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Emil Fackenheim: Fidelity and Recovery in the Post‐Holocaust Epoch

Michael L. Morgan

in Beyond Auschwitz: Post-Holocaust Jewish Thought in America

In this chapter, and in Chs. 6–9, an analysis and examination is made of the writings of the major American Jewish thinkers/theologians. The thinker addressed in this chapter is Emil Fackenheim, a ... More

In this chapter, and in Chs. 6–9, an analysis and examination is made of the writings of the major American Jewish thinkers/theologians. The thinker addressed in this chapter is Emil Fackenheim, a Jewish theologian and philosopher, who has radically changed his thinking since 1967. Citations of each thinker's work earlier in the book are capitalized on in order to explore the theme of history and identity as it occurs in their work, and it is shown that these figures struggled with very deep and pressing problems not only about God and the Jewish people, and about human nature and moral purpose but also about the very nature of Jewish belief and its understanding of the world, history, God, and much else. They realized the dangers that accompanied their sensitivity to the Holocaust and their unconditional commitment to an honest and probing encounter with the death camps, and at the same time, they refused to abandon Judaism. In some ways, they appear like other intellectuals of the current era, who realize that we cannot transcend history nor can we be overwhelmed by it, but in other ways, they appear unlike them, for their sense of value and purpose arises out of the horror of the death camps.Less

The Reception of Post‐Holocaust Jewish Thought

Michael L. Morgan

in Beyond Auschwitz: Post-Holocaust Jewish Thought in America

An examination is made of some of the responses to the work of the five main Jewish thinkers/theologians, which was addressed in Chs. 6–10, and to the work of other post‐Holocaust Jewish thinkers. ... More

An examination is made of some of the responses to the work of the five main Jewish thinkers/theologians, which was addressed in Chs. 6–10, and to the work of other post‐Holocaust Jewish thinkers. This is done by looking at the popular response (that of ordinary Jews), the response of young Jewish radicals, and that of Orthodox Jewish thinkers. The dissenting thoughts of various thinkers as to the centrality and use of the Holocaust in Jewish America are discussed.Less

Irving Greenberg and the Post‐Holocaust Voluntary Covenant

Michael L. Morgan

in Beyond Auschwitz: Post-Holocaust Jewish Thought in America

In this chapter, and in Chs. 6–7, and 9–10, an analysis and examination is made of the writings of the major American Jewish thinkers/theologians. The thinker addressed in this chapter is Irving ... More

In this chapter, and in Chs. 6–7, and 9–10, an analysis and examination is made of the writings of the major American Jewish thinkers/theologians. The thinker addressed in this chapter is Irving Greenberg, an orthodox rabbi and deeply traditional figure, but also a bold and radical Jewish thinker. Citations of each thinkers work earlier in the book are capitalized on in order to explore the theme of history and identity as it occurs in their work, and it is shown that these figures struggled with very deep and pressing problems not only about God and the Jewish people, and about human nature and moral purpose but also about the very nature of Jewish belief and its understanding of the world, history, God, and much else. They realized the dangers that accompanied their sensitivity to the Holocaust and their unconditional commitment to an honest and probing encounter with the death camps, and at the same time, they refused to abandon Judaism. In some ways, they appear like other intellectuals of the current era, who realize that we cannot transcend history nor can we be overwhelmed by it, but in other ways, they appear unlike them, for their sense of value and purpose arises out of the horror of the death camps.Less

Richard Rubenstein and the New Paganism

Michael L. Morgan

in Beyond Auschwitz: Post-Holocaust Jewish Thought in America

In this chapter, and in the next four, an analysis and examination is made of the writings of the major American Jewish thinkers/theologians. The thinker addressed in this chapter is Richard ... More

In this chapter, and in the next four, an analysis and examination is made of the writings of the major American Jewish thinkers/theologians. The thinker addressed in this chapter is Richard Rubinstein, a prominent Jewish theologian, but not institutionally tied to one of the denominations of American Judaism; he was a Hillel rabbi and then an academic. Citations of each thinker's work earlier in the book are capitalized on in order to explore the theme of history and identity as it occurs in their work, and it is shown that these figures struggled with very deep and pressing problems not only about God and the Jewish people, and about human nature and moral purpose but also about the very nature of Jewish belief and its understanding of the world, history, God, and much else. They realized the dangers that accompanied their sensitivity to the Holocaust and their unconditional commitment to a honest and probing encounter with the death camps, and at the same time, they refused to abandon Judaism. In some ways, they appear like other intellectuals of the current era, who realize that we cannot transcend history nor can we be overwhelmed by it, but in other ways, they appear unlike them, for their sense of value and purpose arises out of the horror of the death camps.Less

