Sh'ma on Privacy and Openness

by Dov Greenberg, Stephanie Kolin, Sacha Litman

This issue of Sh’ma includes a collection of essays on what Judaism teaches about the question of privacy vs. openness. How does the mezuzah frame not only the door of our home, but also who we are as public and private people? How do we integrate teachings from the introspective Mussar movement focused on ethical behavior and its insistence on self-disclosure? When do we protect confidences, and when is keeping secrets morally untenable? What does it mean that the Israelites pitched their tents so that the openings didn’t face each other, but that the tent of Sarah and Abraham was open on all sides? Who needs to know what, when?

40 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 30, 2014