David Novak
![David Novak](/assets/img/authors/unknown.jpg)
David Novak
David Novakis a Jewish theologian, ethicist, and scholar of Jewish philosophy and law. He is an ordained Conservative rabbi and has also trained with Catholic moral theologians. Since 1997 he has taught religion and philosophy at the University of Toronto; his areas of interest are Jewish theology, ethics and biomedical ethics, political theoryand Jewish-Christian relations...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionTheologian
CountryUnited States of America
cases community jewish law man members rabbi requires rule turn whom
A traditional rabbi is the man to whom the community and its members turn to rule on what Jewish law requires of them, particularly in cases of doubt.
john leadership occurred
The Vatican's recognition of the State of Israel in 1997 could not have occurred without John Paul's leadership.
concerned continue israelis jewish jews justifies land philosophy public question state truly work
There is no question that Israelis - indeed, all concerned Jews - have to continue to work out a Jewish public philosophy that truly justifies a Jewish state in the land of Israel.
general man offer preacher rabbi regular sermons whose
The rabbi is often the regular preacher in the synagogue, the man whose sermons offer his community more general theological and moral guidance.
credible decide decision due found whether
With all due respect, that's the jury's decision to decide whether they found him to be credible or not.
whether
Proselytizing is only wrong if coercive or deceptive. Coercion, whether violent or not, is immoral, just as deception is immoral.
directly swallowed taken
The Holocaust, taken by itself, is a black hole. To look at it directly is to be swallowed up by it.
christians conceptual divide issue issues jews longer members people spoke unlike
Unlike the issue of messiahhood, which arose when Jews and Christians were members of the same religio-political community and spoke the same conceptual language, the issues of the incarnation and the Trinity divide people who are no longer members of the same community and who no longer speak the same language.
multiple range relative
Every individual is a person necessarily imbedded in a range of multiple relations, and therefore, no one is really independent in anything but a relative sense; no one is truly autonomous.
anniversary children death jewish mourning process recite regularly synagogue tradition year
The most important part of the process of mourning is regularly reciting kaddish in a synagogue. Kaddish is a doxology, which Jewish tradition has mandated children to recite daily in a synagogue during the year of mourning for a deceased parent and then on the anniversary of his or her death thereafter.
covenant man obeyed obeying work
The work of man is to respond to the Covenant by obeying the commandments of the Torah, those commandments that can be obeyed here and now.
jews needless relation
The relation between Judaism, Zionism, and Messianism is one that is often hard for Jews to get straight. Needless to say, it is even harder for non-Jews.
jews positive relationship
A fully positive relationship between Christians and Jews is one that would elide all differences.
rational
Most Jews, like most rational persons, know that their personal identity and their ethnic identity are not one and the same.