Abraham Joshua Heschel was a Polish-American rabbi and one of the leading Jewish theologians and Jewish philosophers of the 20th century. Heschel,a professor of Jewish mysticism at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America,authored a number of widely read books on Jewish philosophy and was a leader in the civil rights movement.
The Passover Seder is a ritual feast at the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover. It is conducted throughout the world on the eve of the 15th day of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar. The day falls in late March or in April of the Gregorian calendar;Passover lasts for seven days in Israel and eight days outside Israel. Jews traditionally observe one seder if in Israel and two if in the Jewish diaspora. The Seder is a ritual involving a retelling of the story of the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt,taken from the Book of Exodus in the Torah. The Seder itself is based on the Biblical verse commanding Jews to retell the story of the Exodus from Egypt:"You shall tell your child on that day,saying,'It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.'" At the seder,Jews read the text of the Haggadah,an ancient Tannaitic work. The Haggadah contains the narrative of the Israelite exodus from Egypt,special blessings and rituals,Talmudic commentaries,and Passover songs.
The Star of David is a generally recognized symbol of both Jewish identity and Judaism. Its shape is that of a hexagram:the compound of two equilateral triangles.
Prince El Hassan bin Talal is a member of the Jordanian royal family who was previously Crown Prince from 1965 to 1999,being removed just three weeks before King Hussein's death. He is now 20th in line to succeed his nephew King Abdullah II.
Abraham Geiger was a German rabbi and scholar who is considered the founding father of Reform Judaism. Emphasizing Judaism's constant development through its history and universalist traits,Geiger sought to re-formulate received forms and design what he regarded as a religion compliant with modern times.
Arthur Ocean Waskow is an American author,political activist,and rabbi associated with the Jewish Renewal movement.
Roberta Kalechofsky was an American writer,feminist and animal rights activist,focusing on the issue of animal rights within Judaism and the promotion of vegetarianism within the Jewish community. She was the founder of Jews for Animal Rights and Micah Publications or Micah Books,which specializes in the publication of animal rights,Jewish vegetarianism,and Holocaust literature.
The Passover Seder plate is a special plate containing symbolic foods eaten or displayed at the Passover Seder. The purpose of the Passover Seder plate is to show all the foods that perpetuate and emphasize the ideas of the people of Israel,and are designed to express the uniqueness of the Seder. Another idea is to keep the foods close and ready for Seder night.
The World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ) is the international umbrella organization for the various branches of Reform,Liberal and Progressive Judaism,as well as the separate Reconstructionist Judaism. The WUPJ is based in 40 countries with 1,275 affiliated synagogues,of which 1,170 are Reform,Progressive,or Liberal and 105 Reconstructionist. It claims to represent a total of some 1.8 million people,both registered constituents and non-member identifiers. The WUPJ states that it aims to create common ground between its constituents and to promote Progressive Judaism in places where individuals and groups are seeking authentic,yet modern ways of expressing themselves as Jews. It seeks to preserve Jewish integrity wherever Jews live,to encourage integration without assimilation,to deal with modernity while preserving the Jewish experience,and to strive for equal rights and social justice.
Jewish feminism is a movement that seeks to make the religious,legal,and social status of Jewish women equal to that of Jewish men in Judaism. Feminist movements,with varying approaches and successes,have opened up within all major branches of the Jewish religion.
Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums,or Higher Institute for Jewish Studies,was a rabbinical seminary established in Berlin in 1872 and closed down by the Nazi government of Germany in 1942. Upon the order of the government,the name was officially changed to Lehranstalt für die Wissenschaft des Judentums.
Annette Mirjam Böckler is a German scholar of Judaism,who worked as librarian at Leo Baeck College in London,and a writer and translator in the Jewish subject area. She briefly held a post with ZIID in Zurich. She is one of the translators of Seder haTefillot,the first liberal Jewish prayerbook after the Shoah in Germany,and the translator and editor of the German edition of the W. Gunther Plaut's Torah commentary.
The Apta-Zinkov-Mezibuz dynasty is a Polish Hasidic dynasty founded by Rabbi Avraham Yehoshua Heshel of Apta,born in Zhmigrid,Poland in 1748 and died in Mezhbizh,Ukraine,Russian Empire in 1825.
Abraham Cronbach was an American rabbi and teacher,known as a pacifist. He served as a rabbi for congregations in Indiana and Ohio. Cronbach was one of the founders of the Peace Heroes Memorial Society.
Rabbi Rebecca Trachtenberg Alpert is Professor of Religion Emerita at Temple University,and was one of the first women rabbis. Her chief academic interests are religions and sports and sexuality in Judaism,and she says that her beliefs were transformed by a Sabbath prayer book that refers to God as 'She'.
Mark R. Cohen is an American scholar of Jewish history in the Muslim world.
Abraham Geiger College is a rabbinic seminary at the University of Potsdam in Potsdam,Germany.
Marc H. Tanenbaum (1925–1992) was a human rights and social justice activist and rabbi. He was known for building bridges with other faith communities to advance mutual understanding and co-operation and to eliminate entrenched stereotypes,particularly ones rooted in religious teachings.
Lynn Rita Davidman is an American sociologist. She is the distinguished professor of modern Jewish studies and professor of sociology at the University of Kansas.
