This issue of Masorti: The New Journal of Conservative Judaism is the second prepared for publication since the October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel. I write these reflections just one day after the heart-breaking funeral of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was murdered together with five fellow hostages on the cusp of their liberation. It is my sincere prayer that, by time these words appear in print, all remaining hostages will be freed, and Israel’s war with Hamas will have concluded with the Jewish state’s righteous victory.
Concern for the future of the Jewish state is reflected in several particularly timely articles. Anat Katzir examines the prophetic role of Israel’s Supreme Court. Miriam Berkowitz and Moti Kaplan review classical texts bearing on the redemption of captives and the freeing of hostages. Yuval Katz explores the history of antisemitism in rabbinic discourse. The continuing influence of philosophical and spiritual luminaries Maimonides and Philo, the Baal Shem Tov, and Rav Kook is also discussed herein.
A recurring theme in this issue is the historical tension between Jewish religious and scholarly elites and those on the relative periphery of Jewish communal life. This dynamic—the experience of “the common folk,” or the ʿeirev rav, as our writers frame the issue—is of critical, practical, daily concern to a great many of this journal’s readers.
I am particularly pleased to note that contributors to this issue include those currently engaged in active rabbinic leadership and academic life, together with emeriti and a rabbinical student!
Finally, continuing our practice of republishing important articles from past issues of this journal’s predecessor, our Yashan Noshan section features Professor Mayer I. Gruber’s 1980 article on the poetic liturgical passage, Attaʾ Qidashtaʾ. His brief article exemplifies how critical scholarship uncovers the compelling and timeless truths our textual tradition offers us, which is the very essence of this journal’s mission. His essay presciently addresses itself to “an era plagued by an ecological crisis brought about by humankind’s assumption that it is the crown of Creation.”
May all the ills that plague us be healed and resolved with dispatch.
Joseph H. Prouser is rabbi of Temple Emanuel of North Jersey in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, and editor of this journal.