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{{Short description|American rabbi}}
{{Short description|American rabbi}}
{{Infobox academic|name=Irving Greenberg|birth_name=Irving Yitzchak Greenberg|othernames=Yitz Greenberg|birth_date={{birth year and age|1933}}|education=[[Brooklyn College]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br />[[Harvard University]] ([[Master of Arts|MA]], [[PhD]])|discipline=[[History]]<br />[[Religious studies]]|sub_discipline=[[Jewish studies]]|workplaces=[[Brandeis University]]<br />[[Yeshiva University]]<br />[[Yeshivat Chovevei Torah]]<br />[[Yeshivat Hadar]]<br />[[Riverdale Jewish Center]]|spouse=[[Blu Greenberg]]|image=YitzGreenberg.jpg|birth_place=[[Brooklyn, New York]], U.S.}}
{{Infobox academic|name=Irving Greenberg|birth_name=Irving Yitzchak Greenberg|othernames=Yitz Greenberg|birth_date={{birth date and age|1933|05|16}}|education=[[Brooklyn College]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br />[[Harvard University]] ([[Master of Arts|MA]], [[PhD]])|discipline=[[History]]<br />[[Religious studies]]|sub_discipline=[[Jewish studies]]|workplaces=[[Brandeis University]]<br />[[Yeshiva University]]<br />[[Yeshivat Chovevei Torah]]<br />[[Yeshivat Hadar]]<br />[[Riverdale Jewish Center]]|spouse=[[Blu Greenberg]]|image=YitzGreenberg.jpg|birth_place=[[Brooklyn, New York]], U.S.}}


'''Irving Yitzchak Greenberg''' (born 1933), also known as '''Yitz Greenberg''', is an American scholar, author and rabbi.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Irving Greenberg|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/irving-greenberg|access-date=2020-07-02|website=www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org}}</ref> He is known as a strong supporter of [[Israel]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.clal.org/e102.html|title=Arnold Jacob Wolf, "The Revisionism of Irving Greenberg"|access-date=6 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207001210/http://www.clal.org/e102.html|archive-date=7 February 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> and a promoter of greater understanding between [[Judaism]] and [[Christianity]].<ref>[http://www.jewishpub.org/pdf/Greenberg247-249.pdf Carroll James, "In Appreciation of Irving Greenberg"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081119235341/http://www.jewishpub.org/pdf/Greenberg247-249.pdf |date=2008-11-19 }}</ref>
'''Irving Yitzchak Greenberg''' (born May 16, 1933), also known as '''Yitz Greenberg''', is an American scholar, author and rabbi.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Irving Greenberg|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/irving-greenberg|access-date=2020-07-02|website=www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org}}</ref> He is known as a strong supporter of [[Israel]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.clal.org/e102.html|title=Arnold Jacob Wolf, "The Revisionism of Irving Greenberg"|access-date=6 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207001210/http://www.clal.org/e102.html|archive-date=7 February 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> and a promoter of greater understanding between [[Judaism]] and [[Christianity]].<ref>[http://www.jewishpub.org/pdf/Greenberg247-249.pdf Carroll James, "In Appreciation of Irving Greenberg"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081119235341/http://www.jewishpub.org/pdf/Greenberg247-249.pdf |date=2008-11-19 }}</ref>


== Early life and education ==
==Early life and education==
Greenberg was born and raised in [[Brooklyn]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Irving Greenberg|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/irving-greenberg|access-date=2020-12-16|website=www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org}}</ref> He attended [[Novardok Yeshiva#Post World War II|Yeshiva Beis Yosef]], where he was [[semikha|ordained]] in 1953. At the same time, he attended [[Brooklyn College]], where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history, ''[[summa cum laude]].'' He later earned a Master of Arts and PhD in [[American history]] from [[Harvard University]].
Greenberg was born and raised in [[Brooklyn]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Irving Greenberg|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/irving-greenberg|access-date=2020-12-16|website=www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org}}</ref> He attended [[Novardok Yeshiva#Post World War II|Yeshiva Beis Yosef]], where he was [[semikha|ordained]] in 1953. At the same time, he attended [[Brooklyn College]], where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history, ''[[summa cum laude]].'' He later earned a Master of Arts and PhD in [[American history]] from [[Harvard University]], having written his dissertation on [[Theodore Roosevelt]] and the American labor movement.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Goodman |first1=Daniel Ross |title=Soloveitchik's Children: Irving Greenberg, David Hartman, Jonathan Sacks, and the Future of Jewish Theology in America |date=2023 |publisher=[[University of Alabama Press]] |location=Tuscaloosa |isbn=9780817360924 |page=13 |url=https://www.uapress.ua.edu/9780817360924/soloveitchiks-children/ |access-date=20 April 2024}}</ref>


