Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik on Interreligious Dialogue: Forty Years Later November 23, 2003 |
|
|
Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik was born in 1903 in Belarus, Russia to a family renowned for its talmudic genius. He graduated from the University of Berlin with a doctorate in philosophy. In the early 1930s, Rabbi Soloveitchik came to md传媒国产剧, the city that remained his home until his death in 1993. In 1937, he founded the Maimonides School, an Orthodox primary and secondary school that combines rigorous Judaic and secular studies.
From the early
1940s until 1984, Rabbi Soloveitchik served as the rosh yeshiva of the
Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University. As rosh
yeshiva, he became the spiritual mentor of thousands of American-trained
rabbis and was universally acknowledged as the intellectual leader of an open
and engaged Orthodoxy. His influence gained international scope due to the
leadership roles he held in the Religious Zionists of America and the Rabbinical
Council of America, where his wisdom guided policy decisions for nearly four
decades. His legacy is such that today, ten years after his death, he
remains the unrivaled spiritual guide of Modern Orthodox Jews known as HaRav
the rabbi. For this community, especially in the
Forty years ago this winter, Rabbi Soloveitchik delivered an essay titled Confrontation at the 1964 Mid-Winter Conference of the Rabbinic Council of America, addressing the question of how his community should respond to requests by Christians to enter into dialogue. The Rabbinical Council immediately adopted a statement rejecting any interreligious discussion not based on the full independence, religious liberty and freedom of conscience of each faith community. In February 1966, the Council adopted a more concrete statement formulated by Rabbi Soloveitchik that called for Jewish-Christian cooperation in the public world of humanitarian and cultural endeavors on such topics as War and Peace, Poverty, Freedom, Moral Values, Secularism, Technology , Civil Rights, etc. But it rejected dialogue on areas of faith, religious law, doctrine and ritual. Following Rabbi Soloveitchiks argument in Confrontation, it encouraged discussion of areas of universal concern, but rejected as futile and even dangerous discussion of the private realms specific to individual faith communities.
In the intervening four decades many important
developments have occurred in Christian-Jewish relations, including the
flowering of numerous ongoing dialogues around the world. This situation the
reality of a Christian and especially a Catholic world that genuinely seeks to
build a new and positive relationship with Jews was hardly imaginable a
century ago.
This leads to the question: How do Jews who take the
Ravs teachings seriously read, interpret, and apply his teaching in
Confrontation to a changed world? The task is not to confront or to
reexamine Confrontation," but to explore its nuances and
complexities in a changing context.
To launch an extended discussion of this question, the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning sponsored a conference in November 2003 at which Rabbi Dr. Eugene Korn presented a major paper, "The Man of Faith and Interreligious Dialogue: Revisiting 'Confrontation' After Forty Years." Two other Orthodox rabbis, David Berger and Aryeh Klapper, responded to Rabbi Korn. Dr. Philip Cunningham offered some observations as a Roman Catholic outside witness to this Orthodox discussion.
Rabbi Eugene Korn is an adjunct professor of Jewish thought in the Department of Jewish-Christian Studies at Seton Hall University. Previously he was director of interfaith affairs for the Anti-Defamation League and Senior Research Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. He also serves as editor of The Edah Journal: A Forum of Modern Orthodox Discourse. Rabbi David Berger is Broeklundian Professor of History at Brooklyn College - City University of New York where he specializes in medieval Jewish history, Jewish-Christian relations, messianism and messianic movements, and contemporary Orthodox Judaism. His most recent book is The Rebbe, The Messiah, and the Scandal of Orthodox Indifference. Rabbi Aryeh Klapper is Orthodox chaplain at the Harvard University Hillel in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is also Rosh Beit Midrash of the Summer Beit Midrash, a md传媒国产剧-based study program for college-aged students. Philip A. Cunningham is Executive Director of the Center for Christian-Jewish Learning. Interested in biblical studies, religious education, and theologies of Christian-Jewish relations, he has been a delegate for U.S. bishops and Vatican conferences on Catholic-Jewish Relations. He is the author of A Story of Shalom: The Calling of Christians and Jews by a Covenanting God. |
||
For the text of "Confrontation" click here. Philip Cunningham, David Berger, Eugene Korn, Aryeh Klapper |
||
. | ||
. |
Click to view the panel presentations via streaming media.
.
The papers linked below have been revised since their original presentations in the light of the conversation that occurred on November 23, 2003. In some cases this means further comments have been added as an afterword, and Rabbi Korn has composed brief replies to the panelists.
|
||
Rabbi Dr. Eugene Korn
The Man of Faith and Religious Dialogue: Revisiting "Confrontation" After Forty Years Responses
to Professor Berger, Rabbi Klapper and Professor Cunningham |
||
|
||
Rabbi Dr. David Berger |
||
|
||
Rabbi Aryeh Klapper |
||
|
||
Dr. Philip A. Cunningham Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik on Interreligious Dialogue - Forty Years Later:One Catholic's Reflections
|
||
|
||
3. Online Continuing Conversation
In the coming months, selected individuals will be invited to contribute to the discussion.
|
||
Dr. Edward Breuer |
||
|
||
Rabbi Dr. Alan Brill Confrontation in the World of 2004
|
||
|
||
Erica Brown, Ph.D. Cand. |
||
|
||
|
Rabbi Dr. Shalom Carmy |
|
|
||
|
"Confrontation," Religious Freedom, and Theological Dialogue |
|
|
||
|
A link to a pertinent article in the online journal . It is presented in . |
|
|
||
|
Rabbi David Rosen |
|
|
||
|
Rabbi Dr. Jonathan Sacks |
|
|
||
Dr. Marc B. Shapiro | ||
|
||
|
Dr. Deborah Weissman |
|
|
||
|
Dr. Michael Wyschogrod |
|
|