Michael Strassfeld

Last updated

Michael Strassfeld is an American rabbi. Strassfeld was rabbi of the Society for the Advancement of Judaism, a Manhattan synagogue. [1] Before that he was the rabbi of Congregation Ansche Chesed. [2]

Contents

Biography

Michael Strassfeld is a graduate of the Maimonides School. He started college at Yeshiva University, but transferred to Brandeis University and graduated in 1971. He holds an M.A. from Brandeis in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, and completed his doctoral coursework in Jewish History at Brandeis but did not submit a thesis. He was ordained by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 1991.[ citation needed ]

Strassfeld first received wide public attention as one of the authors of The Jewish Catalog . He was a leader of the Chavurah movement and was the founding chairperson of the National Havurah Committee from 1979 to 1982. [3]

The original version of Passover Haggadah: The Feast of Freedom was edited by Strassfeld. After publishing it for members of the Rabbinical Assembly in their rabbinical journal, Rachel Anne Rabinowicz came on board next as editor of the project. She brought the work to its final form.

Strassfeld is married to Rabbi Joy Levitt and he is father to sons Max, Noam, and Benjamin and stepdaughters Sara and Ruthie Friedlander, as well as being grandfather to Micah Strassfeld.[ citation needed ]

Publications

Related Research Articles

Reconstructionist Judaism Denomination of Judaism

Reconstructionist Judaism is a modern Jewish movement that views Judaism as a progressively evolving civilization and is based on the conceptions developed by Mordecai Kaplan (1881–1983). The movement originated as a semi-organized stream within Conservative Judaism and developed from the late 1920s to 1940s, before it seceded in 1955 and established a rabbinical college in 1967. Reconstructionist Judaism is recognized by some scholars as the fourth major stream of Judaism, after Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform.

Kitniyot is a Hebrew word meaning legumes. During the Passover holiday, however, the word kitniyot takes on a broader meaning to include grains and seeds such as rice, corn, sunflower seeds, and sesame seeds, in addition to legumes such as beans, peas, and lentils.

Louis Finkelstein American rabbi and scholar (1895–1991)

Louis Finkelstein was a Talmud scholar, an expert in Jewish law, and a leader of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS) and Conservative Judaism.

Jewish Renewal Movement to reinvigorate modern Judaism with Kabbalistic, Hasidic, musical and meditative practices

Jewish Renewal is a recent movement in Judaism which endeavors to reinvigorate modern Judaism with Kabbalistic, Hasidic, and musical practices. Specifically, it seeks to reintroduce the "ancient Judaic traditions of mysticism and meditation, gender equality and ecstatic prayer" to synagogue services. It is distinct from the baal teshuva movement of return to Orthodox Judaism.

Neo-Hasidism, or Neo-Chassidus, is an approach to Judaism in which people learn beliefs and practices of Hasidic Judaism, and incorporate it into their own lives or prayer communities, yet without formally joining a Hasidic group. Over the last century neo-Hasidism was popularized by the works of writers such as Hillel Zeitlin, Martin Buber, and Abraham Joshua Heschel, Lawrence Kushner, Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, and Arthur Green.

Haggadah Text that sets forth the order of the Passover Seder

The Haggadah is a Jewish text that sets forth the order of the Passover Seder. Reading the Haggadah at the Seder table is a fulfillment of the mitzvah to each Jew to "tell your children" the story from the Book of Exodus about Yahweh bringing the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. As its written in the Torah,.

Shlomo Riskin American-Israeli Orthodox Jewish rabbi

Shlomo Riskin is an Orthodox rabbi, and the founding rabbi of Lincoln Square Synagogue on the Upper West Side of New York City, which he led for 20 years; founding chief rabbi of the Israeli settlement of Efrat in the Israeli-occupied West Bank; dean of Manhattan Day School in New York City; and founder and Chancellor of the Ohr Torah Stone Institutions, a network of high schools, colleges, and graduate Programs in the United States and Israel. He belongs to the Open Orthodox stream of Judaism.

Arthur Waskow American author, political activist, and rabbi

Arthur Ocean Waskow is an American author, political activist, and rabbi associated with the Jewish Renewal movement.

