Rabbi Gordon Tucker Featured Speaker at Oheb Shalom

Rabbi Gordon Tucker will be the featured speaker at Oheb Shalom Congregation”s Lichtman Lehrhaus breakfast and lecture on Sunday, January 30, 2011 from 10:00 A.M. to Noon.   Rabbi Tucker will speak about “Abraham Joshua Heschel’s Approach to the Mitzvah of Prayer”.   There is no charge for the breakfast and lecture.  Notify the synagogue office by Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2011 to reserve babysitting (973-762-7067).  Oheb Shalom is located at 170 Scotland Road in South Orange, NJ.  www.ohebshalom.org.

Dr. Tucker is Senior Rabbi Temple Israel Center in White Plains, NY.  He is the author of numerous articles on a wide range of subjects in Jewish thought, and most recently published a translation with commentary (entitled Heavenly Torah) on Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel’s major three-volume Hebrew work on rabbinic theology.

         Rabbi Tucker is Honorary Chairman (and former Chairman) of the Board of the Masorti Foundation for Conservative Judaism in Israel, and served on the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Rabbinical Assembly from 1982 to 2007.
   From 1984 to 1992, Rabbi Tucker was Dean of the Rabbinical School at JTSA, in which capacity he directed the training of over 200 rabbis.  He continues to teach there as



 Adjunct Assistant Professor of Jewish Philosophy. Rabbi Tucker received his A.B. degree from Harvard University and a Ph.D. (in Philosophy) from Princeton University.  He was ordained a Rabbi at The Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTSA).   

This is the second of a series of lectures addressing issues of faith, prayer and Jewish obligations (mitzvot) that the Adult Education Committee is presenting this year.  Prof. Neil Gillman spoke this fall.  Future programs will take place on Sunday, March 27, 2011, when the synagogue presents its “Jewbilee” – A Day of Jewish Education” including a keynote address by Chancellor Arnold Eisen of the Jewish Theological Seminary and the participation of area rabbis in celebration of Oheb Shalom’s 150^th anniversary.  This series culminates with the Beth Torah Lecture on Sunday, May 27, 2011, with a panel discussion about philanthropy.