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Torah Sources

Accountability and Transparency

2009-06-10 16:55

This sourcesheet comes from a shiur given by Rabbi Yisoscher Katz on Accountability and Transparency.

Community Organizing in Sefer Shemot

2009-01-18 13:04

organizing with moshe text.pdf (107,2 kB)

Encountering the Other: The Importance of Relationships in Social Justice

2009-03-26 13:54

This is the source sheet for the shiur, "The Encounter with the Other & The Importance of Relationships in Torah Social Justice -- The Biblical and Rabbinic Moral Constructions of the Other as Family, Enemy, Stranger, Self, and G-d," given by Shmuly Yanklowitz at Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun.

Environmentalism and Judaism

2009-03-17 14:19

This source sheet is from the Beit Midrash hosted with HAZON in March 2009 at Mt. Sinai in Washington Heights. judaism_and_environmentalism.doc (133 kB)

Ethical Consumerism @ BU

2009-03-03 13:45

Shmuly Yanklowitz gave a talk on "Ethical Consumerism: Desire, Responsibility, and the Good Society," delivered on Sunday, March 1st, at the Boston University Hillel. This is the source sheet: Ethics of Consumerism (Yom Iyun Shiur).pdf (173,2 kB)

Ethical Kashrut

2009-02-24 21:34

Ethical Kashrut (Philly Limmud, 2009).pdf (185 kB)

Food and Justice

2009-03-26 14:10

This source sheet is from the Beit Midrash on "Food Sources: Do they Matter?" by Adina Luber.

Genocide and Judaism

2009-03-03 14:13

This source sheet is from the Beit Midrash event hosted by Uri L'Tzedek, STAND, and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on March 4th, 2009.

Halachic Sources on Blood Diamonds

2009-01-18 11:57

Blood Diamonds (mekorot and packet) Final.doc (94,5 kB)

Halachic Sources on Copyrights

2009-01-27 18:18

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Mussar, Midot, and Spirituality

Middah Reflection #1: Achrayut - Responsibility

2008-07-27 10:58

Responsibility is one of the most important midot to cultivate in one’s soul. Acharayut (responsibility in Hebrew) comes from the root “acher” (other). To take responsibility means to cultivate the “ability” for response” to an “other.” This responsibility to another is born in the moment where no...

Middah Reflection #2 - Anivut, Humility

2008-07-27 22:14

Anivut (humility) has a very special priority in positive Jewish self development. Rav Kook wrote (The Moral Principles, page 174) that “Humility is associated with spiritual perfection. When humility effects depression it is defective, when it is genuine it inspires joy, courage, and inner...

Middah Reflection #3 - Savlanut vs. Zrizut, Patience vs. Alacrity

2008-07-30 09:21

Activism requires a very calculated and sensitive balance between patience and alacrity. On the one hand, one must have the patience for teaching and engaging the apathetic and the uninformed. On the other hand, one must also have the alacrity to respond to crises and injustices at the most...

Middah Reflection #4 - Messianic Yearning

2008-07-31 10:46

Religious Jews are taught at a young age to yearn for the geulah (redemption). With sophistication, the student comes to learn that messianism is not just about seeking an end but is also a worldview, a process of living with a vision and with a dream. What is one to do if they lack...

Middah Reflection #5 - Pursuit of God in Justice

2008-08-06 20:25

“Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with beings divine and human and have prevailed,” (Bereshit 32:29). Yaakov Avinu is blessed with a new name only once he has struggled both with G-d and humanity together. The Jewish people are named Israel only after...

Middot Reflection #6 - Actualizing one's potential, by Shmuly Yanklowitz

2009-01-05 23:00

Our work is never done! This is what makes Jewish activism so intimidating and also so invigorating. We never complete the larger goals. We are never whole. Until the day that we pass from the earth, we are unable to fully step back and “throw the towel in.” The Maharal M’Prague taught:...

