The Third Great Cycle of Jewish History
Halacha for Post-Moderns Beyond Religion and Secularism
Jewish scholar, writer, and Rabbi Irving “Yitz” Greenberg, reflects on the potential role of Jewish religious law (the halacha) in the modern world. He contends that the Holocaust brought about the idea of the “hidden God,” the God that no longer intercedes on the course of history. He suggests, therefore, that perhaps truly religious people are not those that strictly follow religious laws, but those who, knowingly or unknowingly, defend the Jewish people through their actions. Through these reflections Greenberg ultimately asks “what will be the pattern of the third cycle of Jewish history?” Will it be a pattern dependent on the halacha or independent of it? He raises two possibilities: that Judaism will either survive through the prominence of holy secularism or through narrowing the gap between the halacha and modern Jews.
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