== Career ==
==Career==
He served as the Jewish chaplain of [[Brandeis University]], the rabbi of the [[Riverdale Jewish Center]], an associate professor of history at [[Yeshiva University]], and as a founder, chairman, and professor in the department of Jewish studies of the [[City College of New York]].<ref>Beliefnet, "Rabbi Irving Greenberg: Beliefnet Columnist"</ref> He is on the faculty of the [[Open Orthodox]] [[Yeshivat Chovevei Torah]].<ref>[https://www.yctorah.org/staff/rabbi-irving-yitz-greenberg/ Rabbi Irving (Yitz) Greenberg], yctorah.org/staff</ref> He has also served as the President of the [[National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership]].
He served as the Jewish chaplain of [[Brandeis University]], the rabbi of the [[Riverdale Jewish Center]], an associate professor of history at [[Yeshiva University]], and as a founder, chairman, and professor in the department of Jewish studies of the [[City College of New York]].<ref>Beliefnet, "Rabbi Irving Greenberg: Beliefnet Columnist"</ref> He is currently on the faculty of [[Yeshivat Chovevei Torah]].<ref>[https://www.yctorah.org/staff/rabbi-irving-yitz-greenberg/ Rabbi Irving (Yitz) Greenberg], yctorah.org/staff</ref> He has also served as the President of the [[National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership]].


In 2020, Greenberg joined the faculty of the non-denominational, liberal-leaning [[Yeshivat Hadar]] as the Senior Scholar in Residence.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-07-06|title=J.J. Greenberg Institute for the Advancement of Jewish Life Will Join with Hadar|url=https://ejewishphilanthropy.com/j-j-greenberg-institute-for-the-advancement-of-jewish-life-will-join-with-hadar/|access-date=2020-07-15|website=eJewish Philanthropy|language=en-US}}</ref>
In 2020, Greenberg joined the faculty of the non-denominational, liberal-leaning [[Yeshivat Hadar]] as the Senior Scholar in Residence.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-07-06|title=J.J. Greenberg Institute for the Advancement of Jewish Life Will Join with Hadar|url=https://ejewishphilanthropy.com/j-j-greenberg-institute-for-the-advancement-of-jewish-life-will-join-with-hadar/|access-date=2020-07-15|website=eJewish Philanthropy|language=en-US}}</ref>


=== Ideology ===
===Ideology===
Greenberg's thought involves reading current Jewish history through use of traditional Jewish categories of thought. He has written extensively about the Holocaust and about the historical and religious significance of the State of Israel.
Greenberg's thought involves reading current Jewish history through use of traditional Jewish categories of thought. He has written extensively about the Holocaust and about the historical and religious significance of the State of Israel.


He learned Jewish thought from Rabbi [[Joseph B. Soloveitchik]]. He has taught extensively, and a number of well-known scholars, including Rabbi [[Joseph Telushkin]] and Michael Berenbaum, consider him their mentor.
He learned Jewish thought from Rabbi [[Joseph B. Soloveitchik]]. He has taught extensively, and a number of well-known scholars, including Rabbi [[Joseph Telushkin]] and Michael Berenbaum, consider him their mentor.


