January 11, 1907 – December 23, 1972
Rabbi Heschel was a descendant of preeminent rabbinic families of Europe: the family of Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, and that of Rebbe Avrohom Yehoshua Heshl of Apt, the Apter Rebbe – Ohev Yisroel. He was the youngest of six children. In his teens he received a traditional yeshiva education, and obtained traditional semicha, rabbinical ordination at the age of 16.
Moshes’ final ascent in Ha’azinu is not a defeat but a masterclass in how to die—by first learning how to live. Ha’azinu invites us to hear life as a composition: rehearsed through daily practice and resolved in a final, dignified cadence. To live and die with grace is not resignation but art: shaping a soul that can leave a world more awake than we found it.
Israel at War
In Abraham Joshua Heschel, Contemporary Issues, Israel and Jewish Thought and Philosophy
The disastrous situation in which Israel finds itself at this hour asks for serious self-reflection on a level unfamiliar to many of us.
Wanted: Rabbinical Courage
Orthodox leaders must remember is that we owe much of our knowledge not to those who agreed with us, but to those who differed and therefore challenged us to sharpen our minds.
In Abraham Joshua Heschel, Jewish Thought and Philosophy and Parashat Emor
We Jews are messengers, but we have forgotten the message. It is our obligation to rediscover it and advance it into eternity.
I have learned to be constantly thankful to God for His incredible gift of children, children-in-law and grandchildren. I learned this on Friday, June 11, 2010, when my wife and I nearly lost a daughter and three grandchildren.