by Brother Gilbert Joseph of the Divine Presence
Hilary Putnam a Jewish
writer has written about Rosenzweig, Buber and Levinas as some of the foremost
influences on modern Jewish thought as a guide to life.[1]
The ideas of these Jewish thinkers also influence many Christian writers,
thinkers, philosophers and theologians. These Jewish writers and many others
draw on Jewish sources for the genesis of their thought. The ideas of Buber and
Levinas provide a good contrast to how these Jewish sources are used.
I would divide Jewish thought into four main areas of
Talmud Torah, Musar, Kabbalah and Hasidut. Levinas draws extensively on the
teachings of Talmud Torah and Musar. Buber draws extensively on the teachings
of Kabbalah and Hasidut. In differing ways Levinas and Buber bring Jewish
thought to a wider and universal non-Jewish audience. These insights influence
both Western philosophy and Christian theology. The Mitnagdim or Litvak
tradition is mostly concerned with Talmud Torah which is the intensive and
often legalistic study of the Talmud’s teachings on the Torah.
The Musar movement under the leadership of Rabbi Salanter
and Rabbi Broida[2]
remedied the tendency for the study of the Talmud to become more of a legal and
intellectual endeavour than an encounter with God. Musar stressed the inner
light of the laws and ethical living.[3]
It was a move from head to heart. The
writings on Musar by the Chofetz Chaim is today one of the greatest influences
in the Litvisher world.[4] Kabbalah is the name given to the Jewish
mystical tradition but many Kabbalists started to intellectualise Kabbalah[5]
so that it became another purely intellectual pursuit rather than a heart
encounter.[6] In order to remedy this, Hasidism arose as a
movement that used the insights of Kabbalah as praxis to daily living from the
heart perspective.
Levinas belonged to the Jewish world of Modern Orthodoxy
which is in the Mitnagdim or Litvak stream of Judaism. Levinas states that
being Orthodox Jewish is the study of Talmud and mitzvot. [7]
Levinas emphasis on ethical transcendence is drawn from the tradition of Musar
which also focuses on the priority of the ethical. Buber on the other hand has
been influenced by Hasidism in his youth and shares the delightful and
insightful stories of the Hasidic Rebbes with the academic world. He especially
was drawn to the tales of the Baal Shem Tov who founded modern Hasidism and
those of his great grandson Rebbe Nachman of Breslov.
All four strands of Jewish thought are needed to give
fullness to Judaism. Talmud Torah and Musar are at the level of Peshat (simple
literal meaning) and Drash (homeletical and ethical meaning) while Kabbalah and
Hasidut are at the levels of Remez (allegory/ Aggadah) and Sod (Mystery/
Secret). These four strands have always been a part of Judaism and the modern
movements of Musar and Hasidut are revivals of this at a time when they had
been hidden from view. Head and heart, faith and reason, orthodoxy and
orthopraxy, male and female must always go together in harmony.
The study of the Talmud and Kabbalah without Musar and
Hasidut soon leads to spiritual dryness and sterility (the waters of Miriam’s
well dries up). The study of Talmud then becomes an activity of intellectual
pride and Kabbalah descends to the manipulation of powers focused on the
‘self’. Musar and Hasidut leads to humility and littleness and a focus on the
other. The Rabbis of Judaism associate Miriam’s well (beer) with Torah insights
and understandings (biur). When Miriam dies (when we lose the feminine heart
dimension of interpreting Scripture) then the spiritual waters of the well
(rock struck by Moses) dries up and we are only left with a dry and sterile
intellectualism. Rabbi Yaacov Haber of
the Litvak tradition writes:
...Miriam
brought the well, the Be’er. And this is the Biur, the deeper understanding of
life. She brought the insight that emerges from low and dark places, and from
which perspective you can suddenly see how things fit together. The sweetening
of bitter waters is the achievement of a new, deeper and broader perspective...[8]
Hasidism itself has many different groups called
dynasties. Some writers divide them into two groups Chabad and Chagas.[9] Chabad is the Hasidim of the Divine Head
(Chokmah/ Binah/ Daat) and Chagas is Hasdim of the divine Heart (Chesed/
Gevurah/ Tiferet). Lubavitch Hasidism is the only survivor of the Chabad school
and most other forms of Hasidism are classified under Chagas. However there are
major differences between the Hasidic dynasties within the Chagas grouping.
Lubavitch and Breslov are the most open to outsiders and are the fastest
growing movements of Hasidism.
