Theological And Halakhic Reflections On The Holocaust

Centrist Orthodox theologians here reject the "God's judgment theory" of the Holocaust. Contributors include Rabbis J.B. Soloveitchik, Norman Lamm, Emanuel Rackman, Haskel Lookstein, Louis Bernstein, Reuven Bulka, Emanual Feldman and Eliezer Berkovits.

Is there a religious meaning to the idea of a chosen people after the Shoah? / Eliezer Schweid -- The issue of confirmation and disconfirmation in Jewish thought after the Shoah / Steven T. Katz -- Philosophical and midrashic thinking on the fateful events of Jewish history / Joseph A. Turner -- The Holocaust : lessons, explanation, meaning / Shalom Rosenberg -- Between Holocaust and redemption : silence, cognition, and eclipse / Gershon Greenberg -- Ultra-Orthodox Jewish thought about the Holocaust since World War II : the radicalized aspect / Gershon Greenberg -- Theological reflections on the Holocaust : between unity and controversy / Michael Rosenak -- Building amidst devastation : halakic historical observations on marriage during the Holocaust / Ester Farbstein -- Two Jewish approaches to evil in history / Zev Harvey -- A call to humility and Jewish unity in the aftermath of the Holocaust / Shmuel Jakobovits -- Is there a religious meaning to the rebirth of the state of Israel after the Shoah? / Shalom Ratzabi -- The concept of exile as a model for dealing with the Holocaust / Yehoyada Amir -- Is there a theological connection between the Holocaust and the reestablishment of the state of Israel? / David Novak -- The Holocaust and the state of Israel : a historical view of their impact on and meaning for the understanding of the behavior of Jewish religious movements / Dan Michman -- Theology and the Holocaust : the presence of God and diving [i.e. divine] providence in history from the perspective of religious Zionism / Yosef Achituv -- Educational implications of Holocaust and rebirth / Tova Ilan.

Comprises the Charles F. Deems Lectures delivered at New York University in 1968. Discusses the significance of the Holocaust, emphasizing theological issues, and its uniqueness in history. An authentic response to it - religious or secular - is a commitment to the autonomy and security of the State of Israel. Refers to Jewish midrash to explore the meaning and significance of the Holocaust and relates Jewish thinking about the Holocaust to Jewish thinking about earlier catastrophes. Jewish particularism remains a scandal to modern secularism. Pt. 3 (p. 67-104), "The Commanding Voice of Auschwitz", states that the death of God occurs in the inward realm of the spirit alone and nowhere else. The imperative for Jews is not to flee being Jewish: "Jews are forbidden to hand Hitler posthumous victories. They are commanded to survive as Jews".

The theological problems facing those trying to respond to the Holocaust remain monumental. Both Jewish and Christian post-Auschwitz religious thought must grapple with profound questions, from how God allowed it to happen to the nature of evil. The Impact of the Holocaust on Jewish Theology brings together a distinguished international array of senior scholars—many of whose work is available here in English for the first time—to consider key topics from the meaning of divine providence to questions of redemption to the link between the Holocaust and the creation of the State of Israel. Together, they push our thinking further about how our belief in God has changed in the wake of the Holocaust. Contributors: Yosef Achituv, Yehoyada Amir, Ester Farbstein, Gershon Greenberg, Warren Zev Harvey, Tova Ilan, Shmuel Jakobovits, Dan Michman, David Novak, Shalom Ratzabi, Michael Rosenak, Shalom Rosenberg, Eliezer Schweid, and Joseph A. Turner.

A philosopher addresses conceptual and ethical questions that arise from historical accounts of the Holocaust.

This expanded edition of the guide to major books in English on the Holocaust is organized into ten subject areas: reference materials, European antisemitism, background materials, the Holocaust years, Jewish resistance

In Job's final concession to God, he uses a phrase generally translated from the Hebrew as, "Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes" (afar va-eifer). A very small number of scholars see this translation as forced. While most translations have Job referring to himself with the words afar va-eifer, this small group of scholars does not believe the Hebrew to be so clear. They maintain that the phrase afar va-eifer could just as easily be translated as referring to God. In this translation of the text, Job is calling God "dust and ashes." Can Job truly be referring to God, not himself, as dust and ashes? How dare he? And if he did, what did this mean theologically? If this linguistic analysis is correct, how are we to understand not only the ending of the book, but also the entire story of Job? These are the questions From Job to the Shoah strives to answer. The conclusions it reaches have profound theological implications, especially in our modern era when the "dust and ashes" of the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust still hang heavily above us.

The book contains the full text of the Holy See's document, with its introduction by Pope John Paul II himself, as well as the explanatory address to the American Jewish Committee by Cardinal Edward Idris Cassidy, the president of the Vatican Commission for Religious Relations With the Jews. It also contains essays by two important theological thinkers, one a Jew and one a Catholic, both deeply concerned with interreligious dialogue. Rabbi Leon Klenicki sums up a number of Jewish perspectives on the strengths and weaknesses of the statement, while noted theologian Avery Dulles, S.J., explores the various Catholic responses to the Holocaust in the past and how this document breaks new ground.