Neal Gold | Brandeis University (original) (raw)

Uploads

Papers by Neal Gold

Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception, 2024

This entry for the Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception discusses the Biblical virtue of "... more This entry for the Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception discusses the Biblical virtue of "Patience" through the lens of modern Jewish thought. It addresses patience on two planes: (1) as a personal virtue and (2) as a national value.

CCAR Journal, 2020

In America in 2020, the fissures of income inequality are wider than ever before, and debates abo... more In America in 2020, the fissures of income inequality are wider than ever before, and debates about poverty and wealth are equally broad. As in so many other realms of our social discourse, views have hardened into conservative and liberal stances. The publication of "The Sacred Exchange: Creating a Jewish Money Ethic" by the CCAR Press should spark a community-wide reflection about wealth and its influence over our Jewish communities. It should also elicit a return to Jewish sources to analyze the proper Jewish spiritual-ethical stance towards money and its role in our lives.
This study, which focuses on the role of wealth, poverty, and their respective causes in the Book of Proverbs, is intended to be a modest contribution towards that conversation.

Navigating the Journey: The Essential Guide to the Jewish Life Cycle, 2018

An essay on "Tzedakah," Jewish charitable giving, from "Navigating the Journey: The Essential Gui... more An essay on "Tzedakah," Jewish charitable giving, from "Navigating the Journey: The Essential Guide to the Jewish Life Cycle," ed. Peter S. Knobel, 2018.

In 1983, the Central Conference of American Rabbis—the North American organization of Reform rabb... more In 1983, the Central Conference of American Rabbis—the North American organization of Reform rabbis—passed a resolution that upended the traditional understanding of how Jewish status was transmitted. Officially described as resolution regarding “The Status of Children of Mixed Marriages,” it is colloquially known as the decision on “patrilineal descent.” In this paper, I briefly outline the origins and fallout of the patrilineal descent resolution and address several responsa that are directly linked to its interpretation of Jewish identity and its relationship to giyur.

Redemption is an umbrella construct for a variety of eschatological ideas in classical Jewish tho... more Redemption is an umbrella construct for a variety of eschatological ideas in classical Jewish thought, incorporating: a messiah, descended from the House of David; the ingathering of the Jewish exiles in the Land of Israel; the reestablishment of the priestly cult in a rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem; an era of peace and universal knowledge of the God of Israel; retribution against the enemies of Israel; and the resurrection of the dead. Although all these ideas did not necessarily coexist simultaneously in the thought of individual Jewish philosophers throughout the ages, each notion appears in various contexts in the traditional Jewish prayerbook.
Modernity challenged each of these ideas in a variety of ways, and the responses to those challenges were expressed on the pages of Reform prayerbooks, first in Europe and then in America. While the development of Reform liturgy has been the subject of many studies, the theological underpinnings that have shaped contemporary prayerbooks have not been well analyzed. This thesis explores the treatment of three of those themes—the personal messiah, the ingathering of exiles, and the resurrection of the dead—as they appeared in Reform prayerbooks, culminating in Mishkan T’filah, the official liturgy for the American Reform Jewish community in the first part of the twenty-first century. The rationalist confidence of the nineteenth century gave way to doubt, a limited rediscovery of Jewish particularism, and a desire to welcome a plurality of theologies by the second half of the twentieth century. In Mishkan T’filah, we observe a modest recovery of some of these classical, non-rational modes of Jewish eschatology, filtered through the prism of all that came before it.

An analysis of the history of the Prayer for Israel and its theological challenges in liberal lit... more An analysis of the history of the Prayer for Israel and its theological challenges in liberal liturgies, especially the phrase Reishit Tz'michat G'ulateinu/"the beginning of the blossoming of our redemption" and its messianic implications.

Book Reviews by Neal Gold

CCAR Journal, 2021

This is a review essay discussing the evolution of modern Hebrew literature, from the first pione... more This is a review essay discussing the evolution of modern Hebrew literature, from the first pioneers through contemporary questions about what constitutes a modern Hebrew "canon." It discusses the lessons of two recent books: "The Lady of Hebrew and Her Lovers of Zion," by Hillel Halkin (Toby Press, 2020) and "Since 1948: Israeli Literature in the Making," Nancy E. Berg and Naomi B. Sokoloff, eds. (SUNY Press, 2020).

Books by Neal Gold

Radiance: Creative Mitzvah Living, The Selected Prose and Poetry of Danny Siegel, 2020

This is the introduction to "Radiance: Creative Mitzvah Living, The Selected Prose and Poetry of ... more This is the introduction to "Radiance: Creative Mitzvah Living, The Selected Prose and Poetry of Danny Siegel."

This first anthology of the most important writings by Danny Siegel, spanning and renewing fifty years of insights, intersperses soulful Jewish texts with innovative Mitzvah ideas to rouse individuals and communities to transform our lives, communities, neighborhoods, and world.

Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception, 2024

This entry for the Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception discusses the Biblical virtue of "... more This entry for the Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception discusses the Biblical virtue of "Patience" through the lens of modern Jewish thought. It addresses patience on two planes: (1) as a personal virtue and (2) as a national value.

CCAR Journal, 2020

In America in 2020, the fissures of income inequality are wider than ever before, and debates abo... more In America in 2020, the fissures of income inequality are wider than ever before, and debates about poverty and wealth are equally broad. As in so many other realms of our social discourse, views have hardened into conservative and liberal stances. The publication of "The Sacred Exchange: Creating a Jewish Money Ethic" by the CCAR Press should spark a community-wide reflection about wealth and its influence over our Jewish communities. It should also elicit a return to Jewish sources to analyze the proper Jewish spiritual-ethical stance towards money and its role in our lives.
This study, which focuses on the role of wealth, poverty, and their respective causes in the Book of Proverbs, is intended to be a modest contribution towards that conversation.

Navigating the Journey: The Essential Guide to the Jewish Life Cycle, 2018

An essay on "Tzedakah," Jewish charitable giving, from "Navigating the Journey: The Essential Gui... more An essay on "Tzedakah," Jewish charitable giving, from "Navigating the Journey: The Essential Guide to the Jewish Life Cycle," ed. Peter S. Knobel, 2018.

In 1983, the Central Conference of American Rabbis—the North American organization of Reform rabb... more In 1983, the Central Conference of American Rabbis—the North American organization of Reform rabbis—passed a resolution that upended the traditional understanding of how Jewish status was transmitted. Officially described as resolution regarding “The Status of Children of Mixed Marriages,” it is colloquially known as the decision on “patrilineal descent.” In this paper, I briefly outline the origins and fallout of the patrilineal descent resolution and address several responsa that are directly linked to its interpretation of Jewish identity and its relationship to giyur.

Redemption is an umbrella construct for a variety of eschatological ideas in classical Jewish tho... more Redemption is an umbrella construct for a variety of eschatological ideas in classical Jewish thought, incorporating: a messiah, descended from the House of David; the ingathering of the Jewish exiles in the Land of Israel; the reestablishment of the priestly cult in a rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem; an era of peace and universal knowledge of the God of Israel; retribution against the enemies of Israel; and the resurrection of the dead. Although all these ideas did not necessarily coexist simultaneously in the thought of individual Jewish philosophers throughout the ages, each notion appears in various contexts in the traditional Jewish prayerbook.
Modernity challenged each of these ideas in a variety of ways, and the responses to those challenges were expressed on the pages of Reform prayerbooks, first in Europe and then in America. While the development of Reform liturgy has been the subject of many studies, the theological underpinnings that have shaped contemporary prayerbooks have not been well analyzed. This thesis explores the treatment of three of those themes—the personal messiah, the ingathering of exiles, and the resurrection of the dead—as they appeared in Reform prayerbooks, culminating in Mishkan T’filah, the official liturgy for the American Reform Jewish community in the first part of the twenty-first century. The rationalist confidence of the nineteenth century gave way to doubt, a limited rediscovery of Jewish particularism, and a desire to welcome a plurality of theologies by the second half of the twentieth century. In Mishkan T’filah, we observe a modest recovery of some of these classical, non-rational modes of Jewish eschatology, filtered through the prism of all that came before it.

An analysis of the history of the Prayer for Israel and its theological challenges in liberal lit... more An analysis of the history of the Prayer for Israel and its theological challenges in liberal liturgies, especially the phrase Reishit Tz'michat G'ulateinu/"the beginning of the blossoming of our redemption" and its messianic implications.

CCAR Journal, 2021

This is a review essay discussing the evolution of modern Hebrew literature, from the first pione... more This is a review essay discussing the evolution of modern Hebrew literature, from the first pioneers through contemporary questions about what constitutes a modern Hebrew "canon." It discusses the lessons of two recent books: "The Lady of Hebrew and Her Lovers of Zion," by Hillel Halkin (Toby Press, 2020) and "Since 1948: Israeli Literature in the Making," Nancy E. Berg and Naomi B. Sokoloff, eds. (SUNY Press, 2020).

Radiance: Creative Mitzvah Living, The Selected Prose and Poetry of Danny Siegel, 2020

This is the introduction to "Radiance: Creative Mitzvah Living, The Selected Prose and Poetry of ... more This is the introduction to "Radiance: Creative Mitzvah Living, The Selected Prose and Poetry of Danny Siegel."

This first anthology of the most important writings by Danny Siegel, spanning and renewing fifty years of insights, intersperses soulful Jewish texts with innovative Mitzvah ideas to rouse individuals and communities to transform our lives, communities, neighborhoods, and world.