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E-book
Author Kaplan, Mordecai Menahem, 1881-1983, author.

Title Communings of the spirit. Volume III, The journals of Mordecai M. Kaplan, 1942-1951 / edited by Mel Scult
Published Detroit : Wayne State University Press, 2020
Baltimore, Md. : Project MUSE, 0000
©2020

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Description 1 online resource (pages cm)
Series American Jewish civilization series
Book collections on Project MUSE
Contents Cover Page -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- Foreword -- Introduction -- Chapter 1. January 4, 1942-April 24, 1942 -- Chapter 2. April 30, 1942-July 31, 1942 -- Chapter 3. August 6, 1942-October 23, 1942 -- Chapter 4. October 24, 1942-March 21, 1943 -- Chapter 5. March 22, 1943-August 17, 1943 -- Chapter 6. August 23, 1943-August 7, 1944 -- Chapter 7. September 14, 1944-April 17, 1945 -- Chapter 8. April 18, 1945-September 4, 1946 -- Chapter 9. October 13, 1946-March 16, 1948 -- Chapter 10. March 17, 1948-April 10, 1950 -- Chapter 11. May 19, 1950-June 10, 1951
Time Line of Kaplan's Life -- Glossary -- Index -- About the Authors
Summary "Mordecai M. Kaplan (1881-1983), founder of Reconstructionism and the rabbi who initiated the first Bat Mitzvah, also produced the longest Jewish diary on record. In twenty-seven volumes, written between 1913 and 1978, Kaplan shares not only his reaction to the great events of his time but also his very personal thoughts on religion and Jewish life. In Communings of the Spirit: The Journals of Mordecai M. Kaplan Volume III, 1942-1951, readers experience his horror at the persecution of the European Jews, as well as his joy in the founding of the State of Israel. Above all else, Kaplan was concerned with the survival and welfare of the Jewish people. And yet he also believed that the well-being of the Jewish people was tied to the safety and security of all people. In his own words, "Such is the mutuality of human life that none can be saved, unless all are saved." In the first volume of Communings of the Spirit, editor Mel Scult covers Kaplan's early years as a rabbi, teacher of rabbis, and community leader. In the second volume, readers experience the economic problems of the 1930s and their shattering impact on the Jewish community. The third volume chronicles Kaplan's spiritual and intellectual journey in the 1940s. With candor and vivid detail, Kaplan explores his evolving beliefs concerning a democratic Judaism; religious naturalism; and the conflicts, uncertainties, and self-doubts he faced in the first half of the twentieth century, including his excommunication by the ultra-Orthodox in 1945 for taking a more progressive approach to the liturgy. In his publications, Kaplan eliminated the time-honored declarations of Jewish chosen-ness as well as the outdated doctrines concerning the resurrection of the dead. He wanted a prayer book that Jews could feel reflected their beliefs and experiences; he believed that people must mean what they say when they pray. Kaplan was a man of contradictions, but because of that, all the more interesting and significant. Scholars of Judaica and rabbinical studies will value this honest look at the preeminent American Jewish thinker and rabbi of our times"-- Provided by publisher
Notes Description based on print version record
Subject Kaplan, Mordecai Menahem, 1881-1983 -- Diaries
SUBJECT Kaplan, Mordecai Menahem, 1881-1983 fast
Subject Rabbis -- United States -- Diaries
Judaism -- United States
Reconstructionist Judaism.
Judaism
Rabbis
Reconstructionist Judaism
United States
Genre/Form Diaries
Form Electronic book
Author Scult, Mel, editor.
Project Muse. distributor.
LC no. 2020939951
ISBN 9780814347683
0814347681
Other Titles Journals of Mordecai M. Kaplan, 1942-1951