Menachem Lorberbaum
Tel Aviv University, Jewish Philosophy, Faculty Member
- Tel Aviv University, Hebrew Culture Studies, Faculty Memberadd
- Menachem Lorberbaum is Vice Dean of Humanities and Professor of Jewish Philosophy at Tel Aviv University. He chaired ... moreMenachem Lorberbaum is Vice Dean of Humanities and Professor of Jewish Philosophy at Tel Aviv University. He chaired the Graduate School of Philosophy and the Department of Jewish Philosophy at TAU (2004) and was the founding chair of the Department of Hebrew Culture Studies (2004-2008). Prof. Lorberbaum is also a founding member of the Shalom Hartman Institute, Jerusalem where he headed the Bet Midrash program.
Lorberbaum completed his PhD at the Hebrew University and spent three years at the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. He was also Ellie and Herbert D. Katz Distinguished Fellow and Erika A. Strauss Teaching Fellow 2017 at the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, University of Pennsylvania and is a regular visiting Professor at the Pontifical University Thomas Aquinas, ‘Angelicum’, Rome.
He is author of Politics and the Limits of Law (Stanford 2001; Hebrew: 2006) and We are Dazzled by His Beauty (Hebrew, Ben Zvi Institute 2011). Together with Professors Michael Walzer of Princeton and Noam Zohar of Bar-Ilan he is a senior editor of the Jewish Political Tradition series (vol 1 "Authority," Yale University Press 2000, Hebrew: 2007; vol. 2 "Membership," Yale University Press 2003, Hebrew: 2018; vol. 3 "Community," Yale University Press 2018). He is editor of the new and first complete Hebrew translation of Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan (Shalem 2009). A Hebrew collection of papers in political philosophy, Leviathan in the Holy Land, has been accepted for publication by Yediot Aharonot publishers. Prof. Lorberbaum has also published three volumes of Hebrew verse and together with Dr. Michal Govrin, edited the Devarim poetry series of Carmel publishers that published his book of translations of English poetry Transpositions.
Lorberbaum's scholarship focuses on the formation of political and theological discourse and their interaction. Central to his work has been the effort to help create a new political language for the modern day Jewish polity. Prof. Lorberbaum has just completed a study of Hassidism as a model of Jewish religious revitalization in early modernity. Before Hassidism is in press by the Bialik Institute. His work in first-order Jewish Theology, I Seek thy Countenance has recently been published by Carmel, Bar-Ilan and the Hartman Institute.edit
Dazzled by Beauty: Theology as Poetics in Hispanic Jewish Culture By Menachem Lorberbaum The "golden age" of medieval Hispanic Jewish culture is well known as a high moment of poetic creativity and theological reflection. Hispanic... more
Dazzled by Beauty:
Theology as Poetics in Hispanic Jewish Culture
By Menachem Lorberbaum
The "golden age" of medieval Hispanic Jewish culture is well known as a high moment of poetic creativity and theological reflection. Hispanic Jews deeply immersed in Arabic culture on the one hand, and traditional Jewish learning on the other, experienced a creative upsurge that has left a profound and lasting impact on Jewish self-understanding. Within a century thousands of new poems were penned in Hebrew and the foundational library of philosophically reflective Jewish theology was created. Central to this profound undertaking are such figures of stature as Salomon ibn Gabirol (d. 1058), Judah Halevi (c.1075-1141) and Maimonides (d. 1204). Indeed, typical of this unique moment is the figure of the poet-thinker that emerges as a cultural hero articulating both theological self-understanding and religious and secular artistic self-expression.
Curiously however the scholarly study of this amazing culture has been characterized by a strict bifurcation of the poetic and the philosophical. There exists no monographic study that attempts to understand them together as a linguistic breakthrough; no single scholarly work has been able so far to treat the creation of a new poetic discourse and the creation of a new theological discourse as being intimately connected. Categorical distinctions between poetics and philosophy and between philosophy and mysticism have dominated the approach to the golden-age and rendered the figures at the very heart of this culture incomprehensible. This book argues that these scholarly biases are rooted in an ultimately romantic prejudice that pits emotion against intellect, art against science. Nothing could be more foreign to the medieval sensibility. Taking as a point of departure a critique of these romantic binary assumptions the book examines the philosophy of language underpinning the works of Gabirol, Halevi and Maimonides and argues that the theological articulation is understood by them as a form of poetics.
