Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg (June 9, 1921-April 17, 2006) was born in Poland. Hertzberg, who was 5 when he left Europe in 1926 with his mother and grandmother to join his father in the United States, recalled that as a teenager in an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in Baltimore, Maryland, he would not accept the notion that the literary world of talmudic learning, the kabbalistic books and the writing of the chasidim were less worthy as compared to the Iliad, the Odyssey or Dante's Inferno. His father was an Orthodox rabbi trained in Eastern Europe, who taught Arthur to appreciate the richness of the Talmud and the other great works of Judaism. Although Hertzberg would later stray from his Orthodox upbringing and be ordained as a Conservative rabbi, he "never used my 'heresy' as the excuse to prefer the majority culture to my own." He was married to the former Phyllis Cannon from 1950 until his death. They are the parents of two daughters, and they have four grandchildren. He died on April 17, 2006. Rabbi (Classical Hebrew רִבִּי ribbī;; modern Ashkenazi and Israeli רַבִּי rabbī) in Judaism, means teacher, or more literally great one. The word Rabbi is derived from the Hebrew root-word RaV, which in biblical Hebrew means great or distinguished, (in knowledge). In the ancient Judean schools (and among Sefaradim today) the sages... June 9 is the 160th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (161st in leap years), with 205 days remaining. ... 1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... April 17 is the 107th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (108th in leap years). ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Orthodox Judaism is the stream of Judaism which adheres to a relatively strict interpretation and application of the laws and ethics first canonized in the Talmud (The Oral Law) and later codified in the Shulkhan Arukh (Code of Jewish Law). It is governed by these works and the Rabbinical commentary... Jews (Hebrew: יהודים, Yehudim) are followers of Judaism or, more generally, members of the Jewish people (also known as the Jewish nation, or the Children of Israel), an ethno-religious group descended from the ancient Israelites and converts who joined their religion. ... A view of the Baltimore skyline from the water taxi. ... The Talmud (תלמוד) is a record of rabbinic discussions on Jewish law, Jewish ethics, customs, legends and stories, which Jewish tradition considers authoritative. ... This article is about the overall Jewish mysticisms tradition. ... Hasidic Judaism (from the Hebrew: Chasidut חסידות, meaning pious, from the Hebrew root word chesed חסד meaning loving kindness) is a Haredi Jewish religious movement. ... The Iliad (Ancient Greek: Ιλιάς, Iliás) tells part of the story of the siege of the city of Ilium, i. ... Odysseus and Nausicaä - by Charles Gleyre The Odyssey (Greek: Ὀδύσσεια, Odusseia) is a Greek epic ascribed to Homer, about the return home of Odysseus after the Trojan War. ... Dante in a fresco series of famous men by Andrea del Castagno, ca. ... Dante shown holding a copy of The Divine Comedy, next to the entrance to Hell, the seven terraces of Mount Purgatory and the city of Florence, with the spheres of Heaven above, in Michelinos fresco. ... Rabbi (Classical Hebrew רִבִּי ribbī;; modern Ashkenazi and Israeli רַבִּי rabbī) in Judaism, means teacher, or more literally great one. The word Rabbi is derived from the Hebrew root-word RaV, which in biblical Hebrew means great or distinguished, (in knowledge). In the ancient Judean schools (and among Sefaradim today) the sages... Current division of Europe into five (or more) regions: one definition of Eastern Europe is marked in orange Eastern Europe as a region has several alternative definitions, whereby it can denote: the region lying between the variously and vaguely defined areas of Central Europe and Russia. ... Judaism is the religion of the Jewish people with around 15 million followers as of 2006 [1]. It is one of the first recorded monotheistic faiths and one of the oldest religious traditions still practiced today. ... Conservative Judaism, also known as Masorti Judaism, is a modern denomination of Judaism that arose in United States in the early 1900s. ... 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... April 17 is the 107th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (108th in leap years). ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

