SPIRITUAL RADICAL: ABRAHAM JOSHUA HESCHEL IN AMERICA, 1940-1972
When a spiritual polymath with a poetic voice encounters a worthy biographer, who is himself an expert in French poetry, thorough researcher, sensitive interpreter, and eloquent writer, the result is stunning. Such is Spiritual Radical, volume two in Edward K. Kaplan’s study of Abraham Joshua Heschel, a foremost thinker of 20th century American Judaism. Winner of the 2007 National Jewish Book Award in the American Jewish Studies given by the Jewish Book Council, the book covers Heschel’s escape to the United States in 1940 until his death.
Walk the shelves of Temple Isaiah’s library noting author’s names, and you will touch the cast of this book. The seminal Jewish-American thinkers appear in intimate detail, revealed through their synergy and their cultural wars with Heschel. For readers it’s a verbal trip to Heschel’s study, piled with books and papers, as the man himself sits smoking a cigar, sharing notes from his latest conversation about “radical amazement.” The immediacy is heightened by numerous candid photos.
A civil and spiritual activist, with the chutzpah to attack Einstein’s view of science and religion, and ally himself with Martin Luther King, Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement, Heschel warred against minimalist scholarship and legalistic minutiae that distanced Judaism from feeling and reality: “There are Jews who are more concerned with a blood-spot on an egg, than with a blood spot on the dollar bill.” Imperfect himself, an indifferent teacher, but an inspired mentor, Heschel was conscience personified. Where some biographies gather dry facts, this one laces fascinating behind-the- scenes machinations, with quotations of breathtaking intensity…
“Men slaughtering each other, cities battered to ruins: such insanity has plagued many nations into an abyss of disgrace. Will America, the promise of peace to the world, fail to uphold its magnificent destiny?”
Thirty-six years after his death, Heschel’s question could have been asked yesterday.
Book reviewed by Val Morehouse in Oct. 2008 issue of Library News, an online newsletter of Temple Isaiah Library