Instead of an antiquated conceptual history of ideas paradigm this book brings the linguistic turn to bear upon the classics. Following the lead of Wittgensteinian discussions of the limits of language and of semiotic concerns exemplified in the works of Umberto Eco it yields a renewed appreciation of the creative complexity of these medieval figures in all the various genres of their writings. Maimonides of course was not a poet but his critique of religious language is informed by an acute awareness of the power of poetics and of the singularity of illuminatory experiences. This reading of Maimonides leads to a fresh understanding of the manner in which Gabirol and Halevi treated philosophical reflection on one hand, and poetic expression on the other. The language of the body and the language of prophecy are the respective keys to understanding their poetic moment.
This work thus exemplifies a renewed appreciation of the interconnectedness of the philosophical, the mystic and the poetic in Hispanic Jewish culture.
Dazzled by Beauty
By
Menachem Lorberbaum
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1: Mythical Mysticism and Intellectual Mysticism
Part 1: Maimonides
Chapter 2: Is the Guide of the Perplexed an anti-poetics?
Chapter 3: How to Speak about God
Part 2: Gabirol
Chapter 4: Philosophy and Poetry as Genres
Chapter 5: Letters in the Heavens: Gabirol's Metaphysical Poetry
Part 3: Halevi
Chapter 6: How to begin to Read Halevi
Chapter 7: The Heart's Eye in Turmoil: Halevi's Prophetic Poetry
Epilogue:
Appendix 1: Comparative Notes to Maimonides and Wittgenstein
Appendix 2: The Aesthetic Qualities of the Guide of the Perplexed
Bibliography
Theology as Poetics in Hispanic Jewish Culture
By Menachem Lorberbaum
The "golden age" of medieval Hispanic Jewish culture is well known as a high moment of poetic creativity and theological reflection. Hispanic Jews deeply immersed in Arabic culture on the one hand, and traditional Jewish learning on the other, experienced a creative upsurge that has left a profound and lasting impact on Jewish self-understanding. Within a century thousands of new poems were penned in Hebrew and the foundational library of philosophically reflective Jewish theology was created. Central to this profound undertaking are such figures of stature as Salomon ibn Gabirol (d. 1058), Judah Halevi (c.1075-1141) and Maimonides (d. 1204). Indeed, typical of this unique moment is the figure of the poet-thinker that emerges as a cultural hero articulating both theological self-understanding and religious and secular artistic self-expression.
Curiously however the scholarly study of this amazing culture has been characterized by a strict bifurcation of the poetic and the philosophical. There exists no monographic study that attempts to understand them together as a linguistic breakthrough; no single scholarly work has been able so far to treat the creation of a new poetic discourse and the creation of a new theological discourse as being intimately connected. Categorical distinctions between poetics and philosophy and between philosophy and mysticism have dominated the approach to the golden-age and rendered the figures at the very heart of this culture incomprehensible. This book argues that these scholarly biases are rooted in an ultimately romantic prejudice that pits emotion against intellect, art against science. Nothing could be more foreign to the medieval sensibility. Taking as a point of departure a critique of these romantic binary assumptions the book examines the philosophy of language underpinning the works of Gabirol, Halevi and Maimonides and argues that the theological articulation is understood by them as a form of poetics.
Instead of an antiquated conceptual history of ideas paradigm this book brings the linguistic turn to bear upon the classics. Following the lead of Wittgensteinian discussions of the limits of language and of semiotic concerns exemplified in the works of Umberto Eco it yields a renewed appreciation of the creative complexity of these medieval figures in all the various genres of their writings. Maimonides of course was not a poet but his critique of religious language is informed by an acute awareness of the power of poetics and of the singularity of illuminatory experiences. This reading of Maimonides leads to a fresh understanding of the manner in which Gabirol and Halevi treated philosophical reflection on one hand, and poetic expression on the other. The language of the body and the language of prophecy are the respective keys to understanding their poetic moment.
