Sunday, September 21, 2003

EMIL FACKENHEIM, the controversial Holocaust theologian, has died at age 87. There are obituaries in Ha'aretz and the Jerusalem Post. Excerpt from the latter:

Fackenheim, a refugee from Nazi Germany, was most known for formulating a post-Holocaust "614th commandment" for Jewish survival that declared, "Thou shalt not award Hitler any posthumous victories." Behind that seemingly simple statement lay a lifetime of work examining how Judaism and Jewish existence could remain meaningful in the shadow of the death camps.


Whatever one makes of his work, it was always thought provoking and challenging. May his memory be for a blessing.

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