A plea far greater acceptance of dissent in Judaism was made here today by Dr. Abraham Joshua Heschel, professor of ethics and Mysticism at the Jewish Theological Seminary. Addressing the opening session of the five-day annual convention of the National Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs where he was presented with the 1971 award for “Distinguished Service to Jewry.” Dr. Heschel declared: “Judaism in its very essence came into being as an act of dissent, of dissent from paganism.” Noting that Judaism has two essential ingredients, faith and dissent, Dr. Heschel observed that “unless we continue to dissent, unless we continue to say ‘No’ to idol worship, in the name of a higher ‘Yes,’ we will revert to paganism.” Asking whether there is dissent in Judaism today, Dr. Heschel answered: “Too little, too feeble, creative dissent is not simply repudiation. Creative dissent comes out of faith offering alternatives, of vision. The scarcity of dissent today may be explained by the absence of assets that make creative dissent possible: deep caring, concern, untrammeled radical thinking unformed by rich learning, a degree of audacity or courage, and the power of the word.”
Dr. Heschel complained that “Judaism whose stance is audacity” is today presented in terms of “religious complacency. Judaism is a call of grandeur, but what we hear is a system of trivialities, theologies, cliches. What are the outstanding attributes of religious existence as commonly observed? Half-hearted, perfunctory, cursory, moderate, mediocre. Yet such a state is untenable contradiction. The meaning of Judaism is in its being a culmination, a climax: not a supplement, but the gist of existence; not a fraction but comprehensiveness; depth, not shallowness. The demand is for service of the heart; what is offered is lip service.” The presentation of the award was made by Dr. Heschel by Herman C. Rothenberg, honorary president of the Federation, and chairman of its Distinguished Service Award Committee. The Men’s Club Federation is part of the Conservative wing of Judaism and affiliated with the Jewish Theological Seminary and the United Synagogue of America.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
