A Vital Living Judaism Can Be Found When the Voice of the Past Engages Modern Experience This synthesis of tradition and modernity is not a philosophy meant to serve as the platform for a new movement or institution but a process of living experience among individuals and communities that choose to adopt its angle of vision. It is a process that demands constant introspection and renewal and cannot be branded or coopted by any formal or official frame of reference. It stands separate from all expressions of institutionalized Judaism as it never knows what new forces it will absorb as it moves into the future. from the Introduction Dr. David Hartman the worlds leading modern Orthodox theologian presents his own painful spiritual evolution from defender of the rulebased system of Jewish law to revolutionary proponent of a theology of empowerment one that encourages individuals and communities to take greater levels of responsibility for their religious lives. In this daring selfexamination he explains how his goals were not to strip halakhaor the pastof its authority but to create a space for questioning and critique that allows for the traditionally religious Jew to act out a moral life in tune with modern experience. In achieving this synthesis of tradition with the sensibilities of contemporary Judaism Hartman captures precisely what creates vitality in living Judaism and charts the path to nurture its vitality forever. show more