Greenberg espouses the concept of "[[Tikkun Olam]]" (repairing the world) as humanity working, as co-creator with God, in improving the world. He sees the Jewish people's covenant with God as enjoining them to set an example for the moral edification of mankind. Another concept is his idea that the image of God in all humans implies that each person has "infinite value, equality, uniqueness".<ref>p. 387, [http://rabbiirvinggreenberg.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Seeking-Religious-Roots_Journal-of-Ecumenical-Studies_red.pdf "Seeking the Religious Roots of Pluralism: In the Image of God and Covenant" in Journal of Ecumenical Studies 34:3] (Summer 1997).</ref> According to Greenberg, that means that there is no absolute truth or correct religion: "Part of every truth is the fact that an image of God is speaking it; that is to say, a being of infinite value, equality, and uniqueness is speaking it."<ref>p. 390, ibid.</ref>
Greenberg espouses the concept of "[[Tikkun Olam]]" (repairing the world) as humanity working, as co-creator with God, in improving the world. He sees the Jewish people's covenant with God as enjoining them to set an example for the moral edification of mankind. Another concept is his idea that the image of God in all humans implies that each person has "infinite value, equality, uniqueness".<ref>p. 387, [http://rabbiirvinggreenberg.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Seeking-Religious-Roots_Journal-of-Ecumenical-Studies_red.pdf "Seeking the Religious Roots of Pluralism: In the Image of God and Covenant" in Journal of Ecumenical Studies 34:3]{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} (Summer 1997).</ref> According to Greenberg, that means that there is no absolute truth or correct religion: "Part of every truth is the fact that an image of God is speaking it; that is to say, a being of infinite value, equality, and uniqueness is speaking it."<ref>p. 390, ibid.</ref>


Only part of his post-Holocaust theology has been published.<ref>Wrestling with God, Oxford University Press 2007</ref> Greenberg, in contrast to traditional Jewish understanding, understands that God has broken a covenant with the Jewish people. He sees the Holocaust as a seminal event in Jewish history, which should be seen as the "breaking of the covenant" between God and the Jewish People. It is also latest stage in God's ''[[tzimtzum]]'' from the world. According to Greenberg, the Holocaust drives home the point that the fate of the world is in humanity's hands. If there can be such a strong evil in the world as manifest in the Holocaust, there can also be realized in the world the most incredible good.
Only part of his post-Holocaust theology has been published.<ref>Wrestling with God, Oxford University Press 2007</ref> Greenberg, in contrast to traditional Jewish understanding, understands that God has broken a covenant with the Jewish people. He sees the Holocaust as a seminal event in Jewish history, which should be seen as the "breaking of the covenant" between God and the Jewish People. It is also latest stage in God's ''[[tzimtzum]]'' from the world. According to Greenberg, the Holocaust drives home the point that the fate of the world is in humanity's hands. If there can be such a strong evil in the world as manifest in the Holocaust, there can also be realized in the world the most incredible good.


Greenberg's theological views have been criticized by historian [[David Berger (historian)|David Berger]].<ref>http://traditionarchive.org/news/_pdfs/berger.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</ref>
Greenberg's theological views have been criticized by historian [[David Berger (historian)|David Berger]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Berger |first=David |date=2005 |title=Review Essay: COVENANTS, MESSIAHS AND RELIGIOUS BOUNDARIES |url=http://traditionarchive.org/news/_pdfs/berger.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=[[Tradition (journal)|Tradition]] |volume=39 |issue=2 |pages=66-78 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160513155905/http://traditionarchive.org/news/_pdfs/berger.pdf |archive-date=2016-05-13}}</ref>


In the 1980s, Greenberg was involved in a controversial debate with the late Rabbi [[Meir Kahane]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Greenberg|first1=Irving|title=(Orthodo)X-Men, On Screen and Off|url=http://forward.com/opinion/7470/orthodo-x-men-on-screen-and-off/|website=Forward|date=June 13, 2003}}</ref>
In the 1980s, Greenberg was involved in a controversial debate with the late Rabbi [[Meir Kahane]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Greenberg|first1=Irving|title=(Orthodo)X-Men, On Screen and Off|url=http://forward.com/opinion/7470/orthodo-x-men-on-screen-and-off/|website=Forward|date=June 13, 2003}}</ref>


== Personal life ==
==Personal life==
He is married to the Orthodox Jewish [[feminist]] writer [[Blu Greenberg]].
He is married to the Orthodox Jewish [[feminist]] writer [[Blu Greenberg]].


