Language:
English
Year of publication:
2006
Titel der Quelle:
Modern Judaism
Angaben zur Quelle:
26,3 (2006) 213-239
Keywords:
Holocaust (Jewish theology)
Abstract:
Argues that classical Jewish paradigms of meaning are no longer adequate after the Holocaust, nor are other religious concepts or secular ones. The Holocaust was a transformational event and should be a catalyst for reshaping religious and metaphysical thinking. All religious worldviews and value systems should be recognized as broken, i.e. insufficient or incomplete. Among these are Rabbinic Orthodoxy and Zionism. Stresses that the Shoah was made possible by the inability of political, moral, or religious power to stop the policies that led to the Holocaust. Points to the danger of idolatry of "absolutes" that lead people to kill others. Recommends fostering pluralism to prevent pathological absolutism such as that of fundamentalist Islam. Notes the partial repentance of Christianity, e.g. Vatican II's recognition of the damage caused by Christian supersessionism. Notes the danger posed by the power of the Jewish state if totalizing uncritical Jewish thinking, like that of Yigal Amir or Meir Kahane, is allowed to dominate. All truth claims, especially if they endanger others, have to be reexamined.
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