Q&A: Abraham Joshua Heschel
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
Abraham Joshua Heschel
Question
Hello Rabbi,
Does the Rabbi know his thought? And if so, what is his opinion of it?
Answer
I don’t know it well enough to offer an opinion. My impression is that he is somewhat too existentialist. I very much enjoyed reading his book Torah from Heaven in the Mirror of the Generations, which was criticized quite a bit by Talmud scholars.
Discussion on Answer
I’m not a researcher, so I don’t know how to judge it on the scholarly level, and I’m also not familiar with the details of the claims. He makes arguments about the interpretive method and the thought of Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Ishmael, and from that builds a complete and comprehensive picture, and the scholars argue that this is not an accurate description of their approaches.
Michi, why was it criticized quite a bit by Talmud scholars? Did you also find problems with it?