Abraham Joshua Heschel

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel (January 11, 1907, Warsaw, Poland - December 23, 1972) was considered by many to be one of the most significant Jewish theologians of the 20th century.

Related Topics:
January 11 - 1907 - Warsaw - Poland - December 23 - 1972 - Jew

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Heschel was a descendant of preeminent rabbinic families of Europe, both on his father's (Moshe Mordechai Heschel, who died of influenza in 1916) and mother's (Reizel Perlow Heschel) side. He was the youngest of six children including his siblings: Sarah, Dvora Miriam, Esther Sima, Gittel, and Jacob. In his teens he received a traditional yeshiva education, and obtained traditional semicha, rabbinical ordination. He then studied at the University of Berlin, where he obtained his doctorate, and at the Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums, where he earned a second liberal rabbinic ordination.

Related Topics:
Rabbi - Europe - Yeshiva - Semicha - University of Berlin - Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums

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Heschel's teachers included some of the best German-Jewish teachers: Chanoch Albeck, Ismar Elbogen, Julius Guttmann, and Leo Baeck. He later taught Talmud there. Escaping from the Nazis, he found refuge both in England and America, where he briefly served on the faculty of Hebrew Union College, the main seminary of Reform Judaism, in Cincinnati.

Related Topics:
Chanoch Albeck - Ismar Elbogen - Julius Guttmann - Leo Baeck - Talmud - England - America - Hebrew Union College - Reform Judaism - Cincinnati

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Increasingly uncomfortable with the lack of observance of Jewish law at HUC, Heschel sought an academic institution where critical, modern scholarship of the Bible was allowed, and yet also held that Jewish law was normative. He found such a place in 1946 when he came to the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS), the main seminary of Conservative Judaism. He accepted a position there as Professor of Jewish Ethics and Mysticism, where he served until his death in 1972.

Related Topics:
Jewish law - 1946 - Jewish Theological Seminary of America - Conservative Judaism - Mysticism - 1972

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Rabbi Heschel explicated many facets of Jewish thought including studies on medieval Jewish philosophy, Kabbalah, and Hasidism. He has a special interest in the prophets, and in the proper way for Jews to incorporate religion into their lives. His books contain civil but pointed rejoinders towards those in Reform Judaism who no longer held that Jewish law was normative, and also towards those in Orthodox Judaism, who Heschel held valued legalism over the spirit of the law.

Related Topics:
Philosophy - Kabbalah - Hasidism - Reform Judaism - Orthodox Judaism - Legalism

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Rabbi Heschel did not fully fit in JTS either, however. He was more interested in spirituality than critical text study, which was a specialty of scholars at JTS. A similar disconnect between him and much of JTS faculty were due to his views on the Hebrew prophets and social justice. Heschel saw the teachings of the Hebrew prophets as a clarion call for social action in the United States, but his social activism was at the time dismissed as unimportant by most JTS faculty. They saw their job as academics and educators, and left the role of social activism to pulpit rabbis and laypeople. In later years there would be a sea change in how JTS faculty viewed this position; today most JTS faculty are more involved in social activism, and some have written that it was a mistake for JTS not to follow Heschel's lead at that time.

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Heschel was particularly looked down upon by his colleague Mordechai Kaplan, founder of Reconstructionist Judaism, and many students who attended JTS in the 50s sympathized with Kaplan over Heschel.

Related Topics:
Mordechai Kaplan - Reconstructionist Judaism - 50s

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He married Sylvia Straus on December 10, 1946, in Los Angeles. They had a daughter named Susannah. Susannah Heschel eventually became a scholar of Judaism in her own right.

Related Topics:
December 10 - 1946 - Los Angeles - Susannah Heschel

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Heschel was also known as an activist for civil rights in the USA, and an activist for freedom for Soviet Jewry. He is one of the few Jewish writers to be widely read by Christians. His most influential works include "Man is Not Alone," "God in Search of Man," "The Sabbath," and "The Prophets."

Related Topics:
Civil rights - Soviet Jewry

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