Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #749462 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

From Publishers Weekly
In 1951, Christian theologian Reinhold Niebuhr predicted that Abraham Joshua Heschel would "become a commanding and authoritative voice not only in the Jewish community but in the religious life of America." This first volume of a two-volume biography follows Heschel from his birth in Warsaw in 1907 to his emigration from Europe to America in 1940. From his early childhood, Heschel combined a love of learning with an intense piety. The authors follow Heschel's childhood study and mastery of classic Jewish texts, showing how this learning established the foundation of Heschel's later life and work in America. Greatly affected by his Hasidic upbringing (his father and uncle were Hasidic rebbes, and Heschel was expected to become one as well but he chose a life of scholarship and social activism instead), Heschel wove into his life a sense of God's holiness as well as a sense of the biblical prophets' sense of justice. The cultural richness of European Jewry prior to the Holocaust also greatly influenced Heschel. Kaplan and Dresner contend that their portrait will present Heschel as a "unique blend, that of a university-educated East European Jew inspired by God." This volume narrates Heschel's encounter with Martin Buber, with whom he engaged in lifelong debate about Judaism and ethics, and chronicles Heschel's stints as a teacher of religious philosophy in Berlin, Warsaw and London. While the staid, workmanlike style of this biography often fails to capture Heschel's fire and intensity, the authors nevertheless provide the most complete portrait to date of this remarkable religious figure.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
A social activist who marched alongside Martin Luther King in the 1960s, Heschel (1907-72), one of the foremost Jewish philosophers of our century, revitalized religious thought with his unique writings and insights. This first volume details Heschel's life in Europe until his departure to America and freedom just as the Nazi net was closing in. Heschel, born in Warsaw in 1907 and descended from a prominent Hasidic family, was considered a prodigy from an early age. His friendship with Martin Buber?and their significant philosphical differences?forms some of the most fascinating material in this study. Kaplan (French and comparative lit., Brandeis Univ.) and Dresner, a retired philosophy professor, both students of Heschel, make a major contribution to the growing literature on Heschel with this first scholarly biography. Highly recommended for libraries with Judaic or strong religious studies holdings.?Paul M. Kaplan, Lake Villa Dist. Lib., Round Lake Beach, IL
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
The first part of a two-volume, comprehensive biography of one of the leading Jewish theologians of this century. This volume covers the influential Eastern European thinker's formative years until his arrival in the US. From the subtitle onward Kaplan (French and Comparative Literature/Brandeis Univ.) and Dresner (retired professor of philosophy at the Jewish Theological Seminary) are irritatingly fond of calling Abraham Joshua Heschel (d.1972) a ``prophet.'' Furthermore, they reduce Heschel's own traditional religious observance to liberation theology and politics. Rabbi Heschel did march with Martin Luther King in Selma and actively opposed the Vietnam War, but if anything, this biography documents in its most compelling chapters the traditionalist Heschel's battle with the secularized Jewish Enlightenment's major ideas and scholars. It was this conflict that made him write, after his emigration from Europe at age 33, such classics of Jewish thought as Man Is Not Alone, God in Search of Man, and The Sabbath. Most significantly, Heschel opposed his mentor, Martin Buberthough he did so with characteristic humility and charm. Against the grain of the Kantian atheists who dominated intellectual discussion at the University of Berlin (where he just managed his doctorate under a Nazi rector), Heschel's main concern was not secularism as much as reductionism, the tendency to explain away religious phenomena (such as prophetic inspiration) in human or scientific terms. Heschel insisted that ``divine revelation validated Jewish law'' and his ``life's mission [was] to maintain a Jewish way of thinking.'' In an otherwise dry and academic book, the described clashes between this descendant of Hasidic masters and secular humanists like Berlin's David Koigen liven things up. Despite its flaws, this is the first half of a solid biography of one the most important defenders of faith and ethics in modern theology. (34 b&w photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

The "Prophet" in training
Among the American intellectual community, Abraham Joshua Heschel is probably the best known Jewish spiritual leader. of the 20th century. This resulting from his activist stance on the issue of Civil Rights in the early 1960's and his active and vocal opposition to the Vietnam War a bit later. Yet as time goes by ,few Americans,Jewish and gentiles alike are aware of Heschel, the scholar, Heschel the particularistic Jewish activist, and Heschel, the spiritual seeker. This biography throws light on the youth and education of this prophetic figure. We learn about Heschel's Chasidic background, his "royal" lineage, his sojurn in Vilna among secular Jews, his education and activities in Germany as well as his foray into the world of Yiddish poetry, and his scholarly publications.The book is well researched and finely written, with many illustrations. I only feel that those parts dealing with Heschel the Chasidic Jew and Yiddish poet lack some authenticity. The authors seem to go overboard to stress Heschel's ritual observance in Vilna and Berlin, such as strict adherence to the Kosher code ,to the laws of Shaatnez and the like.Its ironic that at the same time that a number of books and articles have recently appeared about the Lubavitcher rebbe's stay in Berlin, subtly questioning his Jewish committment,this book about a future leader of the Conservative Jewish movement maintains Heschel's strict ritual observance in Berlin.All in all this volume is a fascinating portrayal of the life of an East European Jew seeking new horizons and an education in the West, yet never forgetting his roots. It is an important contribution to the study of European Jewish life and thought in the 20th century.

The Multi-Faceted Heschel
The power of Heschel's influence on the philosophy of Jewish America cannot possibly be underestimated. Dr. Kaplan's valient attempt to analyze and research the life os this great thinker is to be commended. His descriptions of the piety of the man he calls a Prophet, may be distasteful to some of his more liberal admirers, but remains the unadulterated proud truth. For the great liberal thinker and activist never swayed from his religous beleifs. Though considered a leader in the Conservative movement, he remained an Orthodox Jew. Though Kaplan's descriptions of Heschel's father, who was a Chassidic Grand Rabbi and miracle worker are lacking understanding in Spirituality and therefore rather inacurate, which is troublesome to his more knowledgeble Chassidic readers, I eagerly await Volume II, on Heschel's years in America.