== Works ==
==Works==

* ''Cloud of Smoke, Pillar of Fire: Judaism, Christianity, Modernity After the Holocaust'' (1976)
* ''Cloud of Smoke, Pillar of Fire: Judaism, Christianity, Modernity After the Holocaust'' (1976)
* ''The Third Great Cycle of Jewish History'' (1981)
* ''The Third Great Cycle of Jewish History'' (1981)
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* ''For the Sake of Heaven and Earth: The New Encounter Between Judaism and Christianity'' (2004)
* ''For the Sake of Heaven and Earth: The New Encounter Between Judaism and Christianity'' (2004)
* ''Sage Advice - Commentary on Pirkei Avot'' (2016)
* ''Sage Advice - Commentary on Pirkei Avot'' (2016)
* ''Ohr Yisrael and Other Writings By Rabbi Israel Salanter'' (2024)
* ''The Triumph of Life: A Narrative Theology of Judaism'' (2024)


== References ==
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Reflist}}


== External links ==
==External links==
{{Wikiquote|Irving Greenberg}}
{{Wikiquote|Irving Greenberg}}
* [http://rabbiirvinggreenberg.com/ Rabbi Irving Greenberg] - website
* [http://rabbiirvinggreenberg.com/ Rabbi Irving Greenberg] - website
* [http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/results.cfm?Authored=Yitz-Greenberg&AuthorID=1730 Articles by Yitz Greenberg] on the Berman Jewish Policy Archive @ NYU Wagner
* [http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/results.cfm?Authored=Yitz-Greenberg&AuthorID=1730 Articles by Yitz Greenberg] on the Berman Jewish Policy Archive @ NYU Wagner
* [http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Irving+Greenberg+and+a+Jewish+Dialectic+of+Hope.-a064332271 "Irving Greenberg and a Jewish Dialectic of Hope"] by Michael Oppenheim, from ''Judaism: A Quarterly Journal of Jewish Life and Thought'', Vol. 49, No. 2
* [http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Irving+Greenberg+and+a+Jewish+Dialectic+of+Hope.-a064332271 "Irving Greenberg and a Jewish Dialectic of Hope"] by Michael Oppenheim, from ''Judaism: A Quarterly Journal of Jewish Life and Thought'', Vol. 49, No. 2
* [http://frontrow.bc.edu/program/greenberg/ Lecture by Greenberg] at [[Boston College]]
* [http://frontrow.bc.edu/program/greenberg/ Lecture by Greenberg] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206041725/http://frontrow.bc.edu/program/greenberg/ |date=2012-02-06 }} at [[Boston College]]


{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}
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[[Category:Christian and Jewish interfaith dialogue]]
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[[Category:City College of New York faculty]]
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[[Category:Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni]]
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[[Category:Yeshiva University faculty]]
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Latest revision as of 23:27, 5 November 2024

Irving Greenberg
Born
Irving Yitzchak Greenberg

(1933-05-16) May 16, 1933 (age 91)
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Other namesYitz Greenberg
SpouseBlu Greenberg
Academic background
EducationBrooklyn College (BA)
Harvard University (MA, PhD)
Academic work
DisciplineHistory
Religious studies
Sub-disciplineJewish studies
InstitutionsBrandeis University
Yeshiva University
Yeshivat Chovevei Torah
Yeshivat Hadar
Riverdale Jewish Center

Irving Yitzchak Greenberg (born May 16, 1933), also known as Yitz Greenberg, is an American scholar, author and rabbi.[1] He is known as a strong supporter of Israel,[2] and a promoter of greater understanding between Judaism and Christianity.[3]

Early life and education

[edit]

Greenberg was born and raised in Brooklyn.[4] He attended Yeshiva Beis Yosef, where he was ordained in 1953. At the same time, he attended Brooklyn College, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history, summa cum laude. He later earned a Master of Arts and PhD in American history from Harvard University, having written his dissertation on Theodore Roosevelt and the American labor movement.[5]

Career

[edit]

He served as the Jewish chaplain of Brandeis University, the rabbi of the Riverdale Jewish Center, an associate professor of history at Yeshiva University, and as a founder, chairman, and professor in the department of Jewish studies of the City College of New York.[6] He is currently on the faculty of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah.[7] He has also served as the President of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership.

In 2020, Greenberg joined the faculty of the non-denominational, liberal-leaning Yeshivat Hadar as the Senior Scholar in Residence.[8]

Ideology

[edit]

Greenberg's thought involves reading current Jewish history through use of traditional Jewish categories of thought. He has written extensively about the Holocaust and about the historical and religious significance of the State of Israel.

