From Defender to Critic: The Search for a New Jewish Self Book

Introduction: From Loving Defender to Loving Critic: An Intellectual Autobiography ix

Part I The Spirituality of Halakha: Early Essays

1 The Joy of Torah 3

2 The Body as a Spiritual Teacher: Learning to Accept Interdependency 25

3 Democratizing the Spiritual: The Risks and Rewards of Halakha 39

4 Embracing Covenantal History: Compassion, Responsibility, and the Spirituality of the Everyday 71

5 Creating a Shared Spiritual Language: The Urgency of Community and the Halakhic Roots of Pluralism 91

6 Conquering Modern Idolatry: Building Communities of Meaning around Shared Aspirations 111

7 Learning to Hope: A Halakhic Approach to History and Redemption 127

Part II Abraham's Argument: Reclaiming Judaism's Moral Tradition

8 Abraham's Argument: Empowerment, Defeat, and the Religious Personality 157

9 A Covenant of Empowerment: Divine Withdrawal and Human Responsibility 177

10 Mishpachtology: Judaism as a Family System 187

11 Custom and Innovation: Stepping Beyond the Parameters of the Past 199

12 My Daughter Is Not My Mother: Rethinking the Role of Women in Traditional Judaism 211

13 Hillel's Decision: Subjective Piety as a Religious Value 227

14 Halakha as Relationship: Toward a God-Centered Consciousness 247

15 Among Abraham's Children: The Confrontation of the Particular with the Universal 257

Notes 267

Bibliography 293

Index 298