For decades, Rab­bi Elliot Dorff has been a lead­ing thinker, writer, and edu­ca­tor on Jew­ish ethics. In his lat­est work, Ethics at the Cen­ter, he show­cas­es his intel­lec­tu­al process, high­light­ing for read­ers the impor­tance of inves­ti­gat­ing eth­i­cal ques­tions through a Jew­ish lens. This is a remark­ably grace­ful text that will appeal to schol­ars and lay read­ers alike.

In order to shed light on his intel­lec­tu­al process, Dorff describes the his­to­ry and devel­op­ment of his think­ing over time. He reflects on how accept­ed norms have changed since he first began writ­ing with­out wax­ing nos­tal­gic about the way things were. He cel­e­brates aca­d­e­m­ic curios­i­ty and Jew­ish life, both of which are able to grow and adapt, to pro­vide new oppor­tu­ni­ties for thought­ful, moral liv­ing. The first six chap­ters include suf­fi­cient back­ground to cen­ter the read­er, ensur­ing that the book is approach­able while still retain­ing the sophis­ti­ca­tion of Dorff’s ideas.

One of the joys of Ethics at the Cen­ter is the breadth of top­ics that Dorff explores. In a clear writ­ing style, he address­es issues such as repro­duc­tive rights, war, and pro­fes­sion­al and per­son­al com­mu­ni­ca­tion. Read­ers may be tempt­ed to jump into the sub­ject that speaks most direct­ly to their inter­ests, but most will ben­e­fit from mov­ing through the book’s three sec­tions in order. It’s reward­ing to expe­ri­ence the thought­ful inter­play between them.

This book will pro­vide read­ers — par­tic­u­lar­ly those who are famil­iar with the broad­er field of Jew­ish sacred texts, the­ol­o­gy, and ethics — with much food for thought and dis­cus­sion. Those who already con­sid­er them­selves to be dis­ci­ples of Dorff will appre­ci­ate his ongo­ing cre­ativ­i­ty and intel­lect. Ethics at the Cen­ter serves as an invi­ta­tion to become an active par­tic­i­pant in an excit­ing conversation.