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Halakha For Our Time: A Conservative Approach to Jewish Law

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if you've ever doubted that Conservative Judaism is viable or authentic, this book will reconfirm your belief and abolish your doubts. don't believe people who say it's nice but not true. it is true. (at least in the Hebrew version i read) oh, and it's short.

Rabbi David Golinkin is the foremost teacher of Halacha in the Conservative world today. He is a person of great learning and a very deep awareness of the Jewish tradition. He here sets out what might be called his philosophy of halakha . Within itself it makes sense and its clear direction is that we ' should live by them' and that rulings made today should be to enhance Jewish life. I will not say here anything about certain of these rulings which may seem to Orthodox Jews to be without validity. I will simply point out that the major problem for Rabbi Golinkin is that while he knows the Halachah, teaches the Halachah, is devoted to living the Halachah the same cannot be said by the overwhelming majority of Conservative Jews. In this sense he is an anomaly in the movement he is one of the leaders of. And it is fair to say that most Conservative Jews live their lives without consulting any ' rav' or ' teacher of Halachah'. This does not mean that Rabbi Golinkin's effort is an empty intellectual exercise, rather it suggests that for reasons not dependent on him it is very limited effectiveness.