Remembering Eugene Borowitz

Eugene Borowitz, who died on January 22 at the age of ninety-one, was one of the outstanding theologians of post-World War II Reform Judaism. In his post at Hebrew Union College (HUC), he mentored hundreds of future rabbis, and was much beloved by his students. One such student, David Ellenson, writes:

I first encountered Eugene Borowitz as many people have—through the words of his voluminous writings. In 1969, when I was twenty-one, I came across his book A Layman’s Guide to Religious Existentialism. . . . His words on [Søren] Kierkegaard, [Paul] Tillich, and other thinkers excited me and ignited a passion for the life of the mind and the life of the spirit that I had never previously felt. . . . .

Nearly five years later, . . . in [Borowitz’s classroom] as a second-year rabbinical student, . . . I was introduced to a vocabulary that helped me define and understand the religious struggle I was then experiencing.

In his initial lecture in the course, Rabbi Borowitz said clearly and simply, “The problem of modern Jewish thought is one of how we affirm the best of what the modern world has taught us while simultaneously maintaining our commitment to the covenantal tradition that is at the base of genuine Jewish belief and practice. How can we simultaneously be both modern and authentically Jewish?” . . .

Borowitz . . . always subordinated his academic role as professor to his vocation as a moreh derekh—a spiritual guide. He told me that even as he taught at Harvard, Columbia, and Princeton, he remained on the HUC faculty because there he could offer daily Jewish prayer in a Jewish community. I found this profoundly moving and indicative of his deepest commitments and values.

Read more at Forward

More about: American Judaism, Eugene Borowitz, Judaism, Rabbis, Reform Judaism, Religion & Holidays

What a Strategic Victory in Gaza Can and Can’t Achieve

On Tuesday, the Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant met in Washington with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. Gallant says that he told the former that only “a decisive victory will bring this war to an end.” Shay Shabtai tries to outline what exactly this would entail, arguing that the IDF can and must attain a “strategic” victory, as opposed to merely a tactical or operational one. Yet even after a such a victory Israelis can’t expect to start beating their rifles into plowshares:

Strategic victory is the removal of the enemy’s ability to pose a military threat in the operational arena for many years to come. . . . This means the Israeli military will continue to fight guerrilla and terrorist operatives in the Strip alongside extensive activity by a local civilian government with an effective police force and international and regional economic and civil backing. This should lead in the coming years to the stabilization of the Gaza Strip without Hamas control over it.

In such a scenario, it will be possible to ensure relative quiet for a decade or more. However, it will not be possible to ensure quiet beyond that, since the absence of a fundamental change in the situation on the ground is likely to lead to a long-term erosion of security quiet and the re-creation of challenges to Israel. This is what happened in the West Bank after a decade of relative quiet, and in relatively stable Iraq after the withdrawal of the United States at the end of 2011.

Read more at BESA Center

More about: Gaza War 2023, Hamas, IDF