This article argues that the impetus for
Abraham Joshua Heschel’s activism, contra
Heschel himsel... more This article argues that the impetus for Abraham Joshua Heschel’s activism, contra Heschel himself, is found in the first part of his magnum opus—Torah min Hashamayim be-Aspaclarya shel HaDorot. It will argue that Heschel’s activism is a religious solution to a theological problem, a problem which is spelled out as the tension between Rabbi Ishmael and Rabbi Akiva. Heschel describes God as suffering with Israel. This suffering (according to Rabbi Akiva) is an instance of the partnership between God and Israel. It will further suggest that this is a uniquely Heschelian model of what Oscar Romero, referred to as the transfiguration. Finally, it argues that Romero’s transfiguration theology can help illuminate a part of Heschel’s framing of Heavenly Torah which has largely gone unnoticed or has been ignored.
In 1952, Rabbi Eliezer Yehudah Waldenberg (a member of the Supreme Rabbinical Court of Israel) an... more In 1952, Rabbi Eliezer Yehudah Waldenberg (a member of the Supreme Rabbinical Court of Israel) and Rabbi Ben Zion Meir Chai Uziel (the Rishon LeTziyon and Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel) addressed the question of incarceration in a Jewish state according to the halakhic tradition. A generation later, Rabbi Chaim David Halevi the Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv-Yaffo) also addressed this question. Their approaches shed light on the way we should be thinking about incarceration in general, and the overwhelming problem of the current moment in the United States: mass incarceration.
W e seem to be at an intersection of incompetence and invidiousness as we draw closer to the fift... more W e seem to be at an intersection of incompetence and invidiousness as we draw closer to the fiftieth anniversary of the Occupation. We are almost to the point that both right and left agree that the term “occupation” should no longer be used. On the right, the argument is either for stasis—building out the settlements and expanding the area controlled by settlers; pressing the Palestinians economically and geographically until they leave or surrender—or, legally annex the territory and bestow limited rights upon the Palestinians. On the left, the call is now for recognizing the de facto annexation and granting full political rights to the Palestinian residents. The political powers in Israel and Palestine are in a state of constant strategic dithering —one step forward and two steps back. Yet, lest we fall into the false equivalency of occupier and occupied, it must be stated that this stasis is the result of a strategy of many decades on the part of the Israeli government to deprive the Palestinians in the territories of the resources for economic sustainability or the room for civic institutions. The security apparatus which controls the movement of the Palestinians on a daily basis raises the price of resistance so high that it seems futile, resulting in only sporadic but heroic acts of nonviolent resistance. The cycle of armed belligerence which scales up or down but almost never dies out, is a result of the logic of violence. The combatants and their institutions on both sides are convinced that the other side only understands violence, and if we hit them hard enough this time, they will stop. The gross incompetence and moral turpitude of the Trump administration does not offer any hope. The nomination of David Friedman (a de facto spokesperson for the most rightwing of settlers, who denies that there is an occupation, and has characterized J Street as “worse than kapos”) as U.S. Ambassador to Israel reinforces one’s conviction that
Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology, 2014
This essay offers a commentary on the short story of Hagar and Ishmael’s expulsion at the hands o... more This essay offers a commentary on the short story of Hagar and Ishmael’s expulsion at the hands of Abraham (Gen 21:14–20). The commentary lays a claim on traditional interpretation but is not itself necessarily a traditional interpretation.
In Reading the Rabbis. David Kraemer argues for choosing to read the Bavli as "literature&qu... more In Reading the Rabbis. David Kraemer argues for choosing to read the Bavli as "literature" or. in his words. to use a literary "lens" to read the Bavli. Since there is no satisfactory way of defining "literary" as opposed to "non-literary" texts (pp. 4-5). the Bavli is not necessarily literature. but "it is if we read it as such" (p. 9). Reading the Talmud as literature means asking a certain set of questions aimed at the Bavli's rhetoric.
