Love Your Neighbor and Yourself: A Jewish Approach to Modern Personal Ethics

I have to admit here that I know Rabbi Dorff personally though not well. He's also helped me with a blog post I wrote about Jewish attitudes toward child abuse. In preparing this post, I carefully read the entire chapter in this book on the subject. It is simply remarkable, full of deep empathy for victims and understanding of the dark impulses in human nature that cause this phenomenon. Rabbi Dorff's views on homosexuality within the Jewish tradition are also equally progressive. He is a breath of fresh air compared to the hidebound views of some of his rabbinic colleagues in the Conservative movement. If you have interest in the subject of Jewish ethics, this is a book you should read & read carefully.

Love Your Neighbor And Yourself: A Jewish Approach To Modern Personal Ethics, by Conservative Rabbi Elliot N. Dorff which surveys both Jewish tradition and modern schools of Judaic thought to suggest ways in which to positively address moral challenges. A serious work wrestling with diverse complex issues, and stressing the importance of striving to accept and yet rise above the base impulses of human nature, Love Your Neighbor And Yourself is a welcome addition to Judaic Studies as being a compendium of thoughtful and thought-provoking reading on the subject of personal ethics in the contemporary world.