Overview

A biography of the rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, who became a symbol of the marriage between religion and social justice “When I marched in Selma, I felt my legs were praying.” So said Polish-born American rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907–1972) of his involvement in the 1965 Selma civil rights march alongside Martin Luther King, Jr. Heschel, who spoke with a fiery moralistic fervor, dedicated his career to the struggle to improve the human condition through faith.   In this new biography, author Julian Zelizer tracks Heschel’s early years and foundational influences—his childhood in Warsaw and early education in Hassidism, his studies in late 1920s and early 1930s Berlin, and the fortuitous opportunity, which brought him to the United States, to study at Hebrew Union College and teach at the Jewish Theological Seminary. This deep and complex portrait places Heschel at the crucial intersection between religion and progressive politics in mid-twentieth-century America. To this day Heschel remains a symbol of the fight to make progressive Jewish values relevant in the secular world.

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9780300233216

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Reviews

Zelizer covers the life and career of Heschel thoroughly and elegantly. This book will find an enthusiastic and appreciative public. -Rabbi David Wolpe, Sinai Temple Julian Zelizer's Abraham Joshua Heschel transcends time and place. The life of Heschel moves seamlessly from inside the Jewish world to exhilarating movements of the 1960s and the quest for peace and justice. Zelizer shows how Heschel's words, thoughts, and actions resonate to this day. - Hasia Diner, author of Julius Rosenwald: Repairing the World Julian Zelizer's exciting new biography brings Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel to life. Zelizer brings his own unique lens as a political historian and sheds new light on a life well and inspirationally led. -Rabbi Shai Held, author of Abraham Joshua Heschel: The Call of Transcendence

This highly appreciative biography of Heschel benefits from hindsight throughout...Zelizer's constantly looking for early signs of his protagonist's radical social activism, for his Heschel is not only the author of the highly influential Prophets, he is also driven - like the subjects of that work - to communicate God's anguish to the world .'-Sara Jo Ben Zvi, Segula Zelizer covers the life and career of Heschel thoroughly and elegantly. This book will find an enthusiastic and appreciative public. -Rabbi David Wolpe, Sinai Temple Julian Zelizer's Abraham Joshua Heschel transcends time and place. The life of Heschel moves seamlessly from inside the Jewish world to exhilarating movements of the 1960s and the quest for peace and justice. Zelizer shows how Heschel's words, thoughts, and actions resonate to this day. - Hasia Diner, author of Julius Rosenwald: Repairing the World Julian Zelizer's exciting new biography brings Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel to life. Zelizer brings his own unique lens as a political historian and sheds new light on a life well and inspirationally led. -Rabbi Shai Held, author of Abraham Joshua Heschel: The Call of Transcendence

Author Information

Julian E. Zelizer is a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University. He is the author of numerous books, and has written for CNN.com, the New York Times, and the Washington Post.

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