Non­fic­tion

Embrac­ing Auschwitz: Forg­ing a Vibrant Life-Affirm­ing Judaism that Takes the Holo­caust Seriously

  • From the Publisher
September 1, 2019
The Judaism of Sinai and the Judaism of Auschwitz are merg­ing, result­ing in new visions of Judaism that are only begin­ning to take shape. Each of the chap­ters of this book out­lines an aspect of this work in progress, this Torah of Auschwitz,” as we see how the ways of Sinai are being recast, the old wells redug, as Judaism is now being inter­pret­ed anew through the prism of this epochal event. Any new expres­sion of Judaism to emerge must place the Holo­caust expe­ri­ence direct­ly at its core or it will not be authen­tic. But just as it can­not ignore the abyss, any mod­ern expres­sion of Judaism must also affirm joy, beau­ty, and moral ground­ing or it will not sur­vive. Jew­ish revi­tal­iza­tion will be assured when grand­chil­dren of sur­vivors and oth­ers of their gen­er­a­tion can begin to take the dark­ness of the Shoah and turn it into song, absorb­ing the absur­di­ty of a silent God while lov­ing life nonetheless.

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