Alick Isaacs

"Putting God First: Jewish Humanism after Heidegger" by Rabbi Alick Isaacs offers a thought-provoking exploration of Jewish identity amidst the backdrop of Western humanism. Isaacs presents a compelling argument that the Holocaust serves as a poignant reminder of the broader implications of contemporary humanism, urging the Jewish community to confront and disentangle from elements of Western humanist tradition that may threaten their survival. Through a philosophical lens, Isaacs proposes a path towards achieving a harmonious relationship between Westernism and Jewish identity, advocating for a nuanced understanding that acknowledges and preserves core Jewish values.

The book delves into a meticulous analysis of modern and postmodern thought, drawing from the works of prominent philosophers such as Immanuel Kant, Jacques Derrida, and Hannah Arendt. Central to the discourse is a profound examination of Martin Heidegger's "Being and Time," contextualized within the period of his ideological alignment with Nazism. Isaacs skillfully navigates Heidegger's ontological framework to elucidate the onto-theological significance of key Jewish concepts, offering a fresh perspective on spirituality and politics within the Jewish state. Through rich engagement with Jewish texts and philosophical discourse, Isaacs presents a compelling vision for a Jewish state characterized by the ethos of Tikun Olam, inviting readers to contemplate the intersection of Jewish tradition and contemporary humanistic ideals.… (mehr)

Two questions began the process that culminated in this book:
1) How was the Holocaust Humanly possible?
2) How was it Humanly possible for Holocaust Survivors to find the spiritual energy to dedicate and sacrifice to rebuild the Jewish State?
Isaacs is concerned that Jewish identity in a post-Holocaust and Zionist era has been entangled and distorted by modern liberalism and the liberal environment of the West. This entanglement and distortion is seen in modern anti-semitism, assimilationism, and anti-Zionism.
The Jewish and Western ways of thinking about individual and collective identity, space, time, territory, and God and the Torah are not commensurable. Jews must access the Torah's ontology of Jewish Identity. The Hellenistic shell concerning notions of individual and collective identity must be removed/purged from Jewish consciousness.

All considered it is an exhilarating examination, exposition and application of the insights of Wittgenstein, Derrida, Foucault, J. Haidt, and many others, and pre-eminently that of Heidegger in "Being and Time". as Isaacs seeks to uncover and recover the true identity of Jews from the concealing structures of Western liberal thought.… (mehr)