Yeshayahu Leibowitz, Scientist; man of letters; adult educator; philosopher of religion; philosopher of halakhah (Jewish Law); politics.
Career
1924, Assistant Lecturer, hemistry, Cologne. 1953, Chief Editor, EncyloI’oedia Hehraica, Jerusalem. 1961-1973, Professor, rganic Chemistry, Biochemistry and NeurophySlCs> Hebrew University, Jerusalem.
1973-1994, Public lectures about Maimonides and Kant and, controversially, on the political philosophy 0 various Israeli governments.
Views
Leibowitz was the most well known and controversial of all Israeli philosophers. His public stance against the occupation of areas with a large Arab population, was due to his interpretation of the halakhah as a pure and goalless service of God. For the same reason, however, he regarded Christianity as a form of paganism, and as the adversary, and even the negation, of Judaism. In his advocacy of strict obedience to halakhah and his downgrading of cultural and ethnic definitions of Judaism he was influenced by Maimonides and Kant. He was a strong critic of any alliance between Orthodoxy and secular Zionism in the State of Israel, demanding a separation between the two, whilst remaining a fervent Zionist. He was particularly popular in the secular Israeli community, lecturing widely to large audiences and on the media.
He was the brother of Nehama Leibowitz. Sources: Encyclopaedia Judaica; Schoeps; obituary. The Times, 24 Aug 1994.