Joshua Gutoff

Joshua Gutoff

Rabbi Josh Gutoff, Ed.D., is the Assistant Professor of Jewish Education at Gratz College in Philadelphia. Following his ordination and his five years as a pulpit rabbi, Dr. Gutoff was the executive director of Hillel at the University of Minnesota, a Jewish chaplain and philosophy instructor at C.W. Post College, the rabbinic educator at the Solomon Schechter High School of New York and a lead instructor for the 92nd Street Y’s Derekh Torah program for adults exploring Judaism. He is also the author of a number of widely read articles on Jewish thought. Professor Gutoff holds a B.A. in literature from Yale College and an M.A. from The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), where he also received his rabbinic ordination.

http://frostandclouds.blogspot.com/

ברוכה הבאה | Blessed be the newcomer!, a ceremony for the naming of a baby daughter by Joshua Gutoff (ca. 1989)

Contributed on: י״ז בניסן ה׳תשע״ט (2019-04-21) by Joshua Gutoff | ❧

A ceremony for the naming of a baby daughter. . . .

Masking the Liturgy: a pedagogy for learning the Siddur, by Rabbi Dr. Joshua Gutoff (2003)

Contributed on: ה׳ בתמוז ה׳תשע״ה (2015-06-21) by Joshua Gutoff | ❧

I wanted my students to start thinking of prayers as expressions of an interior world, rather than as descriptions of the exterior one. I suggested to them that they think of a prayer as a kind of mask, much like the ones worn in religious rituals by many peoples. The job of the mask-wearer is to discover the reality on the “inside” of the mask and bring it to life. . . .

עָלֵינוּ לְשַׁבֵּחַ | Aleinu, interpretive translation by Joshua Gutoff

Contributed on: י״ז במרחשון ה׳תשע״ד (2013-10-21) by Joshua Gutoff | Abba (Arikha) bar Aybo (traditional attribution) | ❧

A “redemptive translation” of Aleinu emphasizing universalist Jewish values. . . .