I started working on this book in those critical weeks that led to the Six Day War, Israel and the Arab countries, and almost finished it when the last shot rang out. Not only the Jews of Israel, but the entire nation is under threat of destruction. Our generation could not have survived another Holocaust. The creation of Israel was the only consolation for the Jews who survived the murder of six million of their brethren. Overcoming anxiety for the fate of fellow, I wrote, driven by a belief in the immortality of Judaism and our people. Every word as if I had to re-affirm that faith will be tested in those terrible hours. More than once I have asked myself whether the belief in eternity of the Jewish people a modern version of the "false words" so decisively rejected by the prophet Irmeyagu: "This is the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord," 1. No, the State of Israel is not the temple of God. Allah can do without His Temple. But he can not do without his people, and now, after the Holocaust, and without the State of Israel. It is this belief, and I had to re-approve every word I wrote in the critical weeks before the war and during the war. It seemed to me that not write now, wait, what will end the event, it would be a betrayal.
Since then, the book, which was initially conceived as an attempt to awareness of the Holocaust, has turned to the study of the Jewish experience in the world of the Holocaust and the history of the world of the spirit of the Holocaust.
Eliezer Berkowitz
Professor and Rabbi Eliezer Berkowitz was born in 1908 in Romania. He graduated from rabbinical seminar named Gildes-gaymera in Germany and in 1933 was awarded the title of Doctor of Philosophy in the University of Berlin.
In 1936 - 1939 years. Eliezer Berkowitz was a rabbi in Berlin's Jewish community, and when World War II broke out, he managed to escape, fleeing to England. From 1946 to 1950 he was a rabbi in Sydney / Australia /, and then - in Boston / USA /. Since 1958, for 18 years Eliezer Berkowitz led the Department of Jewish Philosophy Bible seminar in Chicago.
Professor Berkovic - one of the most prominent thinkers of our time in the field of Jewish philosophy, the author of many actual work. His books on philosophy and theology written in English. The main of them - "God, Man and History," "The main themes in contemporary philosophy of Judaism."
His books of Halacha - "The conditions in the marriage and divorce," "Power and the appointment of Halacha", "The doctrine of causality in Halacha" - published in the Jerusalem Institute Rabbi Cook. In 1975, Eliezer Berkowitz immigrated to Israel. He lives in Jerusalem and continued his prolific scientific and theoretical, literary and educational activities.
Table of Contents Foreword Entry Chapter One MAN AND DISASTER The indifference of the West Theology of Intolerance Like sheep to the slaughter? CHAPTER TWO THE FATE OF THE WEST Judaism in the post-Christian era CHAPTER THREE GOD AND DISASTER Brother Job It is absurd to being? Kiddush and Shem - the glorification of God's name. Chapter Four HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF CATASTROPHE Jewish philosophy of history Hiding the face of God Judaism and the problem of theodicy Mighty and dreadful Chapter Five WITNESS Expulsion The suffering servant of God Witness after the Holocaust Retribution stories strength Chapter sheetaya BACK IN ZION Epilogue
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