Arthur Cohen and the Holocaust as Tremendum

Michael L. Morgan

in Beyond Auschwitz: Post-Holocaust Jewish Thought in America

In this chapter, and in Chs. 6–8, and 10, an analysis and examination is made of the writings of the major American Jewish thinkers/theologians. The thinker addressed in this chapter is Arthur Cohen, ... More

In this chapter, and in Chs. 6–8, and 10, an analysis and examination is made of the writings of the major American Jewish thinkers/theologians. The thinker addressed in this chapter is Arthur Cohen, a prominent Jewish theologian, but not institutionally tied to one of the denominations of American Judaism; he was an editor and a novelist. Citations of each thinker's work earlier in the book are capitalized on in order to explore the theme of history and identity as it occurs in their work, and it is shown that these figures struggled with very deep and pressing problems not only about God and the Jewish people, and about human nature and moral purpose but also about the very nature of Jewish belief and its understanding of the world, history, God, and much else. They realized the dangers that accompanied their sensitivity to the Holocaust and their unconditional commitment to an honest and probing encounter with the death camps, and at the same time, they refused to abandon Judaism. In some ways, they appear like other intellectuals of the current era, who realize that we cannot transcend history nor can we be overwhelmed by it, but in other ways, they appear unlike them, for their sense of value and purpose arises out of the horror of the death camps.Less

The Six Day War and American Jewish Life

Michael L. Morgan

in Beyond Auschwitz: Post-Holocaust Jewish Thought in America

The impact of the Six Day Israeli–Arab War of May–June 1967 on American Jewish life and especially in the way American Jews perceived Israel and the Holocaust is considered. The events of that summer ... More

The impact of the Six Day Israeli–Arab War of May–June 1967 on American Jewish life and especially in the way American Jews perceived Israel and the Holocaust is considered. The events of that summer and the changing character of American life shaped the constituencies for the post‐Holocaust Jewish thinkers; they also helped to shape them and their work. The chapter discusses the reactions of the young Jewish radicals, and the various (sometimes bizarre) groupings of thinkers that emerged. To some, the Six Day War enabled the Holocaust to move to a central focal location in Jewish identity, so that by the mid‐1970s, the Holocaust and the Israeli victory of 1967 were intertwined with Jewish pride and sense of responsibility to respond to threat with strength and self‐confidence.Less

Eliezer Berkovits and the Tenacity of Faith

Michael L. Morgan

in Beyond Auschwitz: Post-Holocaust Jewish Thought in America

In this chapter, and in Chs. 6, and 8–10, an analysis and examination is made of the writings of the major American Jewish thinkers/theologians. The thinker addressed in this chapter is Eliezer ... More

In this chapter, and in Chs. 6, and 8–10, an analysis and examination is made of the writings of the major American Jewish thinkers/theologians. The thinker addressed in this chapter is Eliezer Berkovits, an orthodox Jewish theologian and philosopher. Citations of each thinker's work earlier in the book are capitalized on in order to explore the theme of history and identity as it occurs in their work, and it is shown that these figures struggled with very deep and pressing problems not only about God and the Jewish people, and about human nature and moral purpose but also about the very nature of Jewish belief and its understanding of the world, history, God, and much else. They realized the dangers that accompanied their sensitivity to the Holocaust and their unconditional commitment to an honest and probing encounter with the death camps, and at the same time, they refused to abandon Judaism. In some ways, they appear like other intellectuals of the current era, who realize that we cannot transcend history nor can we be overwhelmed by it, but in other ways, they appear unlike them, for their sense of value and purpose arises out of the horror of the death camps.Less

Postmodernism, Tradition, Memory: The Contemporary Legacy of Post‐Holocaust Jewish Thought

Michael L. Morgan

in Beyond Auschwitz: Post-Holocaust Jewish Thought in America

The contemporary legacy of the post‐Holocaust movement for modern Judaism and Jewish self‐understanding is considered in an examination of modernist and postmodernist thought. For various reasons, ... More

