Background
Emil Ludwig Fackenheim was born in Halle, Germany, on June 22, 1916.
( This subtle and nuanced study is clearly Fackenheims m...)
This subtle and nuanced study is clearly Fackenheims most important book." ?Paul Mendes-Flohr ... magnificent in sweep and in execution of detail." ?Franklin H. Littell In To Mend the World Emil L. Fackenheim points the way to Judaisms renewal in a world and an age in which all of our notions?about God, humanity, and revelation?have been severely challenged. He tests the resources within Judaism for healing the breach between secularism and revelation after the Holocaust. Spinoza, Rosenzweig, Hegel, Heidegger, and Buber figure prominently in his account.
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( For nineteenth-century thinkers, the central problem of...)
For nineteenth-century thinkers, the central problem of religious consciousness in the modern West was the tension between prevailing concepts of individual autonomy and the traditional Judaeo-Christian claim for divine revelation. The God Within brings together ten of Professor Emil Fackenheim's essays on the German Idealists who struggled to resolve this tension. This philosophic preoccupation found its most searching and comprehensive expression, when the traditional notion of 'God as Transcendent' was reconceptualized as 'the God within.' The internalization of God's 'otherness' reached its climax with Hegel, the subject of Fackenheim's earlier work, The Religious Dimension in Hegel's Thought. This long-awaited companion to that volume examines the earlier stages of the process, beginning with its initiator, Kant, then considering Schelling in both his earlier and later phases, and finally, looking once more at Hegel. The investigation of this movement, together with the related themes of history and the literary arts, leads to reflection on the significance of taking historicity seriously. Included is the classic, much-cited article 'Metaphysics and Historicity,' which connects the philosophy of German Idealists to twentieth-century questions of historicity and existential thought in particular. The previously unpublished essay 'Schelling in 1800-1801: Art as Revelation,' provides an overview of philosophical history from Kant through Fichte and Schleiermacher, to the later Schelling. All the essays gathered here are concerned with the radical singularity of history and existence on the one hand and the demands of philosophical truth on the other. They are informed by Professor Fackenheim's engagement with the profound philosophical challenges of our day--particularly his efforts, as a Jewish theologian, to confront the horrors of the Holocaust. We see, through Fackenheim's exposition, how these thinkers sought to come to terms with the presence of radical evil, a problem whose modern relevance is explored in this volume's epilogue, the 1988 essay 'Holocaust and Weltanschauung: Philosophical Reflections on Why They Did It.'
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(The Jewish Return Into History: Reflections in the Age of...)
The Jewish Return Into History: Reflections in the Age of Auschwitz and a New Jerusalem Jan 01, 1978 Emil L. Fackenheim
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(A presentation of both an introduction to Judaism and an ...)
A presentation of both an introduction to Judaism and an analysis of its essence in the light of the Holocaust and the creation of the state of Israel, written by a contemporary American philosopher. It begins with the religious situation of the contemporary Jew, and covers topics such as anti-Semitism, Zionism, and the relationship between Judaism and other religions.
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Emil Ludwig Fackenheim was born in Halle, Germany, on June 22, 1916.
Liberal Jews at this time looked to Germany's cultured, middle-class Jewish population as the beacon of enlightenment and progress. Fackenheim shared these views and studied for the Reform Jewish rabbinate in the Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums, where he was ordained in 1939. He maintained a keen interest in non-Jewish philosophy as well by studying at the University of Halle. Shortly after his ordination he was interned for three months in a concentration camp-a profoundly traumatic experience, but one with a fortunate outcome, as he was one of the few lucky ones to be released. He studied briefly at the University of Aberdeen. Then he studied at the University of Toronto's Department of Philosophy, from which he received a Ph. D. in 1945.
He was called as rabbi to Congregation Anshe Sholom in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, where he served from 1943 to 1948. In North America, Fackenheim came to represent a growing number of Reform rabbis in both the United States and Canada who explored new theological horizons. He embraced a "neo-Orthodoxy" inspired in part by the German Protestant thinker Karl Barth. His philosophical training led him beyond existentialism to investigate Hegel, who seemed to point towards new avenues in religious thinking. He received a Guggenheim fellowship for 1957-1958 which enabled him to develop his ideas more fully. These ideas reached full expression in his book The Religious Dimension in Hegel's Thought (1968). Fackenheim's thinking challenged the youth of his congregation to take Judaism seriously as an intellectual system.
