Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion
                        New York School

Ph/TH J20	Eugene B. Borowitz


An Introduction to Modern Jewish Thought


What is the role of mind -- of thinking hard about things -- in being a believing, practicing Jew 
today?  A Judaism that is too mental hardly seems religious.  One that is all feeling could easily 
become irresponsible.  What balance seems right to you? and since not everyone is just like you, 
what other possibilities are there that you could honestly teach Jews of another temperament?

In this course we address these questions from the vantage of the different ideas about Judaism 
which have been put before our community.  We do not study it primarily as a psychological, 
sociological or historical matter though these and other social sciences may influence our thinking 
hard about Judaism.  Our question, then, is "How does this or that way of abstractly speaking 
about Judaism tell us we ought to live our lives as Jews?"  Once we understand the different ways 
of explaining Judaism we ask ourselves, "Is this true?  Should I live this way?  Should other Jews? 
What would living this way do to me, to our people?"

There are two ways to take this course: (1) the tutorial way and (2) the intensive, classroom way.

(1) The tutorial way is designed for those students who by reason of other commitments or 
personal need wish to complete the basic academic work in an informal, personalized fashion.  It 
involves reading and discussing with your tutor my two books dealing with the ideological 
(popular "philosophy") and the systematic (abstract, academic) views of Judaism -- the books are, 
respectively, Reform Judaism Today and Choices in Modern Jewish Thought, (2nd ed.).  The 
student moves on to the issues level of Jewish thinking by writing an academic paper on a 
theological issue of personal interest to them and doing so in terms of the contemporary writing 
about the issue.  A separate guide to the paper will be issued.

The tutors names will be announced at the first class.  Students electing this option should 
indicate this to me in writing after the first session and immediately set up their work with a tutor, 
preferably in tutorial groups.

(2) The intensive, classroom way covers this ground with greater student and instructor 
involvement.  In addition to the usual need to read and prepare for each session and participate 
actively therein, students have three specific responsibilities:


i.  A weekly personal log of a page discussing some aspect of the student's current 
religious/spiritual situation.  While perhaps the work of our course will affect this, anything 
dealing with the intimate, subjective side of the experience of trying to be a good person/Jew is 
appropriate.  These communications and the instructor's response are strictly confidential.  A-L 
due Thursdays; M-Z due Mondays.

ii.  Write three papers, one (A) alone, an informal (no notes, no bibliography) six page essay 
responding thoughtfully to Rabbi Richard Levys request to members of the CCAR and others in 
the Reform Jewish community to discuss replacing the Centenary Perspective of 1976.  Based on 
our discussions and readings of the first months sessions, give your considered response to 
whichever of his twelve questions seem significant to you.  Submit two copies fo your essay, one 
to be sent to him, one on which I will write my comments and return to you.  Two are formal 
(academic) papers which are generally done with a class colleague/chevruta.  Please request 
permission to do papers (B) and (C) on your own.  Their topics are (B) on systematic Jewish 
thinkers and (C) on a contemporary theological problem of interest to the students.  A separate 
guide for working on these two papers will be distributed.

iii.  Teach part of one of the sessions (the instructors do the other part).  You may do this alone or 
with your chevruta.  

For either option, since the skills we are working on involve active thinking via discussion, 
reasonably regular attendance is a course requirement.  A final examination will be required of all 
students whose work has not clearly demonstrated their fulfillment of the course's goals.

I am always glad to talk to students.  Should you not be able to sit with me when I am at school 
(Tuesdays and Thursdays), please do not hesitate to call me at home -- and without apology -- 
516-767-0933.  My Fax number is 516-767-9315.  I do not often read my E-Mail so you'll get a 
faster response from a Fax.

The course calendar -- with each sessions's reading requirements -- and the course bibliography 
are separate documents.

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Some Valuable Contemporary Literature
Books marked * are on reserve in the Library.

Surveys

General: Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy (one vol.); HarperCollins Dictionary of Religion (one 
vol.); John Macquarrie, Twentieth Century Religious Thought2  (fabulous, reviews every major book, 
but getting old now).

Jewish Historical -- for the historical development of any theme the best source is Louis Jacobs, A 
Jewish Theology.  His treatment of Maimonides' "creed" is also most helpful, Principles of the Jewish 
Faith.  For our movement, see Michael Meyer's excellent, *Response to Modernity.  But remember, 
this is not a course in the history of ideas but in our living belief today.

Jewish Contemporary -- The major alternatives to my *Choices in Modern Jewish Thought are: 
Norbert Samuelson, *An Introduction to Modern Jewish Philosophy; Eliezer Berkovits, *Major 
Themes in Modern Philosophies of Judaism (often unclear Orthodox critique of liberals); William 
Kaufman, *Contemporary Jewish Philosophies (broad-ranging but with an obtrusive 
Reconstructionist slant);and Steven T. Katz, *Post-Holocaust Dialogues, (highly intensive, 
rationalist/Orthodox essays).  Arthur A. Cohen and Paul Mendes-Flohr's *Contemporary Jewish 
Religious Thought (often quite idiosyncratic collection on themes).  Judith Plaskow's Standing Again 
at Sinai is the closest thing we have to feminist introduction to our contemporary situation.  Elizer 
Schweid takes a totally different, (because secular nationalist) approach to "Jewish Thought" in his 
book Jewish Thought in the Twentieth Century.

