violent acts are made in the name of religion, what does it mean to be one of the faithful? Rabbi Leon Morris and Scott Korb, a Roman Catholic, help Scott Simon sort it out.
Listen to the discussion featured on NPR’s Weekend Edition here.
SAN RAFAEL, Calif. (Mar. 2) In this tony enclave in Marin County, a San Francisco suburb once known for its hot tubs and encounter groups, 20 largely middle-aged professionals gathered one recent Monday to begin an eight-week course in The Kabbalah of Time. It was a typical group for Marin: a handful of retired professors, … Read more
By Uriel Heilman NEW YORK, May 10 (JTA) — Rabbi Joshua Kolet has a dream. A native of Bombay, Kolet wants to make his home in the Jewish state. But before he moves to Israel, Kolet is trying to turn a plot of land in Bombay into a Jewish home for Israelis seeking spirituality in … Read more
NEW YORK, July 17 (JTA) — The opportunity to hear the German State Orchestra, Staatskapelle Berlin, perform in Jerusalem was in itself ironic. That Daniel Barenboim, the orchestra’s world-famous conductor, is an Israeli Jew made a performance in Jerusalem all the more intriguing. Moments after Shabbat ended on July 7, two friends and I hurried … Read more