description: Walking Humbly with God describes the life, and presents the writings, of Rabbi Hershel Jonah Matt (1922-1987). Ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary, Rabbi Matt served congregations in New York, New Jersey and New Hampshire. He taught at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, the Jewish Theological Seminary, and the Academy for Jewish Religion.Hershel Matt was a rabbi who took God seriously. His life was a continual response to the divine, a life of service. He gave of himself, but he also demanded a great deal from his congregants and his students, urging them incessantly to open themselves to the spiritual dimension of Judaism. As the reader will see, this insistence yielded fruit but also frustration, as Rabbi Matt confronted the inherent contradictions of American Jewish life.Hershel Matt's theological writings are the record of a vibrant, probing mind that both explored and expanded the tradition. He confronted the real and difficult questions that face Jews in the modern world. As he once wrote, "The greatest indictment against religion is when it's guilty of irrelevance." He tackled the problem of religious doubt and the difficulty of praying today. He asked what Christianity might mean to a believing Jew, and he formulated a contemporary Jewish approach to homosexuality. His theological creativity reinvigorated the tradition, helping to unfold the infinite meaning of the Torah.This volume consists of three parts. The first section is a biographical essay written by Hershel's son, Daniel C. Matt. The bulk of the book consists of Rabbi Matt's theological essays on God, prayer, mitzvot, the synagogue, Judaism and Christianity, and sexuality. These constitute Matt's theology of creation-in-the-divine-image. The last section contains Hershel's kavvanot (his "bridges to prayer") and several prayers he composed. Walking Humbly with God offers the reader a glimpse into the soul of a Jew who lived and thought in the presence of God.
language: English
title: Walking Humbly With God: The Life and Writings of Rabbi Hershel Jonah Matt
titlecomplete: Walking Humbly With God: The Life and Writings of Rabbi Hershel Jonah Matt
ratings_count: 1
publisher: Ktav Pub & Distributors Inc