In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

ix Description of the Jewish Choices, Jewish Voices Series This series is intended to provide a forum for discussion of some of the most critical moral issues of our time. Although many of the topics chosen affect people of all ages, the series is designed to address particularly the moral problems faced by adults in their twenties and thirties. Because the Jewish tradition is richly endowed with moral experience and insights, each volume of the series includes Jewish materials from ancient, medieval, and modern sources. And because the Jewish tradition , from its very beginnings, is multivocal, the sources presented deliberately include many Jewish perspectives from the past. The process of Jewish wrestling with moral subjects, however, continues on to our own day, and it does so not only theoretically but also concretely and practically . Each volume, therefore, presents cases that raise difficult, modern moral issues. We have also invited a number of modern Jews, representing a variety of backgrounds and Jewish perspectives, to comment either on those cases or on moral problems related to the book’s topic that arise in their own lives, together with how they deal with them. This symposium both reflects on the meaning and application of the sources contained in the volume and extends the conversation into new areas of concern. The introduction to each book describes the moral issues that the book raises and the Jewish investment in responding to them. The conclusion reflects back on the ground covered, including a broad look at the range of perspectives the book has documented and the meaning of those responses for future problems in the area of moral concern. In sum, then, the structure of each book is as follows: Introduction: The topic of the book, the range of moral issues that it raises, and its import for modern life and for Judaism I. Case Studies and Jewish Sources: Several cases illustrating some of the specific moral issues involved in the topic, including questions that highlight those issues, followed by ancient and modern Jewish sources relevant to those issues II. Symposium: Contemporary Jews’ perspectives on the cases or on the book’s topic as it emerges in their own lives x Jewish Choices, Jewish Voices: POWER III. Conclusion: A summary of the underlying issues raised in the volume, together with some reflection on other related issues that may arise in the future Our hope for this series is that Jews will be enriched both morally and Jewishly as they confront critical moral issues with the aid of classical and modern Jewish sources and multiple contemporary Jewish voices. Seeing moral issues through a Jewish lens, even one that produces multiple refractions of the Jewish tradition and of Jewish modernity, will, we hope, enable modern Jews to grapple with those issues more intelligently and more sensitively. It is our deepest conviction that these voices from the Jewish tradition and the Jewish community today will invite readers to consider their moral choices in a different light. At the very least, they give us all new questions and perspectives to ponder and, more often than not, moral wisdom and guidance. Elliot N. Dorff Louis E. Newman July 2007 ...

Share