Holiness in Words: Abraham Joshua Heschel's Poetics of Piety

237 Pages·1996·26.37 MB·English

by  Edward K. Kaplan

HOLINESS
IN
WORDS
~
Heschel at Stanford University, 1963.
Courtesy of Stanford University News Service.
HOLINESS
IN
WORDS
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHEL'S
POETICS OF PIETY
Edward K. Kaplan
State University of New York Press
SUNY Series in ]udaica:
Hermeneutics, Mysticism, and Religion
Michael Fishbane, Robert Goldenberg, and Elliot Wolfson,
editors
Published by
State University of New York Press, Al'Jany
©1996 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of Ameri<:a
No part of this book may be used or r'~produced in any manner
whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored
in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including
electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tap,~, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, address State University of New York Press,
State University Plaza, Albany, NY 12:~46
Production by Dana Foote
Marketing by Theresa Abad Swierzow:iki
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-F'ublication Data
Kaplan, Edward K., 1942-
Holiness in words: Abraham Joshua Heschel's poetics of piety / by
Edward K. Kaplan.
p. em. - (SUNY series in Judaica)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7914-2867-2 (hardcover: alk. paper). - ISBN 0-7914-2868-0
(pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Heschel, Abraham Joshua, 1907-1972. 1. Title. II. Series.
BM755.H37K365 1996
296.3'092-dc20 95-42224
eIP
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
How marvelous is my home.
I enter as a suppliant and emerge
as a witness; I enter as a stranger
and emerge as next of kin.
-Heschel, liOn Prayer"
To those with whom I pray, members of the
Newton Centre Minyan,
To my wife, Janna Kaplan, with whom I share all
that can be shared,
To my children, jeremy joshua Kaplan,
Aaron Emmanuel Kaplan, Simona Chava Kaplan,
our future.

~CONTENTS
List of Illustrations xi
Foreword by Michael Fishbane xiii
Acknowledgments xv
Abbreviations xix
Introduction 1
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHEL IN AMERICA
Theologian, Zaddik, Prophetic Voice 7
Writer and Teacher 8
"A Brand Plucked from the Fire" 10
Rescuing the Jewish Soul 11
A Zaddik for the 1950s 13
II A READING STRATEGY
Empathy with Critical Awareness 19
How to Read Heschel 20
The First Steps: Close Reading 21
A Divine Perspective 24
Prophetic Call 26
Literary and Theological Insight 28
Reading toward Community 30
III THE DIVINE PERSPECTIVE
Learning to Think Religiously 33
The Dynamics of Theocentric Thinking 34
A Spiritual Itinerary 36
The Endless Tension 42
IV LANGUAGE AND REALITY
Toward a Poetics of Faith 45
Against Fundamentalisms 46
The Limits of Language 47
viii CONTENTS
Windows to the Spirit 50
The Perspective of the Faithless 53
The Structure of Biblical Metaphor 55
Three Dimensions of Human Fullness 58
V MYSTICISM AND DESPAIR
The Threshold of Revelation 61
Ollt of the Darkness 61
Recasting Mental Habits 63
Mystical Illumination 65
The Life of Piety 70
Resistance to Faith 72
VI SACRED VERSUS SYMBOLIC RELIGION
Social Science or God's Will? 75
Spirit versus Symbol 77
Law and Inwardness 79
Buber's Atheistic Theology? 82
Poetics and Observance 84
Becoming God's Symbol 87
VII PROPHETIC RADICALISM
Sacred Humanism and Social Action 99
Prophecy in the New World 100
Reverence for the Divine Image 103
Prophetic Ethics versus Expediency 105
Prayer and Political Courage 108
God as Touchstone 112
VIII CONFRONTING THE HOLOCAUST
God in Exile 115
"The Mountain of History" 118
Writing and Unspeakable Evil 123
No Post-Holocaust Theology 129
IX METAPHOR AND MIRACLE
Modern Judaism and the Holy Spirit 133
The Historicity of Divine Inspiration 134