Abraham Joshua Heschel : mind, heart, soul / Edward K. Kaplan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kaplan, Edward K., 1942- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Rabbis--United States--Biography.

Rabbis.

Heschel, Abraham Joshua, 1907-1972.

Heschel, Abraham Joshua.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (485 pages)

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia : The Jewish Publication Society, [2019]

Summary:

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 storiesHeschel 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."

Contents:

Hasidic Warsaw (1907-1925)

Vilna and Berlin (1925-1931)

Prophetic inspiration and Hitler's rise (1929-1935)

Symbolic or sacred religion (1935-1939)

Struggling to escape (1938-1940)

Becoming an American (1940-1945)

Rescuing the American soul (1945-1951)

Theological revolution (1952-1956)

Biblical prophecy and current events (1956-1963)

A sacred humanism (1963-1966)

Apostle to the Gentiles (1961-1966)

Human rights, Vietnam, and Israel (1965-1969)

Summation of a life (1970-1972).

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780827618275

0827618271

9780827618299

0827618298