In 1948 he joined the faculty of that department, an appointment he continued for over three decades. He was an intellectual leader whose struggles with liberal thought and neo-Orthodox beliefs were well represented in his anthology of essays Quest for Past and Future: Essays in Jewish Theology (1968). Holocaust and the State of Israel The introduction to the Quest book represented a change in Fackenheim's approach. In March 1967 he was asked to speak at a symposium concerning the Nazi Holocaust and Jewish theology. The symposium occurred on a Sunday which celebrated both the Christian Easter and the Jewish holiday of Purim. Fackenheim noted that for Christians redemption occurs because of divine suffering, while Purim suggests that Jews must struggle in history for their own redemption. He recalled the psychic pain of confronting his own memories at a time when Christians seemed to be demanding that Jews play out their drama of suffering and abandon the lessons of Purim. These were the weeks leading up to Israel's Six-Day War, a time in which the Jewish state was threatened by the Arab world's military stronghold of Egypt. Fackenheim took the opportunity to enunciate what he called the "614th commandment, " which forbids Jews to hand Hitler yet another, posthumous victory. ' Thus, he asserted, Jews are compelled to learn from and remember constantly the lessons of the past-in essence, to survive. In the following years Fackenheim developed the ideas expressed in that symposium. He explored their meaning in the Charles F. Deems Lectures given at New York University in 1968 and later published as God's Presence in History: Jewish Affirmations and Philosophical Reflections (1970). He explained the relevance of this new position for his continuing study of non-Jewish philosophy in Encounters Between Judaism and Philosophy: A Preface to Future Jewish Thought (1973). During the 19706 Fackenheim's thought matured as he devoted five summers to study in Israel supported by research grants of the Canada Council. In 1971 he affirmed the relevance of Holocaust theology not only for Jews but for all humanity in the B. G. Rudolf Lecture in Judaica Studies at Syracuse University. In 1976 he presented a new methodological approach-that of taking midrash (medieval commentaries on Hebrew scripture) as the point of departure for Jewish theology. In a conference devoted to Elie Wiesel, the Jewish writer and Holocaust survivor, Fackenheim described this new approach to Jewish thinking: stories, images, and mystical concepts rather than philosophy could supply the keys to the meaning of Judaism. His new view of Jewish ethnicity, the relevance of the Holocaust for all humanity, and midrashic method of theologizing were expressed in The Jewish Return into History: Reflections in the Age of Auschwitz and a New Jerusalem (1978) and To Mend the World: Foundations of Future Jewish Thought (1982). Confronting Kant and Hegel Fackenheim's most important contribution to contemporary religious thinking was his clear account of how modern theology must confront philosophical issues. While he traced the history of modern philosophical thought in general, his analyses of Kant and Hegel are of special importance. No contemporary Jewish thinking can fail to encounter Kant's ethical challenge. Kant contended that only a self-willed, autonomous ethic is morally good. A religious ethic which is based on mere obedience to the divine will is morally suspect. Fackenheim examined this claim in a number of essays and sought to show that in Judaism the problem of God's unconditional demand is related to martyrdom and a sense of divine purpose. From Hegel, Fackenheim learned the necessity of taking historical processes seriously-in other words, the patterns of the past do indeed shape destiny. In both cases the Nazi experience is crucial. The Holocaust brought the question of purpose into direct light; God's unconditional command is ethical because it serves a purpose even if human beings cannot comprehend that purpose. Fackenheim asserted that Kant was wrong because he does not allow for the surprise that comes when human beings recognize a purpose that they cannot comprehend. The Holocaust also revealed God's presence in history, not as an inevitable hand but as a commanding voice. Listening to that voice enabled Jews to transform the reality of human history and thus move beyond Hegel. The Eclipse of God Fackenheim and his family emigrated to Israel in 1974, where he continued to write books and articles on theological matters. Moving beyond Hegel and Kant into the twentieth century, Fackenheim also explored the idea put forth by modern Jewish philosopher Martin Buber, who argued that the occurrence of the Holocaust is sufficient evidence that God must have abandoned humanity for a time. Yet Fackenheim disagreed, arguing that the surviving Jews and the resistance to Nazi Germany pointed to evidence that many indeed heard the voice of God, and in essence was indeed true to that 614th commandment. Fackenheim's other titles include To Mend the World (1980), What Is Judaism? An Interpretation for the Present Age (1987), The Jewish Bible After the Holocaust: A Re-Reading (1990), and Jewish Philosophers and Jewish Philosophy (1996).
( For nineteenth-century thinkers, the central problem of...)
(A presentation of both an introduction to Judaism and an ...)
(Investigates the assumptions of such philosophers as Kant...)
(The Jewish Return Into History: Reflections in the Age of...)
( This subtle and nuanced study is clearly Fackenheims m...)
(Format Paperback Subject History)
(Book by Fackenheim, Emil)
Emil Fackenheim created this concept and advocated it as what he believed to be the "614th commandment" or "614th mitzvah. " The "614th Commandment" can be interpreted as a moral imperative that Jews not use the facts of the Holocaust to give up on God, Judaism or - in the case of secular Jews as well - on the continuing survival of the Jewish people, thereby giving Hitler a "posthumous victory". The meaning of this imperative has been the subject of serious dialogue both within and beyond the Jewish community. Opposition to the goals of Hitler is a moral touchstone that has implications for several sensitive issues.
Quotations:
"In the twentieth century, men -- all of us -- find themselves compelled to commit or condone evil for the sake of preventing an evil believed to be greater. And the tragedy is that we do not know whether the evil we condone will not in the end be greater than the evil we seek to avert - or be identified with. "
"For Christians, the first priority may be theological self-understanding. For Jews it is, and after Auschwitz must be, simple safety for their children. In pursuit of this goal, Jews seek - are morally required to seek - independence of other people's charity. They therefore seek safety - are morally required to seek it - through the existence of a Jewish state. Except among the theologically or humanly perverse, Zionism - the commitment to the safety and genuine sovereignty of the State of Israel - is not negotiable. "
"It may be the case that [post-Holocaust] the authentic Jewish
agnostic and the authentic Jewish believer are closer than at
any previous time. "
"The Auschwitz praxis was based on a new principle: for one portion of mankind, existence itself is a crime, punishable by humiliation, torture, and death. And the new world produced by this praxis included two kinds of inhabitants, those who were given the "punishment" and those who administered it. "