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Introduction
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Introduction: The History That Shapes Us ELHt HAS BEl", so intimately associated with historical experience and memory in Judaism that some thinkers have felt they could present the contemporary meaning of Jewish religious ideas by tracing their evolution. I shall not be giving much attention to our premodern history in this book"~ more precisely, I simply take our general academic understanding of it for granted-so that I can concentrate on the prohlems and of Jewish helief today. Modernity challenges us to mediate between the J~;wish truth we have inherited and cherish, and that which our surrounding culture deems worth embracing. However, before proceeding, I want to indicate my sense of the historical context in whieh our generation's special religious quest has arisen. It seems to me that lewish spirituality has been decisively molded by six momentous folk experiences: Covenant, Settlement, Rabbinism, Diaspora, Emancipation, and post-Holocaust disillusionment . please, that I am speaking in terms of our people's not that of one or another individual or that of Were I concerned with religion in general, either of those considerations would be worthy starting points. I am interested, rather, in emphasjzing what I believe to be the specific quality of Jewish belief so that Judaism can function as an independent partner in its ongoing dialogue with culture. As I explicate I believe it critical to Jewish authenticity to try to think out of our corporate Here this implies identification with the belief of a segment of our community in response to its rct;ognl,scd spiritualleadcrs. Though I can only speak as an individual, I seek to do so as one of this people, what I understand to have been our formative eommunal spirituality. I present my views to my fellow Jews in the hope that they may recognize in them their own religiOUS self-understanding. Promise, Fulfillment, Destruction, Rebuilding The first and most formative in the development of Jewish spirituality was entering into the Covenant. As traditionally Introduction: The History That Shapes Us ELHt HAS BEl", so intimately associated with historical experience and memory in Judaism that some thinkers have felt they could present the contemporary meaning of Jewish religious ideas by tracing their evolution. I shall not be giving much attention to our premodern history in this book"~ more precisely, I simply take our general academic understanding of it for granted-so that I can concentrate on the prohlems and of Jewish helief today. Modernity challenges us to mediate between the J~;wish truth we have inherited and cherish, and that which our surrounding culture deems worth embracing. However, before proceeding, I want to indicate my sense of the historical context in whieh our generation's special religious quest has arisen. It seems to me that lewish spirituality has been decisively molded by six momentous folk experiences: Covenant, Settlement, Rabbinism, Diaspora, Emancipation, and post-Holocaust disillusionment . please, that I am speaking in terms of our people's not that of one or another individual or that of Were I concerned with religion in general, either of those considerations would be worthy starting points. I am interested, rather, in emphasjzing what I believe to be the specific quality of Jewish belief so that Judaism can function as an independent partner in its ongoing dialogue with culture. As I explicate I believe it critical to Jewish authenticity to try to think out of our corporate Here this implies identification with the belief of a segment of our community in response to its rct;ognl,scd spiritualleadcrs. Though I can only speak as an individual, I seek to do so as one of this people, what I understand to have been our formative eommunal spirituality. I present my views to my fellow Jews in the hope that they may recognize in them their own religiOUS self-understanding. Promise, Fulfillment, Destruction, Rebuilding The first and most formative in the development of Jewish spirituality was entering into the Covenant. As traditionally 2 INTRODUCTION put, the one God of the universe made a pact with Abraham, renewed it with his descendants, confirmed it in the Exodus, and made it specific in giving the Torah to the people of Israel at Mount Sinai. True, God also had a prior covenant with all humanity, as specified in the story of Noah, but humankind remained obdurate and disobedient . In response, God called Abraham to live in special loyalty to God so that through him and his descendants all human beings might one day come to...