Eight Decades

by Plaut, W. Gunther

• ISBN13: 9781550028614
• ISBN10: 1550028618
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-10-14
• Publisher: Dundurn Pr Ltd

Summary

W Gunther Plaut is one of Reform Judaism's most acclaimed twentieth century rabbis & scholars. He is a gifted writer & intellectual whose ideas garner devotees throughout the world. This book offers a selection of his previously published articles & essays. They include discussions on history, biblical topics, literature & linguistics, theological questions, moral & social issues, perspectives on Reform Judaism, legal issues, & Israel. First published in magazines as diverse as "Maclean's, Atlantic, Commentary, Reconstructionist, Ontario Medical Review, Hebrew Union College Annual", & many others, each essay carries a unique message that is still relevant today. "Eight Decades" is a fitting companion to "One Voice: The Selected Sermons of W. Gunther Plaut", published in 2007 on the occasion of his ninety-fifth birthday.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 11
Preface	p. 16
Under Thirty: Testament of Exile	p. 18
My Third Age	p. 21
Studies in History
The First Confirmation in America	p. 27
Jews in Seventeenth-Century Georgia	p. 31
The Israelites in Pharoah's Egypt: A Historical Reconstruction	p. 38
Youth Movements	p. 47
The Canadian Experience: The Dynamics of Jewish Life Since 1945	p. 51
Biblical Inquiries
The Wandering Aramean	p. 73
In Defence of the Erev Rav - [actual symbol not reproducible]	p. 78
Pharaoh's Hardened Heart	p. 81
The Pillar of Salt	p. 88
Why Love a Stranger?	p. 94
Literature and Linguistics
The Origin of the Word "Yarmulke"	p. 101
A Hebrew-Dakota Dictionary	p. 105
Long-hand with Buber (a review)	p. 113
Assessing the Jewish Mind (a review)	p. 128
Theological Questions
What I Believe	p. 137
The Sabbath as Protest: Thoughts on Work and Leisure in the Automated Society	p. 143
Toward a Higher Morality	p. 158
Moral and Social Issues
The University and Society	p. 167
The Morality of the Calley Trial	p. 174
The Curse of Literalism	p. 181
Concerning Israel
Why Is Israel Different?	p. 191
A Eulogy for the Israeli Martyrs of 1972 at Munich	p. 194
The Un-public Relations of Our National Bodies	p. 197
Foreword to S. Zalman Abramov's Perpetual Dilemma	p. 204
We Are Jews	p. 209
Reform Jewish Perspectives
The Sabbath in the Reform Movement	p. 217
The Ambiguity of Reform	p. 247
The Four Phases of the Reform Movement	p. 258
Religious Discipline and Liberal Judaism	p. 270
Prophetic Judaism Without Prophets	p. 282
The German-Jewish Experience
The Elusive German-Jewish Heritage in America	p. 289
The Yom Kippur That Never Was: A Pious Pictorial Fraud	p. 295
The Common Folk in Mendelssohn's Days	p. 301
An Interview with Moses Mendelssohn: The Christian and the Jew	p. 309
Germans and Jews: The Symbiosis That Failed	p. 314
The Legal Dimension
Hate Propaganda	p. 331
Refuge or Asylum: The Canadian Perspective	p. 338
Four Points of Law: Notes on the Relationship of Law and Religion	p. 347
The Marshall Inquiry	p. 353
Notes	p. 359
Permissions	p. 385
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.