Pragmatism and Jewish Thought

Workshop at Yale University

April 7-8, 2019

Organized by Nadav Berman S. and Paul Franks

Sponsored by the Judaic Studies Program, Yale University

Sunday, April 7

10:30 Gathering, light refreshments

11:00 | Introduction – Paul Franks (Yale)

11:30 | Keynote – Yonatan Y. Brafman (JTS) “Contingency and Critique: The Consequences of Neopragmatism for Modern Jewish Thought” | Chair: Kenneth Winkler (Yale)

13:00 – Lunch

14:00 | Bar Guzi (Brandeis), “Pragmatism, Naturalism, and Mysticism: Reflections on the Theology of Mordecai Kaplan” | Chair: Nancy Levene (Yale)

15:15 – Short break

15:30 | Nechama Juni (Brown), “Pragmatism and Halakhic Change: A Case Study of ‘Watched’ Milk” | Chair: Eliyahu Stern (Yale)

16:45 – Short break

17:00 | Elliot Ratzman (Lawrence), “Re-Reading Jewish Thought with the Pragmatist Hegel: The Case of Moses Hess” | Chair: Mordechai Levy-Eichel (Yale)

18:15 – Light Dinner for Participants

Monday, April 8

8:45 Gathering, light refreshments

9:00 | Keynote – Hannah E. Hashkes (Lindenbaum), “The Halakhic Decisor and Truth in a Community of Inquiry: Halakhic Authority as a Test Case” | Chair: Steven Fraade (Yale)

10:30 – Short break

10:45 | Randy L. Friedman (Binghamton), “Gods of Becoming” | Chair: John Pittard (Yale)

12:00 – Lunch

13:00 | Irit Offer Stark (NYU), “Fallibilism and the Principle of Pragmatism in Jewish Tradition: The Case of the Tension between Science and Halakhah” | Chair: Joseph David (Sapir)

14:15 – Short break

14:30 | Nadav Berman Shifman (Yale), “Anti-Gnosticism: Hans Jonas as a Jewish Pragmatist” | Chair: Paul Franks (Yale)

15:45 – Short break

16:00 | Ari Ackerman (Schechter), “Abraham Joshua Heschel’s Critique of Mordecai Kaplan and Deweyan Pragmatism” | Chair: Warren Zev Harvey (Hebrew University)

17:15 – Short concluding remarks

Light refreshments

Workshop location: 451 College Street, New Haven, CT, Room BO3

Registration for the workshop is free of charge but mandatory.

Please RSVP by April 4^th