Non­fic­tion

The Impact of the Holo­caust on Jew­ish Theology

Steven T. Katz, ed.
  • Review
By – July 26, 2012

Post-Holo­caust the­ol­o­gy reached its pin­na­cle in the 60’s and 70’s. The major works gen­er­at­ed many crit­i­cal respons­es by seri­ous Jew­ish thinkers. Ruben­stein, Fack­en­heim, Berkovits, Green­berg, et al, were lat­er joined by Wyschogrod, Gordis, Green and oth­ers. Dur­ing the past 25 years, how­ev­er, Jew­ish thinkers have not addressed the chal­lenge to the­ol­o­gy that the Shoah represents. 

The Memo­r­i­al Foun­da­tion for Jew­ish Cul­ture, rec­og­niz­ing the impor­tance of this top­ic, con­vened two con­fer­ences in Israel on Jew­ish Thought After the Holo­caust.” This vol­ume con­tains many of the papers pre­sent­ed at these con­fer­ences. Well-known schol­ars, as well as less­er-known (to the non-Israeli pub­lic) promi­nent thinkers were invit­ed to par­tic­i­pate. Men and women, hare­di (ultra­Ortho­dox) and sec­u­lar — wide­ly dis­parate per­spec­tives address many topics. 

Inte­grat­ing the Shoah into Jew­ish phi­los­o­phy, Jew­ish thought, and Jew­ish the­ol­o­gy rais­es many impor­tant ques­tions. What is the link between the Holo­caust and the cre­ation of mod­ern Israel? What is the mean­ing of Divine Prov­i­dence in light of the Shoah? Are we still the Cho­sen Peo­ple? How was halacha affect­ed by the Holo­caust? How is the Holo­caust viewed by the hare­di com­mu­ni­ty? How do we under­stand evil in his­to­ry? What impli­ca­tions are there for Jew­ish education? 

This is a seri­ous book. One must read each essay care­ful­ly and reflect on the issues raised. The schol­ars rep­re­sent­ed here wres­tle with sub­stan­tial issues. It is not light read­ing. We are chal­lenged, as is our belief sys­tem. Our think­ing is pushed and prod­ded as we attempt to under­stand how our belief in G‑d may have changed in the wake of the Holocaust. 

These schol­ars have grap­pled with the fun­da­men­tal issues of faith in light of the Shoah. We, as sen­tient Jews, must con­tin­ue to engage in this process. This vol­ume is a good beginning. 

Wal­lace Greene, Ph.D., has held sev­er­al uni­ver­si­ty appoint­ments, and cur­rent­ly writes and lec­tures on Jew­ish and his­tor­i­cal subjects.

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