Yirat Shamayim As Jewish Paideia
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Marc D. Stern Robert S. Hirt, Series Editor OF Awe of God 08 draft 07 balanced.indd iii 9/17/2008 8:52:54 AM THE ORTHODOX FORUM The Orthodox Forum, initially convened by Dr. Norman Lamm, Chancellor of Yeshiva University, meets each year to consider major issues of concern to the Jewish community. Forum participants from throughout the world, including academicians in both Jewish and secular fields, rabbis, rashei yeshivah, Jewish educators, and Jewish communal professionals, gather in conference as a think tank to discuss and critique each other’s original papers, examining different aspects of a central theme. The purpose of the Forum is to create and disseminate a new and vibrant Torah literature addressing the critical issues facing Jewry today. The Orthodox Forum gratefully acknowledges the support of the Joseph J. and Bertha K. Green Memorial Fund at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary established by Morris L. Green, of blessed memory. The Orthodox Forum Series is a project of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, an affiliate of Yeshiva University OF Awe of God 08 draft 07 balanced.indd ii 9/17/2008 8:52:53 AM In Memory of My Parents Herman and Marion Stern Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Yirat shamayim : the awe, reverence, and fear of God / edited by Marc D. Stern. p. cm. ISBN 978-1-60280-037-3 1. Fear of God – Judaism. 2. Orthodox Judaism. I. Stern, Marc D. BM645.F4Y57 2008 296.3’11 – dc22 * * * Distributed by KTAV Publishing House, Inc. 930 Newark Avenue Jersey City, NJ 07306 Tel. (201) 963-9524 Fax. (201) 963-0102 www.ktav.com [email protected] Copyright © 2008 Yeshiva University Press This book was typeset by Koren Publishing Services OF Awe of God 08 draft 07 balanced.indd iv 9/17/2008 8:52:54 AM Contents Contributors ix Series Editor’s Preface Robert S. Hirt xiii Introduction: I Failed to Guard My Own Vineyard xv Marc D. Stern 1. Yirat Shamayim in Jewish Thought 1 Warren Zev Harvey 2. Nefesh ha-Hayyim and the Roots of the Musar Controversy 27 Elyakim Krumbein 3. Moving Beyond Lightness and Confronting Fears: Hasidic Thought on the Fear of Heaven 57 Alan Brill 4. Between Heaven and Earth: Curricula, Pedagogical Choices, Methodologies and Values in The Study and Teaching of Tanakh: Where They Can and Should Lead Us 81 Nathaniel Helfgot 5. Fear of God: The Beginning of Wisdom and the End of Tanakh Study 135 Mosheh Lichtenstein 6. What Are We Afraid of ? Fear and Its Role in Jewish Adult Education 163 Erica Brown v OF Awe of God 08 draft 07 balanced.indd v 9/17/2008 8:52:54 AM 7. Fear of God and Prayer 185 Jack Bieler 8. Contemporary Impediments to Yirat Shamayim 231 Aharon Lichtenstein 9. “Yet My Soul Drew Back” Fear of God as Experience and Commandment in an Age Of Anxiety 265 Shalom Carmy 10. Lechu Banim Shim’u li Yirat Hashem Alamedchem: Come, Children, Listen to Me; I Will Teach You How to Revere the Lord: If Only It Were So Easy 301 Kenneth Auman 11. A Nation Under God: Jews, Christians, and the American Public Square 321 Meir Soloveichik 12. Civil Religion Is An Obstacle to Serious Yirat Shamayim 349 Marc D. Stern 13. “The Beginning of Wisdom:" Towards a Curriculum of Yirat Shamayim in Modern Orthodox High Schools 377 Mark E. Gottlieb Orthodox Forum Seventeenth Conference List of Participants 395 Index 399 OF Awe of God 08 draft 07 balanced.indd vi 9/17/2008 8:52:54 AM Other Volumes in the Orthodox Forum Series Rabbinic Authority and Personal Autonomy edited by Moshe Z. Sokol Jewish Tradition and the Non-Traditional Jew edited by Jacob J. Schacter Israel as a Religious Reality edited by Chaim I. Waxman Modern Scholarship in the Study of Torah: Contributions and Limitations edited by Shalom Carmy Tikkun Olam: Social Responsibility in Jewish Thought and Law edited by David Shatz, Chaim I. Waxman, and Nathan J. Diament Engaging Modernity: Rabbinic Leaders and the Challenge of the Twentieth Century edited by Moshe Z. Sokol Jewish Perspectives on the Experience of Suffering edited by Shalom Carmy Jewish Business Ethics: The Firm and Its Stakeholders edited by Aaron Levine and Moses Pava Tolerance, Dissent, and Democracy: Philosophical, Historical, and Halakhic Perspectives edited by Moshe Z. Sokol Jewish Spirituality and Divine Law edited by Adam Mintz and Lawrence Schiffman Formulating Responses in an Egalitarian Age edited by Marc D. Stern Judaism, Science, and Moral Responsibility edited by Yitzhak Berger and David Shatz The Conceptual Approach to Jewish Learning למדות edited by Yosef Blau Rabbinic and Lay Communal Authority edited by Suzanne Last Stone War and Peace in the Jewish Tradition edited by Lawrence Schiffman and Joel B. Wolowelsky OF Awe of God 08 draft 07 balanced.indd vii 9/17/2008 8:52:54 AM viii Gender Relationships In Marriage and Out edited by Rivkah Blau