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This article examines key texts on the experience of the giving of the Ten Commandments from the Bible, through rabbinic tradition, medieval commentators and two Hasidic masters. Keywords: Maimonides, Nachmanides, Ropshitz, Rymanov, Ten Commandments

Miriam’s Well (from Talmudic sources)

Abstract Jewish texts, both Biblical and post-Biblical, depict the Divine as fickle, fallible, imbued with human characteristics. This article attempts to establish a typology of Divine fallibility, categorising examples and seeking to explain them through literary and theological-anthropological lenses. Somewhat similar trends are seen in Ancient Greek myths about the behaviour and interactions of Greek gods, who are shown betraying, plotting against and envying each other just as humans do. The article explores the literary possibilities of a polytheistic system – where deities can display fallible pettiness among their own while maintaining a front of infallibility in their interactions with humankind – over a monotheistic system.

Abstract Most Jews have heard about Kol Isha, the proscription against women raising their voices in song. But discussions about the voice of a woman were broader than whether or not she could sing and in what context, and in whose presence. The discomfort men had about women, not just singing but also speaking, has never been simply an issue of a voice, but rather of a voice embodied in a particular body, a female body, whose physical presence has traditionally presented a problem for Jewish men. These days, this is not solely an uncomfortable problem within the Orthodox Jewish world, but also within the progressive Jewish world, where women's voices and women's presence are still challenging and discomfiting to people. Nor does it remain solely a source of Jewish anxiety; women and their voices affect women in all aspects of secular life as well.

Abstract This article examines selected stories of Ruth's conversion in order to find out whether the belief in God was an explicit conversion requirement in rabbinic Judaism. This examination aims to establish whether there are rabbinic sources that could support the decision to convert non-believers to Progressive Judaism. First, the article examines the story of Ruth's conversion in bYevamot 47a–b in the context of rabbinic conversion requirements delineated in bYevamot 46a–48b. It proposes that Yevamot 47a–b treats the belief in God as an implicitly necessary requirement for conversion. Second, the article analyses the story of Ruth's conversion found in Targum Ruth, which includes the description of Ruth's belief in the World-to-Come but focuses on pious observance of the commandments. Finally, the article posits that the absence of explicit references to faith in God among rabbinic conversion requirements calls for Progressive communal and liturgical openness to contemporary Jewish struggles with belief.

Abstract While some philosophers have posited Judaism and Hellenism as opposites, interesting collaboration has always taken place in the liminal spaces between the two poles. In this article, I explore one such space: the bathhouse. I draw on two stories from different epochs and places: Rabban Gamliel's interlocution with Proclus ben Philosophus in second-century Akko; and Rabbi Lionel Blue's experience with Rabbi Dr Werner van der Zyl in twentieth-century Amsterdam. Based on these two stories, I argue that certain spaces allow for collaboration, wherein seemingly contrasting cultures can be reconciled. I focus particularly on how attitudes to minds and bodies are articulated through the prism of bathhouses.

Abstract A Piyyut for Hoshana Rabbah presents a modern piyyut designed for the last day of the Sukkoth festival. It focuses on the ushpizin that we invited under the sukkah during the festival, presenting not only the male ushpizin mentioned in the Zohar, but also female ones, following the list given in the Machzor Forms of Prayer for Jewish Worship: II Prayers for the Pilgrim Festivals. The goal of this piyyut is to value the biblical characters invited as ushpizin during Sukkoth and their specific destiny in the context of the festival, as well as the progressive value of gender equality.

Abstract Controversy over the recital by young Jews in Parliament Square during May 2018 of Mourners’ Kaddish for Palestinians shot while trying to break through the border reflected a misunderstanding about the different ways Kaddish is used in Traditional and Progressive contexts. Mourners’ Kaddish is recited in Traditional settings to commemorate deceased relatives and more rarely other Jews. In Progressive circles it is read communally in unison, very occasionally also for non-Jews. This article questions the appropriateness of reciting Mourners’ Kaddish for the Gaza victims, none of whom were Jewish and whose intentions were uncertain. Instead, an act of text study could have been used to highlight moral ambiguity, followed by Kaddish de-Rabbanan, the traditional coda to a study session. This would have avoided offence to Muslims and to Jews, and have ensured that the act of reciting Kaddish refers in this case not to the dead but to the moral problems raised by their killing.

Abstract Progressive liturgists seek to introduce gender parity into the first paragraph of the Amidah by adding the names of the Matriarchs immediately after those of the Patriarchs. I argue that this misrepresents their marriages and the role played by the concubines. A more balanced understanding is made possible by distancing the names of the Matriarchs from those of their husbands, and inserting them in the form of a brief piyyut, composed of biblical citations, just before the concluding blessing formula. The proposed insertion reflects the agency displayed by the Matriarchs and alludes obliquely to the concubines. Account is taken of the appropriateness of the piyyut for use in traditional settings.

Misafirperverlik, Türk kültürünün önemli bir parçasıdır. Anadolu’da olduğu gibi, Türkistan’da yaşayan Türk boyları da misafire büyük değer verir ve misafirperverliğin en güzel örneklerini sergilerler. Bu konuda dikkat çeken topluluklardan biri de Kırgızlardır. Kırgızlar, misafir ağırlamaktan büyük mutluluk duyararak konuklarına saygı ve nezâketle davranırlar. Kırgızlarda düğünler ve diğer tören yemekleri gibi özel günlerde misafir sofralarında uygulanan önemli geleneklerden biri de “keşik”tir. Keşik, gelinin veya damadın babasının evinden getirilen, misafirin bir ziyafetten dönerken yanında evine götürdüğü ya da yaşlıların sofrada kendi paylarından gençlere verdiği yiyecekleri ifade eder. Bu gelenek, Kırgız Türkleri arasında önemli bir yere sahip olmasına rağmen, akademik anlamda yeterince incelenmemiş ve bu nedenle pek bilinmemektedir. Bu makalede, Kırgız Türklerinde köklü bir geçmişe sahip olan ve günümüzde de canlılığını koruyan keşik geleneği kapsamlı bir şekilde ele alınmıştır. Bu çalışmanın amacı, pek bilinmeyen ancak kültürel açıdan önemli bir gelenek olan keşik uygulamasını gün yüzüne çıkarmak; tanınıp uygulanmasını sağlayarak topluma sunduğu faydalardan daha geniş kesimlerin yararlanmasına katkı sunmaktır. Aynı zamanda bu geleneğin unutulmasının veya yok olmasının önüne geçerek, gelecek kuşaklara aktarılması hedeflenmektedir. Araştırma sürecinde, literatür taraması ve saha araştırması olmak üzere iki temel yöntem kullanılmıştır. Elde edilen bulgular, keşik geleneğinin düğünler, törenler, hayır yemekleri ve misafir sofralarında köklü bir yere sahip olduğunu ve derin anlamlar taşıdığını ortaya koymaktadır. Bu anlamlar arasında; keşiğin rızıkla özdeşleştirilmesi, keşik verilen kişinin iyiliğinin istenmesi, bereketin artırılması ve israfın önlenmesi gibi unsurlar öne çıkmaktadır. Günümüzde keşik geleneği, birçok bölgede tüm canlılığıyla yaşatılmaya devam etmektedir. Ayrıca keşik, dünürler arasında saygı ve değerin bir göstergesi olmanın ötesinde, yakınlık ve samimiyeti pekiştirerek karşılıklı sevgi ve dostluğu güçlendirmektedir.