He learned Jewish thought from Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik. He has taught extensively, and a number of well-known scholars, including Rabbi Joseph Telushkin and Michael Berenbaum, consider him their mentor.

Greenberg espouses the concept of "Tikkun Olam" (repairing the world) as humanity working, as co-creator with God, in improving the world. He sees the Jewish people's covenant with God as enjoining them to set an example for the moral edification of mankind. Another concept is his idea that the image of God in all humans implies that each person has "infinite value, equality, uniqueness".[9] According to Greenberg, that means that there is no absolute truth or correct religion: "Part of every truth is the fact that an image of God is speaking it; that is to say, a being of infinite value, equality, and uniqueness is speaking it."[10]

Only part of his post-Holocaust theology has been published.[11] Greenberg, in contrast to traditional Jewish understanding, understands that God has broken a covenant with the Jewish people. He sees the Holocaust as a seminal event in Jewish history, which should be seen as the "breaking of the covenant" between God and the Jewish People. It is also latest stage in God's tzimtzum from the world. According to Greenberg, the Holocaust drives home the point that the fate of the world is in humanity's hands. If there can be such a strong evil in the world as manifest in the Holocaust, there can also be realized in the world the most incredible good.

Greenberg's theological views have been criticized by historian David Berger.[12]

In the 1980s, Greenberg was involved in a controversial debate with the late Rabbi Meir Kahane.[13]

Personal life

[edit]

He is married to the Orthodox Jewish feminist writer Blu Greenberg.

Works

[edit]
  • Cloud of Smoke, Pillar of Fire: Judaism, Christianity, Modernity After the Holocaust (1976)
  • The Third Great Cycle of Jewish History (1981)
  • Voluntary Covenant (1982)
  • The Jewish Way: Living the Holidays (1988)
  • The Ethics of Jewish Power (1990)
  • Judaism and Christianity: Their Respective Roles in the Divine Strategy of Redemption (1996)
  • Covenantal Pluralism (1997)
  • Living in the Image of God: Jewish Teachings to Perfect the World (1998)
  • For the Sake of Heaven and Earth: The New Encounter Between Judaism and Christianity (2004)
  • Sage Advice - Commentary on Pirkei Avot (2016)
  • Ohr Yisrael and Other Writings By Rabbi Israel Salanter (2024)
  • The Triumph of Life: A Narrative Theology of Judaism (2024)

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Irving Greenberg". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved 2020-07-02.
  2. ^ "Arnold Jacob Wolf, "The Revisionism of Irving Greenberg"". Archived from the original on 7 February 2012. Retrieved 6 April 2018.
  3. ^ Carroll James, "In Appreciation of Irving Greenberg" Archived 2008-11-19 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ "Irving Greenberg". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved 2020-12-16.
  5. ^ Goodman, Daniel Ross (2023). Soloveitchik's Children: Irving Greenberg, David Hartman, Jonathan Sacks, and the Future of Jewish Theology in America. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. p. 13. ISBN 9780817360924. Retrieved 20 April 2024.
  6. ^ Beliefnet, "Rabbi Irving Greenberg: Beliefnet Columnist"
  7. ^ Rabbi Irving (Yitz) Greenberg, yctorah.org/staff
  8. ^ "J.J. Greenberg Institute for the Advancement of Jewish Life Will Join with Hadar". eJewish Philanthropy. 2020-07-06. Retrieved 2020-07-15.
  9. ^ p. 387, "Seeking the Religious Roots of Pluralism: In the Image of God and Covenant" in Journal of Ecumenical Studies 34:3[permanent dead link‍] (Summer 1997).
  10. ^ p. 390, ibid.
  11. ^ Wrestling with God, Oxford University Press 2007
  12. ^ Berger, David (2005). "Review Essay: COVENANTS, MESSIAHS AND RELIGIOUS BOUNDARIES" (PDF). Tradition. 39 (2): 66–78. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-05-13.
  13. ^ Greenberg, Irving (June 13, 2003). "(Orthodo)X-Men, On Screen and Off". Forward.
[edit]
Wikiquote has quotations related to Irving Greenberg.
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