Background
Joshua Loth Liebman was born on April 7, 1907 in Hamilton, Ohio, United States. He was the son of Simon Liebman, a merchant, and Sabina (Loth) Liebman and the descendant of rabbis on both sides.
("It may seem strange for a man to write a book about peac...)
"It may seem strange for a man to write a book about peace of mind in this age of fierce turmoil and harrowing doubts. I have written this book in the conviction that social peace can never be permanently achieved so long as individuals engage in civil war with themselves." "In this book I try to present some answers that have proved helpful to me about the universal human dilemmas of conscience, love, fear, grief, and God-- crucial problems that present themselves in every kind of society, and, I believe, will present themselves as long as man is man." --Joshua Loth Liebman
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Joshua Loth Liebman was born on April 7, 1907 in Hamilton, Ohio, United States. He was the son of Simon Liebman, a merchant, and Sabina (Loth) Liebman and the descendant of rabbis on both sides.
A brilliant child, Liebman entered high school at the age of ten and college at thirteen and received the Bachelor of Arts from the University of Cincinnati at nineteen (1926) and his ordination from the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati at twenty-three (1930). It is probable that he delayed receiving the Bachelor of Arts, because he was studying for the rabbinate simultaneously and thus accelerated the latter program. He captained his university debating team in its victory over Oxford in 1924 and he was nominated for Phi Beta Kappa in his junior year. Upon graduation Liebman was awarded a fellowship and a tutorial in German. In 1930 he received a traveling fellowship from Hebrew Union College and spent 1930-1931 studying philosophy at Harvard, Columbia, and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. In 1939 he received his doctoral degree at Hebrew Union College for his study of the religious philosophy of Aaron ben Elijah.
Liebman was a lecturer in Greek philosophy from 1926 to 1930. Later he became an instructor of Bible and medieval exegesis at Hebrew Union College. Between 1934 and 1939 Liebman served as rabbi of Kehilath Anshe Maarab Temple in Chicago and, for one year, as lecturer in Hebrew literature at the University of Chicago. In 1939 he accepted a call to Temple Israel in Boston, where he was to remain until his death.
Temple Israel of Boston grew from 500 families in 1939 to 1, 400 in 1948, and Liebman became a prominent local and national figure. He was the first rabbi ever to become a regular faculty member of a Christian theological school in America (Andover-Newton), headed the Massachusetts Governor's Committee of Clergymen for Racial and Religious Activities (1942 - 1945), preached regularly on Sunday mornings over two Boston radio stations, and served actively on numerous national governmental and religious boards and commissions. In 1946 he published his famous work entitled Peace of Mind (1946).
Liebman's earliest sermons and essays demonstrated his thorough grasp of modern Hebrew poetry; his 500-page dissertation revealed that he had mastered medieval and Jewish philosophy as well. Liebman's study compares Aaron ben Elijah, whose major philosophical work, Tree of Life, was composed in Hebrew in 1354, with both Jewish and Islamic philosophers and argues that his was a "rich, skillful and original synthesis of the quintessential problems of Jewish religious philosophy. " Liebman's sermons suggested the influence of Freud and a deep interest in popularizing the lessons of psychology. In Boston, Liebman preached once or twice a month on what were to become themes of Peace of Mind, and by 1942 some of his sermons already bore the titles of chapters of the book.
Peace of Mind is the distillation of a decade of thinking about psychology and religion. Its popularity probably rested on several factors: an absorbing subject at a time of immense turmoil; its skillful synthesis of a medical treatise and a religious philosophy; its simple prescriptions for inner security taken from psychiatry and its wholesome, affirmative view of the universe taken from religion; its response to the war and prophets of despair; and its felicitous style and sure grasp of the literature and philosophy of the Western world. Notwithstanding Liebman's failure to suggest that the healing of sick souls is often a lengthy and painful process, Peace of Mind is, as one of Liebman's honorary degrees noted, "a bold, pioneer attempt to rediscover the psyche and to restore it to its Eternal Source of love, understanding and true happiness. "
Liebman died suddenly at the age of 41 and was buried in the temple's cemetery.
Liebman's national fame rests upon his book "Peace of Mind" (1946), a popular statement of the psychological science of his day that had an immense appeal to a distraught generation. Selling more than 5, 000 copies per week and rated either first or second on national nonfiction best-seller lists through much of 1946, Peace of Mind has had more than forty printings and been translated into several languages.
("It may seem strange for a man to write a book about peac...)
(This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)
Liebman believed that religion and psychology shared a common goal: to lead the individual to inner security and maturity. Psychology would provide a proper interpretation, commitment, and perspective, while religion would achieve growth and maturity in the realm of conscience by proclaiming "what ought to be rather than what is. " A proper interpretation of life is the awareness that life is hard and often defeating and that perfection is an illusion. Proper commitment means achieving moral and emotional maturity by giving to the world as much as one demands from it. Perspective is the awareness that occasional destructive feelings, moods of depression, and aggressive thoughts are quite normal, for we are an assortment of impulses, traits, and emotions. Religion offers new hopefulness about humanity, an understanding of the problem of evil, a vision of continual human growth, and an awareness of our responsibilities and goals. Liebman's concept of God supported this optimistic vision: God was the "infinite Mind" or, more commonly, the "Power" that made for righteousness as well as personal and social salvation, through the "intangible ideals of man" and their "artistic harmonies. "
Quotations:
“As mature men and women we should regard our minds as a true democracy where all kinds of ideas and emotions should be given freedom of speech. ”
“The unpleasant things in life make so much noise that we forget the silent operation of the good. Evil is aggressive, rampant, but good is quiet, undemonstrative. ”
“There comes a time in the development of every ego when it must love its neighbors or become a twisted and stunted personality. ”
“A world that is intellectually mature but morally infantile is on the road to ruin. ”
“Maturity is achieved when a person accepts life as full of tension. ”
In 1930 Liebman married his first cousin, the daughter of a distinguished Cincinnati Jewish family, Fannie Loth, whom he first met as a student. Shortly before his death, he and his wife adopted a daughter.