His love of Judaism and the Jewish texts was at the core of his controversial life as a rabbi, scholar, educator and Jewish communal leader. Over the course of his 50 plus year career, Rabbi Hertzberg served as a congregational rabbi, president of both the American Jewish Policy Foundation and the American Jewish Congress, vice president of the World Jewish Congress and a leading representative of world Jewry in the historic Catholic-Jewish dialogue that commenced during the papacy of Pope John XXIII. As a major public figure in the world of Jewish organizational life, Hertzberg was at the center of the crucial events shaping American Jewish life since the end of World War II. He walked with Martin Luther King, Jr., in the 1963 March to Washington and Bloody Sunday at the height of the American civil rights movement, and Henry Kissinger. Hertzberg played a major role in some of the most significant issues the world Jewish community faced in the decades following World War II, including discussions with the Catholic Church over the still unresolved conflict over the Vatican's release of documents pertaining to Pius XII and the Holocaust, as well as his outspoken criticism of the policies of Israel toward the Palestinians. better Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg pic This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... The American Jewish Congress is a civil rights body formed both to protect the civil rights of Jewish Americans, as well as to act as a conduit for pro-civil rights activities in the American Jewish community. ... The World Jewish Congress (WJC) is an international federation of Jewish communities and organizations. ... In recent years there has been much to note in the way of reconciliation between some Christian groups and the Jewish people. ... Pope John XXIII (Latin: ), born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli (November 25, 1881 – June 3, 1963), he was elected as the 261st Pope of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City on October 28, 1958. ... Martin Luther King, Jr. ... Template:C20YearInnTopic 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1963 calendar). ... John Lewis (on right in trench coat) and Hosea Williams (on the left) lead marchers across the Edmund Pettus Bridge,March 7, 1965 The Selma to Montgomery marches, which included Bloody Sunday, were three marches that marked the political and emotional peak of the American civil rights movement. ... The civil rights movement in the United States has been a long, primarily nonviolent struggle to bring full civil rights and equality under the law to all citizens of United States. ... Henry Kissinger circa 1970s. ... The name Catholic Church can mean a visible organization that refers to itself as Catholic, or the invisible Christian Church, viz. ... The Venerable Pius XII, born Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Eugenio Pacelli (Rome, March 2, 1876 - October 9, 1958) served as the Pope from March 2, 1939 to 1958. ... Concentration camp inmates during the Holocaust The Holocaust was Nazi Germanys systematic genocide (ethnic cleansing) of various ethnic, religious, national, and secular groups during World War II. Early elements include the Kristallnacht pogrom and the T-4 Euthanasia Program established by Hitler that killed some 200,000 people. ... The Palestinian flag, adopted in 1948, is a widely recognized modern symbol of the Palestinian people. ...

Hertzberg also made his mark in Jewish scholarship. His landmark book, The French Enlightenment and the Jews: The Origins of Modern Anti-Semitism (1968), argued that the source of modern antisemitism could be traced to the ideas of such Age of Enlightenment philosophers as Voltaire. Similarly, his The Zionist Idea: A Historical Analysis and Reader (1970) pioneered the study of Zionism and provided generations of students with the understanding that modern Zionism was a secular movement to remake Jewish identity into one of the many modern secular nationalisms. Finally, although a self-styled pragmatic liberal, Hertzberg saw no contradiction between his political convictions and his reverence for a Jewish tradition shorn of its religious fundamentalism. The Age of Enlightenment refers to the 18th century in European philosophy, and is often thought of as part of a larger period which includes the Age of Reason. ...

The Great Gadfly

Mordecai Kaplan was also an influence on the young Hertzberg, who attended the Jewish Theological Seminary, where Kaplan taught and served as dean. Kaplan had proved, writes Hertzberg, that with talent and guts, you can be your own man even in mainstream America. Both from Kaplan and later from the eminent scholar of Jewish history, Salo W. Baron, Hertzberg accepted the hypothesis that cultural and religious identity in America would exist in the future "only if they were redefined and reconstructed." Rabbi Mordecai Menahem Kaplan (June 11, 1881- November 8, 1983) founded Reconstructionist Judaism. ...

