Accepting and Excepting: On Pluralism and Chosenness Out of the Sources of Judaism is a collection of essays examining the need for inter-religious pluralism. So long as religions compete with each other by exclusive claims to absolute truth and salvation, how can they cooperate as forces for peace in an era of the global village and weapons of mass destruction? Our cognition of reality is necessarily colored and shaped by language, culture, religion, and gender. Given inevitable epistemological (not moral) relativism, exclusive and absolute truth claims are meaningless. By a process of revaluation, Jews can affirm the concept of the Chosen People as internally directed with no claims of superiority, and observe traditional sancta without traditional theism.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Personal background
Truth matters—but at what cost?
Rejection of partisanship and affirmation of differences
Some Views on Pluralism and Chosenness
David Novak
Lenn Goodman
Alan Brill
Sandra Lubarsky
Vered Sakal
Ephraim Meir
Pluralism is not Relativism
PART ONE
AFFIRMING CHOSENNESS AND PLURALISM
Chapter One
Affirming Chosenness and Pluralism: Are they Compatible?
Chosenness as Historical Destiny in Diverse Cultures
Jewish vs. Christian readings of Genesis and salvation: Exclusivity in this world, or in the world to come
Toleration and pluralism
Mordecai Kaplan: revaluation vs. transvaluation
Revaluating chosenness
Chapter Two
Chosenness and Pluralism—Ritual Exclusivity vs. Spiritual Inclusivity
Conclusion: “The Lord is close to all who call Him in Truth”
Chapter Three
Pluralism out of the Sources of Judaism: The Quest for Religious Pluralism without Relativism
Preface
Philosophical Challenges—Toleration vs. Pluralism: Alexander Altmann and Avi Sagi
Christian Challenges
A Jewish Challenge: Menachem Kellner
Subjectivity and Cultural Relativity in Revelation
Abraham ibn Ezra and the Limitations of Revelation
Al-Farabi: Religious vs. Philosophical Language
Maimonides: “The Torah Speaks According to Human Language”
The Possibility of Multiple Revelations: Netanel ibn Al-Fayyumi
Sa`adiah Gaon and “The Community of Monotheists”
On Cultural Relativism in Conceiving of God
Moses Mendelssohn and Religious Pluralism
Kant’s Unknowable “Ding an sich” and Heisenberg’s “Uncertainty Principle”
“The Lord is Close … To All who Call Him in Truth”
Conclusion: Pluralism as the Way of Torah
Addendum: A Reply to a Response
Chapter Four
“We Have Met the Enemy and They Are Us—`Avodah Zarah as an Internal Jewish Category”
Prologue: “We Have Met the Enemy and They Are Us”
The Biblical Background of the Term `Avodah Zarah
The Talmudic Background of the Term `Avodah Zarah
Judah Halevi and Maimonides on `Avodah Zarah: Improper Practice or Improper Belief
Moses Mendelssohn: The Ceremonial Law as an Antidote to `Avodah Zarah
Yoel (Joel) Teitelbaum: Zionism as `Avodah Zarah
Mordecai Kaplan and “Revaluation”
Conclusion: Revaluation of Sancta and the Concept of `Avodah Zarah
Internal Jewish Pluralism
`Avodah Zarah and chosenness as internal categories
A Challenge in Each Generation
Addendum: Mendelssohn on Atheism
Chapter Five
Franz Rosenzweig’s Inexpressible Joy
The Inexpressible Joy of Being a Jew
Similarity to Judah Halevi
Law (Gesetz) and Commandment (Gebot)
Rosenzweig on Openness to Everything Jewish
Love and the Inexpressibility of Revelation
Conclusion
PART TWO
ON RELATIONS WITH CHRISTIANITY AND MORMONISM
Chapter Six
Jewish Views of Christianity—Some Reflections
Chapter Seven
Regina Coeli—A Jewish Source?
Chapter Eight
Jews and Mormons—Similarities and Differences
Background
Similarities and Differences
Chosenness and its Implications
The Tension of Universalism and Particular Lineage
PART THREE
ENCOUNTERS WITH OTHER TRADITIONS AND CULTURES
Chapter Nine
Yafet in the Tents of Shem—Attitudes Towards “The Wisdom of Greek” (Ḥokhmat Yevanit) Among the Rabbis and Jewish Philosophers
Introduction
Judah Halevi and Ḥokhmat Yevanit
What is ḥokhmat yevanit?