This work thus exemplifies a renewed appreciation of the interconnectedness of the philosophical, the mystic and the poetic in Hispanic Jewish culture.
Dazzled by Beauty
By
Menachem Lorberbaum
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1: Mythical Mysticism and Intellectual Mysticism
Part 1: Maimonides
Chapter 2: Is the Guide of the Perplexed an anti-poetics?
Chapter 3: How to Speak about God
Part 2: Gabirol
Chapter 4: Philosophy and Poetry as Genres
Chapter 5: Letters in the Heavens: Gabirol's Metaphysical Poetry
Part 3: Halevi
Chapter 6: How to begin to Read Halevi
Chapter 7: The Heart's Eye in Turmoil: Halevi's Prophetic Poetry
Epilogue:
Appendix 1: Comparative Notes to Maimonides and Wittgenstein
Appendix 2: The Aesthetic Qualities of the Guide of the Perplexed
Bibliography
This book explores the emergence of the fundamental political concepts of medieval Jewish thought, arguing that alongside the well known theocratic elements of the Bible there exists a vital tradition that conceives of politics as a... more
This book explores the emergence of the fundamental political concepts of medieval Jewish thought, arguing that alongside the well known theocratic elements of the Bible there exists a vital tradition that conceives of politics as a necessary and legitimate domain of worldly activity that preceded religious law in the ordering of society.
Since the Enlightenment, the separation of religion and state has been a central theme in Western political history and thought, a separation that upholds the freedom of conscience of the individual. In medieval political thought, however, the doctrine of the separation of religion and state played a much different role. On the one hand, it served to maintain the integrity of religious law versus the monarch, whether canon law, Islamic law, or Jewish law. On the other hand, it upheld the autonomy of the monarch and the autonomy of human political agency against theocratic claims of divine sovereignty and clerical authority.
Postulating the realm of secular politics leads the author to construct a theory of the precedence of politics over religious law in the organization of social life. He argues that the attempts of medieval philosophers to understand religion and the polity provide new perspectives on the viability of an accommodation between revelation and legislation, the holy and the profane, the divine and the temporal.
The book shows that in spite of the long exile of the Jewish people, there is, unquestionably, a tradition of Jewish political discourse based on the canonical sources of Jewish law. In addition to providing a fresh analysis of Maimonides, it analyzes works of Nahmanides, Solomon ibn Adret, and Nissim Gerondi that are largely unknown to the English-speaking reader. Finally, it suggests that the historical corpus of Jewish political writing remains vital today, with much to contribute to the ongoing debates over church-state relations and theocratic societies.
Since the Enlightenment, the separation of religion and state has been a central theme in Western political history and thought, a separation that upholds the freedom of conscience of the individual. In medieval political thought, however, the doctrine of the separation of religion and state played a much different role. On the one hand, it served to maintain the integrity of religious law versus the monarch, whether canon law, Islamic law, or Jewish law. On the other hand, it upheld the autonomy of the monarch and the autonomy of human political agency against theocratic claims of divine sovereignty and clerical authority.
Postulating the realm of secular politics leads the author to construct a theory of the precedence of politics over religious law in the organization of social life. He argues that the attempts of medieval philosophers to understand religion and the polity provide new perspectives on the viability of an accommodation between revelation and legislation, the holy and the profane, the divine and the temporal.
The book shows that in spite of the long exile of the Jewish people, there is, unquestionably, a tradition of Jewish political discourse based on the canonical sources of Jewish law. In addition to providing a fresh analysis of Maimonides, it analyzes works of Nahmanides, Solomon ibn Adret, and Nissim Gerondi that are largely unknown to the English-speaking reader. Finally, it suggests that the historical corpus of Jewish political writing remains vital today, with much to contribute to the ongoing debates over church-state relations and theocratic societies.
