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December 8, 2008

Article Prepared for Bentsi Cohen (2008)

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Article on Am Hanivchar (2004)

The doctrine of am hanivchar – the election or chosenness of Israel – has been glorified and condemned, but mostly misunderstood, for the greater part of our history. Some have dismissed it with contempt and infamously compared it to the Nazi idea of the Herrenvolk, others have exaggerated its particularity as thoroughly genetic in nature; and yet others have diluted it to just about the point of making the notion both pointless and meaningless. Few other ikkarim, major principles of Judaism, have been subjected to such distortion. The comparison to the foul ideology of Aryan racial superiority is a vicious canard that has been with us since the Enlightenment, but ratcheted up since the appearance of mass antisemitism in the twentieth century. The non-ideological discomfort that some modern Jews feel is more of a social nature; “what will my non-Jewish neighbors think of us when they hear of this boast?” underlies a good deal of the embarrassment with the am hanivchar idea. And not far removed from this concern is its enfeeblement and eventual excision by many liberal-modernist Jewish groups. Equally fallacious, if somewhat less deplorable, is the interpretation of chosenness in some chareidi and other circles; namely, that Jews are religiously and spiritually superior to the rest of mankind and that this preeminence is genetically determined. Placing the concept on a biological basis is good for the collective ego but is poor scholarship and is untrue to our sacred texts. A critique of all these views will become explicit in the following paragraphs. The doctrine of election is accepted by all great Jewish thinkers but not necessarily to the same degree. Thus, for instance, Rambam and a number of other Sephardic scholars of the Middle Ages accepted it, but did not give it the prominence accorded it by other Jewish thinkers. Rambam does not include it in his Thirteen Principles of Faith, the Ani Ma’amins. Other prominent sages, from Yehudah Halevi to the Maharal t…
General Jewish Thought

Assorted

Final Examination - Judaic Studies 75.1 (1975)

I. Answer all questions in your exam booklet (Minkin) – 10 points. 1) The significant difference between kavvanah and kavvanot is that: a) one is singular and the other plural b) the former is for the ordinary Hasid, the latter for the Zaddik c) the former is preached by Hasidism, the latter by the Kabbalah. 2) A contributing factor to the success of R. Dov Baer was that: a) the Kahal was dissolved at that time b) the Gaon had died c) R. Gershon of Kutov went to Palestine. 3) Who dissuaded R. Jacob Joseph from going to the Holy Land? a) the Besht b) the Great Maggid c) Solomon Maimon. 4) Where did he find a haven of rest after his wanderings? a) Medziboz b) Wiemerov c) Lutzk d) Pinsk. 5) R. Levi Yitzhak was appointed Rabbi in the city of: a) Nemerov b) Pinsk c) Okup d) Brody. What is the name of his work? a) Pahad Levi b) Pahad Yitzhak c) Kedushat Levi d) Kedushat Yitzhak. An effort at reconciling Hasidim and Mitnaggedim was made by: a) the Besht b) R. Yaakov Yosef c) R. Shneur Zalman. R. Shneur Zalman, in his visit to the Gaon, was accompanied by: a) R. Dov Baer of Mezeritsch b) R. Abraham of Kalisk c) R. Menahem Mendel of Vitebsk. The following was known as “The Hasid”: a) the Besht b) the Gaon c) the Maggid. Boisterousness, such as dancing during services, was practiced by the followers of: a) R. Abraham of Kalisk b) R. Shneur Zalman of Liadi c) R. Menahem Mendel of Vitebsk. The first ban or excommunication against the Hasidim was issued in: a) 1702 b) 1772 c) 1797. Hasidism’s triumph was complete when: a) movement was given full autonomy b) Avigdor was arrested c) Pope Paul I died. Who led the opposition to R. Nahman? a) Rabbi Loeb – Sage of Shpola b) Jacob Frank c) Rabbi Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev. To R. Nahman, the correct setting for prayer is: a) open and scented marvels of nature b) closed chambers. The following is a correct list of opponents of Hasidim: a) Avigdor of Pinsk; Aaron of Jerusalem; Israel Loebel b) Samuel of Rodin; David Makov; Avigdor of Pin…
Biographical Material

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The Rav: UOJCA Convention (1992)

Autobiog'l: boy 17, HS, what next?; Zeide: YU bec: broad ed; יונגער גאון *Rav game my lf mnng/dirctn/intell excitmnt/Weltanschhg *All us – owe him הכרת הטוב – וישלח, אחרי מעשה שכם: ובין שם מזבח וכו' ותמת דבורה מינקת רבקה ותקבר מתחת לבית אל תחת האלון ויקרא שמו אלון בכות..., ואח"כ: וירא אלקים אל יעקב. רמב"ן: לא ידעתי – הפסק, ואין בכי ואנקה על המינקת הזקנה. הרב: כשבנה מזבח הקריב אבל לא הפליג בתודה לא-ל לכן אין תגובה של גלוי שכי'. אבל כשהראה הכרת הטוב לדבורה (הרבי, ראש ישיבה של אמי
General Jewish Thought Biographical Material