Dear Friends,
It took me a week to recover from Limmud, but rest assured, January has been a productive month as Project Manager nonetheless! Here are some exciting updates.
It should not come as a surprise to many of you that a scholar of Louis Jacobs’s caliber was solicited as a contributor to the massive project that is the Encyclopedia Judaica. Indeed, he authored a number of entries – 27 altogether – which we are currently in the process of uploading on our website. And no small ones! In what probably represents the most comprehensive reference work on Jewish religion and history ever published, it is significant that Jacobs authored articles on Judaism, Halakhah, and Hermeneutics (among others)! Several more entries forthcoming, so watch this space… And it might seem like a small achievement, but it is certainly worth noting that, once the final pieces from the Encyclopedia Judaica have been placed online, we will have every single encyclopedia entry authored by Louis Jacobs available on the website. One step closer to our ultimate objective!
Another recent addition to our website is a lengthy interview released in 1986, originally published in The Jewish Advocate – the oldest continuously-circulated English-language newspaper in the US. It touches on the famous Jacobs Affair, but also the Jewish landscape in England as a whole, interfaith, social justice, and religious leadership.
And some food for thought for your shabbat tables, from our website: two inspiring divrei torah on the portions of Shemot and Yitro. I certainly recommend the latter, which expounds on the concept of choseness in the Jewish tradition, a controversial subject!
Finally, a few comments for the weeks and months ahead…
Those who saw our newsletter last week will have taken notice of two forthcoming events. The first, on 29th January, is a study group led by the Foundation’s new director, Simon Eder, on the subject of Orthodoxy and biblical criticism; the second, on 12th February, is a presentation by William Kolbrener, Professor of English Literature at Bar-Ilan University, and author of several highly-recommended works, including Open-Minded Torah: Of Irony, Fundamentalism, and Love (2011). This presentation, entitled “Beyond the Law: Transitioning from Halakha to Ethics”, will be chaired by Elie Jesner. Please let us know if you wish to attend either of these two events by emailing info@louisjacobs.org.
That’s it for this month’s editor’s blog post! Wishing all our friends all the best!
Ezra
For information or feedback, please contact info@louisjacobs.org.
