ד"ר אפרים חמיאל

The Middle Way
The Emergence of Modern-Religious Trends in Nineteenth-Century Judaism Responses to Modernity in the Philosophy of Z. H. Chajes, S. R. Hirsch and S. D. Luzzatto, Vols. I & II
EPHRAIM CHAMIEL
Publication Date: December 2014

Summary:
This book in two volumes is devoted to examining the first encounter between traditional Judaism and modern European culture, and the first thinkers who sought to combine the Torah with science, revelation with reason, prophecy with philosophy, Jewish ethics with European culture, worldliness with sanctity, and universalism with the particular redemption of the Jews. These religious thinkers of the nineteenth century struggled with challenges of the modern age that continue to confront the modern Jews to this day. This objective work of scholarship, neither simplistic and isolationist nor destructive and arrogant, will be of interest to the modern thinker and to scholars of the history of religions. It is relevant to comparative study between Judaism and the various denominations of Christianity and other faiths that seek to find a middle way between their traditions and modernity.

Praise for The Middle Way:
“I do not think I am mistaken in emphasizing that this is an excellent work. It contains an exhaustive and comprehensive discussion of the general issues, combined with incisive and careful treatment of the details and bibliography related to this topic. The great labor that has been invested in this work is amply rewarded, and it also opens the way for both scholars and general readers to understand the influence of these three major thinkers on modern Jewish thought.”
—Shalom Rosenberg, Departments of Philosophy and Jewish Thought, Hebrew University

About the Author:
Dr. Ephraim Chamiel earned his BA in economics and political science, and a diploma in business administration from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He worked in various executive positions for Bank Leumi, and in his fifties, returned to the university to study Jewish thought. He defended his dissertation in 2006 under the guidance of Professor S. Rosenberg and Dr. M. Silber (the present volume is a translation of the 2011 Hebrew publication of this study). His work explores the problem of combining the world of Torah and Jewish thought with the secular world, and considers this to be a matter of existential significance (one with which he struggles day in and day out). Presently, he conducts research and teaches in the field of modern Jewish thought at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His second book Ladaat Torah—a modern reading of the Pentateuch—was published in 2013 in Israel (Hebrew).

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Book review in Tradition magazine

49/3, 2016. US
 

Opinion by Michaek K. Silber
Dept. of Jewish History
Hebrew University

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