Kaplan's influence is apparent when considering the breadth of Hertzberg's public career and reputation as gadfly. Never one to eschew unpopular stands when it came to core issues that impacted on the Jewish community, Hertzberg's reputation as a maverick was perhaps most in evidence in the aftermath of the Six-Day War in 1967 when he called for the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, a position that was anathema among most America Jews. He had recounted his public battles with both Golda Meir and Menachem Begin over their policies toward the Palestinians: Combatants Israel Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq Commanders Yitzhak Rabin, Moshe Dayan, Uzi Narkiss, Israel Tal, Ariel Sharon Abdel Hakim Amer, Abdul Munim Riad, Sharif Zaid Ibn Shaker, Hafez al-Assad Strength 50,000 troops (264,000 including mobilized reservists); 197 combat aircraft Egypt 150,000 troops; Syria 75,000; Jordan... 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ... Golda Meir (Hebrew: (help· info)) (b. ... Menachem Wolfovitch Begin (August 16, 1913 – March 9, 1992) ( name in Hebrew: (help· info) ) became the 6th Prime Minister of Israel in May 1977. ...

I was largely in opposition to the dominant policies. I found myself restating this view year by year, as repeated attempts were made to silence me in Jerusalem and by its lackeys in New York and Washington. I insisted that we in the Diaspora could represent the best interest of the Jews worldwide — never mind the political and moral foolishness that governments in power might be proclaiming … I also had no fear that I was committing treason by denouncing what I knew was wrong and foolish, and I laughed off the label "maverick".

Hertzberg's early support for accommodation with the Palestinians, coming from a leader of the American Jewish establishment, subsequently added credibility to the Israeli peace movement. Jerusalem (31°46′N 35°14′E; Hebrew: (help· info) Yerushalayim; Arabic: (help· info) al-Quds, Greek Ιεροσόλυμα), is an ancient Middle Eastern city on the watershed between the Mediterranean Sea and the Dead Sea at an elevation of 650-840 meters. ... Midtown Manhattan, looking north from the Empire State Building, 2005 New York City (officially named the City of New York) is the most populous city in the state of New York and the entire United States. ... Nickname: the District Motto: Justitia Omnibus (Justice for All) Official website: http://www. ...

Hertzberg challenged the wisdom of what he views as banking the future of Jewish continuity on the twin pillars of unquestioned support for Israel and the veneration of the Holocaust. Referring to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., as "the national cathedral of American Jewry's Jewishness", Hertzberg questions whether the memory of the Holocaust is sufficient to keep Jews "on the reservation." Citing demographic studies, he contends that the proliferation of courses on the Holocaust will not be sufficient to stop a large number of Jews from leaving the Jewish community.

Arthur Hertzberg received rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 1943 and a Ph.D. in history from Columbia University in 1966. He has taught at Princeton, Rutgers, Columbia, and Dartmouth. He was the Bronfman Visiting Professor of the Humanities at New York University from 1991 until his death in 2006. The Jewish Theological Seminary of America The Jewish Theological Seminary of America, known in the Jewish community simply as JTS, is the academic and spiritual center of Conservative Judaism, and is the movements main rabbinical seminary. ... Columbia University is a private university in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City and a member of the Ivy League. ... Princeton University is a coeducational private university located on an extensive campus in and around suburban Princeton, New Jersey. ... Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey is the largest institution for higher education in the U.S. state of New Jersey. ... Dartmouth College is a private academic institution in Hanover, New Hampshire, in the United States. ... New York University (NYU) is a major research university in New York City. ...

