Current Jewish Questions – Women’s Head Covering Sources (PDF)
Current Jewish Questions – Women’s Head Covering
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One of the main characters of the movie Footnote is a scholar whose most eminent academic accomplishment was a single complimentary footnote in his teacher’s work. Such recognition indicates that not only has a master in a field read your work, but found your contribution significant enough to disseminate to his larger audience. Aside from earning one’s PhD, this can be the academic equivalent of “getting made.”
The closest I’ve experienced this feeling myself was when I shared a graduate school paper on Ramban / Nachmanides (1194–c. 1270) with my father’s teacher Haham Jose / Yosef Faur in his Netanya house in 2002. In particular, I remember his elated reaction at my discovery that Ramban’s commentary on Deuteronomy 17:11 is nearly identical to the Early Church Father Tertullian’s (c. 160–c. 225 AD) justification of priestly authority. Haham Faur referenced this discovery in his article Anti-Maimonidean Demons p. 28 note 110 in his Horizontal Society (vol 2. p. 188).
I rediscovered the original paper among the same pile of documents as my father’s letter of resignation. I believe I kept the original copy of this paper due to the comments I received from Professor David Berger, which made an indelible impression on me:
This is a very intelligent, well written, vigorously argued but unconvincing, tendentious, one-sided, arbitrary, even biased argument. The suggestion that N.[achmanides] invented a tradition so that he could exercise authority i.e. that he did not believe that there was a Kabbalistic tradition that he had studied is unsupport[ed] and even offensive. I will assign a good grade to this paper because of its stimulating qualities, but what they stimulated in me was a combination of fascination and anger.
Despite Dr. Berger’s personal objections, he gave this paper an A-. There is also much more to be said in comparing Dr. Berger’s affinity towards Ramban and his criticisms of Chabad, but that is for another time. [1. Haham Faur was a fan of Dr. Berger’s book on Chabad, though in discussing my paper he said, “if he is a fan of Ramban, then his book makes no sense.”]
Unsurprisingly, the paper itself could stand to use some editing and a few more revisions. Aside from the typos which should be expected at this point, I can see in hindsight imprecise language if not poor word choices. I suppose one reason to pursue advanced education is precisely to improve such skills. At any rate, for those interested in the subject or Hassidim of Haham Faur who are compelled to collect all related data, I am embedding the paper itself, complete with original typos, mistakes, and comments.
And in case anyone is wondering, despite this being a Revel paper, I did in fact submit the paper on time.
In this podcast Rabbi Yuter explores sources discussing how music may empower or degrade authentic Jewish practice and spirituality. Includes bonus discussion on kol isha
Current Jewish Questions 26 – Music in Judaism Sources (PDF)
Current Jewish Questions 26 – Music in Judaism
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When my parents made aliyah this past summer I had to clean boxes of papers, articles, and documents I had collected over the years. One of the gems I dug up was the following letter my father wrote Robert Gordis in resigning from the Rabbinical Assembly and leaving Conservative Judaism.
This letter may be of academic interest to a historian, religious sociologist, or even fans of my father. Others may find useful comparisons or contrasts with the current state of liberal Orthodox Judaisms. For myself, it represents a salient moment in the life of the person who has imparted to me most of my Torah and approach to Judaism and life. I would also venture to say that this letter is so indicative of my father’s hadracha that if one keeps the essence of the logical argument while substituting names and institutions, this letter could be reprinted by him today. My father has told me privately that he patterned his letter after Abraham Joshua Heschel’s own letter of resignation.
With my father’s permission I am publishing his letter of resignation from the Rabbinical Assembly and his disaffiliation from Conservative Judaism.
Ten years is a long time to be blogging, and even with numerous hiatuses (haiatii?) I’ve amassed quite the collection, well over 500 entries. Of course this doesn’t account for quality but truth be told I never anticipated anyone reading this blog let along taking it seriously or building any type of audience or readership.
