The Rabbinical Assembly is gratified to announce that, in an historic partnership with the five affiliated Conservative/Masorti rabbinical seminaries, publication of a Conservative/Masorti Movement peer-refereed academic journal is resuming. The first issue of Masorti: The New Journal of Conservative Judaism is in the final stages of production and will be published in February 2023. The journal (titled Conservative Judaism from 1945 to 2014) will be published primarily online, with print copies made available on demand.
While articles will appear primarily in English, each journal issue will include contributions in Hebrew and Spanish. Additionally, the Seminario Rabinico Latinoamericano will provide Spanish translations of all English articles, to be posted on the journal’s website subsequent to publication of each issue.
The seminaries co-sponsoring the journal together with the Rabbinical Assembly are the Jewish Theological Seminary (New York); the Schechter Institutes, Inc. (Jerusalem); the Seminario Rabinico Latinoamericano (Buenos Aires); the Zacharias Frankel College (Potsdam, Germany), and the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, American Jewish University (Los Angeles).
Senior scholars comprising the journal’s Academic Advisory Board are Rabbi Ari Bursztein of the Seminario; Rabbi Elliot Dorff of Ziegler/AJU; Professor Liliana Feierstein of Humboldt University (Berlin) and the Seminario; Rabbi David J. Fine of the Zacharias Frankel College; Professor Penina Migdal Glazer of Hampshire College; Rabbi David Golinkin of the Schechter Institutes; Professor Alyssa Gray of Hebrew Union College; Rabbi Amy Kalmanofsky of JTS; Rabbi Jane Kanarek of Hebrew College; Rabbi Gail Labovitz of Ziegler/AJU; Professor Renee Levine Melammed of the Schechter Institutes; Rabbi Jonathan Rosenbaum, President Emeritus of Gratz College; Rabbi Gordon Tucker of JTS; and Professor Judith Zelikoff of NYU’s Grossman School of Medicine.
Reflective of the Masorti Movement’s global impact, the journal’s Editorial Committee currently includes Rabbinical Assembly members from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Israel, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The committee membership is diverse in age, gender, perspective, professional emphasis, as well as geographical origins and residence. Leading the Editorial Committee and Advisory Board as Editor will be Rabbi Joseph Prouser of Temple Emanuel of North Jersey, who was a frequent contributor to the journal in the past. Rabbi Jonathan Rosenbaum will serve as Associate Editor, Rabbi Michael Pitkowsky as Book Review Editor, Rabbi Felipe Goodman as Spanish Language Editor, and Rabbi Jill Hackell, M.D., as Science Editor.
Masorti: The New Journal of Conservative Judaism will initially publish semiannually. In keeping with its distinguished 70-year history, the journal will serve as a scholarly forum for serious, critical inquiry of Jewish texts and traditions, legacy and law, refining and defining Masorti/Conservative theology and ideology, and examining the changing Jewish community and its spiritual, social, and moral challenges. The journal will continue to embrace a worldwide perspective that transcends denominational boundaries. While Masorti: The New Journal of Conservative Judaism will welcome scholarly articles on a wide variety of topics, it will occasionally devote an issue to a specific theme of compelling importance. Each issue will also feature a number of book reviews.
Members of the Rabbinical Assembly and the Cantors Assembly will be provided a complimentary online subscription. Print editions of each volume will be available for purchase through Amazon and other book platforms, as well as from the website of Ben Yehuda Press of Teaneck, New Jersey, which will produce both print and online versions. The Masorti/Conservative lay and professional community and its institutions, academic scholars, university libraries, and others interested in Jewish life and scholarship are invited to subscribe.
Issues of Masorti: The New Journal of Conservative Judaism may be dedicated. The re-inaugural issue will be dedicated in memory of Rabbi Asher Bar-Zev, Ph.D., by his family. Rabbi Bar-Zev (1932-2021), ordained by JTS, earned his Ph.D. in molecular biology from the University of Massachusetts while distinguishing himself as a full-time congregational rabbi. He later served as a visiting scientist at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. His observations on quantum theory and Jewish theology have appeared in Conservative Judaism; his scientific scholarship has been published, inter alia, in The Journal of Heredity. Details about dedicating an issue are available from the Editor at masortijournal@gmail.com.