Ḥokhmat Yevanit, War, and the Fall of Jerusalem to Pompey
Ḥokhmat Yevanit as a Secret Code: Rambam
Ḥokhmat Yevanit as Rhetoric
Rabbi Yishma`el: A Time which is Neither Day nor Night
Rabbi Eliezer: Refrain from “Logic”?
Shem Tov ibn Falaquera's Ambivalence Regarding Ḥokhmat Yevanit
Ḥokhmat Yevanit and the Medieval Controversies Over Philosophy.
Ḥokhmat Yevanit as Magic
Judah Halevi and Ḥokhmat Yevanit: Divergent Readings
Judah Halevi's Philosophy and Neoplatonism
Judah Halevi's Philosophy and Astral Magic
Judah Halevi's Philosophy: Esoteric or Exoteric?
A Philosophical Critique of Philosophy: Ḥokhmat Yevanit as Pseudo
Philosophy
The Silence of the Rabbis on Philosophy
Nine Centuries of Silence
Rabbinic Literature as Philosophy
Conclusion
Summation
Appendix
The Maccabees and the Causes of the Rebellion
Greek Names and Religious Terms
Chapter Ten
God Willing: Im Yirẓeh Hashem—In Sha Allah
Introduction
The First Evidence of Im Yirẓeh Hashem—in the New Testament
The Evidence in Josephus
Philo
Evidence from the Talmud and Midrash?
Evidence from Post-Talmudic Literature: “The Alphabet of Ben-Sira” and the “Or `Olam” Midrash
“With the Help of God” (Be-`ezrat Hashem) as Opposed to “God Willing” (Im Yirẓeh Hashem)
Baḥya ibn Paquda—an Exceptional Case
In sha Allah in the Qur’an
Al-Ghazali’s Occasionalism
Summary
Appendix A: Naḥmanides (Moses ben Naḥman) on Nature and Natural Order
Appendix B: The Expression Yehi Raẓon
Chapter Eleven
Sa`adiah Ga’on’s “Reliable Tradition”— Who Are the “Community of Monotheists?”
On “Reliable Tradition”
Al-Khabr Al-Ṣadiq
Taqlid
Manqul
Athar
Who are “The Community of Monotheists?”
PART FOUR
EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL CHALLENGES
Chapter Twelve
Love Your Fellow as Yourself— Universalism and Particularism in Jewish Exegesis of Leviticus 19:18
Preface
Who is the Re`a that we are Supposed to Love?
How the Verse was Translated in Ancient Versions
Re`a as Meaning Another Jew
Re`a as Meaning Another Human Being
How Can One be Commanded to Love Someone “As Yourself”?
Moses Mendelssohn on our Verse
Isaac Markus Jost
Hermann Cohen
Aḥad Ha-`Am
Franz Rosenzweig
Martin Buber
Emmanuel Levinas
Conclusion
Chapter Thirteen
The New Anti-Zionism and the Old Antisemitism—Transformations
Précis
Introduction: Three Threats to Jewish Existence
Historical Background of the Ideological Threat
The Ideological Threat: Classical Greco-Roman Versions
The Ideological Threat: Modern Enlightenment Versions
Enlightenment: The Cultural Dimension of the Ideological Threat
Emancipation: The Political-social Dimension of the Ideological Threat
Zionist Responses to the Ideological Threat
Contemporary Transformations
Arab-Islamic Judeophobia
Anti-Zionism as Antisemitism
Conclusion
Chapter Fourteen
The Reform Movement and Jewish Status—Some Observations
Reform Opposition to the Patrilineal Decision
Three Personal Observations
Chapter Fifteen
Fundamentalism—A Jewish Perspective
Precis
Introduction
The Reform Pittsburgh Platform (1885)
Reactions
Roman Catholic Reaction: Pius Ix and Papal Infallibility
Evangelical Protestant Reaction: Biblical Inerrancy
Jewish Reaction: Da`At Torah
Addendum 1: Emunat Ḥakhamim (“Belief in the Sages”)
Addendum 2: The Infallibility of the Rabbis According to Ramban
(Naḥmanides)
Addendum 3: Fundamentalist Appropriation/Misappropriation of Traditional Texts: The Example of Misreading Rambam (Maimonides)
The Mosaic Authorship of the Torah (“Torah Mi-Sinai”—Torah from Sinai) vs. The Divine Authority of the Torah (“Torah Min Ha-shamayim”—Torah from Heaven)
The Problem of Literalist Interpretation of Scripture and of the Sages
PART FIVE
AFTERWORD
Chapter Sixteen
Personal Reflections
Index
About the Author :
Raphael Jospe (Ph.D. Brandeis University) is a retired professor of Jewish philosophy in Jerusalem. Author/editor of more than 20 books and editor of the Jewish philosophy division of theEncyclopaedia Judaica, he is involved in inter-religious dialogue and has lectured at the Vatican and at the World Council of Churches.