Crisis, Call, and Leadership in the Abrahamic Traditions, 2009
The unique opportunity to create and participate in the Scriptural Reasoning bet midrash/or study... more The unique opportunity to create and participate in the Scriptural Reasoning bet midrash/or study hall at the Center for Theological Inquiry impacted this essay in both obvious and more subterranean ways. The more obvious impact was that this essay was not the essay that I thought I was going to write. In the first few meetings I had a different text (a Talmudic text from Tractate Baba Bathra of the Babylonian Talmud,) which I thought would be the center of my essay. After studying the text with the Christian and Muslim members of my group (and after finally really hearing some of their comments-especially Rusty Reno’s) I realized that my reading was, well, wrong. So that text was dropped and the essay is better for it.
In this paper I track the commentaries of Rashi and the Tosafot across a number of Talmudic discu... more In this paper I track the commentaries of Rashi and the Tosafot across a number of Talmudic discussions that are central for the laws of marriage. What emerges from this investigation is that there is a dominant understanding of marriage articulated by Tosafot. Rashi is consistent in presenting a countervoice to the dominant ideology of the Tosafot - not responding to the Tosafists understanding, since he lived before them, but his position in the history of patriarchal ideas remains as a countervoice to the dominant opinion. Rashi understands that the woman's agreement to participate in marriage is necessary. It is not necessarily anatural thing for her to want to participate, therefore she needs an incentive. This investigation also isolates one point at which descriptive statements are given normative legal weight, and highlights the fact that this very move from descriptive to normative is itself contended. This essay may be seen as part of a history of patriarchal ideas, the point of which is to challenge patriarchal or misogynistic assumptions. The analysis of the history of patriarchal ideas points to their internal conflicts and contradictions, and leads to the deconstruction of the implacable facade of eternal verity implied by the absolutist mode of their articulation - especially in legal writing.
The practice of democracy, the practice by which we may form a more perfect union, is not that di... more The practice of democracy, the practice by which we may form a more perfect union, is not that different from the practice by which we try to move in deliberate but halting steps toward a more just world which embraces the presence of God.
Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies, 2012
Vol. 30, No. 3 ♦ 2012 restricted by the Romans on the pretext that they indulged in human sacrifi... more Vol. 30, No. 3 ♦ 2012 restricted by the Romans on the pretext that they indulged in human sacrifice and cannibalism” (p. 277). Human sacrifice and cannibalism are precisely the elements that are conspicuous in Apion’s story. Given the prevalence of this motif in several Roman sources with distinct political contexts, it is likely that Apion aimed at appealing to a Roman audience by his particular polemics against the Jews. He thus needs to be analyzed more on his own account than mostly as a transmitter of earlier material. In conclusion, Bar-Kochva’s book covers an important and much discussed field of enquiry, offering new and highly sophisticated interpretations of the fragmentary evidence, which are based on detailed analyses of all the texts and their author’s overall conceptions. Anyone who will wish to disagree with Bar-Kochva will also find the material for his or her own arguments in the book. Maren Niehoff Hebrew University of Jerusalem
... The term halakhah designates both the system of Jewish law and also the concept of a singleru... more ... The term halakhah designates both the system of Jewish law and also the concept of a singlerule of law. ... This very partial list is meant to show that divorce as a site of the existential tensions of the Exile, is a motif common to ... 206 REVIEW OF LAW AND WOMEN'S STUDIES [Vol. ...
Death, the space of death, the moment when one as mourner or passerby comes into the orbit of the... more Death, the space of death, the moment when one as mourner or passerby comes into the orbit of the dead, engaging the face of the dead, is one of the defining moments of the human experience. Understanding the cultural construction of that space promises to shed light on some of the central questions of the culture.
This article argues that the impetus for
Abraham Joshua Heschel’s activism, contra
Heschel himsel... more This article argues that the impetus for Abraham Joshua Heschel’s activism, contra Heschel himself, is found in the first part of his magnum opus—Torah min Hashamayim be-Aspaclarya shel HaDorot. It will argue that Heschel’s activism is a religious solution to a theological problem, a problem which is spelled out as the tension between Rabbi Ishmael and Rabbi Akiva. Heschel describes God as suffering with Israel. This suffering (according to Rabbi Akiva) is an instance of the partnership between God and Israel. It will further suggest that this is a uniquely Heschelian model of what Oscar Romero, referred to as the transfiguration. Finally, it argues that Romero’s transfiguration theology can help illuminate a part of Heschel’s framing of Heavenly Torah which has largely gone unnoticed or has been ignored.