The contemporary legacy of the post‐Holocaust movement for modern Judaism and Jewish self‐understanding is considered in an examination of modernist and postmodernist thought. For various reasons, the primacy of the Holocaust has been seen by many as opposed to a number of recent developments in Jewish life, especially the return to texts, the renewal of ritual celebration, and the commitment to “liberal” values. The author encourages an appreciation of the realism and yet the idealism of the post‐Holocaust thinkers and points out that their goal, like that of every Jew, is to find a way to return to the past in order to live into the future with integrity and hope.Less

Beginnings

Sarah Stroumsa

in Andalus and Sefarad: On Philosophy and Its History in Islamic Spain

This chapter discusses the earliest manifestations of systematic philosophy in al-Andalus, as well as their religious and political context. The second half of the tenth century was a watershed in ... More

This chapter discusses the earliest manifestations of systematic philosophy in al-Andalus, as well as their religious and political context. The second half of the tenth century was a watershed in Andalusian intellectual history. The story of this turning point is twofold. The first part relates to the introduction of sciences to al-Andalus, while the second relates to the censorship of philosophical and scientific books. The censorship of books was accompanied by the persecution of their readers, which drastically limited, and sometimes paralyzed, the Muslim practice of philosophy as it was prevalent at the time: Neoplatonic as well as mystical philosophy. Yet these restrictions were applicable to Muslims alone. Jewish thinkers, inspired by the same suspect sources, continued to develop the same sort of forbidden philosophy. Consequently, it is these Jewish thinkers who are prominent in the history of philosophy in al-Andalus in the eleventh century; and it is also they who served as custodians of the forbidden lore until better times. The chapter also studies Ibn Masarra, who is commonly considered to have been the first independent Andalusī Muslim thinker of local extraction.Less

History and Essence: The Construction of a Modern Jewish Political Theology

Jerome Copulsky

in Political Theology for a Plural Age

This chapter examines the attempts of modern liberal Jewish thinkers, responding to intellectual currents in political theory and liberal Protestant theology, and brute political facts, to construct ... More

This chapter examines the attempts of modern liberal Jewish thinkers, responding to intellectual currents in political theory and liberal Protestant theology, and brute political facts, to construct a new political theology for the emerging Jewish bourgeois citizen. This project entailed the articulation of a new Jewish narrative—a “history” of Judaism for contemporary purposes or a “usable past” orchestrated around the theological “idea” of Judaism, detailing how it had emerged, developed, and was preserved, despite the vicissitudes of history, and affirming its contemporary and enduring meaning. Narrating this story requires first a glance at the situation of the Jews in Europe at the beginning of liberalism and at the challenges that the new order posed to Judaism.Less

Inside/Outside the University: Philosophy as Way and Problem in Cohen, Buber, and Rosenzweig

Willi Goetschel

in The Discipline of Philosophy and the Invention of Modern Jewish Thought

This chapter examines the role of Hermann Cohen, Martin Buber, and Franz Rosenzweig as exponents of the development of Jewish philosophers from the period of the Wilhelminian Empire to the end of ... More

This chapter examines the role of Hermann Cohen, Martin Buber, and Franz Rosenzweig as exponents of the development of Jewish philosophers from the period of the Wilhelminian Empire to the end of Weimar Germany. It suggests that these three philosophers represent the changing opportunities and prospects of three generations of German Jewish thinkers. This chapter also argues that their works articulated a philosophic critique of the hegemonic discourse of philosophy and the conflicted way in which Jewish tradition has been (dis)figured by a cultural politics of assimilation.Less

Jews, Theatricality, and Modernity

Andrea Most

in Theatrical Liberalism: Jews and Popular Entertainment in America

Throughout the twentieth century, American Jews were instrumental in the development of the major industries and entertainment forms that provided mass culture to a majority of Americans: Broadway, ... More

Throughout the twentieth century, American Jews were instrumental in the development of the major industries and entertainment forms that provided mass culture to a majority of Americans: Broadway, Hollywood, the television and radio industries, stand-up comedy, and the popular music industry have all been deeply influenced by the activity of Jews. However, this close connection between Jews and entertainment represented a radical departure from traditional Jewish attitudes toward the theater. This chapter explores why, for centuries, Jews were one of the few European cultures without any official public theatrical tradition. It looks at how the particular historical conditions of Jewish modernity in Europe eventually led Jews to become intimately involved with the theater. Finally, it examines the history of interpretation of the biblical story of Jacob and Esau in order to understand the ways in which Jewish thinkers across the ages have responded to the morally ambiguous aspects of theatricality itself, a mode which encompasses both acting on the stage and performance in everyday life.Less

