Academic Studies Press Be-Ron Yaḥad: Studies in Jewish Thought and Theology in Honor of Nehemia Polen (Jewish Thought, Jewish History: New Studies)

The present volume honors Rabbi Professor Nehemia Polen, a rare scholar whose religious teachings, spiritual writings, and academic scholarship come together into a sustained project of interpretive imagination and engagement. With intellectual integrity and remarkable religious insight, Polen’s work expands the reach of Torah into an academic quest for ever-broadening depth and connectivity. The essays in this collection, written by students, colleagues, and friends, are a testament to his enduring impact on the scholarly community. The contributions explore a range of historical periods and themes, centering upon the fields dear to Polen’s heart, but they are united by a common thread: each essay is grounded in deeply engaged textual scholarship casting a glance upon the sources that is at once critical and beneficent. As a whole, they seek to give readers a richer sense of the fabric of Jewish interpretation and theology, including the history of Jewish mysticism, the promise and perils of exegesis, and the contemporary relevance of premodern and early modern texts. About the Author Ariel Evan Mayse joined the faculty of Stanford University in 2017 as an assistant professor in the Department of Religious Studies, and is rabbi-in-residence of Atiq: Jewish Make Institute (https://www.atiqmakers.org). He holds a Ph.D. in Jewish Studies from Harvard University and rabbinic ordination from Beit Midrash Har'el. His research examines the role of language in Hasidism, the formation of early Hasidic literature, the renaissance of Jewish mysticism in the nineteenth and twentieth century, and the relationship between spirituality and law in modern Jewish thought.Arthur Green, a nationally recognized historian of Jewish religion and a theologian, is the founding dean of the Rabbinical School of Hebrew College and now serves as its rector. He has lectured widely and taught Jewish mysticism, Hasidism, and theology to several generations of students at the University of Pennsylvania; the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, where he served as both dean and president; Brandeis University; and Hebrew College. Green is the founder of Havurat Shalom, an egalitarian Jewish community in Somerville, MA, and remains a leading independent figure in the Jewish renewal movement. He is the author or editor of more than a dozen books, including: Speaking Torah: Spiritual Teachings from Around the Maggid’s Table (Jewish Lights, 2013); and Radical Judaism: Rethinking God and Tradition (Yale University Press, 2011), now available in Hebrew translation. His complete translation of Me’or Eynayim, an early Hasidic classic, is forthcoming with Stanford University Press.