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THE S& M SCENE Franz Rosenzweig and .. Reconsidered' .J I" ~ THE S& M SCENE Franz Rosenzweig and .. ~. Wechose each other in early history Reconsidered' .j & signed a covenant which bound us together eternally ' .. with Promethean torture chains. For the past several years have been ~eaching :'a ·rf'll,I.:·I:r:,~p::·'!I'r After the rape of the honeymoon Modern Jewish thought . .As I approached the material"wltH.,:;r.mv,· he begat & begat & begat. students, we read both the original sources and some of the stclnalar~d!,.'.,i;::,:"/j critical essays on each of the thinkersstutJied. Each We wandered from place to. place. over the material my students were surprised by the In the cities-humiliation. accorded the work of Franz Rosenzweig.' and the severe In the villages-torment. directed tm,yard Martin Buber by Jewish critics. In the faraway Glmpsites-s~l\·agery. the relative importance of both men·, has reinforced '. conviction that a reconsideration of the work of these twO +1-.', ..... 1/." .. " Our depraved desire was gratified quite appropriate at this time. In th isartic.le I will. by a cl(')set of whipcords & shackles. Rosenzweig's conception of the role of the Jewish people in is hopelessly and dangerously outdated and that I ignored the frantic warnings of neighbors: importance rests mainly on his personal stanc~ on return to Judaism. Furthermore, I will. contehd that in an "He'll cut too deep & kill yo 1I has experien~ed the collapse of normative structures ;(the, ~""~:+~: ';:.ll'I':;'~·, .. :,:;:···".::'.:';':':;:·i:;.;? or force you to turn the knife against him. ,family, the synagogue, and the school) or at ·I.east tHe Ca~t him off & take a gentle partner." irrele,vance of such structures, Martin Buber's much non-nomistic position on Jewish law demands ·"o''''l'\r'l('il~or·ati(jn'i''';:''':'·'''!''''::''i>.,·.: I savored those pleasureful pinpricks. Finally, I will. suggest that the debate between He adored my high-pitched screams. on Jewish law and, in reality, on the whole concept normative ex istence is being carried on today by two "o,.,"';"'·orv~" ,Each year we set an anniversary table younger Jewish community as they struggl~ with .. & tell the children about our wedding. Jewishness in' anage of moral anomie. We all stand up while an open door reveals a goblet of wine that is never emptied. ,. Buber, Rosenzweig, and American Jews Just after the death of Martin Suber a decade'agp, wrote a critical essay on "Martin Buber and the Jews."l Potok wrote of the bitter irony that the philosopher generation gap of the late sixti'es and rl)'ln moS); honored b y o~peoPles as an authentic representative of self-conscious Jewish com"munitybo;h on ~Jewishte9chings, is "today (March 1966) virtually incapable of cnu nter-culture have widened 'the gap betweerlnr~~~ti:~~;~:~~~;]~'~::~';i;;}\\\ entering .into dialogue with his own people."2 According to Potok, structures of Jewish traditiQn a:nd the life' P Buber'sworkwas regarded with great suspicion by orthodox Jews community. Furthermore, perha'ps th~,mostsigh . for its anomiariism, by Conservative and Reform Jews for the past decade has been the growing awareness of the, conS,E~Q{Jenl:ce~S:!~:Oit;:(} :mystical, non-rationalist bent of his thought, by Israelis for his the Holocaust for the American' Jewish'co~munity; cOlnse!ndp.rif~·E:f~:':::;)';;/'ii'2;.!r;;:{'!',i';'!;:";' \i, advocacy of a bi-national State and for his involvement with Ichud, wh ich threaten to further shatter the norms of the· 'CO'lrnl'11.ljrl,!i:t~Vi:::n:,ih'i:,""':,:i bysthol,ars of Judaism for the serious flaws within h is treatment of Theologically, this new consciousness has been seen in fhl~·,;,\:'Jnl~k,;LA·f::<;,:I.,·!t::ii:}"' Hasidism, by secularists for the religious focus of his thought, and by Elie' Wiesel, Richard Rubenstein, Emil Fack~n'heim .. many Jews for his Closeness to Jesus of Nazareth (as distinct from Berkovits. This concentration on the impact of the H()IOca:lust'i,ti,as';'::'f!iii{ . the Chri'stofGhristian faith). also been intensified by such political, developments In that same article on Buber, Potok spoke positively about the Jewish Defense League, the, rightward swing of the entire 'attraction of .Franz Rosenzweig. He said: "Those who are inclined Jewish community, and the genera I sense of Israel'~, 'l.njr.r~::I<:,~(j':·:::':l; . towardex.istentialism find they have more in common with Franz vulnerability. ' ' . Rosenzweig, who took a more positive stand on Jewish law"3 (than The changes in our 'life styles and the events of history they do with Martin Buber). Milton H immelfarb echoed Potok's substantively altered our estimation of the theologicat'signifkanceof estimation of Rosenzweig less than one year later in his introduction Martin Buber and Franz Rosenzweig. Let us first begin with the ·""""", .. ,:,:,:":·,:,,:..,',[,,,,,,:',:<}",I , to the Commentary Symposium, liThe Condition of Jewish Belief."4 who was