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Edited by Michael Walzer, Menachem Lorberbaum, Noam J. Zohar; Co-edited by Ari Ackerman. Published by Yale University Press, 2003. "This thought-provoking second volume of The Jewish Political Tradition is concerned with the theme... more
Edited by Michael Walzer, Menachem Lorberbaum, Noam J. Zohar; Co-edited by Ari Ackerman.
Published by Yale University Press, 2003.
"This thought-provoking second volume of The Jewish Political Tradition is concerned with the theme of membership. The book brings together the most important texts on membership topics from 3,000 years of Jewish history, many newly translated or translated for the first time. Commentaries from modern religious and secular scholars, representing a range of viewpoints on the right and the left, accompany the texts. Among the contributors are Arthur Isak Applbaum, Ruth Gavison, Moshe Halbertal, Martha Minow, David Novak, Ilana Pardes, Steven B. Smith, and Nomi Maya Stolzenberg. They deal with some of the most controversial issues in Jewish life, not only in the past but also right now.
Who is a Jew? How are the boundaries of a community drawn, and how are they policed? How does one join the community? How does one leave? The volume also takes up the question of degrees of membership: What kinds of hierarchies exist among Jews? In the final chapter, the book deals with "others," gentiles, because the boundaries of Jewish membership cannot be understood without asking who stands on the other side. "
Published by Yale University Press, 2003.
"This thought-provoking second volume of The Jewish Political Tradition is concerned with the theme of membership. The book brings together the most important texts on membership topics from 3,000 years of Jewish history, many newly translated or translated for the first time. Commentaries from modern religious and secular scholars, representing a range of viewpoints on the right and the left, accompany the texts. Among the contributors are Arthur Isak Applbaum, Ruth Gavison, Moshe Halbertal, Martha Minow, David Novak, Ilana Pardes, Steven B. Smith, and Nomi Maya Stolzenberg. They deal with some of the most controversial issues in Jewish life, not only in the past but also right now.
Who is a Jew? How are the boundaries of a community drawn, and how are they policed? How does one join the community? How does one leave? The volume also takes up the question of degrees of membership: What kinds of hierarchies exist among Jews? In the final chapter, the book deals with "others," gentiles, because the boundaries of Jewish membership cannot be understood without asking who stands on the other side. "
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Edited by Michael Walzer, Menachem Lorberbaum, Noam J. Zohar, and Yair Lorberbaum. Published by Yale University Press, 2003 This book launches a landmark four-volume collaborative work exploring the political thought of the Jewish... more
Edited by Michael Walzer, Menachem Lorberbaum, Noam J. Zohar, and Yair Lorberbaum.
Published by Yale University Press, 2003
This book launches a landmark four-volume collaborative work exploring the political thought of the Jewish people from biblical times to the present. Each volume includes a selection of texts—from the Bible and Talmud, midrashic literature, legal responsa, treatises, and pamphlets—annotated for modern readers and accompanied by new commentaries written by eminent philosophers, lawyers, political theorists, and other scholars working in different fields of Jewish studies. These contributors join the arguments of the texts, agreeing or disagreeing, elaborating, refining, qualifying, and sometimes repudiating the political views of the original authors. The series brings the little-known and unexplored Jewish tradition of political thinking and writing into the light, showing where and how it resonates in the state of Israel, the chief diaspora settlements, and, more broadly, modern political experience.
This first volume, Authority, addresses the basic question of who ought to rule the community: What claims to rule have been put forward from the time of the exodus from Egypt to the establishment of the state of Israel? How are such claims disputed and defended? What constitutes legitimate authority? The authors discuss the authority of God, then the claims of kings, priests, prophets, rabbis, lay leaders, gentile rulers (during the years of the exile), and the Israeli state. The volume concludes with several perspectives on the issue of whether a modern state can be both Jewish and democratic. Forthcoming volumes will address the themes of membership, community, and political vision.
