One of very few people who is both a philosopher (with a PhD in philosophy) and a rabbi, the author teaches--largely uniquely--that how people respond to the most concrete moral issues ultimately depends on more abstract but foundational philosophical conceptions: namely, how they understand the nature of human beings and, in religious thought, of God. Offers personal anecdotes relaying this scholar of distinction''s current and evolving ethical thought. Through reading this work, readers get to know Elliot Dorff as a scholar, as a man, and as a Jew. Unlike most books on Jewish ethics, this book instead first addresses Judaism''s fundamental concepts of God and human beings that set the framework for its approach to specific issues, with comparisons to parallel Christian concepts of both and Western liberal concepts of human beings. Pays much more attention to issues of method than do other books on Jewish ethics. Specifically, he describes the many ways in which Judaism addresses moral issues, including law, stories, theology, prayer, moral ideal figures and proverbs, history, and community. Addresses many other subjects Jewish books on ethics tend to leave out: theology and prayer in formulating moral guidance; family, community, and history; the relevance of Jewish rituals and holidays to Jewish ethics. Tackles a variety of contemporary moral issues we face today, and articulates Jewish stances and rationales on those moral issues, specifically to illustrate how all these sources within the tradition can and should play a role in formulating a Jewish response to moral topics.

While not shy of asserting specific positions on both the methodology and content of Jewish ethics, recognizes and honors the fact that other Jews may reasonably interpret and apply the Jewish tradition differently. That is, the author''s Jewish way of addressing these issues, while strongly grounded in Jewish sources, is a way of reading and applying them, not the only way. It also recognizes that smart, moral people in other philosophical and religious traditions can and do see these things and live their lives differently. The book''s contrasts to other philosophical and religious traditions and to other positions within Judaism throughout the book make this critical matter of how to read this book clear. Seeks to bridge and integrate insights from Judaism, Western philosophy, and other religions while not pretending that they are the same. On the contrary, throughout the volume he contrasts the views of Judaism in both its foundational concepts and also its specific stances on moral issues with those of other religious and philosophical ways of thinking about life and living. Readers both within and outside the Jewish community may thus be interested in learning from this distinctive Jewish approach to some of the most pressing issues of our time, especially because it is also aware and respectful of other ways of doing so. The author''s applications of the Jewish tradition to moral issues in this book are based not just on academic contemplation, but on extensive experience with representatives of other faiths and people from other philosophical traditions and walks of life who are grappling with moral issues and, indeed, with the lives and concerns of many types of vulnerable people from many different backgrounds.

His views are buttressed by many forms of communal experience in responding to moral issues, including nearly forty years of service on the Conservative movement''s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards and fifteen years as its Chair, writing twenty-nine rabbinic rulings for the committee, and responding to multiple drafts of rulings by other members. Elsewhere, he has chaired the Board of Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles Ethics Committee, chaired the Jewish Federation Council of Los Angeles''s Committee to Serve the Vulnerable; and since the mid-1980s has been a member of the Jewish Homes for the Aged''s Ethics Committee. In the general community, he served on three federal government commissions--on providing health care, reducing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, and researching human subjects; he continues to serve on the State of California''s committee governing the ethics of stem cell research within the state; and since the mid-1980s has been a member of the Ethics Committee of UCLA Medical Center. He has also learned a great deal from leaders of other faiths as a result of his active involvement in interfaith activities: co-chair of the Priest-Rabbi Dialogue, sponsored by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the Board of Rabbis of Southern California; former chair of the Academy of Judaic, Christian, and Islamic Studies; participant in several World Council of Churches projects.