Kabbalah in the last 30 years has seen an incredible
revival as a living prayer and meditation tradition of Judaism. Even among many
Hasidic groups the meditation side of Kabbalah had been obscured or forgotten. Pearl
Besserman a descendant of the Baal Shem Tov writes:
...it appears that Jewish mysticism is enjoying a renewal. Thanks to a scholarly revival, lucid translations of the ancient texts have made the practice accessible to a new generation of students...Ancient rituals will be charged with new life, as old cultural norms are expanded to embrace new ones. The practice of Hitbodedut will be open to anyone who aspires to become one with No-thing... [10]
The wonderful
translations and books on Jewish mysticism and the Jewish practices of
meditation and contemplation by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan have paved the way for this
renewed interest in Jewish mysticism. This
has drawn Jews and Judaism even closer towards Catholicism which is also
experiencing a renewed interest in mysticism and meditative and contemplative
prayer. Rebbe Nachman’s mystical teachings on Hitbodedut (the Jewish Holy Hour
of Prayer) are finding resonance outside the bounds of the Breslov movement.
Many people side-line Haredi and Hasidic forms of Judaism
by dismissing them as ultra-orthodox. However, these groups are growing and
they are reaching out to the younger generations in a way that Catholics could
learn much from them. Their use of contemporary music forms and dancing united
to Hasidic style music and dancing is attractive to many. The simplicity and
joy of the Breslov Hasidim as shown in the Israeli movie “Ushpizin” was also
attractive to many people both Jewish and non-Jewish. The mixture of learning and life is
intoxicating to many of the young today.
Among the younger generations the differences are
becoming less between the Haredi and the Modern Orthodox as the younger Modern
Orthodox are becoming more stringent in observances and dress.[13]
Michael Kress in an article titled “Orthodox Judaism Today” comments:
...But in recent years, the line between haredi and Orthodox has blurred. Many Modern Orthodox Jews are increasingly stringent in their adherence to Jewish law and express a growing sense of alienation from the larger, secular culture. Some scholars have even referred to the trend as the "haredization" of Orthodoxy, and some believe that Modern Orthodoxy is essentially dead...[14]
Even among the
Messianic Jewish groups there is a move towards more Torah and Jewish
observance in the younger generation of Messianic Jews and Hebrew Catholics.
Among the practicing and devout younger gentile Catholics there is also a move
to more traditional customs, practices and morality.
It is from these communities of spiritual life that
Jewish thought will continue to develop rather than in academic elites who are
mere voyeurs of the faith of others. Today we need theologians and philosophers
who are themselves people of vibrant faith who confront the secular culture as
a sign of contradiction. Liberal Judaism and Liberal Christianity are very old
and tired and dying a slow death as it compromises with the ‘Culture of Death’.
It is from the living tradition of the four strands of Orthodox Judaism that
further authentic Jewish thought will develop, which will in turn fertilise
Christian thought and theology as well as Western philosophy.
The future generations of believers may find certain
aspects of Levinas and Buber’s thought
useful in the new age of Faith that is coming, beyond the nightmare of our
rationalistic and secular technological age. If they do, it will be because of
their drawing on the wellsprings of truth[15]
found in the ancient but ever renewing traditions of Judaism. Over two
millennium Jews and Christians have influenced each other knowingly and
unknowingly with their spiritual movements and insights. In the third
millennium, which Pope John Paul II foresaw as a ‘millennium of unifications’[16],
will we see the rise of a new mystical and humble Catholic Church with Judaism at its heart as the Mother form[17]
of the church and its two lungs of East and West breathing in perfect union[18]?
Soloviev a famous Russian Orthodox
mystic and writer believed that it would be the mystically awakened Jews in the
Eastern and Western Churches that would bring about the reunion of the Eastern
Orthodox and Western Catholic churches.[19]
Will this be the fulfilment of the Election of Israel as a light to the
Gentiles? Will Jewish thought reach its greatest ‘fullness’ when it is reunited
and restored to the very heart of the Church in the service of the Messiah and
His kingdom?
[1] Hilary Putnam Jewish Philosophy as a Guide to Life:
Rosenzweig, Buber, Levinas, Wittgenstein (USA; Indiana University Press,
2008).
[2]
The New Encyclopedia of Judaism
“Musar” (Jerusalem: NYU Press, 1989)
[3] Eugene B Borowitz & Frances
Weinman Schwartz, The Jewish Moral
Virtues (USA: Jewish Publications Society, 1999).