Published by Yale University Press, 2003
This book launches a landmark four-volume collaborative work exploring the political thought of the Jewish people from biblical times to the present. Each volume includes a selection of texts—from the Bible and Talmud, midrashic literature, legal responsa, treatises, and pamphlets—annotated for modern readers and accompanied by new commentaries written by eminent philosophers, lawyers, political theorists, and other scholars working in different fields of Jewish studies. These contributors join the arguments of the texts, agreeing or disagreeing, elaborating, refining, qualifying, and sometimes repudiating the political views of the original authors. The series brings the little-known and unexplored Jewish tradition of political thinking and writing into the light, showing where and how it resonates in the state of Israel, the chief diaspora settlements, and, more broadly, modern political experience.
This first volume, Authority, addresses the basic question of who ought to rule the community: What claims to rule have been put forward from the time of the exodus from Egypt to the establishment of the state of Israel? How are such claims disputed and defended? What constitutes legitimate authority? The authors discuss the authority of God, then the claims of kings, priests, prophets, rabbis, lay leaders, gentile rulers (during the years of the exile), and the Israeli state. The volume concludes with several perspectives on the issue of whether a modern state can be both Jewish and democratic. Forthcoming volumes will address the themes of membership, community, and political vision.
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Research Interests: Law, Jewish Law, Political Philosophy, Medieval Philosophy, Legitimacy and Authority, and 58 morePhilosophy Of Religion, Jewish Studies, Medieval History, Political Theory, Commonwealth History, Medieval Studies, Social Contract Theory, Republicanism, Religion and Politics, Sovereignty, Hobbes, Hebrew Bible, Natural Law, Political Science, Law and Religion, Liberalism, State Formation, Biblical Studies, Philosophy Of Law, Political History, Power and Authority in the Middle Ages, Political Legitimacy, Thomas Hobbes, Secularization, History of Political Thought, Natural Theology, Medieval Europe, Kingship (Medieval History), History of Political Science, Political Theology, Baruch Spinoza, Secularisms and Secularities, Jewish Philosophy, John Rawls, Social contract, Spinoza, Carl Schmitt, Biblical Law, Leo Strauss, Theories of Sovereignty, Medieval Political Thought, Maimonides, Quentin Skinner, Power, Kingdom of Heaven, Kingdom of God, Middle Ages, Leviathan, Political Philosophy, Thomas Hobbes, Medieval Law, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, Medieval Political Theology, Theologico-Political Treatise, Critique of Religion, The State of Nature In Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau, Theological political Question, Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan, and Social Contract Theory by Hobbes
Research Interests: Law, Political Philosophy, Philosophy Of Religion, Theology, Political Theory, and 56 moreSocial Contract Theory, Religion and Politics, Sovereignty, Hobbes, Natural Law, Political Science, Law and Religion, Liberalism, Hermeneutics, Political Regimes, Realism (Political Science), Benedict de Spinoza, Thomas Hobbes, Political Theology, Baruch Spinoza, John Locke, Jewish Philosophy, Medieval Jewish Philosophy, Social contract, Spinoza, Law and philosophy, Machiavelli, Biblical Interpretation, Constitutionalism, Phenomenology of Religion, Monism, Maimonides, Niccolò Machiavelli, Philosophy and Religion, Religion and Law, Scripture, Philosophy and Religious Studies, Machiavellianism, Political Realism, Political Power, Leviathan, Political Philosophy, Thomas Hobbes, Fortune, Mishneh Torah, Contingency, Political Epistemology, Philosophy and Theology, Theology and philosophy, Superstitions and Rituals, Political Conflict, Medieval Political Theology, Political Action, The Prince, Tractatus Theologico-Politicus, Divine Law, The State of Nature In Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau, Political Agency, Theological political Question, Social Contract Theory by Hobbes, Spínoza, and Theological-Political Treatise