regarded as "the most significant influence on the 'elJ!::JidClS:},. Hlmmelfarb described the enormous influence of Franz Rosenzweig, thought of North American Jewry," Franz R6senz~eig, The single greatest influence on the religious thought of North American Jewry , therefore is a German Jew-a layman not a Judaism versus Christianity? rabbi-who died before Hitler took power and who came to Judaism s During the past several years the work of Franz from the very portals of the Church. become accessible to the English-speaking world. The Hosenzweig described by both Himmelfarb and Potok was whetted our, appetite for Franz Rqsenzweig With a Rosenzweig not yet read by the American Jewish community but publication of Franz Rosenzweig: His Life, and. one eloquently and heroically described to us by his disciple and publication of the correspondence between Rosenzweig and, ~~~~F!'t;!::',·>"',::'.::.:":::F:;;'\:,,f, 'yOIiJt;lger colleague, Nahum Glatzer,6 while the Buber described by Rosen,stock-Huessy in 1969 as Judaism' Despite po'tokwas ,read by the Jewish community but not yet understood ·followed by the publication in 1971 of Rose,nzwEHg's sincethe'community had yet to experience the collapse of normative The Star of Redemption,8 more than satiated that appetite. , structures and the anomie of unstructured existence. these works expose the precariousness of: ~osenzweig asa thleOIOQiical':,;',"':":"""""";:i';,',ii:/';' The last decade has brought many changes to the American figure, limiting the contemporary influence'of his work f Jewish community. ,The consequences of some of these changes are doctrines on Jewish law. Rosenzweig's' corr.espond~nce easily discernible while the consequences of others are still unclear. Rosenstock-H uessy had lo'ng enjoyed an exalted' ~'I'p', Jl:a:uqrp~I';};';:;, .. :<:,2',:;:'}!: The Six Day War and the Yom Kippur War have increased our own Anyone who studies the life of Rosenzweig ,knows sense of interdependence with the fate of Israel while they have also RosenStock~Huessy had on him, reaching. its dim'ax in Roser&~l~i;j~~:j,/?::;i,,~:~,:)%;,\:;I;i;;1 ",renewed our sense of Jewish vulnerability and limited freedom, The ,. 1913 decision to enter the Church and if1 his rQC~Qr\,/~Til'\,n to:dcii;,Sc:i:i,y:>,;,:j/;;";"~UUi'i collapse of faith in the vision of America that resulted from the only as a Jew; a reservation which 'resulted ',experience coupled with the rapid changes in sexual rediscovery of Judaism and ' pr'actices. the deCline of the family, the rise in divorce rates, the , ~ ... These letters ~ere heralded as a momentous dialogue The task of the "synagogue is to .remai'n and C~ianitywhich would promote a mutual gaze' .upon eternity, and~elinquishing the of the roles both faiths were to play in the redemption Christianity. The latter must' n,m . the risk'of ·dSd1:cimirli:iii'o"n::iiifj,V' ~ of~\.humanity. Upon closer examination of the correspondence, history in order to convert the heathens to the f', 3~tr~rp?9P!·.:;:8:Jf.i·~~8;~~!y.:(;:i:f·; through the sonsh ip of Ch rist. ". .' ~.owever, one carlnQt fail to notice' that the dialogue is not merely , .' ·.between a faithful Jew and believing Christian but rather between The synagogue which is immortal but standswithbroken ",.;"'·Ht ........ ·;;,t':.':.··:i::'·;:,,·,.:. two Jews; one who has. chosen to complete the final stage in the bound eyes, must renource all work in th'is worl'dand ...... :;";.+,,·... ~:lII· .•.. · her strength to preserv~ her life andkeep'herself u~tijinted process of assimil·ation by conversion, and the other who, when And so she le'aves the work in the world to the . forced.: to the brink of conversion and when faced with strong recognizes the church as the salvation for all heathens. in . lJarental opposition,l 0 chose reintegration into Judaism and a radical . The synagogue knows that what the works of its ritUal do qqnd~mncHion of assimilation. Despite th is condemnation and the works of love do for the world outside of Israel. despite the attractiveness of the form of Rosenzweig's major claims synagogue refuses to admit that the strength with which 'the performs her works of love is more than "divine," that this <"T .. '''"'''... .,··.···· concerning the relationship of Judaism and Christianity, Rosenzweig is in itself a power of God .. Herein the synagogue g~z~S . could not reject the Western Christian culture that had so attracted the future. And the church, with unbreakable staff and eyes him. It is my contention that Rosenzweig betrays his assimilationist the world, this champion certain of victory, atwaysfacesthe ~eritagein his uncritical adoption of Western and Christian cultural of having the vanquished draw up laws for her. Sent to· all. men, she . biases. must nevertheless not lose herself in what is common to .alln1en. The' form of Rosenzweig's discussion of Judaism and Her word is always to be "foolishness and astumbling block.,,13 .
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