At any rate, to paraphrase the immortal Strong Bad, my blog posts are like my childrens. I love them all! But if I had to play favorites… Let’s see…
Dear Loyal Readers Followers,
It is with great amazement, appreciation, and gratitude that I share the following factoid: it has been over 10 years since I first started blogging. I actually remember sitting by the computer banks on 5a of Yeshiva University’s library on May, 15 2003 being first introduced to blogger by a friend who will still remain nameless. Since then, YUTOPIA has moved URLs and platforms three times[1. Blogger – remember HaloScan for JavaScript comments?, MovableType on YUCS, and finally WordPress on the current site], gone through several redesigns, and has integrated with social media networks which did not exist when I started.
If the tech nostalgia doesn’t do it for you, consider that when I started blogging Protocols was the major Jewish blog on the web and the source of most of my traffic.
As I’ve said in the past the main reasons for blogging were to provide a platform in which I could publish thoughts in a clear and rational way, and hopefully contribute something to a discussion which would otherwise go ignored. The conscious decision at the time to publish the blog in my own name ensured personal accountability, which in turn forced me to think before posting.[2. As it turned out, this was a necessary skill to develop in the world of Facebook and Twitter.] In fact when I started blogging I was finishing up rabbinical school and the “Rabbi” in the heading was still in quotes.
Eventually YUTOPIA spun off one post to www.JewishGuitarChords.com,[3. In some respects I consider this the most useful thing I’ve ever done. According to Google Analytics, JewishGuitarChords.com has amassed 151,442 unique visitors since Aug 4, 2008. While this is paltry compared to web metrics, I see it as having helped a significant number of people learn to connect with the Jewish heritage through song and music. Not bad for an intellectual techie, eh?] and eventually providing over 100 classes as podcasts which have been downloaded over 50,000 times [5. 50,552 as of this publishing. I was initially reluctant to record classes out of concern an offhanded remark I’d make would get me in trouble. Fortunately I’m not nearly important enough for people to hang on my everyone word and expound, “why did he make this joke and not that joke” etc.] The social media component of my web presence has attracted an even greater readership, with some posts receiving media attention, including national news.
Longtime readers might have noticed YUTOPIA has gotten much less personal, with the exception of vague references. This too was an intentional choice especially as the blog gained a larger following and I became more of a public figure in real life. The personal ups and downs over the past 10 years have been vast and numerous, and I have much gratitude for those who have been with me for even part of those journeys.
While I realize the only significance behind 10 years is the big round number theory, it’s a nice time to catch up, dig through some archives of things I have and haven’t published, and work through some current thoughts based on older works. Thus for the next month or so, this blog will be both a retrospective and an expansion of everything I’ve done here over the past decade and applying familiar principles in ways you may not quite expect.
Whether you have just started reading, YUTOPIA been following since the beginning, or joined somewhere in the middle I thank you for your time, patience, and simply for allowing me to be a part of your life in some way.[6. Even as a 5 minute distraction from that spreadsheet you really ought to be working on.]
It’s certainly been an interesting and eventful 10 years and I hope you stay with me for many more to come.
With many thanks,
Rabbi Josh Yuter
This past Shavuot I gave a class titled “The Judaism of Good Intentions” which discussed the role of intentions and consequences – both for good and bad. While I do not have the time to write up the entire class, I am posting the sources from said class for your own study and consideration. Enjoy!
Many thanks to all listeners and subscribers; I hope you’ve enjoyed listening to my shiurim and classes as I’ve enjoyed giving them.
In this installment of Current Jewish Questions, Rabbi Yuter explores the conflicting concerns and parameters of when and how a Jew should offer religious rebuke or criticism.
Current Jewish Questions 25 – Tochacha and Rebuke Sources (PDF)
Current Jewish Questions 25 – Tochacha and Rebuke
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On April 11 2013 I was honored to present the following special class in conjunction with Uri L’Tzedek. The PDF source sheet is below as is video of the class.
Social Justice Beit Midrash – Confronting Memories of Injustice Sources (PDF)