Dynamic Judaism: The Essential Writings of Mordecai M. Kaplan - Paperback

by Emanuel Goldsmith (Author), Mel Scult (Author)

Mordecai M. Kaplan was born in a small Lithuanian town on the outskirts of Vilna on a Friday evening in June of 1881. Kaplan was raised in a predominately Jewish atmosphere, which is shown by the fact that he knew his day of birth only by the Jewish calendar until he went to the New York Public Library as a young man to look up the corresponding date. His family was extremely traditional, and his father, Israel Kaplan, was a learned man.Kaplan's concept of Judaism as an evolving religious civilization was widely influential in 20th-century American Jewish life, and his founding of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College created a new denomination. This book contains a biographical essay and excerpts from all of his major works.

Back Jacket

Mordecai M. Kaplan began his life's journey with the confines of a small Lithuanian town on the outskirts of Vilna. He was born on a Friday evening in June of 1881. Kaplan's submergence in a total Jewish atmosphere is illustrated by the fact that he knew his day of birth only by the Jewish calendar until he went to the New York Public Library as a young man to look up the corresponding date. Kaplan's family was a traditional one in every aspect, and his father, Israel Kaplan, was a learned man.

Author Biography

Emanuel Goldsmith (Author)
Emanuel S. Goldsmith is a professor of Yiddish and Jewish Studies at Queens College, City University of New York, and Rabbi of Congregation M'vakshe Derekh in Scarsdale, New York. He has lectured widely on the topic of modern Jewish literature and thought. He is the editor of the two-volume anthology Yiddish Literature in America, 1870-2000. With Mel Scult, he edited Dynamic Judaism: The Essential Writings of Mordecai M. Kaplan, available from Fordham University Press. His other publications include Thinkers and Teachers of Modern Judaism and Events and Movements in Modern Judaism.

Mel Scult (Author)
Mel Scult is a professor of Judaic Studies at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. He is the author of Millennial Expectations and Jewish Liberties.