Volume XXI No. 11 November, 1966 INFORMATION ISSUED BY THE ASSOCIATION OF JEWISH REFUGEES IN CREAT BRITAIN f^obert Weltsch between God and the animal. He cannot reach Heaven, but he can reach for Heaven. He can listen to the voice and give an answer. Para­ phrasing Descartes' famous formula, Heschel LOOKING BACK AT LEO BAECK arrives at the conclusion " I am commanded— therefore I am ". The Bible gives us the key to anthropology when it describes the position Ten Years after his Death of Man. Heschel goes so far as to say that the Bible " is not a book about God; it is a book On November 2 it will be ten years since Leo 'twenties and 'thirties in Germany, have been about Man ". °aeck passed away. How do we see him now ? published in English posthumously after the Twenty years earlier, Leo Baeck described Among those Jews from Germany who had war. One selection"" appeared in New York in Man as the individuum ineffabile, and it is oine to England as refugees from Nazi perse­ 1958, as a publication of the Leo Baeck Insti­ gratifying that this great speech—one of his cution and had settled here, Leo Baeck was tute, introduced by Walter Kaufmann, one of noblest pronouncements—has now been re­ 5°nsidered, in the first post-war decade, the Baeck's disciples who himself gave a fascinat­ published in the original German. It is ™st distinguished member of their commun- ing account of his religious tribulations. included in a collection of four lectures given .y- Now a generation is growing up who knew More recently, another collection (only at various times at the Eranos Conferences in ^m only slightly or heard of him from their slightly overlapping with the above-mentioned) Ascona after the war.** Baeck's lecture was Parents and elders, for whom his tall, kind, was published as a paperbackf with an given in 1947, shortly after his release from ignified figure is still a vivid memory. Indeed. interesting critical introduction by a promi­ Theresienstadt. We may regard it as a plea eo Baeck's personality is so near to the sur­ nent Christian theologian, Kristen Stendahl, of for the restoration of the dignity of Man after viving elder generation of German-speaking Harvard. Both these books contain essays the insults which the human image had suf­ ews all over the world that his image, closely originally included in Biteck's "Aus Drei fered at the hands of Fascism. In his oneness inked with the most frightful period in Jahrtausenden ", and both mention the annoy­ and totality man is uninterchangeable, Baeck ^rman-Jewish history, is crammed with ing fact that this book, printed and ready for argues, and no power is entitled to destroy his ^Hiotions. His thought and philosophy, how- distribution by Schocken Verlag, Berlin, 1938, individuality and to replace it by some ideo­ er, will provide material for scholarly dis- was at the last moment destroyed by the logical dummy. As Baeck says in his—actually ussions for a long time to come, and so will Gestapo so that only a few copies survived. It untranslatable—language : " Ein Individuelles ™s historical role in public life. is, however, surprising that the—^unnamed— wird hier geschaffen, das heisst etwas, was ein ^j. J* his profound devoutness Baeck was aware editor of a 1966 paperback omitted to add that Einmaliges and darum ein Unerklarliches ist, the implications of the modern world and a new edition of the original book was pub­ etwas, was, so sagt die Religion, seine Wurzel the new trends in science and thought; he lished in 1958 by the Leo Baeck Institute.J im Geheimnis hat, seinen Zusammenhang besitzt mit dem Geiste alles Geistes, mit dem fa ^* ^^^^ ^° ^°°^ ^^^ come from ignoring Moreover, it may be regretted that the juj ?^.3nd that sincerity requires independent American editor did not envisage the possi­ Urgrund aller Einheit und Ganzheit." The inking. He was a nonconformist in search bility of including Hans Liebeschiitz's master­ editor of the little book, Walter Strolz, sum­ ^ a living religion, not subject to fetters of ful introduction to the new German edition. marizes the teaching of Baeck in the formula ^ gnia or frozen formulas. Primarily, he was This would have given the American reader that Man is the only creature able to give a Se V'nble man, dedicated to learning and an essential explanation of the German intel­ response to his Creator and to give expression eicing truth, and we have to understand that lectual and philosophical background of to his experience of the mystery of the world. g , ^"bstitute political activity for study and Baeck's writings. But recognising the irreplaceable unique­ ^larship was to him a personal sacrifice. ness of the individual does not imply atomisa­ «is scholarly interest was never remote Religious Anthropology