In addition to his academic posts, Rabbi Hertzberg served as a chaplain in the United States Air Force from 1951 to '53 and rabbi of Temple Emanu-El in Englewood, New Jersey, from 1956 to 1985, where he remained as rabbi emeritus until his death. He also served as president of the American Jewish Policy Foundation since 1978, president of the American Jewish Congress from 1972 to '78, and vice president of the World Jewish Congress from 1975 to 1991. The United States Air Force (USAF) is the aerospace branch of the United States armed forces. ... Map highlighting Englewoods location within Bergen County. ...

Rabbi Hertzberg was a co-editor of Essays on Jewish Life and Thought (1959) and the author of The Zionist Idea (1959), The Outbursts That Await Us (1963), The French Enlightenment and the Jews (1968), which won the first Amran Award as the best work of nonfiction in the Jewish field, Judaism (1961), Being Jewish in America (1978), The Jews in America (1989), Jewish Polemics (1992), At Home Only with God (1993), The Zionist Idea (1997), and, with Aron Hirt-Manheimer, Jews: The Essence and Character of a People (1998).

Hertzberg would remind us that Ralph Waldo Emerson, a descendant of American Puritans who revolted against his heritage and became a Unitarian, wrote that "every man is a conveyance on which all his ancestors ride." Hertzberg may not have opted to agree with every word of his Jewish forebears but, as he says, "my respect and reverence for them is the foundation of my being."

φÑØø==Quotes==

• "I became an American by refusing to assimilate."
• "Everything that I have written in the last half century has rested on this premise that I learned from Kaplan and Baron."
• "I never identified the ghetto with backwardness."
• " My ass itches, isn't there a nice Jewish boy to scratch it??

Related entries

• Zionism
• anti-Zionism
• anti-Semitism
• Christian Zionism
• History of Israel
• History of Palestine
• Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
• Timeline of Zionism
• Jewish Emancipation
• List of prominent Zionist figures

Poster promoting a film about Jewish settlement in Palestine, 1930s: Toward a New Life (in Romanian),The Promised Land (in Hungarian), in small (down) text is written First Palestinian sound movie 1844 Discourse on the Restoration of the Jews by Mordecai Noah, page one. ... Anti-Zionism is a term used to describe several different political and religious points of view. ... The Eternal Jew: 1937 German poster. ... Christian Zionism is the belief among some Christians that the return of the Jews to the Holy Land, and the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, is in accordance with Biblical prophecy, and is a necessary prerequisite for the return of Jesus to reign on Earth. ... This article discusses the history of the modern State of Israel, from its independence proclamation in 1948 to the present. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip are at the center of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. ... Timeline of Zionism in the modern era: 1861 - The Zion Society is formed in Frankfurt, Germany. ... Dates of Jewish emancipation. ... People who played important roles in the definition, development and growth of the modern Zionist movement: Chaim Arlosoroff David Ben-Gurion Meir Bar-Ilan, rabbi and leader of Religious Zionists (Mafdal) Dov Ber Borochov Abba Eban L. L. Zamenhof Aaron David Gordon Theodor Herzl, founding father of modern political Zionist...

Works

• Arthur Hertzberg (ed.), Zionist Idea: A Historical Analysis & Reader, MacMillan, 1972, trade paperback, ISBN 0689700938; Jewish Publication Society, 1997, trade paperback, 656 pages, ISBN 0827606222; Greenwood Publishing Group, 1970, hardcover, ISBN 0837125650.

n.b. please note there is another book release by this Author, Jaqueline Rose (author of "The Question of Zion") was mentioning it during an interview on Australian television. If anyone reading this can update the information it would be for the good of this article! [Cannot find evidence of the book she was referring to: said it was not widely read]

External links

• New York Times Obituary, April 18, 2006
• Amazon's Listing
• American Jewish Congress
• Arthur on 9-11
• Beliefnet Entry
• New Age Zionism: Holding On as the World Turns Arthur Hertzberg's January 1, 1998 article
• New York Review of Books entry
• The Day the Rabbi Rescued Rashid by Martin Kramer