Middot Reflection #7 - Activisms of Love and Hate, by Shmuly Yanklowitz

2009-01-05 22:59

Should we fight for justice with hearts full of love or hearts full of anger? Which is more rewarding? Which is more productive? Which must we cultivate as religious activists? Rav Soloveitchik argued (A Theory of Emotions, 183):...

Middot reflection #8 - Sloth, By Shmuly Yanklowitz

2009-01-05 22:56

Classically, the vice of sloth (laziness) had two components: 1. acedia – a lack of caring or indifference 2. tristtitia – sadness, sorrow, or despair I would argue that the negative...

Prayer for the People of Darfur - Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of the UK

2008-07-30 10:00

PRAYER FOR THE PEOPLE OF DARFUR Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks O God of Peace, Who commands us to seek peace, Send peace to the people of Darfur. O God of compassion, Who hears the cry of the afflicted, Hear the cry of the victims, The bereaved, the injured, And all those who live their days in...

Social Action or Spiritual Practice: Which is the Priority? By Alan Morinis, Director of the Mussar Institute

2008-07-27 21:53

The title of this essay makes no sense to me. To set up social action on one hand and spiritual practice on the other, as if these could be considered separable alternatives, seems to me like asking, “Which is more important for life: brains or heart?” Try living without either of them....

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Social Justice Torah

R. Haskel Lookstein and Social Activism

2008-08-17 00:55

(From Rav Chesed: The Life and Times of Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, page 55-56) Political or social activism was hardly the hallmark of American Orthodox rabbis in the 1960s. While a number of Conservative and Reform rabbis participated in the civil rights movement or protested U.S. involvement in the...

'Are There Any Jews in Ghana?' -- Hierarchies of Obligation and the Jewish Community, by Rabbi Alex Kaye, as published by the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals

2009-01-21 23:27

(Rabbi Kaye recently received his rabbinic ordination fromYeshivat Chovevei Torah. During the 2007-2008 academic year, he was rabbinicintern for the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals. Currently, he serves as rabbinicassistant at Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in New York...

A Jewish Response to Globalization (Rabbi Micha Odenheimer)

2009-02-24 21:31

A Jewish Response to Globalization RABBI MICHA ODENHEIMER Rabbi Micha Odenheimer is a contributing editor for Eretz Acheret Magazine. The founding director of the Israel Association for Ethiopian Jews, he currently runs Tevel b’tzedek, a service and advocacy program for Israelis and Diaspora...

Agunot and Pilagshut, Dr. Marc Shapiro

2009-01-27 18:00

Agunot and Pilagshut (Dr. Shapiro).doc (106 kB)

B'Maaglei Tzedek Journal 5766 - English version

2008-08-17 01:05

mtzenglish.pdf (3,5 MB)

Ben Greenberg - A Jewish Liberation Theology

2008-05-22 18:34

A Jewish Liberation Theory Ben Greenberg.pdf (58,9 kB)

Bikur Cholim

2009-03-04 09:53

This is a source sheet from YUTorah on Bikur Cholim, by R. Larry Rothwachs. www.yutorah.org/browse/browse.cfm#category=234618&mediaTypeCategory=text&organizationID=301

Bringing Dr. King into the Beit Midrash, Rabbi Dr. Yehudah Mirsky

2008-07-30 09:52

Oddly, or perhaps not, for a product of the Orthodox yeshiva world, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., profoundly shaped my religious life. His life story, with all its achievements, failures, complexities and wonders, is, as are the lives of all spiritual giants, its own text and source...

Building a Youth Tzedekah Foundation - Rabbi Mike Schultz

2009-01-27 17:59

Youth Tzedakah Foundation (Mike Schultz).doc (54,5 kB)

Choosing a Profession, by R. Yosef Blau

2009-03-04 09:39

This is an article from the Torah UMadda Journal, by R. Yosef Blau, on business ethics and "Choosing a Profession." www.yutorah.org/browse/browse.cfm#mediaTypeCategory=text&category=234906〈=cfm&organizationID=301

All articles

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The Orthodox Social Justice Movement