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A Heart of Many Rooms: Celebrating the Many Voices within Judaism
"This work is not addressed only to scholars of Judaism or theologians, but also, and primarily, to all Jews and non-Jews who would like to share the thoughts and struggles of a person who loves Torah and Halakhah, who is committed to helping make room for and celebrate the religious and cultural diversity present in the modern world, and who believes that a commitment to Israel and to Jewish particularity must be organically connected to the rabbinic teaching, 'Beloved are all human beings created in the image of God.'"
―from the Introduction With clarity, passion and outstanding scholarship, David Hartman addresses the spiritual and theological questions that face all Jews and all people today. From the perspective of traditional Judaism, he helps us understand the varieties of twentieth-century Jewish practice and shows that commitment to both Jewish tradition and to pluralism can create bridges of understanding between people of different religious convictions.
―from the Introduction With clarity, passion and outstanding scholarship, David Hartman addresses the spiritual and theological questions that face all Jews and all people today. From the perspective of traditional Judaism, he helps us understand the varieties of twentieth-century Jewish practice and shows that commitment to both Jewish tradition and to pluralism can create bridges of understanding between people of different religious convictions.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 22, 2014
Most (but not all) of the essays in this excellent book have something to do with Zionism or with relations between different religious streams (mostly, but not entirely, within Judaism). Hartman was a moderate religious Zionist in politics and a moderate Orthodox Jew in religion. Some of the more interesting points:
*In the introduction, Hartman compares Biblical with Talmudic Judaism. In biblical religion, gratification and punishment are immediate. By contrast, the Talmud states that in this world there is no reward or punishment for observing commandments.
*In his essay on "The Joy of Torah", Hartman explains not just Jewish law generally, but some of the more obscure Jewish laws and legends. For example, one text states that "even what a faithful discipline would in the future say in the presence of his master [was] communicated to Moses at Sinai." What does this mean? That every creative moment flows out of the original creative moment at Sinai. Similarly, in a later essay Hartman explains the rabbinic comparison of anger to idolatry, writing that rage precludes the appreciation of a reality beyond oneself- "the existential condition necessary for encountering God."
*In his "Letter to A Reform Rabbi" Hartman, an Orthodox rabbi, suggests that Israel would actually benefit from vibrant Conservative and Reform movements. He writes that because Reform Judaism is a non-halakhic movement (i.e. not bound by traditional Jewish law), it can serve the broader cause of Judaism in other ways- for example, by "free[ing] Jews from their embarrassment in talking about God", by criticizing the idolatrous equation of Judaism with national loyalty, and by focusing on the broader values underlying halacha. Because Conservative Judaism does seek to follow halacha (though a somewhat different version than Orthodoxy) Hartman suggests that Conservative Judaism can show "the wide range of interpretive possibilities allowed for by Halakhah...[and] that the Jewish tradition has always contained the resources necessary to meet new situations and appreciate new values."
*In his essay on "Zionism and the Continuity of Judaism" Hartman grapples with the best of Greek philosophy, suggesting that Judaism differs from, say, Stoicism, because Judaism seeks to change external reality, while the Stoics seek only to accept the inevitable with equanimity.
*In the introduction, Hartman compares Biblical with Talmudic Judaism. In biblical religion, gratification and punishment are immediate. By contrast, the Talmud states that in this world there is no reward or punishment for observing commandments.
*In his essay on "The Joy of Torah", Hartman explains not just Jewish law generally, but some of the more obscure Jewish laws and legends. For example, one text states that "even what a faithful discipline would in the future say in the presence of his master [was] communicated to Moses at Sinai." What does this mean? That every creative moment flows out of the original creative moment at Sinai. Similarly, in a later essay Hartman explains the rabbinic comparison of anger to idolatry, writing that rage precludes the appreciation of a reality beyond oneself- "the existential condition necessary for encountering God."
*In his "Letter to A Reform Rabbi" Hartman, an Orthodox rabbi, suggests that Israel would actually benefit from vibrant Conservative and Reform movements. He writes that because Reform Judaism is a non-halakhic movement (i.e. not bound by traditional Jewish law), it can serve the broader cause of Judaism in other ways- for example, by "free[ing] Jews from their embarrassment in talking about God", by criticizing the idolatrous equation of Judaism with national loyalty, and by focusing on the broader values underlying halacha. Because Conservative Judaism does seek to follow halacha (though a somewhat different version than Orthodoxy) Hartman suggests that Conservative Judaism can show "the wide range of interpretive possibilities allowed for by Halakhah...[and] that the Jewish tradition has always contained the resources necessary to meet new situations and appreciate new values."
*In his essay on "Zionism and the Continuity of Judaism" Hartman grapples with the best of Greek philosophy, suggesting that Judaism differs from, say, Stoicism, because Judaism seeks to change external reality, while the Stoics seek only to accept the inevitable with equanimity.
April 8, 2010
This is another brilliant Hartman book celebrating the differing viewpoints in Judaism regarding God, mitzvah, Israel and Providence. It includes a chapter detailing the thought of Yeshayahu Leibowitz and one on Abraham Joshua Heschel; the two couldn't be any more different in their apporaches but Hartman succeeds in bringing their ideas into discussion with one another in his always open-minded and thoughtful way. The book is also valuable because it contains a rare straightforward explanation of Hartman's own Covenental Theology and Anthropology, succinctly stated and clearly written. This is an easier and simpler book than his masterpiece, A Living Covenent, but it was a joy to learn from and with.
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September 23, 2010A Heart of Many Rooms: Celebrating the Many Voices Within Judaism by David Hartman (2001)
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews