Abraham Joshua Heschel

Lore & Background

Abraham Joshua Heschel was born in Warsaw in 1907, the youngest of six children, descended from preeminent European rabbis. After a traditional yeshiva education, he pursued a doctorate at the University of Berlin and rabbinic ordination at the Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums. In late October 1938, he was arrested by the Gestapo and deported to Poland in the Polenaktion. Six weeks before the German invasion of Poland, he fled Warsaw for London. His mother was murdered by Nazis in the Warsaw Ghetto, and two of his sisters also perished in the Holocaust. He arrived in New York City in March 1940, then served on the faculty of Hebrew Union College for five years before joining the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 1946, where he remained until his death in 1972.

Reader's Guide

Heschel's significance lies in his integration of Jewish theology with social activism. He explicated Jewish thought including medieval philosophy, Kabbalah, and Hasidic philosophy, emphasizing spirituality and the human religious experience. He believed the Hebrew prophets were a call for social action, working for African Americans' civil rights and speaking out against the Vietnam War. He criticized 'pan-halakhism' and advocated for a balanced approach between legal and non-legalistic dimensions of rabbinic tradition. As a representative of American Jews at the Second Vatican Council, he persuaded the Catholic Church to modify passages demeaning Jews. His theological works argued that religious experience is a fundamentally human impulse, and he participated in the third Selma to Montgomery march with Martin Luther King Jr. His legacy includes a growing body of kabbalah scholarship following his emphasis on mystical experience and continuity with earlier Jewish sources.

Did You Know?

• Heschel was descended from preeminent European rabbis on both sides of his family.
• He was arrested by the Gestapo in late October 1938 and deported to Poland in the Polenaktion.
• His mother was murdered by Nazis in the Warsaw Ghetto.
• He participated in the third Selma to Montgomery march with Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lewis.

Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)

"Abraham Joshua Heschel l (11 January 1907 – 23 December 1972) was a Polish-born American rabbi, considered by many to be one of the most significant Jewish theologians of the 20th century." — Abraham Joshua Heschel "Man's Quest For God: Studies In Prayer And Symbolism (1954), p. 7; Heschel would later use this analogy in several minor variations in other writings." — Abraham Joshua Heschel "Some are guilty, but all are responsible." — Abraham Joshua Heschel "The Religious Basis of Equality of Opportunity—The Segregation of God" (1963) in Race: Challenge to Religion (1963) Edited by Mathew Ahmann." — Abraham Joshua Heschel