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Research Interests: Abrahamic Religions, Law, Jewish Law, Political Philosophy, Medieval Philosophy, and 75 moreJewish Studies, Medieval History, Political Theory, Plato, Medieval Studies, Religion and Politics, Sovereignty, Natural Law, Political Science, Law and Religion, Governance, Legal Theory, Politics, Legal Pluralism, Jewish History, Philosophy Of Law, Medieval Islam, Exile, Biblical Theology, Al Farabi, History of Political Thought, Al-Andalus, Politics and Religion, Kingship (Medieval History), History of Political Science, Political Theology, Jewish Thought, Baruch Spinoza, Rationalism, Jewish Philosophy, Legal Reasoning, Legal Philosophy, Medieval Jewish Philosophy, Kingship and systems of rule, Aristotelianism, Medieval Jewish History, Judaism, Leo Strauss, Religion and Violence, Maimonides, Aristotle's Politics, Religious Studies, History of Jewish Law, Legal Philosophy, Semiotics of Law, A History of Jewish Law, Medieval Aristotelianism, Reason and Revelation, Religious Communities, Islam and Judaism, Political Sciences, State, Saadya Gaon, Plato's Laws, Anti-Politics, Jews of Medieval Spain, Nomos, Divine Command Theory, Plato's Republic, Medieval Judaism :, Judah Halevi, Kuzari, Codification, Idolatry, History of Halakhah, Philosophy, political science, theology, Maimonides' Guide of Perplexed, Medieval Political Theology, History of Reception of Biblical Texts, Legal Code, Mosaic law, Divine Law, medieval islam and Judaism, Antipolitics, Political Agency, Isaac Abravanel, and Legal Codifications
Research Interests: Abrahamic Religions, Epistemology, Legitimacy and Authority, Philosophy Of Religion, Education, and 57 moreJewish Studies, Religious Education, Religion and Politics, Values, Talmud, Liberalism, Hermeneutics, Dialogue, Theological Hermeneutics, Religious Pluralism, Philosophy Of Law, Argumentation, Pedagogy, Revelation, Secularization, Problem of Religious Authority, Rabbinics, Midrash, Politics of Secularism, Rabbinic Literature, Secularisms and Secularities, John Rawls, Liberalism and Toleration, Theory and Practice of Toleration, Judaism, Tolerance, Responsibility, Authoritarianism, John Stuart Mill, Sacrifice, Religious Toleration, Deliberation, Epistemologies of Ignorance, Midrashic Literature, Reason and Revelation, Agency, Judgement and Decision Making (JDM), Secularism, Religious anthropology, Toleration, Rabbinic Judaism, Liberal education, Authority, Babylonian talmud, Religious Identity, Ignorance, Obedience to authority, Coercion, Rabbinical literature (The Mishnah, Babylonian and Palestinian Talmudim, aggadic midrashim), Philosophy of halakhah, Educational model, Jerusalem Talmud, Mistakes, Talmud and Rabbinics, Rhetorical Features In Talmudic Literature, Epistemology and Error, and Court Authority
Research Interests: Law, Jewish Law, Medieval Philosophy, Jewish Studies, Political Theory, and 48 moreMedieval Studies, Natural Law, Law and Religion, Jewish History, Philosophy Of Law, Al-Andalus, Rabbinics, Political Theology, Rabbinic Literature, Jewish Philosophy, Medieval Jewish Philosophy, Messianism, Medieval Jewish History, Law and philosophy, Medieval Islamic History, Jewish Messianism, Historical Development of Halakhah, Maimonides, Andalusia/Al-Andalus, History of Jewish Law, Legal Philosophy, Semiotics of Law, A History of Jewish Law, Messianic Jewish Theology, Messianic Judaism, Medieval Jewish Studies, Morality, Jews of Medieval Spain, Rabbinic Judaism, Jewish Philosophy, Jewish Law, History of Jewish Law, Torah, History of Halakhah, Medieval Law, Medieval Politics, Politics and Theology, Medieval Law, Rabbinical literature (The Mishnah, Babylonian and Palestinian Talmudim, aggadic midrashim), History of Halakha and Jewish Law, Maimonides' Guide of Perplexed, Medieval Political Theology, Philosophy of halakhah, Medieval Jewish Liturgy and halakha, Halakhic legal theory, Divine Law, Rabbinic Law, Maimonides Natural Law, Theological political Question, Messianic Jewish Studies, Law and Messianism, and Torah and Halakha
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The global political order of modernity consists of states that recognize each other as sovereign. Sovereignty determines the range of legitimacy and economic distribution. Indeed, the global sovereign club defines the relevant players,... more