Review :
“Raphael Jospe is a thinking Jew and at the same time an important Jewish thinker. As a thinking Jew, he is not afraid to stake out brave positions on controversial topics such as the nature of Jewish chosenness, pluralism, idolatry, and prophecy among the nations. As an important Jewish thinker, he finds support for his positions in a wide variety of authoritative Jewish sources. These include the Bible and Rabbinic Literature, and thinkers such as Sa’dia Gaon, Judah Halevi, Maimonides, and Abraham ibn Ezra. Jospe brings these medieval thinkers into creative conversation with moderns like Moses Mendelssohn and especially Mordecai Kaplan. Throughout this lively and sparkling book, we also find Jospe himself in dialogue with a wide variety of contemporary scholars of Jewish Thought. Raphael Jospe is not only a thinker, but he is also an activist; for over a generation he has taken a leading role in encounters with Christianity and Mormonism. There is thus much to be learned from this learned and thought-provoking book.” — Menachem Kellner, Wolfson Professor Emeritus of Jewish Thought at the University of Haifa and Founding Chair (retired) of the Department of Philosophy and Jewish Thought at Shalem College, Jerusalem
“Based on a learned reading of biblical, rabbinic, medieval, and modern sources, Raphael Jospe presents a smiling, wise, and pluralistic Judaism that respects and accepts the Other. In our divisive times, this is a welcome and urgent message.” — Zev Warren Harvey, professor emeritus in the Department of Jewish Thought, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
“Raphael Jospe’s Accepting and Excepting offers Jewish approaches to religious pluralism —both internal Jewish pluralism and Jewish views of other religions—which are a product of the author’s reflections on this subject, starting when he was a thoughtful and inquisitive high school student to the present day, as a retired professor of Jewish philosophy. The result of these reflections is a book which is highly informed by scholarship but with remarkable personal aspects. Jospe’s teaching, research and participation in intra-faith and inter-faith encounters make him uniquely qualified to address among other questions: How can Jews be loyal to their own religious and theological stances without denying or denigrating the positive aspects of competing religious doctrines? How can Jews advocate pluralism without adopting a relativistic approach towards their own beliefs? In our era of cleavage and controversy, this voice for tolerance out of the sources of Judaism is most welcome.” — Daniel J. Lasker, Blechner Professor Emeritus of Jewish Values, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
“The thread of blue binding this book’s pages is a line Mordecai Kaplan sent the future author in 1967: 'In Judaism as a civilization, “belonging” is prior to “believing” although meaningless without believing.' Collating years of study, seeking the meanings and connections of believing and belonging, Raphael Jospe traces the narrow ledge dividing pluralism from relativism, always surer of his footing on solid moral ground than trusting pitons anchored overhead. Torah and Talmud, and philosophical classics from Aristotle to Kant, mark the trail with traces of bold advances and partial falls. Maimonides, Nahmanides, Bahya, and Halevi have left guideposts and cautions. So have Muslim philosophers like al-Farabi, al-Ghazali, and Averroes, and Jewish greats from Rashi and Ibn Ezra to Spinoza and Mendelssohn, from Falaquera to Rosensweig, Buber, Heschel, and Jonathan Sacks. The probing conversation does not neglect our own contemporaries, many of them Jospe’s friends and fellow seekers.“ — Lenn E. Goodman, Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities, Philosophy, Furman Hall, author of Judaism: A Contemporary Philosophical Investigation
“In our polarized world, challenged by moral relativism on the one hand and extremist religious ideologies on the other, Raphael Jospe offers us a timely vision of deep religious commitment together with a moral clarity that genuinely respects and indeed celebrates diversity. Mastering— and often critiquing—an impressive array of classical and modern Jewish sources, as well as insights from beyond Jewish tradition, he presents both a theoretical and practical road map for an authentic Jewish pluralist outlook, both interreligious as well as intra-religious. As Professor Jospe states, his goal is not to disregard differences, 'but to enhance them out of dialogue with other perspectives, learning with and from each other out of true respect for “the other.”' Accordingly he presents a vision of wisdom and hope for our world in which 'everyone will sit under their own vine and their own fig tree and no-one will make them afraid' (Micah 4:4)” — Rabbi David Rosen, KSG CBE, former International Director of Interreligious Affairs of the American Jewish Committee and an International President of Religions for Peace
