Yosef Reinman - Book Collaboration

Book Collaboration

In 2000 a literary agent introduced Rabbi Reinman to Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, a Reform rabbi and executive director of the Association of Reform Zionists of America (ARZA), with the idea of collaborating on a book airing the Orthodox and Reform viewpoints on various issues. Their email correspondence over the next 18 months resulted in the book One People, Two Worlds: A Reform rabbi and an Orthodox rabbi explore the issues that divide them. The book was hailed by the religious left as a breakthrough in Orthodox recognition of religious pluralism, while generating criticism in Orthodox circles for Reinman's willingness to conduct an official rabbinic dialogue with Reform. The book was denounced by the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Agudath Israel of America and the heads of Beth Medrash Govoha, Lakewood, New Jersey, where Reinman received his rabbinic ordination. Reinman subsequently pulled out of a 14-city promotional tour after two appearances, leaving Hirsch to continue the tour on his own.