Baruch Dayan HaEmet: Rabbi David Hartman

Rabbi David Hartman, considered to be one of the leading philosophers of Judaism who was also an advocate of diversity and inclusion among various Jewish movements through the Shalom Hartman Institute he founded more than three decades ago, passed away earlier today in Jerusalem after a long illness. He was 81-years-old.

Baruch Dayan HaEmet: Rabbi David Hartman
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

Rabbi David Hartman, considered to be one of the leading philosophers of Judaism who was also an advocate of diversity and inclusion among various Jewish movements through the Shalom Hartman Institute he founded more than three decades ago, passed away earlier today in Jerusalem after a long illness. He was 81-years-old.
 
Born in Brooklyn, Hartman served as a Modern Orthodox rabbi in the U.S. and Canada before immigrating to Israel in 1971.

He wrote books and articles and won numerous prizes, including a National Jewish Book Award.

Comments

[netflix]

He once referred to R Yoseph Dov Solovetchik as a "castrated philosopher"

[DS]

Dov Schwartz does plenty to castigate Soloveitchik's "philosophy" and R' Dr. Alan Yuter points out flaws in his halakhic approach.

Nonetheless, R' Dr. Hartman's loss is a tremendous loss for klal yisrael.

[Jeff]

A"H. He was one of the few lights left in Orthodoxy. It's arguable he was the only one who had a cogent, viable vision for a liberal, inclusive, truly Modern Orthodoxy.

A little over a year ago, he spoke to Krista Tippet on American Public Radio's On Being:

Opening Up Windows

[Office of the Chief Rabbi]

An Orthodox rabbi back from the days when the Orthodox were still sane.

[Jeff]

An Orthodox rabbi back from the days when the Orthodox were still sane.

אמן

[moshe]

He's gotta be good, he has what it takes to be admired by this blog - he's not Chareidi.

[Jeff]

I saved a quote from one of his recent books (it was either The God Who Hates Lies or From Defender to Critic - both highly recommended):

I once spoke to a haredi friend who was about to board an El Al flight to Israel. “On your way back to Medinat Yisrael [the State of Israel]? I asked him. “No,” he replied - he was going to Eretz Yisrael (the Land of Israel). With this pointed distinction, common among non- and anti-Zionist haredim, he was asserting that the fact that Jews have gathered to create a new state for themselves in their ancestral homeland has no meaning for him-no more meaning than a group of incidental Jews gathering as a community In Florida, or Wisconsin, or Katmandu. For him, the building of one kollel - where married men engage in full-time Talmud study, supported financially by donors and, in Israel, by the state-carries far more significance than the building of a “secular” state. I tried to call his bluff, asking him if he would still be willing to live in Israel if every adult man studied in kollel, leaving no one to build the economy, serve in the military, or run the state. But he called my bluff instead, answering, “Absolutely! Because then I know we’d be secure.” It was hard to imagine a more vivid illustration of the disconnection of the religious life from even the most seemingly basic conception of reality.

His death convinces me of the unsalvageable nature of the division between Orthodoxy and the rest of world Jewry. I'm sure he'd be dismayed to hear me say it - he'd feel I'm drawing the wrong conclusion - but as everyone to the right of Hartman has pretty much given in to the likes of the guy described above, I see no way around it.

[chaim moshe]

he wasnt orthodox in my book, seeing Avraham avinu as failing the Aksedah by submitting to the Divine will, in a Kieerkagardian sort of way.

[Wool Silk Cotton, sports star and rock superstar]

++Office of the Chief Rabbi | February 10, 2013 at 04:42 PM++

Agreed. And the dogs on VIN are bashing him for not having a beard, not wearing black, and all the other bullshit that the frumma think makes you a rabbi.

[Danny]

To Chaim Moshe, the Ishbitzer said the same thing about Avraham and the Akeidah. It is not that far off the mark.

[Jeff]

And the dogs on VIN are bashing him for not having a beard, not wearing black, and all the other bullshit that the frumma think makes you a rabbi.

Posted by: Wool Silk Cotton, sports star and rock superstar | February 10, 2013 at 06:53 PM

To be fair, about half (of 31 so far) seem to be favorable - but yeah, it's like listening to children squabble.

One of the positive reviewers said this, in response to a basher:

He probably received smicha and thus is a Rabbi. What sort of "Jew" are you? No love of his fellow Jew. Loves to talk loshon horah about someone who just died. Oh well, when your time comes, I hope you are judged mercifully. Perhaps you could start doing tshuva now. Probably not, since it would stop you from negative comments about those you disagree with.

To which someone else replied:

Sorry but there is no issur loshon hara on a meis.

I understand this piece of work is saying he's permitted to speak loshon hara, but what is a "meis"? I Googled it but couldn't find anything.

[Dave]

Jeff, it's the Yiddished pronounciation of "met" or "meit" ie. death. Of course, the old traditional Sephardic pronounciation is "meith" as in "mehayeh ha meithim" = "mehayeh ha meitim/ mehayeh ha meisim". So everyone has their own accent, which is fine as long as none of us claims that theirs is the right one (as many black-hatters do)

[Dave]

Oops, I think that in the case he meant "met" as in "dead person" ie. not the noun "death".

[Yochanan Lavie]

BDE

[JJJ]

He was a talmid of Rav Hutner in Chaim Berlin and Reb Ahron Kotler in Lakewood. so I guess he was Hareidi. a hareidi that turned out ok according to this blog. so give the Hareidim credit for hom.

[Jeff]

Thanks, Dave. I should have realized. I was thinking it might be some variation on "moser".

[Edge Man]

Shmar-ka, why do you say Baruch Dayan Ha'Emes? I thought you were a Kofer B'Ikar, in which case it's difficult to know whether we should reply Amen.