Isaac Husik
Encyclopedia
Gratz College
Gratz College is a general college of Jewish studies founded in 1895 offering a broad array of credentials and programs in virtually every area of higher Judaic learning to aspiring Jewish educators, communal professionals, lay people and others seeking to become more knowledgeable of...
in Philadelphia.
Biography
Husik was born in Vasseutinez near KievKiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
on 10 February 1876. Because of the worsening climate under the Russian imperial
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
May Laws
May Laws
Temporary regulations regarding the Jews were proposed by minister of internal affairs Nikolai Ignatyev and enacted on May 15 , 1882, by Tsar Alexander III of Russia...
, in 1888, when he was 12 years old, he moved with his mother to Philadelphia. His father, the teacher Wolf Husik, rejoined them the following year. Isaac received his early instruction from his father and from Dr. Sabato Morais
Sabato Morais
Sabato Morais was an Italian-American rabbi, leader of Mikveh Israel Synagogue, pioneer of Italian Jewish Studies in America, and founder of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City.- Early years :...
, rabbi at the Sephardic congregation Kahal Kadosh Mikveh Israel
Kahal Kadosh Mikveh Israel
Congregation Mikveh Israel, Mikveh Israel synagogue, officially called Kahal Kadosh Mikveh Israel is a synagogue located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and was founded in the 1740s. It is one of the Oldest synagogues in the United States...
in Philadelphia, and one of the founders of the Jewish Theological Seminary
Jewish Theological Seminary of America
The Jewish Theological Seminary of America is one of the academic and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism, and a major center for academic scholarship in Jewish studies.JTS operates five schools: Albert A...
(JTS). Husik attended JTS while preparing for secular studies, and received direct guidance from Dr. Morais, but did not ultimately pursue a rabbinical career.
Husik attended Central High School (Philadelphia)
Central High School (Philadelphia)
Central High School is a public secondary school in the Logan section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Central, the second-oldest continuously public high school in the United States , was founded in 1836 and is a four-year university preparatory magnet school...
, and then enrolled at University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, where he received a Masters degree in Mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
in 1899. Ultimately, however, his interests turned to the study of the classics, especially Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
, and he received his Ph.D. in Philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
from University of Pennsylvania in 1903. His thesis, entitled Judah Messer Leon's Commentary on the Vetus Logica, was published in Leyden in 1906.
While still a student at Penn
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, Husik accepted an Instructorship in Hebrew and Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
at Gratz College
Gratz College
Gratz College is a general college of Jewish studies founded in 1895 offering a broad array of credentials and programs in virtually every area of higher Judaic learning to aspiring Jewish educators, communal professionals, lay people and others seeking to become more knowledgeable of...
, but simultaneously remained an instructor in Philosophy at Penn. He eventually left Gratz, and was appointed full Professor of Philosophy at Penn in 1922. He taught classes also at Yeshiva College, Hebrew Union College
Hebrew Union College
The Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion is the oldest extant Jewish seminary in the Americas and the main seminary for training rabbis, cantors, educators and communal workers in Reform Judaism.HUC-JIR has campuses in Cincinnati, New York, Los Angeles and Jerusalem.The Jerusalem...
, and Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
Summer School.
In 1923, Husik was appointed editor of the Jewish Publication Society of America
Jewish Publication Society of America
The Jewish Publication Society , originally known as the Jewish Publication Society of America, is the oldest nonprofit, nondenominational publisher of Jewish works in English...
, in which capacity he served until his death. He additionally served in a wide range of voluntary communal positions, and married Rose Gorfine late in life. He died suddenly at the age of 63. The philosopher Leo Strauss
Leo Strauss
Leo Strauss was a political philosopher and classicist who specialized in classical political philosophy. He was born in Germany to Jewish parents and later emigrated to the United States...
called him in his "Preface to Isaac Husik, Philosophical Essys: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern" (1952): "one of the most distinguished historians of philosophy America had produced".
Works
Husik's best known work is A History of Mediaeval Jewish Philosophy http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/27821 (Jewish Publication Society, 1916, and several times thereafter), which was considered at the time to be a pioneering effort in English-language scholarship. Like Julius GuttmannJulius Guttmann
Julius Guttmann , born Yitzchak Guttmann was a German-born rabbi, Jewish theologian, and philosopher of religion.- Biography :...
's Philosophies of Judaism, Husik's book offers rather thin treatment of mystical topics and thinkers, instead favoring the rational face of Jewish thought. Husik had extensive knowledge of Hebrew, Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
, 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 Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
, and relied heavily on primary sources in these languages when available.
A History of Mediaeval Jewish Philosophy discusses the philosophies of the following individuals:
- Isaac IsraeliIsaac Israeli ben SolomonIsaac Israeli ben Solomon , also known as Isaac Israeli the Elder and Isaac Judaeus, was one of the foremost physicians and philosophers of his time. He is regarded as the father of medieval Jewish Neoplatonism...
- David ben Merwan al-MukkamasDavid ben Merwan al-MukkamasDavid ibn Merwan al-Mukkamas al-Rakki was a philosopher and controversialist, the author of the earliest known Jewish philosophical work of the Middle Ages. He was a native of Rakka, Mesopotamia, whence his surname...
- Saadia ben Joseph al-Fayyumi
- Joseph al-Basir
- Joshua ben Judah
- Solomon ibn GabirolSolomon ibn GabirolSolomon ibn Gabirol, also Solomon ben Judah , was an Andalucian Hebrew poet and Jewish philosopher with a Neoplatonic bent. He was born in Málaga about 1021; died about 1058 in Valencia.-Biography:...
- Bahya ibn Pakuda
- Pseudo-Bahya
- Abraham bar Hiyya
- Joseph ibn Zaddik
- Judah Halevi
- Moses ibn EzraMoses ibn EzraRabbi Moses ben Jacob ibn Ezra, known as ha-Sallah was a Jewish, Spanish philosopher, linguist, and poet. He was born at Granada about 1055 – 1060, and died after 1138. Ezra is Jewish by religion but is also considered a great influence in the Arabic world in regards to his works...
- Abraham ibn EzraAbraham ibn EzraRabbi Abraham ben Meir Ibn Ezra was born at Tudela, Navarre in 1089, and died c. 1167, apparently in Calahorra....
- Abraham ibn DaudAbraham ibn DaudAbraham ibn Daud was a Spanish-Jewish astronomer, historian, and philosopher; born at Toledo, Spain about 1110; died, according to common report, a martyr about 1180. He is sometimes known by the abbreviation Rabad I or Ravad I. His mother belonged to a family famed for its learning...
- Moses Maimonides
- Hillel ben Samuel
- Levi ben Gerson
- Aaron ben Elijah of Nicomedia
- Hasdai ben Abraham Crescas
- Joseph AlboJoseph AlboJoseph Albo was a Jewish philosopher and rabbi who lived in Spain during the fifteenth century, known chiefly as the author of Sefer ha-Ikkarim , the classic work on the fundamentals of Judaism.-Early life:Albo's birthplace is generally assumed to be Monreal, a town in Aragon...
Among Husik's other works are a translation of Joseph Albo
Joseph Albo
Joseph Albo was a Jewish philosopher and rabbi who lived in Spain during the fifteenth century, known chiefly as the author of Sefer ha-Ikkarim , the classic work on the fundamentals of Judaism.-Early life:Albo's birthplace is generally assumed to be Monreal, a town in Aragon...
's Book of Principles (ספר העקרים) in five volumes, which restores many passages removed by Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
censors
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
, a translation of von Ihering's Law as a Means to an End (Zweck im Recht), and a translation of Stammler's The Theory of Justice.