tion. Man is einmalig, an individuum with his ^ °in the perplexities of actual life, and so he own irrepeatable character, but he does not cease to be part of society and to have his gj^o visualised the Jew in his European In politics as well as in leligion Baeck was {t J'^°nment. There was no sense in denying duties towards his fellow-men. The Jewish conscious of the fundamental task of probing community faces God as a whole, in addition ei^ y^ ^i^^"^ in ^ Christian world and, since the meaning of man and society. Such anthro­ ^•^ancipation, in closer contact than ever. pology has a religious origin. The quest for to the spiritual and religious entanglements ^ Part from fundamental theological questions, the essential nature of Man, indispensable in of each single man. Practically freedom can Jurt °^ Baeck's concems was the position of all true political philosophy, is common to all be realised only within the community. Man ^j^^'sm in history, and the understanding of religions. It is a never-ending endeavour, in has to live up to the social duties imposed on ^ fateful events, shrouded in mystery, which a metaphysical sense doomed to ultimate him by the relationship to his neighbour. evol ^^*^ical historical constellation led to the failure, as it is not given to human beings to Baeck proved himself as a man of the com­ J. ,.^Vtion of a new and increasingly powerful unravel such a mystery. But the question is munity, and did not shun the burden of office. ^jV^'ons trend out of the womb of Judaism, always asked anew. A prominent Jewish Ever since the First World War, Baeck's tn which Judaism had to co-exist throughout religious thinker of our day, Professor importance in German-Jewish society stemmed v/h' t^^^- '^his was a momentous encounter Abraham Heschel, of the Jewish Theological to no small extent from his non-conformism to h ^^^ ^^^ ceased to bring forth problem.s Seminary in New York, calls his recent book and the independence of his thinking. This rip i^ ^^^^s np to the present day. Baeek " Who is Man ? ".§ It is an old saying that enabled him to play a leading role in the "^voted much effort to the elucidation of the man is a being between earth and Heaven, parochial complications of so-called Jewish t?^^£gence of Christianity, the true nature of politics of that time. Jewish life in the twen­ * Judaism and Christianity. Essays by Leo Baeclc. tieth century was marked by excessive politisa- ne Pharisees, and the exegesis of the Gospels Translated witli an Introduction by Walter Kaufmann. hi ^ '"elisions document belonging to Jewish A publication of tlie Leo Baeck Institute, New York, tion. Baeck was a man who fully appreciated 1958. (Jewisii Publication Society of America). the difference of " Weltanschauung", but he 292 pp. $4.00. t^^ter Baeck's death, these studies continue t Leo Baeck: The Pharisees and other Essays. stood top-high above the—often unreal—rigid Introduction by Krister Stendhal. Schocken Books, party lines and political obstinacy which split attract the interest of wide circles in all New York, 1966. 164 pp. $1.95. ropean and American religious camps, which t Leo Baeck : Ans Drei Jahrtansenden. Wissen­ the Jewish camp. Far from being neutral or schaftliche Untersuchungen und Abhandlungen zur Cjf^'^^ the relationship between Jev/s and Geschichte des .iuedischen Glaubens. Mit einer *• Gibt es Grenzen der Naturforschung ? Eranos i '"'^tians as one of the principal spiritual Einfuehrung von Hans Liebeschuetz. Mohr Tuebingen, Reden von Leo Baeck u.a., in Herder Buecherei 253, ^sues of our time. It is significant that his 1958. 402 pp. DM21. Freiburg, 1966. DM2.80. § Abraham J. Heschel : Who is Man ? Oxford itings on this subject, stemming from the University Press, 1966. 119 pp. 25s. Continued on page 2, column 1 Page 2 AJR INFORMATION November, 1966 Looking Back at Leo Baeck VERFOLGTE AUS OESTERREICH SHADOWS OF THE PAST Continued from page 1 In einer kuerzlich im " Aufbau" EICHMANN AIDES veroeffentlichten Zuschrift wurde die Franz Rademacher, an aide of Adolf Ejch' colourless, he was a man of principles and Auffassung vertreten, dass auf Grund einer mann, was rearrested by West German police faithful to his conviction, but he had a sense Entscheidung des Oberlandesgerichts Zwei­ when he flew into Nuremberg. He was senj of proportion and sought unity above all the bruecken Verfolgte aus Oesterreich tenced to three years and five niontns differences. Although playing a certain role Ansprueche nach Par. 150 ff BEG (Ver­ imprisonment by a Nuremberg court in 193^ in the councils of Jewish organisations—such folgte aus den Vertreibungsgebieten) and released pending an appeal, thereafter as the Centralverein—where he was highly geltend machen koennten. Die Entscheidung escaping.