TM DETEIT:IEWISH NEWS

`Jewish Ideas and Concepts' Focuses on Jewish Topics

By ALLEN A. WARSEN ,

"God, the One and Incom-
parable, is the hero of the
Bible. Everything that is
narrated, enjoined or
foretold in biblical litera-
ture is related to Him."
The above quotation is
from Steven T. Katz's vol-
ume "Jewish Ideas and
Concepts" (Schocken
Books).
The volume composed of
four parts includes a biog-
raphical index, a glossary of
religious and philosophical
terms, a comprehensive bib-
liography, and is fully anno-
tated. Its method is topical
and its major themes are
God, Man and Jew.
The author commences
his study with an analysis
• of the God concept in the
Bible. Since basic to this
concept is the idea of
God's oneness, the Bible,
ipso facto, rejects
paganism, polytheism,
apotheosis, the Zoroast-
rian dualism of Armuzed
and Ahriman, syn-
cretism, and theogony
(devine geneology). The
Bible, however, includes
a cosmogony(origin or
creation of the world).
Cosmogony was followed
by history. The world
creator became the master
of world happenings.
Significantly, the Israel-
ites were the first people to
have an awareness of his-
tory's moral base. Yet, his-
tory has been replete with
men's rebellions against
God. Still, the Bible de-
scribes man as being
created in God's likeness
and made "little less than
the angels."
The women, as the men,
play important roles in the
Bible. They are included
among its heroes, and their
deeds are recorded. The
most outstanding biblical
women are the matriarchs
Sarah, Rebecca, Leah and
Rachel, and the prophetes-
ses Miriam, Moses sister,
Deborah and Huldah. De-
borah was also a political
and military leader, and
Miriam played an impor-
tant religious and national
role.
Among the various to-
pics discussed in the
book, the relationship be-
tween God and Israel is
one of the most impor-
tant. Accordingly, the
nearness of God to His
people is the Talmud's
central idea. God goes
into exile with them, and
grieves because He pro-
nounced on them evil de-
crees. He expresses His
views on "halakhic"
problems and is im-
mersed in the study of the
Torah.
The idea of God's close-
ness to Israel is also central
in the talmudic ethical
teachings. For that reason,
the talmudic sages taught,
"Just as He is merciful and
compassionate, be thou too
merciful and compassion-
ate."
The problem of God's
existence, the author states,
first appeared in medieval
Jewish literature. Influ-
enced by Islamic theology, it

became a major concern of
the Jewish philosophers.
They emphatically rejected
the assertion that the world
arose by chance and pointed
out that the "extremely
complex and delicately ba-
lanced order of the uni-
verse" couldn't have arisen
accidentally.
They also advanced vari-
ous arguments to prove
God's existence. The argu-
ment "that became a stan-
dard feature of Jewish
theology" was that of
Saadia Gaon and Judah
Halevi•who based it on the
revelation that took place in
Sinai "in the presence of
600,000 adults." This evi-
dence they insisted "places
the fact of God's existence
beyond all reasonable
doubts."

Prof. Katz states that "al-
though in modern usage the
terms Judaism and Torah"
are interchangeable,
nontheless, there are subtle
differences between them.

While Judaism "has on the
whold a more humanistic
nuance . . . Torah calls at-
tention to the divine;" and
while Torah "refers to the
eternal elements in Jewish
life and thought ... Judaism
refers to the more historic
dynamic elements as man-
ifested in the varied civili-
zations and cultures of the
Jews at the'different stages
of their civilization."
It is beyond the scope of
this review to consider in
detail the views of modern
Jewish philosophers re-
garding the God concept.
Nevertheless, an attempt to
extract the essence of their
thinking will be made, _

Moses Mendelsohn's
view was
"very much like that held
sacred by the Jews." Sol-
omon Formstecher
(1808-1889) conceived of
God as the "world-soul)."
Nachman Krochmal
(1785-1840) regarded God
as the Absolute Spirit.
Herman Cohen (1842-
1918) viewed God as the
Absolute Being and the
Absolute Cause. Franz
Rozenzweig (1886-1919)
considered God as the
Sustainer, Redeemer and
raring father. Martin
Buber (1878-1965) en-
visioned God as the Eter-
nal Thou. Mordecai Kap-

(1729 - 1836)

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Ian (1887-) regards God as
the force that makes for
human salvation.
"Jewish Ideas and Con-
cepts" is well written and
focuses on important religi-
ous and historical themes
and issues.

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