Abraham Joshua Heschel's Philosophy of Judaism and its Interrelation with 'New Thinking'

We said that for Western philosophy meaning or intelligibility coincide with the manifestation of being, as if the very doings of being led to clarity, in the form of intelligibility, and then became an intentional thematization in an experience. Pressing toward or waiting for it, all the potentialities of experience are derived from or susceptible to such thematization. Thematic exposition concludes the business of being or truth. But if being is manifestation, if the exertion of being amounts to this exhibition, the manifestation of being is only the manifestation of this 'exertion', that is, the manifestation of manifestation, the truth of truth . . . . Philosophy thus finds in manifestation its matter and its form. In this attachment to being, to beings or the being of beings, it would thus remain a movement of knowledge and truth, an adventure of experience between the clear and the obscure.¹

My intention in this article is to relate the focus of contemporary Jewish philosophy as "New Thinking" with Heschel's philosophical project. In order to understand Heschel's speculative attitude and to arrive at something like a philosophy of Judaism, we must first examine what we call the philosophy of Hasidism.²

Martin Buber maintains that the mystic tension, which allows man to contemplate and reunite God and the world, urges man to action in favor of the glory of God, of the Shekhinah that reveals itself in all things.³ In addition, in light of Hasidic tradition, we can understand the central position of faith as a daily expression, which allows man to experience communion with God, without recourse to various forms of ecstatic mysticism.

Buber is indeed a valuable guide for anyone interested in the mystic–ethical movement founded by the Baal Shem Tov. Yet, his approach to Hasidism is greatly influenced by his specific philosophical interpretation, namely dialogical philosophy which develops between an existentialist perspective and a marked subjectivism. In consequence of this bias, Buber disregarded some elements that have characterized Hasidism as a historical phenomenon and reference to Kabbalah, which takes a back seat.

In fact, Heschel himself expressed reservations about Buber's interpretation. He realized that, because of Buber's late interest in Hasidism, his interpretation was "vitiated" by an extreme "universality."⁴ Nevertheless, Heschel recognized the utility of Buber's effort. He agreed that Buber's works were the best approach to Hasidism for those who had no knowledge of it.

These brief reflections allow us to establish at least one fact, that Hasidism teaches that one should not only study Torah; it must be lived, establishing, in this way, an indestructible link between theory and practice, between religion and ethics. This is the starting point.

Heschel's interpretation of Hasidism emphasizes the inner tension between action and prayer, contemplation and practice. At the beginning of his final book, A Passion for Truth, which is indeed his spiritual testament,⁵ Heschel reminds us, through the figures of the Baal Shem Tov and Reb Menahem Mendl of Kotzk, of two different kinds of life and devotion which, although in contrast with one another, interpenetrate. The following passage highlights a deep alternation between an inner can and an external can:

The earliest fascination I can recall is associated with the Baal Shem, whose parables disclosed some of the first insights I gained as a child. He remained a model too sublime to follow yet too overwhelming to ignore.

It was in my ninth year that the presence of Reb Menahem Mendl of Kotzk, known as the Kotzker, entered my life. Since then he has remained a steady companion and a haunting challenge. Although he often stunted me, he also urged me to confront perplexities that I might have preferred to evade . . . .

I was taught about inexhaustible mines of meaning by the Baal Shem; from the Kotzker I learned to detect immense mountains of absurdity standing in the way. The one taught me song, the other – silence. The one reminded me that there could be a Heaven on earth, the other shocked me into discovering Hell in the alleged Heavenly places in our...