Irving Greenberg

But when you're in dialogue over a period of time, you can talk about that and make, uh, jokes.

My, my favorite interfaith joke, uh, is, uh, Yitz Greenberg's, uh, joke about the difference between Judaism and Christianity.

Mm.

Uh, here's one, uh, tradition, uh, trying to show how c- how much we have in common.

That's another, uh, um, uh, Yitz is in my mind today, uh, for some reason.

I'm very fond of Yitz even though we don't...

Yitz Greenberg, Rabbi, uh-

Right

And so I learned that from Dr. Ellis.

But then in its specificity, the post-Holocaust debates between Rubinstein and Fackenheim and Irving Greenberg and Elie Wiesel, But then what that meant for post-Holocaust Jewish Christians, from Ellis's very particular perspective and interpretation, while also helping teach undergraduate courses on the Holocaust history itself.

Within the context of the Center for Jewish American Studies, at Baylor, where we would have things like Rosh Hashanah retreats, where we would celebrate Shabbat at the Ellis home every week, every Friday evening.

And so I was, as this Lutheran Coming into this space, this extremely consciously Jewish space, with all these evangelical undergrads also being invited into these expressions of Jewishness and Jewish commitment.

And, um, uh, a lot of the folks that are a part of our community are pressing on these questions in very important ways in their communities and are met with much of this very similar kind of resistance that essentially asks them, where is your credibility? And their response is typically both the gospel and that's not usually received without another form of authority, which is typically a Jewish authority by religious leaders, pastors, et cetera.

This is part of my learning with Dr. Ellis.

We took seriously what Rabbi Irving Greenberg said, that No statement, theological or otherwise, should be made that would not be credible in the presence of burning children.

What more needs to be said, right? And that is the standard.

I'll give you an example.

Who's a graduate of Nevada? Who got smicha from Nevada and Borough Park? Yitz Greenberg.

Did you say that? Yitz Greenberg.

That's it.

That's the only name you know.

This book that came out, now there's a hell of eight, six children.

It's just beyond comprehension how someone can write a book like that.

Who's his children? Yitz Greenberg, Jonathan Sachs, David Hartman.

How does the image of the mountain over their heads complicate that apparently enthusiastic acceptance? Which feels more genuine and why? Okay, lastly, if you could renegotiate one part of a commitment you inherited, what would it be? So here's a personal question.

What would that be? The Gemara, the Talmud here suggests that the Jewish people might later have an argument that they were coerced what does that mean for something in your life judaism tradition family expectations community that we inherit rather than choose can inherited commitments become genuinely ours so um i find myself in this moment in a whole bunch of relationships in communities in a society i almost feel powerless to re-choose my life as we get older we may feel even more powerless make choices based upon our financial constraints our age constraints our relational constraints our our own habits um what does it look like to renegotiate some of our commitments as we as we age um and can we do that or can we just reaffirm ultimately um okay and the last thing i'll say here before i open up the conversation around anything we want to talk about is just a reminder of the radical teaching of Yitz Greenberg, one of the profound living Jewish theologians, where he suggested that for everyone today, the covenant is voluntary, right? Why? And in his case, he says, because of the Holocaust.

The Holocaust, God broke the deal.

The deal was, we do Torah, you protect us.

That volume, it's maybe 10% correct.

They list out the Ravs, Talmud and Yitzchak Greenberg, David Hartman, Jonathan Sacks.

Outside of David Hartman, no one learned with the Rav.

Jonathan Sacks, yes, a great philosopher on the philosophical level.

For the modern Jew, God is either absent, nothingness, or a hidden presence.

Irving Greenberg speaks of a God who cares, but admits, "...the Holocaust suggests a divine presence far more subtle and elusive than hitherto estimated.

He says God controls himself.

He is the hidden presence, not the intervening presence." Mysteries.

I had lots of connections with the conservative movement.

So even though I was clearly ensconced within the modern Orthodox world, my, my rabbi was Yitz Greenberg as a kid.

The Greenbergs were good friends.

Avi Weiss.