Religious Zionism Post Disengagement: Future Directions edited by Chaim I. Waxman OF Awe of God 08 draft 07 balanced.indd viii 9/17/2008 8:52:54 AM Contributors Rabbi Kenneth Auman was ordained by the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary and serves as the rabbi at the Young Israel of Flatbush in Brooklyn, New York. He is Past President of the Rabbinical Council of America. Rabbi Jack Bieler is rabbi of the Kemp Mill Synagogue in Silver Spring, Maryland, and a member of the Judaic studies faculty of the M.J. Berman Hebrew Academy in Rockville, Maryland. He has published articles on the integration of Judaism and general studies, as well as on the philosophy of Modern Or- thodox Jewish education. Dr. Alan Brill is the Cooperman/Ross Endowed Professor in honor of Sister Rose Thering, Seton Hall University. He is the author of Thinking God: The Mysticism of Rabbi Zadok of Lublin and the forthcoming Judaism and Other Religions. Dr. Erica Brown is the scholar-in-residence for the Jewish Federa- tion of Greater Washington and director of its Leadership In- stitute. She formerly served in that capacity for the Federation of Boston. She has written extensively for journals of education and Jewish studies and is the author of the upcoming book, The Sacred Canvas: The Hebrew Bible in the Eyes of the Artist. Rabbi Shalom Carmy both teaches in and is Chairman of the Department of Bible and Jewish and Jewish Philosophy at Ye- shiva University and is editor of Tradition. He has published extensively and is the editor of two volumes in the Orthodox Forum series, most recently Jewish Perspectives on the Experi- ence of Suffering. Rabbi Mark Gottlieb is the Head of School at Yeshiva University High School for Boys in New York. He previously was Principal of the Middle and Upper School at the Maimonides School in ix OF Awe of God 08 draft 07 balanced.indd ix 9/17/2008 8:52:54 AM x Brookline, Massachusetts, and has taught at Loyola University in Chicago, Hebrew Theological College (Skokie, Illinois), and the University of Chicago. Professor Warren Zev Harvey is Chairman and Professor of Jew- ish Thought at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. An expert on medieval Jewish philosophy, he has published scores of critically significant essays on major philosophical thinkers. His works include Physics and Metaphysics in Hasdai Crescas. Professor Harvey served as co-editor of Tarbiz, the preeminent Israeli journal in Jewish studies. Rabbi Nathaniel Helfgot is the Chairman of the Departments of Bible and Jewish Thought at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. He also serves on the faculty of the Drisha Institute. He is the editor of Community, Covenant and Commitment: Selected Letters and Communications of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, associate editor of the Meorot Journal, and contributing editor to Ten-Daat. Rabbi Robert S. Hirt (Series Editor) is the senior advisor to the president of Yeshiva University and vice president emeritus of its affiliated Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. He occupies the Rabbi Sidney Shoham Chair in Rabbinic and Community Leadership at RIETS. Rabbi Elyakim Krumbein is a graduate of Yeshiva University. He made aliyah to Israel in 1972, and was subsequently appointed to the educational staff at the Yeshivat Har Etzion, which he continues to serve. Rabbi Krumbein has published Torah articles, monographs on Talmudic analysis, study guides for yeshiva students on various tractates of the Talmud, and a new book entitled Musar for Moderns (Ktav). Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein is Rosh Yeshiva, Yeshivat Har Etzion and the Gruss Institute, RIETS. He is a frequent contributor to books and journals of contemporary Jewish thought. Rabbi Mosheh Lichtenstein has been a Ram at Yeshiva Har Etzion since 1992. He was on sabbatical in Cleveland during the 1997 and 1998 academic years, serving as Rosh Kollel of the Torah MiTzion Kollel. He received Semicha from the Rabbanut and a degree in English Literature from Hebrew University. OF Awe of God 08 draft 07 balanced.indd x 9/17/2008 8:52:54 AM Series Editor’s Preface xi Rabbi Meir Soloveichik was ordained by the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, Yeshiva University, and serves as the Associate Rabbi at Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in New York City. He has published in Azure, Commentary, and other journals on religion and modern society. Marc D. Stern, Esq. (Volume Editor) is the co-director of the Com- mission on Law and Social Action of the American Jewish Con- gress. He was previously a law clerk for the United States Court of Appeals. He writes widely on religion and public policy. OF Awe of God 08 draft 07 balanced.indd xi 9/17/2008 8:52:55 AM OF Awe of God 08 draft 07 balanced.indd xii 9/17/2008 8:52:55 AM Series Editor’s Preface Dr.