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Philosopher Emil Fackenheim on our ability to survive the great
destructions of Jewish history.
Lighthouse Financial Services
NEIL RUBIN CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
he 80-year-old body of
Emil Fackenheim, one of
the century's foremost
philosophers, is comfort-
ably draped into the large read-
ing chair in his Atlanta hotel
room.
A thick and colorful pen sits in
the left breast pocket of his
short-sleeved shirt, which is ac-
companied by dark blue cor-
duroy pants and white sneakers.
In a wide-ranging, 90-minute
interview, a preface to a public
talk, he touches on everything
from the philosophy of Martin
Buber ("I'm one of his disciples")
to the recent Hebron deal
("With the last government, I
was moving more to the right;
with this one, I'm moving more
to the left").
All the while, he sprinkles his
German-accented English with
laughter, anger and the
retelling of midrash, the allegor-
ical tales of the talmudic rabbis.
These days, he says, he is en-
couraged that people are speak-
ing about the Holocaust's ethi-
cal legacy, questions which will
remain with us well into the
next century.
The following are excerpts
from that interview:
T
You began your career as
a Reform rabbi. Why did
your focus turn to the Holo-
caust?
When I was 16, Hitler came
to power. By the time I was 18, I
was absolutely sure that this
was an attack unlike any that
had ever been made before. I
was sure that there has to be an
answer in our [rabbinic]
sources. So I went to Berlin to
study to be a rabbi. Many go be-
cause of religion.
caust and what would have
happened completely if Hitler
had won the war — the murder
of each and every Jew. If Israel
had been defeated, it would
have been the destruction of the
state and not the Jewish people,
and I have been wrestling with
this.
How has living in Israel
impacted your philosophy?
What bothered me greatly
when I came to Israel was how
Jews are fighting with each oth-
er. What I'm still worried about
is whether the enemy with
whom we want to make peace
can be trusted. The people in Is-
rael are divided on the left and
the right, and I'm in the middle.
Have you ever gained any
answers to your questions?
The scholar Raul Hillberg
told me years ago, "I have dealt
all my life with small questions
— mainly what did they do and
how did they do it? — with fear
of too-small answers to why did
they do it."
I don't have an answer for
myself, just a philosophic an-
"You could never
come to terms
with evil."
800.510.2872
Rick Greenberg •
land [with reports that Swiss
banks profited from Jewish
money and art stored in their
vaults during World War II].
What is the philosophical
legacy of the Holocaust?
I'm one of the persons who
got away. This attack on the
Jews for those 12 years was so
complete that nobody, no Jew,
could understand it. Could Ger-
mans have understood it? No.
They had too many answers.
The question for the new centu-
ry is to say now that we are
more than a century away;
everyone born now is innocent.
The philosophers will have to
face it, but they will have to be
honest...
I think you could never come
to terms with evil the more I
have had to think of this. There
is just a radical evil in the Holo-
caust which is one reason why
philosophers don't want to deal
with it.
What has study of the
Holocaust done to your Jew-
ish belief system?
My problem is how can you
combine two fidelities, and I'm
not saying faiths: The God of Is-
rael and the victims of the
Shoah. That can't be trivialized,
and that is a very big word for
today, trivial.
Martin Buber encoun-
tered Zionism. You have
faced the Holocaust. What
questions should the next
generation confront?
swer. They wanted to kill God.
Judaism has responded to
As Hillberg would say, that's a
catastrophe in the end at least
pretty big answer. In order to
once — and that's enough in my
kill God, they must have be-
lieved in Him and been afraid of opinion — and that's the de-
struction of the Second Temple.
Him. I have studied these peo-
ple and I can't make them out in Judaism responded to this exile
with exile Judaism.
any way.
How has studying the
Now there's a
So now the big argument is:
Holocaust changed you?
catastrophe
that's happened
After
having
done
it,
is
it
the
The reason why I got more
quite different than the destruc-
Germans who had to do it?
and more involved in the Holo-
tion of the Temple. I dare to say
caust was after the Six Day War I was born in Germany, and I
it's as great. But can there be an
I had to face it. The second Holo- want to deal with this question.
answer, a post-Holocaust Ju-
But
I'm
not
sure.
I
know
the
caust which didn't happen
daism? I think it's too soon to
Germans did it, but would any-
forced me as a philosopher to
answer...
one
else
have
the
temptation
to
face the first ... It was also the
If we ever reach the stage
do it?
beginning of our decision to
where
we can cope with the
move to Israel. If there were an-
criminals who did it and can re-
What is your message to
other Holocaust, [my wife and I]
spond to them in our philosophy
America?
didn't want to survive this one.
and theology, then I would say a
Churchill said in his famous
new age has dawned.
speech
when
he
decided
to
help
How can you say that Is-
Jews must confront the fact
the Russians, and I paraphrase,
rael's destruction would be
that
at least once in modern
"We
will
not
rest
until
we
get
rid
comparable to the Holo-
times a Jew was chosen, pardon
of Hitler and his shadow." His
caust?
the expression, not for a bless-
The big difference of course is shadow is still here. For exam-
ing, but for a curse.
ple, it's coining out in Switzer-
what happened in the Holo-
❑
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