In 1952, Rabbi Eliezer Yehudah Waldenberg (a member of the Supreme Rabbinical Court of Israel) an... more In 1952, Rabbi Eliezer Yehudah Waldenberg (a member of the Supreme Rabbinical Court of Israel) and Rabbi Ben Zion Meir Chai Uziel (the Rishon LeTziyon and Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel) addressed the question of incarceration in a Jewish state according to the halakhic tradition. A generation later, Rabbi Chaim David Halevi the Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv-Yaffo) also addressed this question. Their approaches shed light on the way we should be thinking about incarceration in general, and the overwhelming problem of the current moment in the United States: mass incarceration.
W e seem to be at an intersection of incompetence and invidiousness as we draw closer to the fift... more W e seem to be at an intersection of incompetence and invidiousness as we draw closer to the fiftieth anniversary of the Occupation. We are almost to the point that both right and left agree that the term “occupation” should no longer be used. On the right, the argument is either for stasis—building out the settlements and expanding the area controlled by settlers; pressing the Palestinians economically and geographically until they leave or surrender—or, legally annex the territory and bestow limited rights upon the Palestinians. On the left, the call is now for recognizing the de facto annexation and granting full political rights to the Palestinian residents. The political powers in Israel and Palestine are in a state of constant strategic dithering —one step forward and two steps back. Yet, lest we fall into the false equivalency of occupier and occupied, it must be stated that this stasis is the result of a strategy of many decades on the part of the Israeli government to deprive the Palestinians in the territories of the resources for economic sustainability or the room for civic institutions. The security apparatus which controls the movement of the Palestinians on a daily basis raises the price of resistance so high that it seems futile, resulting in only sporadic but heroic acts of nonviolent resistance. The cycle of armed belligerence which scales up or down but almost never dies out, is a result of the logic of violence. The combatants and their institutions on both sides are convinced that the other side only understands violence, and if we hit them hard enough this time, they will stop. The gross incompetence and moral turpitude of the Trump administration does not offer any hope. The nomination of David Friedman (a de facto spokesperson for the most rightwing of settlers, who denies that there is an occupation, and has characterized J Street as “worse than kapos”) as U.S. Ambassador to Israel reinforces one’s conviction that
Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology, 2014
This essay offers a commentary on the short story of Hagar and Ishmael’s expulsion at the hands o... more This essay offers a commentary on the short story of Hagar and Ishmael’s expulsion at the hands of Abraham (Gen 21:14–20). The commentary lays a claim on traditional interpretation but is not itself necessarily a traditional interpretation.
In Reading the Rabbis. David Kraemer argues for choosing to read the Bavli as "literature&qu... more In Reading the Rabbis. David Kraemer argues for choosing to read the Bavli as "literature" or. in his words. to use a literary "lens" to read the Bavli. Since there is no satisfactory way of defining "literary" as opposed to "non-literary" texts (pp. 4-5). the Bavli is not necessarily literature. but "it is if we read it as such" (p. 9). Reading the Talmud as literature means asking a certain set of questions aimed at the Bavli's rhetoric.
Crisis, Call, and Leadership in the Abrahamic Traditions, 2009
The unique opportunity to create and participate in the Scriptural Reasoning bet midrash/or study... more The unique opportunity to create and participate in the Scriptural Reasoning bet midrash/or study hall at the Center for Theological Inquiry impacted this essay in both obvious and more subterranean ways. The more obvious impact was that this essay was not the essay that I thought I was going to write. In the first few meetings I had a different text (a Talmudic text from Tractate Baba Bathra of the Babylonian Talmud,) which I thought would be the center of my essay. After studying the text with the Christian and Muslim members of my group (and after finally really hearing some of their comments-especially Rusty Reno’s) I realized that my reading was, well, wrong. So that text was dropped and the essay is better for it.
