Introducing the Conference

Abstract

This collection of papers aims to capture the dynamic exchanges that filled the days of March 10–11, 2019, in Philadelphia, at a conference called “Jewish Values and the Ethical Now” celebrating Rabbi David A. Teutsch, PhD.While the now is always a moving target, it is hard to image two years that could have more swiftly and profoundly upended our moorings in time and space. The “now” of those conference days increasingly feels locked in a time apart, a time of warm handshakes and hugs, of excited conversation over coffee, of crowded auditoriums stilled in rapt attention. The writings gathered here serve as a good reminder, however, that in the realm of the ethical, the timeless and the timely are never really so far apart. With all that has changed in the past two years, the insights and arguments within this volume retain their relevance and their urgency.Some of the contributors made significant changes to their conference presentations, converting their spoken words into the forms of learned writing for this publication. Others have preserved the oral idiom of their presentations, trying to condense on paper the immediacy of the original encounter. Born of real-time conversation, it is my hope that all the contributions can now seed further exchange, that this issue of JJE will find its way to many thoughtful readers who will study these pieces and talk about them.In addition to the contributors whose words appear here, many others came together to make the March 2019 conference possible, both behind the scenes and in conference sessions. Conference presenters included Julia Watts Belser, Jonathan Crane, Katie Day, Amy Eilberg, David Ellenson, Laurence Hoffman, Georgette Kennebrae, Nancy Fuchs Kreimer, Asher Lopatin, Ruth Messinger, Louis E. Newman, Toba Spitzer, Jacob Staub, Elsie Stern, Deborah Waxman, Paul Root Wolpe, and Laurie Zimmerman. Conference planners included Jonathan Crane, Marsha Friedman, Diana Phillips, Rory Schonning, Jacob Staub, and Elsie Stern. The generosity of David's friends Daniel Levin and Fay Hartog-Levin established the Levin-Lieber Family Program in Jewish Ethics at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, supporting this conference and the program's ongoing initiatives. All of these and so many more colleagues, friends, and students join me in honoring the ongoing ethical teaching and moral leadership of Rabbi David A. Teutsch, PhD.