A Passion for Truth (A Jewish Lights Classic Reprint)
"Heschel's last statement on despair and hope in Hasidism as he experienced it himself through study of the Baal Shem Tov and the Kotzker, whose life and thought is dramatically depicted in this book." —Prof. Fritz A. Rothschild, The Jewish Theological Seminary
It is comparatively easy to preach joy and fervor, but to demand Truth is like shaping marble without tools. And so [the Kotzker] went looking for a few surging people and called loudly upon their souls to bend their conceit and see the Truth beneath the soil....
This was not a philosophical inquiry into the nature of Truth but a scrutiny of men’s lives in relation to Truth. Religion, the Kotzker maintained, was not simply an act of adopting a system of beliefs and certain modes of conduct; test and trial were needed, and one had to ascertain through introspection whether one’s beliefs were genuine or not, and whether one acted out Truth or lived a life of pretense....
Kierkegaard made it his task “to reintroduce Christianity into Christendom.” The Kotzker sought to reintroduce authenticity to Jewish life. Kierkegaard’s posthumous impact has been powerful. But has the Kotzker affected Jewish self-understanding?
—from A Passion for Truth
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Book details
- Author
- Abraham Joshua Heschel
- Imprint
- Jewish Lights, an imprint of Turner Publishing Company
- Published
- Formats
- Paperback, Hardcover
- Subjects
- Religion › Judaism
- Topics
- Hasidism · Jewish theology · Jewish spirituality · truth and ethics · Baal Shem Tov · Kotzker Rebbe · despair and hope · Torah
- ISBN-13
- 9781879045415 (Paperback)9781681629643 (Hardcover)
About the author
ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHEL was a Polish-born rabbi, theologian, and philosopher who served as Professor of Jewish Ethics and Mysticism at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York. His books include A Passion for Truth, The Prophets and God in Search of Man.
Heschel earned his doctorate from the University of Berlin and was expelled from Germany during the Nazi persecution, immigrating to the United States in 1940. His other works include Man Is Not Alone and The Sabbath.
When not writing, Heschel was an active participant in the civil rights movement, marching alongside Martin Luther King Jr. This engagement with justice and human dignity runs throughout his theological and philosophical writing.
Heschel died in December 1972.