In this paper I track the commentaries of Rashi and the Tosafot across a number of Talmudic discu... more In this paper I track the commentaries of Rashi and the Tosafot across a number of Talmudic discussions that are central for the laws of marriage. What emerges from this investigation is that there is a dominant understanding of marriage articulated by Tosafot. Rashi is consistent in presenting a countervoice to the dominant ideology of the Tosafot - not responding to the Tosafists understanding, since he lived before them, but his position in the history of patriarchal ideas remains as a countervoice to the dominant opinion. Rashi understands that the woman's agreement to participate in marriage is necessary. It is not necessarily anatural thing for her to want to participate, therefore she needs an incentive. This investigation also isolates one point at which descriptive statements are given normative legal weight, and highlights the fact that this very move from descriptive to normative is itself contended. This essay may be seen as part of a history of patriarchal ideas, the point of which is to challenge patriarchal or misogynistic assumptions. The analysis of the history of patriarchal ideas points to their internal conflicts and contradictions, and leads to the deconstruction of the implacable facade of eternal verity implied by the absolutist mode of their articulation - especially in legal writing.
The practice of democracy, the practice by which we may form a more perfect union, is not that di... more The practice of democracy, the practice by which we may form a more perfect union, is not that different from the practice by which we try to move in deliberate but halting steps toward a more just world which embraces the presence of God.
Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies, 2012
Vol. 30, No. 3 ♦ 2012 restricted by the Romans on the pretext that they indulged in human sacrifi... more Vol. 30, No. 3 ♦ 2012 restricted by the Romans on the pretext that they indulged in human sacrifice and cannibalism” (p. 277). Human sacrifice and cannibalism are precisely the elements that are conspicuous in Apion’s story. Given the prevalence of this motif in several Roman sources with distinct political contexts, it is likely that Apion aimed at appealing to a Roman audience by his particular polemics against the Jews. He thus needs to be analyzed more on his own account than mostly as a transmitter of earlier material. In conclusion, Bar-Kochva’s book covers an important and much discussed field of enquiry, offering new and highly sophisticated interpretations of the fragmentary evidence, which are based on detailed analyses of all the texts and their author’s overall conceptions. Anyone who will wish to disagree with Bar-Kochva will also find the material for his or her own arguments in the book. Maren Niehoff Hebrew University of Jerusalem
... The term halakhah designates both the system of Jewish law and also the concept of a singleru... more ... The term halakhah designates both the system of Jewish law and also the concept of a singlerule of law. ... This very partial list is meant to show that divorce as a site of the existential tensions of the Exile, is a motif common to ... 206 REVIEW OF LAW AND WOMEN'S STUDIES [Vol. ...
Death, the space of death, the moment when one as mourner or passerby comes into the orbit of the... more Death, the space of death, the moment when one as mourner or passerby comes into the orbit of the dead, engaging the face of the dead, is one of the defining moments of the human experience. Understanding the cultural construction of that space promises to shed light on some of the central questions of the culture.
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Papers by Aryeh Cohen
Abraham Joshua Heschel’s activism, contra
Heschel himself, is found in the first part of
his magnum opus—Torah min Hashamayim
be-Aspaclarya shel HaDorot. It will argue that
Heschel’s activism is a religious solution to a
theological problem, a problem which is spelled
out as the tension between Rabbi Ishmael
and Rabbi Akiva. Heschel describes God as
suffering with Israel. This suffering (according
to Rabbi Akiva) is an instance of the partnership
between God and Israel. It will further suggest
that this is a uniquely Heschelian model
of what Oscar Romero, referred to as the
transfiguration. Finally, it argues that Romero’s
transfiguration theology can help illuminate a
part of Heschel’s framing of Heavenly Torah
which has largely gone unnoticed or has been
ignored.
Abraham Joshua Heschel’s activism, contra
Heschel himself, is found in the first part of
his magnum opus—Torah min Hashamayim
be-Aspaclarya shel HaDorot. It will argue that
Heschel’s activism is a religious solution to a
theological problem, a problem which is spelled
out as the tension between Rabbi Ishmael
and Rabbi Akiva. Heschel describes God as
suffering with Israel. This suffering (according
to Rabbi Akiva) is an instance of the partnership
between God and Israel. It will further suggest
that this is a uniquely Heschelian model
of what Oscar Romero, referred to as the
transfiguration. Finally, it argues that Romero’s
transfiguration theology can help illuminate a
part of Heschel’s framing of Heavenly Torah
which has largely gone unnoticed or has been
ignored.