Five Major Theological Options (B)

1. Neo-Kantianism--Hermann Cohen.  The easier access is *Reason and Hope, ed. Eva Jospe.  More 
difficult, Cohen's master work, *Religion of Reason out of the Sources of Judaism.  Additional 
secondary literature: the lucid chapter in Faith and Reason, Samuel H. Bergmann; tough chapters in 
Philosophies of Judaism, Julius Guttmann, and Jewish Philosophy in Modern Times, Nathan 
Rotenstreich.  William Kluback, Hermann Cohen, studies the master to show, ala Rosenzweig, that 
he became "more Jewish" with age.

2. Religious Experience--Leo Baeck.  *The Essence of Judaism is  indispensable since his other major 
work, *This People Israel, presupposes it.  Additional secondary literature: *Leo Baeck, Teacher of 
Theresienstadt, Albert Friedlander.  Avoid Baker, Days of Sorrow and Pain (bio).


3. Naturalism--Mordecai Kaplan. Nothing has taken the place of     the wordy *Judaism as a 
Civilization but skim Part Two so as to get to Kaplan's reconstruction.  A helpful alternative, though 
somewhat thin on theology and method, is the anthology *Dynamic Judaism, Goldsmith and Scult, 
eds.  Some of the essays on Kaplan's ideas (rather than his relation to past movements) in *The 
American Judaism of Mordecai Kaplan, Goldsmith, Scult and Seltzer, eds. are insightful and 
informative, giving us our best secondary literature on Kaplan.  My old, unpublished manuscript 
*Mordecai Kaplan as Philosopher of Judaism, replete with citations, is in the Library.  
4. Existentialism--Martin Buber and Franz Rosenzweig.  Since       Rosenzweig's theoretical 
formulations are so difficult, only students with working knowledge of Buber should normally elect 
to read the Rosenzweig material.  If you feel up to him, the best introduction remains *Franz 
Rosenzweig, His Life and Thought, Nahum Glatzer; give particular attention to the original sources 
at the back.  Also try reading the Introduction to Part One of *The Star of Redemption where 
Rosenzweig sets forth his three fundamental, given realities.  For his famous controversy with Buber 
on halakhah, see *On Jewish Learning.  People with a strong intellectual bent will benefit from the 
masterful first six chapters in Robert Gibbs' Correlations in Rosenzweig and Levinas or Stephane 
Moses' System and Revelations.

For Buber's general theory of religion read Parts One and Three of *I and Thou.  His general social 
emphases are gathered in On Intersubjectivity and Cultural Creativity, S. N. Eisenstadt ed.  For his 
Jewish teaching read Parts One, Four and Five of *Israel and the World.  DO NOT USE the 
deceptively titled collection On Judaism.  It mostly features Buber's eight pre-I and Thou lectures and 
thus not his mature view of Judaism.  Secondary literature: the easier book is Martin Buber, Jewish 
Existentialist, Malcolm Diamond; the classic is *Martin Buber, The Life of Dialogue, Maurice 
Friedman.  

5. Neo-Traditionalism--Abraham Heschel.  The major book remains *God in Search of Man.  The 
first section appeals but will be misunderstood if you do not see it in the context of the second and 
third sections.  Read selectively in all the sections.  A broad collection of his essays is now available 
in Heschel's Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity.  The secondary material remains more admiring 
than instructive with John C. Merkle's *The Genesis of Faith of use, less so his collection Abraham 
Joshua Heschel.  Edward Kaplan shows how to read Heschel's prose in Holiness in Words.

To Investigate a Contemporary Problem (C)

Students may choose any Jewish theological or philosophical  problem of interest to them to study. 
This should be done with an eye to learning the names of some of our contemporary thinkers, the 
style of their discussion and the places where one finds serious discussion of modern Jewish thought. 
Among such topics are: the existence or nature of God; the meaning of revelation; the place of the 
State of Israel in modern Jewish faith; the concepts of galut and aliyah; mitzvah and halakhah in 
non-orthodox Judaism.  Please do not forget to study the theme in contemporary Reform Judaism 
via the Centenary Perspective utilizing the papers in the CCAR Journal, Spring 1977 or Eugene B. 
Borowitz *Reform Judaism Today.

An indispensable guide for doing research on themes in this area is an ongoing product of this course, 
*A Bibliography of Contemporary Jewish Thought, 1992 Edition, the Andrea Weiss revision of the 
Sobel/Klafter original.  Copies for sale in Mrs. Avery's office.

