Who was Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn? In the popular imagination, he is remembered for his impact on Jewish outreach and religious life, for very good reason. This groundbreaking book is the first to delve into the Rebbe’s social activism. In exploring the Rebbe’s role as an advocate for public education, criminal justice reform, women’s empowerment, and alternative energy, this lucid book provides a perspective of how deep religiosity and deeply engaged social justice work can (and should) go hand in hand. Intriguingly, this book is also a well-thought investigation into how the Rebbe’s social views aligned with the rest of his socio-mystical weltanschauung, and learning about his broad web of views is both powerful and interesting.

A book written in an age of financial impropriety, Jewish Ethics in a Post-Madoff World takes the gaps between religion and its adherents as the starting point for reflection on Jewish ethics and community. While not dealing with the traditional understanding of social justice, Jewish Ethics works through many of the same questions animating the conversation around social justice in the Jewish community, such as the question of Orthodoxy’s socio-economic limitations, how we frame ethics in 21st century religious communities, and the possibility of communal change. This book is intended for “those readers who are willing to examine unflinchingly, and with an open mind, the precise contours of today’s ethical failures, even when such failures raise deep questions about the status of one’s community and one’s own taken-for-granted values.” Take this book seriously, and join us in thinking about these challenging communal questions.