Strauss and His Contemporaries

Michael P. Zuckert and Catherine H. Zuckert

in Leo Strauss and the Problem of Political Philosophy

This chapter highlights the distinctive character of Strauss’s response—both political and philosophical—to his difficult position as a Jewish student of philosophy in Weimar Germany by contrasting ... More

This chapter highlights the distinctive character of Strauss’s response—both political and philosophical—to his difficult position as a Jewish student of philosophy in Weimar Germany by contrasting it with the responses of two other similarly situated individuals—Hannah Arendt and Emil Fackenheim. All three were Jewish students of philosophy in Germany, Strauss and Arendt in the 1920’s and 1930’s until the National Socialists came to power; Fackenheim in the 1930’s. Because they were Jewish, they could not simply follow or adopt the exciting “new thinking” of the philosopher, Martin Heidegger–especially after he publically joined the Nazi party that called for the expulsion and, finally, the extermination of the Jews. Because they were students of philosophy, however, they could not simply dismiss Heidegger’s thought on account of its horrible political consequences.Less

Literary Afterlife

in The Radical Enlightenment of Solomon Maimon: Judaism, Heresy, and Philosophy

As a writer and philosopher, Solomon Maimon acknowledged that his work was not as graceful as Moses Mendelssohn's mellifluous German prose or as architectonically grandiose as Immanuel Kant's ... More

As a writer and philosopher, Solomon Maimon acknowledged that his work was not as graceful as Moses Mendelssohn's mellifluous German prose or as architectonically grandiose as Immanuel Kant's Critiques. Indeed, his work is not as revered as that of Mendelssohn and Kant. While Maimon's afterlife in European philosophy was what he cared most about, his literary afterlife is primarily the story of his autobiography, which became one of the key texts in the self-construction of Jewish identity and in the representation of Jews by non-Jewish writers. Maimon was viewed by Maskilim such as Moshe Leib Lillienblum and Mordechai Aaron Guenzberg as their great predecessor. Franz Rosenzweig was influenced by Maimon's autobiography in the sense that it introduced him, along with several previous generations of German-Jewish readers, to a serious account of Moses Maimonides' thought. Other prominent German-Jewish thinkers who read Maimon's autobiography are Leo Strauss, Walter Benjamin, and Gershom Scholem. This chapter examines Maimon's literary afterlife and its influence on novels, philosophical works, historical narratives, and the Jewish popular imagination.Less

Concepts of Scriptural Language in Midrash

Benjamin D. Sommer

in Jewish Concepts of Scripture: A Comparative Introduction

This chapter offers a definition of the term midrash, and explains how the rabbis viewed the language of scripture. One must acquire some appreciation for midrashic approaches to scripture, not only ... More

This chapter offers a definition of the term midrash, and explains how the rabbis viewed the language of scripture. One must acquire some appreciation for midrashic approaches to scripture, not only to understand the Bible's role in the Judaism of the classical rabbis who produced the midrashim, but also to understand the Bible's role in the Judaisms of all who came after them. The chapter illustrates how the rabbis regard the Bible's language as essentially, even ontologically, different from normal language. Because the Bible's language is divine, it functions differently from normal human language, and it demands to be read in ways that reflect this radical difference. Modern Jewish thinkers reject this view; however, at no point does any Jewish thinker escape the midrashic conception of scriptural language.Less

The Embarrassment of Joshua: Strategies for Interpreting the Biblical Account of the Conquest of Canaan in German-Jewish Neo-Orthodoxy in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries

Matthias Morgenstern

in The Gift of the Land and the Fate of the Canaanites in Jewish Thought

This chapter examines the texts of four nineteenth-century German-Jewish thinkers: Heinrich Graetz (1817–1891), R. Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808–1888), Isaac Breuer (1883–1946), and his brother Raphael ... More

This chapter examines the texts of four nineteenth-century German-Jewish thinkers: Heinrich Graetz (1817–1891), R. Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808–1888), Isaac Breuer (1883–1946), and his brother Raphael Breuer (1881–1932). In varying degrees, and partly between the lines, these thinkers attempted to minimize the tensions between the biblical account of the conquest of Canaan and modern standards of understanding and judging human behavior in history.Less