Jewish Ethical Themes That Should Inform the National Healthcare Discussion: A Prolegomenon

Despite the passage of H.R. 3590 in the 111th Congress, the national healthcare debate in the United States continues, with repeal or modification of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act under ongoing consideration. Reference is often made to morality or ethics, but typically in general terms only. This paper elucidates themes from one system of moral theology, namely Jewish healthcare ethics, that would valuably inform this debate. Themes include "covenant," "holiness," "justice," "mercy," "for the sake of peace," "to save a life," "peoplehood," "repair of the world," "repentance," and "jubilee." Policy-related, economic, political, and moral challenges to acting on these principles are discussed.     

Sabina Spielrein: a bibliography

The work on this bibliography was carried out mostly in 2002. Though it aims at being exhaustive, the research in different languages and translations may not have yielded every document and some may still be unknown to me. It is also likely that more material have been translated since. Besides, the Spanish and Brazilian-Portuguese literature has not been researched. This is why this bibliography must be considered as a 'work in progress' which any addition can only enrich. Victor Ovcharenko has made a list of the writings of Sabina Spielrein starting with 1911, the year of her medical thesis in Zürich, and covering the years to 1931. He points out, however, that between the date of the last paper that she is known to have written and her death in 1942, there are eleven years and that it would be truly astonishing if she had neither written nor published anything during that period. Up to this date no document by her during that time has been found (Journal of Analytical Psychology, 44, 3, 1999).     

Touch: a computerized bibliography.

A computerized bibliography of references relating to "touch" has been prepared. It currently contains approximately 4000 references which belong under the following general categories--physiology and neurophysiology; sensation; perception; cognition; social, cultural, and developmental issues; clinical pathology; the deaf and blind; tactile communication and tactile aesthetics. References have been obtained primarily from the Psychological Abstracts, with classification codes added on the basis of the abstract's content. Master copies and keyword searches may be obtained on the most up-to-date version of the bibliography.     

Elijah Levita: a Jewish Hebraist

Elijah Levita’s (c. 1469–1558) study of Hebrew was part of the longtime Jewish occupation with the language of Scripture. Yet much of Levita’s scholarship was at odds with prior Jewish approaches to Biblical language and the transmission of the Biblical text. In his many works, Levita provides a critical account of the development of Hebrew, Aramaic, and the masoretic scribal traditions. This article examines the relationship between Levita’s critical approach to the Bible and the Christian context within which he worked. With the rise of Christian Hebraism, an increasingly sophisticated and sustained discourse on Hebrew developed outside of Jewish circles. This created an alternative setting within which Levita could produce scholarship that challenged prior Jewish notions of language and the Bible. The viability of Levita’s scholarship was no longer contingent on Jewish reception alone, allowing him to express critical ideas without fear of internal censure and without assuming the hermeneutical posture typical of pre-modern Jewish scholarly expression. This article has benefited from conversations with advisors at Columbia University and with colleagues at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. In particular, I would like to thank Wim Smit (z”l) and Jennifer Greenfield for shaping my studies of early-modern European intellectual life and my colleague Naomi Seidman for helping me to better tell the story. Thanks to Kenneth Stow, Arthur Lesley, and unnamed third and fourth readers of this essay for their helpful suggestions.     

犹太哲学:一种命定的宗教哲学--评《现代犹太哲学》

如果有人说西方哲学里有一种“基督教哲学” ,那么没人会感到惊讶 ,但是 ,如果说有一种“犹太哲学” ,那么许多人即使不感到惊讶 ,也会觉得很陌生。当《现代犹太哲学》 (傅有德等著 ,人民出版社 ,1 999,1 2 )一书摆在笔者面前时 ,我多少就有这种感觉。犹太民族贡献给西方世界乃至全人类的最伟大财富是以《圣经·旧约》为核心的一神教信仰。作为一种文明看 ,这种一神教信仰与古希腊文明的不同就在于 ,前者强调的是在践行神圣律法这种活生生的信仰实践中去领会上帝存在的真实性 ,去追寻和接受生活与世界的真实意义 ,而后者则要求在思想中 ,在…     

God as Teacher: Jewish reflections on a theology of pedagogy

In western religion we are accustomed to conceiving God in political terms as King, Ruler, or Lawgiver. This often results in a coercive conception of religion and education in which people are forced to do and believe that to which they would otherwise object. This essay explores images of God found in rabbinic readings of the Hebrew Bible as teacher and parent. These images form the basis of a non-coercive view of religion and education rooted in cultivation, nurture, and persuasion rather than force. According to this account, the authority of religious and educational leaders should be grounded in moral purpose rather than the exercise of power.     

Sellars's Ethics: Variations on Kantian Themes

Philosophical Studies -     

Jewish pioneers on Canada’s prairies: The Lipton Jewish agricultural colony

This article offers a detailed analysis of the forces that shaped the Lipton colony in its 50-year existence, one of several dozen attempts to establish Jewish agricultural settlement on Canada’s Western prairies. Comparing both the particularities and the common features of Lipton with those of other colonies will allow strengthening some of the commonly accepted generalizations regarding these colonies, while at the same time showing other assumptions to be questionable or even myth. * A detailed discussion of the Jewish agricultural colonies in Western Canada may be found in Yossi Katz and John C. Lehr, The Last Best West: Essays on the Historical Geography of the Canadian Prairies (Jerusalem, 1999). Other sources discussing the colonies and the reasons for their establishment and ultimate disappearance are: Louis Rosenberg, “Jewish Agriculture in Canada” YIVO Annual of Social Sciences 5 (1950), 205–215; Louis Rosenberg, Canada’s Jews: A Social and Economic Study of the Jews of Canada in the 1930s (Montreal, 1931); Abraham J. Arnold, “The Contribution of the Jews to the Opening and Development of the West” Transactions of the Manitoba Historical Society Series 3 no. 3, (Winnipeg, 1968–’69).