The global political order of modernity consists of states that recognize each other as sovereign. Sovereignty determines the range of legitimacy and economic distribution. Indeed, the global sovereign club defines the relevant players, who is seen and heard, who is ignored and muted. It is the contemporary organizing concept of the political and its primary institutional expression, the state. A critique of sovereignty that aims to make the wretchedness attendant upon human political life visible and hopes to contribute to an alleviation of suffering, must therefore begin by comprehending its power and allure. An analysis of the sovereign order may provide a preliminary sketch of its fissures and of the prospects of change. Against this background, the specific critique I will undertake is from a Jewish theological perspective, promoting what I take to be a prophetic political posture. A theological perspective is neither morally nor epistemically privileged. A theological commitment as I understand it, is not a necessary nor a sufficient condition for morality. Put otherwise, morality in general, and political morality specifically, need not be theologically grounded. A specific theological commitment may well coincide with other metaphysical, moral or political perspectives. A theological ethics seeks to best explicate the specific imperatives and commitments attendant upon a faith posture, of people who understand themselves to be standing in the presence of God. In this spirit, the prophetic positioning is not understood as an oracular one claiming a revelatory privilege but rather an articulation of the ethical consequences of the immediacy of presence in one’s religious self-understanding. This includes a commitment to a political morality. The political arena is fundamental to most forms of human culture today and it is of determining power, whatever the posture of being in the world a person assumes. The political is constitutive of the circumstances of justice and reasoning about them and critiquing them is a shared enterprise of citizens and subjects whatever their faith or creed. In the tradition of biblical prophecy, a theological critique of sovereignty seeks also to uphold a mirror to princes so as to expose the idolatrous reification of power in the current epoch. The posture assumed here is embedded in a Rabbinic tradition committed to a robust form of communitarian personal and social responsibility. This is framed as a complementary to Martin Buber’s theopolitics that specifically amplifies the biblical prophetic moment. Buber’s dialogical reading of the Hebrew Bible served to form a notion of
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This book explores the emergence of the fundamental political concepts of medieval Jewish thought, arguing that alongside the well known theocratic elements of the Bible there exists a vital tradition that conceives of politics as a... more
This book explores the emergence of the fundamental political concepts of medieval Jewish thought, arguing that alongside the well known theocratic elements of the Bible there exists a vital tradition that conceives of politics as a necessary and legitimate domain of worldly activity that preceded religious law in the ordering of society. Since the Enlightenment, the separation of religion and state has been a central theme in Western political history and thought, a separation that upholds the freedom of conscience of the individual. In medieval political thought, however, the doctrine of the separation of religion and state played a much different role. On the one hand, it served to maintain the integrity of religious law versus the monarch, whether canon law, Islamic law, or Jewish law. On the other hand, it upheld the autonomy of the monarch and the autonomy of human political agency against theocratic claims of divine sovereignty and clerical authority. Postulating the realm of...
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Research Interests: Law, Jewish Law, Jewish Studies, Governance, Jewish History, and 15 moreExile, History of Political Thought, Jewish Thought, Baruch Spinoza, Jewish Philosophy, Judaism, Leo Strauss, Maimonides, A History of Jewish Law, Judah Halevi, Kuzari, History of Halakhah, History of Halakha and Jewish Law, Cambridge University, and Halakha
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... See Yaron ezrahi, “The Theatrics and Mechanics of Action: The Theater and the Machine as Political Metaphors,” Social Research 62 ... 31 See Anat biletzki, “'Policy ecclesiastical': Thomas Hobbes on Language, religion, and... more
... See Yaron ezrahi, “The Theatrics and Mechanics of Action: The Theater and the Machine as Political Metaphors,” Social Research 62 ... 31 See Anat biletzki, “'Policy ecclesiastical': Thomas Hobbes on Language, religion, and interpretation,” in Shlomo biderman and ben-Ami ...
