Maimonides and Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira: Abandoning Reason in the Warsaw Ghetto

This chapter focuses on theological implications of the Holocaust, which was a time when suffering and loss were of such catastrophic proportions for Jewish history and theology. It talks about the Maimonidean view of evil as a ‘privation’ or an absence of good that is no longer acceptable in the face of a million children systematically gassed and burned. It also points out the acceptance of a theory of divine providence that conditions God's watchful eye on the development of one's intellect that is considered morally problematic and theologically offensive. The chapter concentrates on Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, the Piaseczner Rebbe who heroically persevered as a hasidic master that ministered to his followers during the Holocaust. It recounts how Rabbi Shapira delivered sermons and published posthumously as Holy Fire in the Warsaw ghetto between autumn 1939 and summer 1942.

Tradition versus Traditionalism in the Contemporary Study of Maimonides

This chapter looks at the premier debate in medieval Jewish philosophy about the God of Maimonides and the nature of the Torah. It mentions prominent rabbinic figures from modern times who echo mahloket rishonim, an argument among earlier post-talmudic authorities. It also emphasizes the medieval debate about the philosophy of Maimonides that was not just any mahloket rishonim but rather an argument about a particular law or principle within the Torah. The chapter talks about later thinkers who grapple with Maimonides and the debate that surrounded him who are forced to come to grips with his own fundamental views about the nature of the Torah. It explains how some thinkers try to liberate themselves from the influence of Maimonides' ideas.

Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook and the Mystification of Maimonidean Rationalism

This chapter points out how modern Jewish thinkers looked back and engaged a foundational Jewish canon of scriptural and rabbinic texts when they staked out their own novel ground and advanced Jewish thought in the twentieth century. It mentions the intellectual and jurisprudential legacy of Maimonides as a major part of the development of Jewish law and thought. It also focuses on Rabbi Abraham Isaac Hakohen Kook, who embodies modern Jewish authenticity in the twentieth century. The chapter discusses Jewish intellectual, literary, and activist currents that intersected Rabbi Kook. It explores Rabbi Kook's passionate spiritual and political advocacy of Zionism, and his rabbinic leadership of pre-state Jaffa. It describes how Rabbi Kook was constantly driven by an irrepressible urge to disclose his most intimate reflections, no matter what the consequences might be.

Introduction

This chapter discusses Maimonides as the quintessential Jewish sage in all rabbinic disciplines. It explains how Maimonides perfectly fits the rabbinic model of the talmid hakham who is proficient in Bible, Mishnah, Talmud, halakhot, and agadot. It also assesses the Mishneh torah, a book of law, a work of sequitur, and discursive reasoning that is also a work of art. The chapter points out how Maimonides' philosophical magnum opus called the Guide of the Perplexed remains the most important and influential synthesis of science and the Jewish tradition. It analyses the interpretation of the Torah that must coincide with demonstrated scientific truths since the gates of figurative interpretation are always available for that purpose.

Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik and Maimonides

This chapter talks about the central role of Maimonides in the life and thought of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, which was attested as a moving autobiographical passage in his work titled And from There You Shall Seek. It describes Rabbi Soloveitchik as an independent thinker who had been deeply involved in European intellectual life before the Second World War but had not blindly adopted Maimonides' philosophical positions. It also mentions how Rabbi Soloveitchik agrees with Maimonides but presents his thought in sharp terms that often evoke resistance among his more traditional readers. The chapter reviews Maimonides' interpretation by Professor Isadore Twersky, Rabbi Soloveitchik's son-in-law. It analyses how Rabbi Soloveitchik presents Maimonides in a language acceptable to contemporary traditional Jews.

What, Not Who, Is a Jew: Halevi–Maimonides in Those Days, Rabbi Aviner and Rabbi Kafih in Our Day

This chapter explores the view that Jews and non-Jews are distinguished by some inborn, metaphysical quality that is widespread in contemporary Judaism in Orthodox circles. It illustrates the debate that is expressed by two prominent Israeli Orthodox rabbis and examines the roots of the debate in the medieval controversy over the nature of Jews and Judaism as found in the writings of Judah Halevi and Moses Maimonides. It also cites the voice of Rabbi Shlomo Aviner in the world of contemporary Orthodox Zionism in Israel. The chapter discusses the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that received the Torah and became the chosen people. It mentions Rabbi Aviner's insistence that the Torah is appropriate to the inner nature of the Jewish people.

Each Generation and Its Maimonides: The Maimonides of Rabbi Aharon Kotler

This chapter analyses the way in which Rabbi Aharon Kotler presented Maimonides' thought. It discusses how Rabbi Kotler played a crucial role in the shaping of the haredi world view in the twentieth century. It also mentions the different elements of Orthodox Judaism that have endorsed Maimonides as an authority granting legitimacy on each generation and commentator. The chapter describes the Lubavitcher Rebbe and the Leibowitzer Rebbe who considered themselves Maimonides' contemporary spokesmen. It looks at the dovish Meimad movement in Israeli politics that adopted Rabbi Kotler and their hawkish religious-Zionist opponents, while a pale kabbalistic hue colours the Maimonides of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik.

Rabbi Naftali Tsevi Yehudah Berlin: The Love of Israel versus the Love of the Mind

This chapter focuses on Netsiv's engagement with Maimonides in his commentary on the Song of Songs as the quintessential biblical book of love. It talks about Netsiv's theological positions and offers a convenient compendium of his thought. It also analyses how the Song of Songs presents an exegetical opportunity to present God and Israel as the protagonists in a romantic ode to love. The chapter mentions Netsiv's explicit approval of Abraham Ibn Ezra's disparagement of that trend among the critical scholars of his era, who treated the Song of Songs as an allegory of attachment between the supernal soul and the body. It examines tenor of Netsiv's commentary that mirrors the empathetic character of his life.

Rabbi Elhanan Wasserman on Maimonides, and Maimonides on ‘Reb Elhanan’

This chapter discusses Maimonides' and Rabbi Elhanan Wasserman's different understandings of the nature of Torah. It cites a Maimonidean commentary on several key passages in Rabbi Wasserman's writings. It also shows that Maimonides and Rabbi Wasserman read the Torah in two different languages and points out how Rabbi Wasserman did not understand the language of Maimonides' Torah. The chapter analyses the vast gap between Maimonides' world and that of Rabbi Wasserman that relates to a meaningful truth concealed within the well-known Italian pun, traduttore-traditore. It mentions translators that are well acquainted with the problems of transmitting ideas from one language to another in theological contexts.