Eliezer Berkovits
Encyclopedia
Eliezer Berkovits was a rabbi
, theologian, and educator in the tradition of Orthodox Judaism
.
, the Dor Revi'i, including semicha, and then at the Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary
in Berlin
as a disciple of Rabbi Yechiel Weinberg, the great master of Jewish law in that generation, and received his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Berlin. He served in the rabbinate in Berlin
(1934–39), in Leeds
, England (1940–46), in Sydney
, Australia (1946–50), and in Boston
(1950–58). In 1958 he became chairman of the department of Jewish philosophy
of the Hebrew Theological College
in Chicago. At the age of 67, he and his family immigrated to Israel in 1976 where he taught and lectured until his death in 1992.
Berkovits wrote 19 books in English
, Hebrew, and German
, and lectured extensively in those languages. His writings deal with basic issues of faith, spirituality and law in the creative dialogue between religion and modernity, with an emphasis on halakha
in the State of Israel and on halakha relating to marriage and women. His thought is in essence a philosophy of morality and history for contemporary society.
The encounter is paradoxical in that it transcends human comprehension, yet it demonstrates that God cares about human beings. He teaches that once human beings know God cares for them, they can act in ways that seek meaning, accept responsibility for their actions, and act with righteousness toward others. This implies the keeping of the commandments, ethical concern for others, and building the State of Israel. From "The Paradox of the Encounter" in God, Man, and History (1965):
Berkovits also insisted that God must be an Agent independent from Man, in opposition to pantheistic or panentheistic notions of "all is in God" or "God is in all". On Berkovits' analysis, such notions run completely contrary to the foundations of the Jewish faith. For a religious relationship of any kind to exist, at the very least there must be separation between man and God. Thus, notions of "mystical union" must be utterly rejected:
should be explained through the classical concept of hester panim, "the hiding of the divine face." Berkovits claimed that in order for God to maintain His respect and care for humanity as a whole, He necessarily had to withdraw Himself and allow human beings—even the most cruel and vicious—to exercise their free will. Due to the role of Christianity in the Holocaust Berkovits rejected interreligious dialogue with Christians.
as reflected in the entire range of Jewish sacred literature, (2) common sense, (3) the wisdom of the feasible in the light of reality. In Not in Heaven he states that "in the spiritual realm nothing fails like compulsion" Yet, "Autonomy degenerates into everyone doing his own thing. The result is social and international decadence" (p. 83). Berkovits sees Judaism and halakhah as being inextricably intertwined, halakhah and our relationship to it having indeed shaped Judaism. "Through Halakhah the Word from Sinai has become the way of life of the Jewish people through history" (p. 84). He therefore sees a normative role for halakhah even in the modern world: "There has never been a greater need for Halakhah’s creative wisdom of Torah-application to the daily realities of human existence than in our day" (p. 2).
Related to this is Rabbi Berkovits's view of the Oral Law (Torah She'be'al Peh), the traditional Jewish conception of the oral explanation of the Torah, given at Sinai along with the Written Torah. This Oral Torah includes both explicit interpretations of certain Pentateuchal laws, as well as the general methods of Rabbinic exegesis. In Berkovits's view, the Oral Law was oral in order to allow maximum flexibility, by giving the rabbis of each generation the ability to decide questions of new situations and circumstances and even re-decide anew the questions of previous generations. When the Oral Law was written (chiefly in the Mishna and Talmud), the rabbis viewed this as so catastrophic and unprecedented and controversial because this killed much of the Oral Law's flexibility that was so inherent to its nature; by writing it down, decisions were set in stone and could not be redecided. This was necessary to prevent its being forgotten due to the tribulations of Roman rule and exile, but it had its price. In addition, Rabbi Berkovits saw Zionism as a means to revitalize in the Jewish people what was lost with the Oral Law's writing.
His view is almost undoubtedly derived from that of the Dor Revi'i, Rabbi Moshe Shmuel Glasner
. His views are exactly the same, set forth in his introduction to his book the Dor Revi'i (see Moshe Shmuel Glasner
for link to abridged English translation). It is not surprising that Rabbi Berkovits's view is so similar, given that he studied under Rabbi Glasner's son Rabbi Akiva Glasner before he moved to Berlin, and Rabbi Berkovits may have even received semicha (ordination) from Rabbi Akiva Glanser.
said in a March, 2009, lecture about Berkovits that Berkovits was deeply concerned with the treatment of women in Jewish life, law, and practice. He affirmed the equity of women and men within the institution of Jewish marriage, but never advocated any abrogation of existing Jewish law.
Berkovits called for the ethical courage on the part of Jewish legal authorities to put what already exists in principle into practice. He was a major inspiration for many traditional Jewish women who sought to carve out a more equitable position within the boundaries of the Jewish religious law.
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
, theologian, and educator in the tradition of Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
.
Life
Berkovits received his rabbinical training first under Rabbi Akiva Glasner, son of Rabbi Moshe Shmuel GlasnerMoshe Shmuel Glasner
Rabbi Moshe Shmuel Glasner , a prominent Hungarian Talmudic scholar and communal leader, served as chief rabbi of Klausenburg from 1877 to 1923. In 1923 he left Klausenburg for Jerusalem where he resided until his death in 1924...
, the Dor Revi'i, including semicha, and then at the Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary
Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary
The Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary was founded in Berlin on 22 October 1873 by Rabbi Dr. Azriel Hildesheimer for the training of rabbis in the tradition of Orthodox Judaism.-History:...
in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
as a disciple of Rabbi Yechiel Weinberg, the great master of Jewish law in that generation, and received his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Berlin. He served in the rabbinate in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
(1934–39), in Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
, England (1940–46), in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Australia (1946–50), and in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
(1950–58). In 1958 he became chairman of the department of Jewish philosophy
Jewish philosophy
Jewish philosophy , includes all philosophy carried out by Jews, or, in relation to the religion of Judaism. Jewish philosophy, until modern Enlightenment and Emancipation, was pre-occupied with attempts to reconcile coherent new ideas into the tradition of Rabbinic Judaism; thus organizing...
of the Hebrew Theological College
Hebrew Theological College
The Hebrew Theological College, known as "Skokie Yeshiva," is a Yeshiva in Skokie, Illinois which also functions as a private university on campus. The primary focus of the Yeshiva is to teach Torah and Jewish traditions...
in Chicago. At the age of 67, he and his family immigrated to Israel in 1976 where he taught and lectured until his death in 1992.
Berkovits wrote 19 books in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, Hebrew, and German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, and lectured extensively in those languages. His writings deal with basic issues of faith, spirituality and law in the creative dialogue between religion and modernity, with an emphasis on halakha
Halakha
Halakha — also transliterated Halocho , or Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.Judaism classically draws no distinction in its laws between religious and ostensibly non-religious life; Jewish...
in the State of Israel and on halakha relating to marriage and women. His thought is in essence a philosophy of morality and history for contemporary society.
Philosophy
The core of his theology is the encounter as an actual meeting of God and human at Mt. Sinai.The encounter is paradoxical in that it transcends human comprehension, yet it demonstrates that God cares about human beings. He teaches that once human beings know God cares for them, they can act in ways that seek meaning, accept responsibility for their actions, and act with righteousness toward others. This implies the keeping of the commandments, ethical concern for others, and building the State of Israel. From "The Paradox of the Encounter" in God, Man, and History (1965):
Berkovits also insisted that God must be an Agent independent from Man, in opposition to pantheistic or panentheistic notions of "all is in God" or "God is in all". On Berkovits' analysis, such notions run completely contrary to the foundations of the Jewish faith. For a religious relationship of any kind to exist, at the very least there must be separation between man and God. Thus, notions of "mystical union" must be utterly rejected:
Holocaust Philosophy
After the Holocaust, Berkovits asserted that God's "absence" in Nazi GermanyNazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
should be explained through the classical concept of hester panim, "the hiding of the divine face." Berkovits claimed that in order for God to maintain His respect and care for humanity as a whole, He necessarily had to withdraw Himself and allow human beings—even the most cruel and vicious—to exercise their free will. Due to the role of Christianity in the Holocaust Berkovits rejected interreligious dialogue with Christians.
Theory of Halakhah and Halakhic Change, Oral Law (Torah She'be'al Peh)
In Berkovits' view, Halakhah is determined by (1) the priority of the ethical in the value system of JudaismJudaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
as reflected in the entire range of Jewish sacred literature, (2) common sense, (3) the wisdom of the feasible in the light of reality. In Not in Heaven he states that "in the spiritual realm nothing fails like compulsion" Yet, "Autonomy degenerates into everyone doing his own thing. The result is social and international decadence" (p. 83). Berkovits sees Judaism and halakhah as being inextricably intertwined, halakhah and our relationship to it having indeed shaped Judaism. "Through Halakhah the Word from Sinai has become the way of life of the Jewish people through history" (p. 84). He therefore sees a normative role for halakhah even in the modern world: "There has never been a greater need for Halakhah’s creative wisdom of Torah-application to the daily realities of human existence than in our day" (p. 2).
Related to this is Rabbi Berkovits's view of the Oral Law (Torah She'be'al Peh), the traditional Jewish conception of the oral explanation of the Torah, given at Sinai along with the Written Torah. This Oral Torah includes both explicit interpretations of certain Pentateuchal laws, as well as the general methods of Rabbinic exegesis. In Berkovits's view, the Oral Law was oral in order to allow maximum flexibility, by giving the rabbis of each generation the ability to decide questions of new situations and circumstances and even re-decide anew the questions of previous generations. When the Oral Law was written (chiefly in the Mishna and Talmud), the rabbis viewed this as so catastrophic and unprecedented and controversial because this killed much of the Oral Law's flexibility that was so inherent to its nature; by writing it down, decisions were set in stone and could not be redecided. This was necessary to prevent its being forgotten due to the tribulations of Roman rule and exile, but it had its price. In addition, Rabbi Berkovits saw Zionism as a means to revitalize in the Jewish people what was lost with the Oral Law's writing.
