philosophical outlook, his background,
the role of women in Orthodox life,
the Jewish family, the situation of
Modern Orthodoxy, Israel, Holocaust
commemoration, Jewish leadership
and, in the final chapter, "Bringing the
Messiah ... A Good, Steady Job."
The two discuss notions about
women's prayer and study, the rabbi's
espousal of Jewish pluralism and,
regarding the Middle East peace
process, his recognition that human life
is more important than land, that the
holiness of the land must be reconciled
with "the dignity of other people,
Jewish and non-Jewish."
He covers in
broad strokes what
will be the main
themes of his ambi-
tious still-to-be-fin-
ished book, which
he describes as an
attempt to present
a theology of
Judaism through a
historical analysis of
the development of
the covenant in Judaism."
With Freedman, he describes the
that the
core ideas of tzelem elohim
human being is created in the image
of God — and brit, covenant.
"The central anchor of my thinking
and of my life is the concept that the
human being is created in the image of
God. Because humans are the image of
God, they are endowed by their
Creator with three intrinsic dignities:
infinite value, equality and uniqueness.
... This is the guiding principle of
Halachah and the ultimate goal behind
all mitzvot and religious behaviors," he
says, noting that he always tries to act
covenantly" with people, "to listen to
their own distinctive voice, to recog-
nize their personal qualities and to
learn from their unique insights."
God entered into a covenant (lov-
ing commitment) with humans. God
will help, God will accompany, God
will be involved in every aspect of this
effort to perfect the world (the process
of tikkun olam). But there must be an
active human role in this battle.
Human beings are partners with the
Divine. God will not give us a perfect
world on a silver platter; humans must
take responsibility."
In a foreword to the book, author
Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, who counts
himself among Rabbi Greenberg's
"disciples," describes him as "a seminal
— perhaps the seminal — Jewish
thinker of our time."
In a wide-ranging conversation about
his work, his goals and his conversations

with Freedman, Rabbi Greenberg is
thoughtful, humble and eloquent; he's
an intellectual with great warmth and
the gift of making his ideas accessible.
His neat office at the Jewish Life
Network is the workspace of an admin-
istrator; it's in his study in his Riverdale
home that he does his scholarly work.
Repeatedly, he praises his wife Blu,
an author, activist and teacher
involved in issues of Orthodoxy and
feminism. A father of five and grand-
father of l 2, Rabbi Greenberg, who
was raised in the Borough Park section
of Brooklyn, mentions his father and
Rabbi Israel Salantet, a 19th-century
leader of the mzzsar
(Hebrew for morali-
ty) movement, as
the two great early
influences on his
life ; both "impor-
tant sources for the
idea of the centrality
of helping people."
Irving Greenberg His father, a rabbi,
Talmud teacher and
shochet (ritual slaugh-
terer), believed that "the last thing one
should do is to glorify God at the
expense of humans. Rather, one must
help people, even 'against' God. He did
not really believe that such psak
(halachic opinion) was against God;
rather this was what God wanted," says
Rabbi Greenberg.
The rabbi explains that a "central
challenge of this moment in Jewish his-
tory" is coming to terms with unprece-
dented freedom, power and affluence.
He sees America as "a wonderful society
to be influenced by," providing a
'remarkable framework" for Jewish liv-
ing. His aim, through CLAL and his
other work, has been to "deepen the
Jewish content of Jewish life."
From freedom of choice, Rabbi
Greenberg asserts, pluralism is an "irre-
sistible implication." He has come to
believe that "pluralism is a religious and
moral necessity." Wile he notes that
the Orthodox community thinks it can
not legitimate or tolerate pluralism, he's
convinced of the reverse: the deeper the
commitment, the more authoritative,
the more the community needs plural-
ism to keep it honest and effective and
to prevent extremism or fanaticism."
"The Orthodox establishment leader-
ship is living in a world where pluralism
is impossible," he says, but adds that "a
significant minority of the Orthodox
community" agrees-with him. He points
out that the liberal movements also have
problems with pluralism, not in an offi-
cial way, but in terms of behavior, atti-
tude and language.

"Pluralism is a
religious and
moral necessity."

—

CC

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4/ 2 3
1999

93