[4] Rabbi Shimon Finkelman and Rabbi
Yitzchak Berkowitz Chofetz Chaim: A
Lesson a Day (Brooklyn NY: Mesorah Publications, 2006).
[5] Marco Pasi (editor) Kabbalah
and Modernity : Interpretations, Transformations, Adaptations (Boston: Brill Academic Publishers, 2010), 2.
[6] Pearl Besserman, Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism (Boston:
Shambala, 1997).
[7] Salomon Malka, Emmauel Levinas: His Life and Legacy (Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press, 2006),
212.
[8] Rabbi Yaacov Haber, Paths to Spiritual Growth: Torah Insights <http://www.ou.org/torah/haber/thoughts/5761/chukat61.htm>
[9] Daniël Meijers, Ascetic
Hasidism in Jerusalem: The Guardian-Of-The-Faithful Community of Mea Shearim (Netherlands:Brill,1992) 30-37.
[10] Pearl Besserman, Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism, 139,
144-145.
[11] Rabbi
Shraga Simmons, Surfboard Spirituality <http://www.aish.com/sp/so/Surfboard-Spirituality.html>
[12] Get Clarity
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCYRM7KYJY4&list=PL63059233A2CFACB1>
[13] Samuel C. Heilman, Sliding to the Right: The Contest for the
Future of American Jewish Orthodoxy (USA: University of California Press,
2006), 9-14.
[14] Michael Kress, Orthodox Judaism Today <http://www.myjewishlearning.com/history/Jewish_World_Today/Denominations/Orthodox.shtml>
[15]
Baal Shem Tov, A letter from Rabbi
Yisrael Ba'al Shem Tov to his brother in-law, Rebbe Gershon of Kitov, <http://www.inner.org/baal-shem-tov/letter.php>
[16] Cardinal
Joseph Ratzinger, Salt of the Earth, An Interview With Peter Seewald, (San
Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1997), 237.
[17]
Louis Bouyer, The Church of God: Body of Christ and Temple of the Spirit (USA: Fransican Herald Press, 1982), 568.
[18] Ut Unam Sint 54 <http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25051995_ut-unum-sint_en.html>
[19] Judith Deutsch Kornblatt, Doubly Chosen: Jewish Identity, the Soviet Intelligentsia, and the
Russian Orthodox Church (USA: University of Wisconsin Press,2004) 19-22.
Bibliography
Get Clarity <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCYRM7KYJY4&list=PL63059233A2CFACB 1>
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Baal Shem Tov, Yisrael (Rabbi). A letter from Rabbi Yisrael Ba'al Shem Tov to his brother in-law, Rebbe Gershon of Kitov, <http://www.inner.org/baal-shem-tov/letter.php>
Besserman, Pearl. Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism Boston: Shambala, 1997.
Borowitz, Eugene B and Schwartz, Frances Weinman. The Jewish Moral Virtues USA: Jewish Publications Society, 1999.
Bouyer, Louis. The Church of God: Body of Christ and Temple of the Spirit USA: Franciscan Herald Press, 1982.
Finkelman, Shimon (Rabbi) and Berkowitz, Yitzchak (Rabbi). Chofetz Chaim: A Lesson a Day Brooklyn NY: Mesorah Publications, 2006.
Haber, Yaacov (Rabbi), Paths to Spiritual Growth: Torah Insights <http://www.ou.org/torah/haber/thoughts/5761/chukat61.htm>
Heilman, Samuel C. Sliding to the Right: The Contest for the Future of American Jewish Orthodoxy USA: University of California Press, 2006.
Kornblatt, Judith Deutsch. Doubly Chosen: Jewish Identity, the Soviet Intelligentsia, and the Russian Orthodox Church USA: University of Wisconsin Press.
Kress, Michael. Orthodox Judaism Today <http://www.myjewishlearning.com/history/Jewish_World_Today/Denominations/Orthodox.shtml>
Malka, Salomon. Emmauel Levinas: His Life and Legacy Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press, 2006.
Meijers, Daniel. Ascetic Hasidism in Jerusalem: The Guardian-Of-The-Faithful Community of Mea Shearim Netherlands:Brill,1992.
Pasi, Marco (editor). Kabbalah and Modernity : Interpretations, Transformations, Adaptations Boston: Brill Academic Publishers, 2010.
Putnam, Hilary. Jewish Philosophy as a Guide to Life: Rosenzweig, Buber, Levinas,Wittgenstein USA; Indiana University Press, 2008.
Ratzinger, Joseph (Cardinal), Salt of the Earth, An Interview With Peter Seewald, (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1997), 237.
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