The Triumph of Life

Floor Speech

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Mrs. KIGGANS of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record remarks submitted at the request of a Virginia Beach constituent, Rabbi Dr. Israel Zoberman of Temple Lev Tikvah, and are a reflection of his views: The Jewish High Holy Days 5786

The Jewish High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, an ancient people's peak spiritual drama of courageous contemplation and heartfelt contrition, are captured in the life and work of Rabbi Irving Greenberg, acclaimed modern Orthodox rabbi and author. His latest book, The Triumph of Life (A Narrative Theology of Judaism), is Greenberg's own triumphant accomplishment offering Jews and non-Jews alike an encompassing scholarly yet accessible work of theological art, bound to rank high as a pioneering beacon of light, learning and enlightenment in our postmodern new age with revolutionary promise as well as colossal dark threats to human life, the painstakingly garnered civilization and the very survival of all life on our planet Earth. Greenberg attributes the impetus to writing this inspirational guide-- which aims to reassure readers from all persuasions that covenantal life of the spirit is worth laboring and fighting for--to his shaking 1961 experience in Israel while attending Tel Aviv University as a Fulbright scholar and encountering the enormity of the Holocaust for the first time.

Referring to the famous Adolf Eichmann trial of the notorious SS officer in Jerusalem, with profound impact on an entire mesmerized nation. I vividly recall as a teenager living then in Israel and myself son of Polish Holocaust survivors, the shock of the horrific events described by shaken witnesses. The author offers us a touching confessional of a crisis of faith of an Orthodox raised Jew, challenging his basic assumptions about God, covenant and life's meaning. ``My loving wife (Blu is a distinguished feminist Orthodox Jew and author) and family saved me from nihilism and despair by showing me the incredible tenacity and unspent power of embracing life. The emergent State of Israel suggested to me that the Divine was still operating in the world, and testified to the human capacity to take power for reestablishing life and reasserting its value.''

Referring to his book with its far-reaching conclusions of ushering in the hoped for messianic era which Greenberg testifies is within human reach in our postmodern era with its new opportunity for creative human unity within enriching diversity, upholding universal human dignity and equality via restoring God's violated image, ``I hope it will appeal to non-Jewish readers as well, especially to Christians, partners in the struggle to overcome millennia of hostility and delegitimization. People of all religions must work together to repair the world politically, economically, and culturally, and turn the Earth into the paradise all humans deserve.'' The admirable Orthodox rabbi who found his way back to faith and his own particular belief structure following a most challenging crisis impacted by the shattering Holocaust, was enabled to reach beyond the confines of his own faith's traditions and give credit where it's due.

His own Jewish people historically have not lacked fracturing divisions among opposing ideologies not allowing for urgently required unity at times of grave danger, such as during the Holocaust. The prosecution of the Gaza War following Hamas's barbarism both united and divided Israelis with a backlash of antisemitism in the United States and Europe. It is evident that events in Israel affect the Jewish Diaspora, even as the author emphasizes the debt of the latter to the Israeli partner. It is clear though that influential American Jewry is the glue to the essential relationship between Israel and the United States. Greenberg hails Israel's 1948 creation as reassuring that God's covenant with the Jewish people yet continues in spite of the Holocaust's heavy toll. The world's only Jewish state's robust democracy with multiple accomplishments benefiting humanity has served as a source of pride and unity to world Jewry even though challenges to Israel's existence and character persist from within and without. May life's universal blessing yet triumph!

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