Encountering the Jewish Future: with Wiesel, Buber, Heschel, Arendt, Levinas

by Marc H. Ellis

Overview

Marc Ellis maintains that the most vital questions about Judaism are prefigured in the work of Elie Wiesel, Martin Buber, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Hannah Arendt, and Emmanuel Levinas. Ellis's work is framed by encounters with each thinker's work, focusing on topics of God, the Holocaust, the prophetic legacy, philosophical and ethical standpoints, and Jewish empowerment and dissent.

Two generations after the Holocaust and Israel's founding, Ellis argues that the uncertain future of Judaism requires a deeply personal and intellectual exploration of Jewish tradition and identity, in conversation with the best philosophical and theological minds of recent years.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780800697938
Publisher:	1517 Media
Publication date:	07/01/2011
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Marc H. Ellis is retired University Professor of Jewish Studies and Director of the Center for Jewish Studies at Baylor University. Among his publications areEncountering the Jewish Future (2012), Reading the Torah Out Loud (2007), Practicing Exile (2001), Oh, Jerusalem! (1999), and Unholy Alliance (1997), all from Fortress Press. He is also a regular contributor on Mondoweiss: The War of Ideas in the Middle Eastwith a series called Exile and the Prophetic

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 Encountering the Holocaust Elie Wiesel 13

On First Hearing the Holocaust Named 13

Writing The Other Kingdom 18

The Question of God After 21

The Additional Covenant 28

Holocaust Martyrdom and the 1967 War 34

Holocaust Icon 43

Chapter 2 Encountering the Bible Martin Buber 53

Teaching as a Prophetic Encounter 58

The Prophetic Community 66

History as a Mysterious Approach to Closeness 78

Isaiah's Arrow in the Quiver 83

Buber's Intriguing Bible 87

Chapter 3 Encountering God After Abraham Joshua Heschel 95

Bridging the Interfaith Divide 100

A Disturbing Nostalgia? 110

God of the Prophets 114

Rendezvous with Destiny 124

Praying with My Feet 135

Chapter 4 Encountering Jewish Politics Hannah Arendt 143

Judging Eichmann 147

The Hidden Tradition 157

Jewish Identity(s) 167

Bracketing Jewishness 183

Chapter 5 Encountering the Jewish Prophetic Emmanuel Levinas 195

The Passion of Passions 199

Ethics as the Optic of the Divine 211

Expiating Blasphemy in Advance 218

Asceticism and the Prophetic 225

Levinas's Ambivalence 233

Epilogue: Encountering the Jewish Future 243

Someone Has Deceived You, My Dear Friend 246

Aaron Crossing the Empire Divide 252

Being Jewish in a Globalized World 257

Notes 267

Index 275