A Unique Focus on the Arts and Judaism in New Issue of Milin Havivin
A week ago, Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School released its seventh volume of its מילין חביבין – Beloved Words (Milin Havivin) journal. In a unique direction, this issue focusses on the arts, with sections on painting, dance, theater, music, poetry, literature, and film. “Milin Havivin is very pleased to present our first-ever special issue: A Judaism Engaged with the Arts,” states Daniel Ross Goodman, the editor.1 Continuing his explanation: “The outstanding articles in this issue demonstrate that Judaism and the arts are not separated by an impassable cleft, but are joined together in a surprisingly intimate relationship. Judaism has enjoyed a longstanding engagement with the arts—from literature to music, from theatre to dance, and from painting to film—and the arts are more and more frequently engaging with Jewish subjects as well.”
Goodman continues: “Milin Havivin’s first-ever issue on Judaism and the arts illustrates that the fullest, richest, and most vital Judaism is not one which is segregated from the world, but one which engages with the best the world has to offer.”2 “The tremendously diverse and edifying articles in this issue confirm that religious Judaism is no impediment to a serious engagement with the arts but is, au contraire, a catalyst for an engagement with the arts,” explains Goodman. “The authors in this volume indicate that Jews need not disengage from Judaism upon entering the museum, theatre, cinema, concert hall, or library; on the contrary, Jews will actually glean more from these artistic experiences precisely by bringing their Judaism to these venues.”3
Here is the listing of authors and articles:
Painting (most of the articles in this section contain art or pictures)
- Menachem Kellner – Judaism and Artistic Creativity: Despite Maimonides and Thanks to Him – pp1-7
- Tobi Kahn – The Meaning of Beauty – pp8-15
- Jill Nathanson – Visual Art and Judaism – pp16-23
- Steven Fine – Lernen To See: “Modernity,” Torah and the Study of Jewish “Art” – pp24-35
- Ben Schachter – Artistic Engagement with Halakhah – pp36-40
- Richard McBee – Contemporary Jewish Art: The Challenge – pp41-58
- Bezalel Naor – “My Beloved is Like a Gazelle” (Domeh Dodi li-Tsevi): The Esthetic Messiah (An Essai in Rabbinic Surrealism, or Another Jewish Bestiary) – pp59-71
- Susan Nashman Fraiman – A Jewish Art – pp72-87
Dance
- Dalia Davis – Beit Midrash in Motion – pp88-92
Theater
- Ruth Hendel – What’s Jewish about Fela!? – pp93-94
Music
- James A. Diamond – The Torah as Song and the Rabbinic Sage as Troubadour – pp95-111
Poetry
- David Mahan – Poetry and the Complexities of Remembrance: An Appeal – pp112-128
Literature
- Joseph Lowin – Mount Moriah and the Labyrinth: Back to the Sources in A. B. Yeshoshua’s Mr. Mani – pp129-141
- Marc Zvi Brettler – Some Personal Reflections on Literary Artistry in the Bible – pp142-147
Film
- Daniel Ross Goodman – “Fear Not”: ‘Our Man’ Robert Redford in J. C. Chandor’s “All Is Lost” – pp148-152
A Judaism Engaged with the Arts
- Daniel Ross Goodman – Some Notes on Religion and the Arts – pp153-161
Tanakh and Jewish Thought
- David Fried – The Relationship Between Tisha B’av and the Book of Job – pp162-170
- Marc B. Shapiro – Torah im Derekh Eretz as a Means of Last Resort – pp171-178
- Marc B. Shapiro – The Necessity of Appointing Rabbis who are Knowledgeable in Torah and Secular Studies to Serve as Rabbis in the State of Israel (Hebrew) – 180
(In Hebrew, this last piece is מלך שפירא – הנחיצות בהעמדת רבנים בעלי תורה ומדע לשמש בקדש במדינת ישראל – ppא-ב)
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1 – Daniel Ross Goldman, “Editor’s Introduction”, Milin Havivin 7 (2013-2014), x.↩
2 – Ibid.↩
3 – Ibid., x-xi.↩