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... Learning from Mistakes: Resources of Tolerance in the Jewish Tradition. MENACHEMLORBERBAUM. Article first published online: 30 MAY 2006. ... Get PDF (815K). More content like this. Find more content: like this article. Find more... more
... Learning from Mistakes: Resources of Tolerance in the Jewish Tradition. MENACHEMLORBERBAUM. Article first published online: 30 MAY 2006. ... Get PDF (815K). More content like this. Find more content: like this article. Find more content written by: MENACHEM LORBERBAUM ...
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This worthy volume is the first part of an anticipated four-volume project seeking to present, for the first time, a comprehensive compilation of Jewish writings relevant to questions of political theory. Organized thematically, the work... more
This worthy volume is the first part of an anticipated four-volume project seeking to present, for the first time, a comprehensive compilation of Jewish writings relevant to questions of political theory. Organized thematically, the work offers what the editors characterize as a "reader with commentaries," (xvi) an extensive range of traditional and modern Jewish writings accompanied by the comments of a variety of exceptional scholars and critics. Though there are problems with the volume, there is no denying its immense contribution. It will be invaluable as a text for classes on political theory, Jewish thought, and Jewish religion in general. This first volume, organized under the general rubric of "authority," considers the sources and legitimacy of political authority in the view of various Jewish traditions. It begins by considering the theoretical sources and justifications of God's authority in the Jewish polity, recognizing that, under ideal conditions, God would be the only political authority in Israel. It follows by reviewing writings pertaining to other recognized centers of power and authority in historical Israel: kings, priests, prophets, rabbis, lay leaders ("the good men of the town") and gentile rulers. In the course of this thematic presentation, the editors include two chapters on potential challenges to authority, one addressed to divine authority ("Revelation: Torah and Reason") and the other directed to the human interpreters of divine command ("Controversy and Dissent"). Finally, the volume concludes with a chapter of reflections concerning the most recent and complete realization of Jewish political energies, the State of Israel. The volume bears the stamp of Rabbi David Hartman and the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, under whose auspices the work for this volume unfolded. Thus, there is, in many sections, a heavy emphasis on theological questions, and it is not always obvious how these deliberations relate to matters of politics, however construed. This is true of several of the selections that consider the "religious significance" of the State of Israel. It is also the case with several of the texts quoted in the chapter on the priesthood. What is the political
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The global political order of modernity consists of states that recognize each other as sovereign. Sovereignty determines the range of legitimacy and economic distribution. Indeed, the global sovereign club defines the relevant players,... more
The global political order of modernity consists of states that recognize each other as sovereign. Sovereignty determines the range of legitimacy and economic distribution. Indeed, the global sovereign club defines the relevant players, who is seen and heard, who is ignored and muted. It is the contemporary organizing concept of the political and its primary institutional expression, the state. A critique of sovereignty that aims to make the wretchedness attendant upon human political life visible and hopes to contribute to an alleviation of suffering, must therefore begin by comprehending its power and allure. An analysis of the sovereign order may provide a preliminary sketch of its fissures and of the prospects of change. Against this background, the specific critique I will undertake is from a Jewish theological perspective, promoting what I take to be a prophetic political posture. A theological perspective is neither morally nor epistemically privileged. A theological commitme...
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Hieronder volgt een essay van zijn hand waarin hij de argumenten geeft waarom hij deze vraag met "ja" beantwoordt en met een uitvoerig onderbouwing laat zien hoe dit kan worden gerealiseerd. Prof. Lorberbaum is hoofd van de... more
Hieronder volgt een essay van zijn hand waarin hij de argumenten geeft waarom hij deze vraag met "ja" beantwoordt en met een uitvoerig onderbouwing laat zien hoe dit kan worden gerealiseerd. Prof. Lorberbaum is hoofd van de faculteit Joodse Filosofie, Talmoed en Kabbala van de Universiteit van Tel Aviv en mede-directeur van het Center for Jewish Political Thought van het Shalom Hartman Institute te Jeruzalem. Hij houdt zich in het bijzonder bezig met vraagstukken als politieke theorie en de relatie religie-staat-politiek in de joodse traditie.