A good sense of what a thoughtful layperson might be expected to know about a contemporary 
problem may be gained by looking at Eugene B. Borowitz *Liberal Judaism.  Its review of the 
background and current opinions of 29 different themes may provide a "floor" from which your more 
advanced study ought to build up.  That is to say, if laypeople can be expected to have this grasp of 
a theme, your research and treatment needs to go to into greater depth.  See also the collection, noted 
above, Contemporary Jewish Religious Thought.


The major journal in which theological material is occasionally available is Modern Judaism.  The 
quality of Judaism has not been high in recent years. (Cumulative indices available.)  Occasional 
articles in Commentary, Tikkun and non-Jewish journals like the Journal of Ecumenical Studies may 
be of interest.  Generally of less academic significance are the magazines of the three rabbinic groups, 
Journal of Reform Judaism, Conservative Judaism and Tradition (various cumulative indices 
available); the newly revived Reconstructionist is reaching for significant depth.  Do not forget the 
CCAR Yearbook which has its own indices.  Forum, the quarterly of the World Zionist Organization, 
discusses Zionist and Israeli-diaspora issues.  Midstream rarely stops being ideological and has an 
academic level analysis of Zionist and other topics.  The Journal of Reform Zionism clearly illustrates 
the problems of trying to think sensibly about Zionism in our time.  (You may find the articles by Dr. 
Hoffman and myself in No. 2 of some personal interest.)   Moment is serious but essentially derivative 
of the major discussions.  For a quick delineation of issues and sides, see Sh'ma (indices to each year). 
On Jewish Feminism, see Lilith.  
On some questions, certain books are critical to the discussion.  On the Holocaust: Richard 
Rubenstein's *After Auschwitz (but note the changes of belief in the second edition) and more recent 
*Approaches to Auschwitz and Emil Fackenheim's several works, particularly the climactic *To 
Mend the World, (2nd ed.), are indispensable.  Also of interest: Eliezer Berkovits, With God in Hell; 
Arthur A. Cohen, The Tremendum.  David Blumenthal has taken a fresh approach to this topic in 
Facing the Abusing God.

On Zionism: Shlomo Avineri's The Making of Modern Zionism; Arthur Hertzberg's The Zionist Idea 
(anthology); Hillel Halkin's Letters to an American Friend; Harold Fisch's The Zionist Revolution; 
Arnold Eisen's Galut. 



"Modern" Orthodoxy has now received diverse treatment in works as  varied as: Rabbi Joseph B. 
Soloveitchik, Halakhic Man, his early, rationalistic essay and a companion entitled The Halakhic Mind 
but these are now offset by equally subjective existentialist papers; Michael Wyschogrod, The Body 
of Faith, a uniquely biblical, untalmudic, Heideggerian statement; Eliezer Berkovits, Not in Heaven, 
a surprisingly developmental treatment of authority; David Hartman, A Living Covenant, stressing 
the innovative possibilities of Orthodoxy; perhaps Orthodoxy Confronts Modernity, Jonathan Sacks 
(the British Chief Rabbi) states the "centrist" position best but see also Norman Lamm, Torah and 
Mada.

Contemporary mysticism: Adin Steinsaltz, The Thirteen-Petaled Rose; Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, 
The First Step; Lawrence Kushner, various works, particularly Honey From the Rock and God was 
in this Place and I, i Did not Know It; Benjamin Ish-Shalom, *Rav Abraham Itzhak Ha-Cohen Kook; 
Arthur Green's *Seek My Face, Speak My Name; and the various works of Aryeh Kaplan.

Jonathan Woocher has given Jewish currency to the notion of "civil religion" in *Sacred Survival 
(already put forth by Mordecai Kaplan).  Alvin Reines' approach to religion and hence to Reform 
Judaism is found in Polydoxy.  David Novak has argued for the Election of Israel.  Kenneth Seeskin 
has stressed the virtues of monotheism in No Other Gods and Lern Goodman has given it a powerful 
intellectual statement in God of Abraham.  Seeskin's Jewish Philosophy in a Secular Age.

My systematic statement is *Renewing the Covenant, a Theology for the Postmodern Jew.  Its 
application to one area is found in Exploring Jewish Ethics.  The Library maintains a collection of my 
various articles.  

For two short introductions to postmodernism see: Nonfoundationalism, John Thiel and A Primer on 
Postmodernism, Stanley J. Grenz.

Jewish feminist writings are still stronger in critiques of the sexism of Judaism than in positive 
evocations of what the feminine experience teaches about Judaism.  Our first full-scale statement is 
Judith Plaskow, *Standing Again at Sinai.  Two useful older collections are Elizabeth Koltun, ed., 
The Jewish Woman; Susannah Heschel, ed., On Being a Jewish Feminist.

For some major eclectic works, see Louis Jacobs, A Jewish Theology; Neil Gillman, Sacred 
Fragments and Elliot Dorff, Knowing God.

A number of thinkers whose work has not reached the level of system building (e.g. Greenberg, 
Bleich, Petuchowski, Schulweis, Novak, Seskin) have published books on given topics, though 
mostly we have had collections of their essays.  I have given and the Library has independently 
collected many off-prints of articles by major thinkers.  Consult the card catalog and with the 
Librarians.