Whose Torah? A Concise Guide to Progressive Judaism (review)

Rebecca Alpert is among the first women to be ordained as a rabbi and is a leader and advocate for progressive social issues. In this slim volume Alpert endeavors to show the progressive values inherent in Jewish tradition and how progressive Judaism encompasses social justice in its approach to the most important social and political issues of our time: sexuality, gender, race, war and peace, poverty, and the environment.

Whose Torah? is part of the "Whose Religion" series published by the New Press, in which leading thinkers from Judaism, Catholicism, Protestantism, and Islam demonstrate how their traditions call for progressive positions on contemporary social issues. Alpert concisely delineates the textual basis for progressive social justice positions on many issues and introduces the movements, leaders, and organizations that are the core of the progressive Jewish ethos. She looks at contemporary societal issues through the lens of Torah and demonstrates the Jewish underpinnings of contemporary progressive politics.

In the chapters on sexuality and gender, Alpert explores Jewish views on intimacy, marriage, divorce, birth control, abortion, and homosexuality. She demonstrates the ways that Judaism, in general, advocates a positive view of sex and shares her own views on marriage equality and same sex marriages. She addresses the challenges of war and peace through the lens of the Hanukkah story and does not shy away from expounding upon the current conflict in Israel. Her exploration of Jewish peace efforts includes the wish for peace for the whole world that is a part of the prayers of justice-pursuing Jews. The sections on poverty and the environment include passages from the Talmud and the teachings of Maimonides, the meaning of communal responsibility and why American Jews have historically been at the forefront of community activism.

Alpert's consideration of what it means to be a Jew in contemporary America defines Jewishness as both a cultural connection and being part of a religious community. However, it is Alpert's assertion that justice is the central value in the Torah, a value that must be pursued in all arenas of contemporary life, which forms the thesis of this book.

She is able to demonstrate how religious values are as much a part of contemporary progressive Jewish life as she debunks the myth that religion is the province of conservatism, and she successfully challenges the co-opting of religion by the conservative right for political gain. Alpert presents a concise overview of the approach of social justice in contemporary Judaism and how one lives progressive Judaism in everyday life.