His view is almost undoubtedly derived from that of the Dor Revi'i, Rabbi Moshe Shmuel Glasner
Moshe Shmuel Glasner
Rabbi Moshe Shmuel Glasner , a prominent Hungarian Talmudic scholar and communal leader, served as chief rabbi of Klausenburg from 1877 to 1923. In 1923 he left Klausenburg for Jerusalem where he resided until his death in 1924...
. His views are exactly the same, set forth in his introduction to his book the Dor Revi'i (see Moshe Shmuel Glasner
Moshe Shmuel Glasner
Rabbi Moshe Shmuel Glasner , a prominent Hungarian Talmudic scholar and communal leader, served as chief rabbi of Klausenburg from 1877 to 1923. In 1923 he left Klausenburg for Jerusalem where he resided until his death in 1924...
for link to abridged English translation). It is not surprising that Rabbi Berkovits's view is so similar, given that he studied under Rabbi Glasner's son Rabbi Akiva Glasner before he moved to Berlin, and Rabbi Berkovits may have even received semicha (ordination) from Rabbi Akiva Glanser.
Women in Jewish Law
Berkovits was critical of the lack of rights a married Jewish woman has in relation to her husband in issues of marriage and divorce. Rabbi Prof. David HartmanDavid Hartman (rabbi)
David Hartman is an American and Israeli rabbi and philosopher of contemporary Judaism, founder of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, Israel, and a Jewish author.- Early life :...
said in a March, 2009, lecture about Berkovits that Berkovits was deeply concerned with the treatment of women in Jewish life, law, and practice. He affirmed the equity of women and men within the institution of Jewish marriage, but never advocated any abrogation of existing Jewish law.
Berkovits called for the ethical courage on the part of Jewish legal authorities to put what already exists in principle into practice. He was a major inspiration for many traditional Jewish women who sought to carve out a more equitable position within the boundaries of the Jewish religious law.
Works
- Hume and Deism (1933) [German]
- What is the Talmud? (1938) [German]
- Towards Historic Judaism (1943)
- Between Yesterday and Tomorrow (1945)
- Judaism: Fossil or Ferment? (1956)
- God, Man, and History (1959)
- Prayer (1962)
- A Jewish Critique of the Philosophy of Martin Buber (1962)
- T'nai Bi'N'suin u'V'Get (1966) [Hebrew]
- Man and God: Studies in Biblical Theology (1969)
- Faith After the Holocaust (1973)
- Major Themes in Modern Philosophies of Judaism (1974)
- Crisis and Faith (1976)
- With God in Hell: Judaism in the Ghettos and Death Camps (1979)
- Not in Heaven: The Nature and Function of Halakha (1983)
- HaHalakha, Koha V'Tafkida (1981) [Hebrew] - expanded version of Not in Heaven (above)
- Logic in Halacha (1986) [Hebrew]
- Unity in Judaism (1986)
- The Crisis of Judaism in the Jewish State (1987) [Hebrew]
- Jewish Women in Time and Torah (1990)
- Essential Essays on Judaism (2002), ed. David HazonyDavid HazonyDavid Hazony is an American-born Israeli writer and magazine editor.David Hazony has studied at Columbia University, received a B.A. and M.A...
External links
- The New York Times
- JEWISH EDUCATION IN A WORLD ADRIFT
- Eliezer Berkovits's Post-Holocaust Theology: A Dialectic between Polemics and Reception, Marc A. Krell
- http://www.azure.org.il/article.php?id=271Eliezer Berkovits and the Revival of Jewish Moral Thought, David HazonyDavid HazonyDavid Hazony is an American-born Israeli writer and magazine editor.David Hazony has studied at Columbia University, received a B.A. and M.A...
] - http://www.azure.org.il/article.php?id=223Eliezer Berkovits, Theologian of Zionism, by David HazonyDavid HazonyDavid Hazony is an American-born Israeli writer and magazine editor.David Hazony has studied at Columbia University, received a B.A. and M.A...
] - The Eliezer Berkovits Institute for Jewish Thought at Shalem CenterShalem CenterThe Shalem Center is a Jerusalem research institute that supports academic work in the fields of philosophy, political theory, Jewish and Zionist history, Bible and Talmud, Middle East Studies, archaeology, economics, and strategic studies...
started a project to publish and translate anew all major works of Eliezer Berkovits (in David HazonyDavid HazonyDavid Hazony is an American-born Israeli writer and magazine editor.David Hazony has studied at Columbia University, received a B.A. and M.A...
's Foreword to "God, Man and History")