Between Activism and Theology: A Critical Examination of the Role of Yitz Greenberg in American Judaism

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Session Sponsor: Center for the Study of Judaism in Israel and North America, Bar-Ilan University

Abstract

This session will explore the profound voice of Rabbi Dr. Yitz Greenberg (b. 1933) within American Judaism over the past six decades. The product of an immigrant Brooklyn Orthodox home, he received rabbinical ordination from a traditional yeshiva and a Harvard doctorate in American History. He began teaching at Yeshiva University in 1959, where he was one of the most popular professors. Indeed, in 1969 he played a lead role at the first AJS event held at Brandeis University. In parallel he was rabbi of a burgeoning Orthodox synagogue, dean of the SAR Academy, and a pioneering Soviet Jewry activist. After his 1972 resignation from both YU and the pulpit, he refocused his public career on spreading Jewish knowledge and enhancing identification among the broader American Jewish population. He also emerged as a groundbreaking post-Holocaust theologian. He was appointed executive director of the US Holocaust Commission and was instrumental in developing Birthright. Greenberg has written widely on the challenges of Jewish power, contemporary Jewish holidays, medical technologies, pluralism and halakhah, Jewish-Christian dialogue, and sexual ethics. Together with his wife Blu, he was an original champion of Orthodox feminism.
An interdisciplinary group of scholars of religion and American Judaism will consider the following questions:
What are the key ways Greenberg impacted American Judaism?
What role has his theology played in American Judaism?
What role has his position as a Holocaust thinker played?
What role has his stance on interreligious relations played?
How was 1960s culture reflected in the directions he took?
What can be learned regarding Greenberg's role in American Judaism from his personal biography, including his transition from full-time academic to public intellectual, activist, and institutional leader?
Does his outlook reflect a distinctly "Americanized" approach to Judaism?
How has he impacted each denomination?
Would you differentiate between his roles within Orthodox and non-Orthodox frameworks?
What was his impact on the 'civic religion' of American Jewry and on 'secular' organizations (Federations etc.)?
Do you see a relationship between Greenberg and the rise of liberal Orthodoxy in the 21st century?
With which other major American Jewish theologians and leaders would you compare him?

Sub Unit

• Modern Jewish History in the Americas

Moderator

• Adam S. Ferziger, Bar-Ilan University

Discussants

• Irving (Yitz) Greenberg

• Jonathan D. Sarna, Brandeis University

• Sylvia Barack Fishman, --None--

• Michael A Meyer, Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion

• Lea Taragin-Zeller, Woolf Institute, University of Cambridge