Abraham Joshua Heschel And The Sources Of Wonder

Abraham Joshua Heschel and the Sources of Wonder is the first book to demonstrate how Heschel's political, intellectual, and spiritual commitments were embedded in his reading of Jewish tradition.

Abraham Joshua Heschel remains one of the most creative Jewish thinkers of the twentieth century. These essays demonstrate that Heschel became a spiritual guide, not only in America but in many other parts of the world, especially in Poland, where he was born, and in Israel, where the prophets gave the world a dream of everlasting peace.

In this first one-volume English-language full biography of Abraham Joshua Heschel, Edward K. Kaplan tells the engrossing, behind-the-scenes story of the life, philosophy, struggles, yearnings, writings, and activism of one of the twentieth century’s most outstanding Jewish thinkers. Kaplan takes readers on a soulful journey through the rollercoaster challenges and successes of Heschel’s emotional life. As a child he was enveloped in a Hasidic community of Warsaw, then he went on to explore secular Jewish Vilna and cosmopolitan Berlin. He improvised solutions to procure his doctorate in Nazi-dominated Berlin, escaped the Nazis, and secured a rare visa to the United States. He articulated strikingly original interpretations of Jewish ideas. His relationships spanned not only the Jewish denominational spectrum but also Catholic and Protestant faith communities. A militant voice for nonviolent social action, he marched with Martin Luther King Jr. (who became a close friend), expressed strong opposition to the Vietnam War (while the FBI compiled a file on him), and helped reverse long-standing antisemitic Catholic Church doctrine on Jews (participating in a secret meeting with Pope Paul VI during Vatican II). From such prodigiously documented stories Heschel himself emerges—mind, heart, and soul. Kaplan elucidates how Heschel remained forever torn between faith and anguish; between love of God and abhorrence of human apathy, moral weakness, and deliberate evil; between the compassion of the Baal Shem Tov of Medzibozh and the Kotzker rebbe’s cruel demands for truth. “My heart,” Heschel acknowledged, is “in Medzibozh, my mind in Kotzk.”

Considered by many to be one of the most significant Jewish theologians of the 20th century, Abraham Heschel finds just the right words to startle the mind and delight the heart. He addresses and challenges the whole person, portraying that rarest of human phenomena--the holy man.

Abraham Joshua Heschel remains one of the most creative Jewish thinkers of the twentieth century. These essays demonstrate that Heschel became a spiritual guide, not only in America but in many other parts of the world, especially in Poland, where he was born, and in Israel, where the prophets gave the world a dream of everlasting peace.

This is the first volume of the first biography of Abraham Joshua Heschel, one of the outstanding Jewish thinkers of the twentieth century. Edward K. Kaplan and Samuel H. Dresner trace Heschel's life from his birth in Warsaw in 1907 to his emigration to the United States in 1940, describing his roots in Hasidic culture, his experiences in Poland and Germany, and his relations with Martin Buber. "This first volume of a remarkable biography of one of the greatest Jewish thinkers and social activists of his generation must take its place in every home, in every library, Jewish and gentile alike. Written with warmth, passion, and grace, it offers the reader an insight into the man Heschel, whose teaching has uniquely influenced modern theology and inspired moral commitment."--Elie Wiesel "This book is simply stunning! . . . The authors . . . have a profound understanding of Heschel's inner life, and they use all this information in order to craft a powerful portrait of a human being."--Jack Riemer, Commonweal "Th[is] long-awaited biography of Heschel cover[s] the author's youth in Warsaw and education in Vilna and Berlin. . . . Kaplan and Dresner's biography will hold broad popular interest while providing academics an important starting point from which to investigate critically the life and thought of this important thinker."--Zachary Braiterman, Religious Studies Review "Critical, careful attention [is paid] to Heschel's words."--Laurie Adlerstein, New York Times Book Review

A stunning image taken during a march from Selma to Montgomery on 21 March 1965 is among the most iconic of the civil rights era. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, with his long white beard and overflowing curly hair, walks arm in arm with prominent civil rights activists. Bearing a proud smile, he marches in solidarity next to a more solemn looking Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth to his left and former United Nations Under-Secretary General for Special Political Affairs and Nobel Peace Prize winner Ralph Bunche on his right. A nun on the other end of the front line, who is holding civil rights activist John Lewis, whose skull had been fractured by Alabama state troopers a few weeks earlier during another march for voting rights, appears as if she was virtually dancing to the thrill of protest. Heschel and Martin Luther King Jr. glance toward the camera as if to signal to the photographer that they understand the historic weight of the moment. ... At an epic moment on the fraught streets of Selma, when brave citizens risked their lives championing civil rights, Heschel stood at the nexus of religious leaders who linked tradition, theology, and ritualistic practice to the fight against social injustice. To this day, Heschel remains a symbol of his generation's struggle to make Jewish values relevant to post-World War II America through civic action. Book jacket.