A Philosophy of Bridges

Horwitz, Rivka . Jerusalem Post ; Jerusalem [Jerusalem]12 Sep 1996.

Enlace de documentos de ProQuest

RESUMEN (ABSTRACT)
[Edward K. Kaplan] writes that a major point in [Abraham Joshua Heschel]'s thought was to show the human being
that God cannot be avoided, and that the mitzvot are the expression of God's will. Heschel felt obliged to address
all people, believers and nonbelievers, explaining the message of the Bible: that God cares for mankind and that He
speaks through the Torah. He insisted that all people stood at Sinai and that "the great voice" goes on forever. I
would like to think that, through Edward Kaplan, someone as open-minded as Heschel will be heard in Israel.

Kaplan's book is a result of an endeavor of many years. It conveys Heschel's piety as well as Kaplan's
understanding of the close connection between religion and poetry as a key to Heschel's understanding of religion.
Kaplan saw in Heschel a moral, prophetic figure with a great message for our generation.

A final point: Kaplan deals with a controversy between [Buber] and Heschel. I was very surprised to read this
because I remember Heschel's stories to me about his friendship with Buber, and how Heschel had been asked by
Buber to replace him in directing Jewish educational activities in Germany when the Nazis forbade Buber to
continue. There may, however, have been two sides to this, because from documents brought by Kaplan it is clear
that Heschel disagreed with Buber's understanding of the Bible as a symbol and wished to interpret it in a way that
was much closer to the Jewish tradition, as "prophetic theology." It appears that Buber struck Heschel as too
universal and too sociological.

TEXTO COMPLETO
HOLINESS IN WORDS: Abraham Joshua Heschel's Poetics of Piety by Edward K. Kaplan. Albany, State University
of New York. 213 pp. Price not stated.

The work of Edward Kaplan is directed at North American readers and aims to help them rediscover the spiritual
passion of Heschel. It can no doubt also be useful in the present situation of religion in Israel, for in Heschel one
finds a philosophy that bridges Orthodoxy and Reform, Jews and Gentiles, theory and praxis.

Kaplan writes that a major point in Heschel's thought was to show the human being that God cannot be avoided,
and that the mitzvot are the expression of God's will. Heschel felt obliged to address all people, believers and
nonbelievers, explaining the message of the Bible: that God cares for mankind and that He speaks through the
Torah. He insisted that all people stood at Sinai and that "the great voice" goes on forever. I would like to think that,
through Edward Kaplan, someone as open-minded as Heschel will be heard in Israel.

It is, for example, important that those who attend a Reform bar mitzva, here or elsewhere, should realize that they
have gathered to pray to the God of Israel, and try to understand what prayer means. For even the shortest prayer
is a prayer and may teach us to overcome the present alienation.

Kaplan's book is a result of an endeavor of many years. It conveys Heschel's piety as well as Kaplan's
understanding of the close connection between religion and poetry as a key to Heschel's understanding of religion.

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Kaplan saw in Heschel a moral, prophetic figure with a great message for our generation.

Only after the book appeared did it become clear how important is this new introduction to the great man's
writings. Besides conveying the main points of his philosophy, it brings new information previously unknown to the
general public and focuses sharply on Heschel's personality.

His political activity was related not only to his social action but also to his response to the Holocaust. Kaplan
describes Heschel as "a brand plucked from fire," writing on the Holocaust when many were still indifferent. Thus
Heschel's fight for social justice was not only a result of his famous political objection to the war in Vietnam and to
his support for the civil rights movement of Martin Luther King. When he wrote the following -- in "Insecurity of
Freedom" -- he came close to the ethical philosophy of Levinas: "The law demands: one should rather be killed than
commit murder.... It is better, the Talmud insists, to throw oneself into a burning furnace than to humiliate a being
publicly." Heschel, however, brings the message of Levinas in more theological language, and shows that "we are
responsible."

Kaplan's work brings to light Heschel's dependence on Hassidism rather than his Western sources. He introduces
the reader to Heschel by describing his work, The Earth is the Lord's, as a poetic tribute to annihilated Polish Jewry,
which included his own family. He describes the point of his major philosophical books, Man is not Alone, God in
Search of Man, and The Prophets, examines his "depth theology," and impels one to re-read Heschel so as to find
one's spiritual orientation.

One becomes aware that Heschel's philosophy, more than Buber's or Rosenzweig's, had a Jewish base (it is
regrettable that Kaplan did not devote a chapter to Heschel's attitude to Israel to bring out this aspect).

Heschel wished to convey a synthesis of Hassidism and philosophy, of rationalism and mysticism, of Rabbi Akiva
and Rabbi Yishmael.

Heschel had an interest not only in Maimonides but also in his son, Rabbi Abraham, who tended to Sufism. He
worked on Abraham Abulafia, the ecstatic mystic who is a major figure in Moshe Idel's studies of Jewish
mysticism. His faith was built on a dialectic between the radiant glory of the world as seen by the Baal Shem Tov
and the shocking evil that was acknowledged by the Rabbi of Kotzk.

Throughout his life one of Heschel's major interests was God's revelation to human beings. He wrote his doctorate
on "Prophecy," and he dealt with this theme time and again. Therefore Kaplan was correct to stress Heschel's work
on "Ruah Hakodesh {the Holy Spirit} in the Middle Ages." This article shows that the relationship between God and
the Jews did not end with the completion of the Bible. The voice of God has never been silenced. It is up to us to
hear Him.

Heschel was both a philosopher and a teacher. He did not want to be merely a dry scholar of objective data. He did
not see Kabbala or Hassidism as Scholem did -- as an antithesis to the Bible or Rabbinics -- but as an organic
continuation. Kaplan quotes Idel, who wrote that his work on Maimonides "illustrates Heschel's effort to detect an
organic link between what are, prima facie, distinct spiritual phenomena: Jewish philosophy and Kabbala."

A final point: Kaplan deals with a controversy between Buber and Heschel. I was very surprised to read this
because I remember Heschel's stories to me about his friendship with Buber, and how Heschel had been asked by
Buber to replace him in directing Jewish educational activities in Germany when the Nazis forbade Buber to
continue. There may, however, have been two sides to this, because from documents brought by Kaplan it is clear

PDF GENERADO POR SEARCH.PROQUEST.COM Page 2 of 4

that Heschel disagreed with Buber's understanding of the Bible as a symbol and wished to interpret it in a way that
was much closer to the Jewish tradition, as "prophetic theology." It appears that Buber struck Heschel as too
universal and too sociological.

Illustration
Photo; Caption: No Caption; Credit: K. Weiss

DETALLES

Personas: Heschel, Abraham Joshua Kaplan, Edward K

Título: A Philosophy of Bridges:   [Books. Edition ]

Autor: Horwitz, Rivka

Título de publicación: Jerusalem Post; Jerusalem

Número de páginas: 0

Año de publicación: 1996

Fecha de publicación: Sep 12, 1996

Sección: Books

Editorial: The Jerusalem Post Ltd.

Lugar de publicación: Jerusalem

País de publicación: Israel, Jerusalem

Materia de publicación: General Interest Periodicals--Israel

Tipo de fuente: Newspapers

Idioma de la publicación: English

Tipo de documento: NEW SPAPER

ID del documento de 316821082

ProQuest:

URL del documento: http://ezproxy.puc.cl/docview/316821082?accountid=16788

Copyright: Copyright The Palestine Post Limited Sep 12, 1996

Última actualización: 2017-11-11

Base de datos: ProQuest Central

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