A chavurah or havurah is a small group of like-minded Jews who assemble for the purposes of facilitating Shabbat and holiday prayer services, sharing communal experiences such as lifecycle events, or Jewish learning. Chavurot usually provide autonomous alternatives to established Jewish institutions and Jewish denominations. Most chavurot place an emphasis on egalitarianism in the broad sense, depending on participation by the entire community rather than top-down direction by clergy.

Reconstructionist Rabbinical College Jewish seminary in Wyncote, Pennsylvania

The Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (RRC) is a Jewish seminary in Wyncote, Pennsylvania. It is the only seminary affiliated with Reconstructionist Judaism. It is accredited by the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. RRC has an enrollment of approximately 80 students in rabbinic and other graduate programs.

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.

Society for the Advancement of Judaism

The Society for the Advancement of Judaism, also known as SAJ, is a synagogue and Jewish organization in New York City, on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Founded in 1922 by Rabbi Mordecai M. Kaplan, the founder of Reconstructionist Judaism, the synagogue is affiliated with the Reconstructionist Jewish movement.

Havurat Shalom

Havurat Shalom is a small egalitarian chavurah in Somerville, Massachusetts. Founded in 1968, it is not affiliated with the major Jewish denominations.

Arthur Green

Arthur Green is an American scholar of Jewish mysticism and Neo-Hasidic theologian. He was a founding dean of the non-denominational rabbinical program at Hebrew College in Boston, where he still teaches. He describes himself as an American Jew who was educated entirely by the generation of immigrant Jewish intellectuals cast up on American shores by World War II.

The Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association (RRA) founded in 1974, is the professional association of rabbis affiliated with Reconstructionist Judaism. It has approximately 300 members, most of whom are graduates of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Wyncote, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia. The RRA is a member of a number of national coalitions including the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

Ansche Chesed

Ansche Chesed is a synagogue on the Upper West Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan.

Jeffrey Schrier is an American visual artist. His art uses discarded or recycled objects to create modern interpretations of ancient or traditional texts, sometimes with references to Jewish themes. Schrier's "Wings of Witness" assemblage sculpture memorializes the victims of the Nazi holocaust with an installation of millions of soda-can tabs, collected by school-children, fashioned into an enormous pair of butterfly wings. The artist often uses educational workshops and volunteers in building his large-scale assemblage works.

Joy Levitt is an American rabbi and from 1987 to 1989 was the first female president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association. Levitt is also the founder of the Jewish Journey Project, an initiative that attempts to replace individual synagogue schools with an elective-driven communal coalition. She and her husband Rabbi Michael Strassfeld are coeditors of the A Night of Questions Passover Haggadah, published by the Reconstructionist Press. She is currently the Marlene Meyerson Jewish Community Center in Manhattan's Chief Executive Officer, a position she will hold through December 2021. In addition to the Jewish Journey Project, Levitt has presided over some of the JCC's biggest accomplishments, including the founding of the Adaptations program, the Literacy and Math Tutoring Program, Saturday Morning Community Partners, the Other Israel and ReelAbilities Film Festivals, and oversaw the creation of the JCC's ten centers of excellence; she also spearheaded advocacy efforts like the New York response to the ''Save Darfur'' Coalition rally in 2006.

Albert S. Axelrad is an American Reform rabbi, author, educator, and community leader. He fostered the American Jewish counterculture of the 1960s-1980s. He also served as Jewish chaplain at Brandeis University and Executive Director of its B'nai B'rith Hillel Foundation from 1965 to 1999.

The Jewish Catalog was a series of books published by the Jewish Publication Society in three volumes, which had a significant cultural impact upon the Chavurah movement of Judaism, and in the broader Jewish world, and were said to be "the most widely read books in the Jewish counter-culture," with total book sales of the series being more than half a million copies.

References

  1. "The SAJ Welcomes Rabbi Lauren Grabelle Herrmann (article on home page)". thesaj.org. 8 September 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-09-09. Retrieved 18 November 2015. Rabbi Lauren began her term on July 1, 2015.
  2. Ansche Chesed Rabbi To Step Down: At issue is role of rabbi in prominent multi-minyan shul, The Jewish Week, January 12, 2001.
  3. Briggs, Kenneth A. (July 8, 1979). "Diverse Jewish Havurah Movement Grows; Difficult Obstacles Seen 'A holding Operation' Adherence to Law Not Strict". The New York Times .