Moses was the last non-Chassidic Jew to have a direct line to God. He gave us the Law, which God gave to him, and from then till now, the Chassids aside, that's what we have have had. There's no Revealed Truth beyond the Shema (which says that Adonai is the one God of Israel, and no more), there is a book of rules. Unlike Christians, for whom revelation is an important force in the hisrorical and current life of religion, it has not been for Jews, the lunatic fringe of the Chassids (and the Kabbalists) aside. Really truly! Btw I hear Madonna has become A Kabbalist, is this true, Doug?
--- "C. G. Estabrook" <galliher at alexia.lis.uiuc.edu>
wrote:
> Great on Straussian projection, but regarding Jews
> and revelation -- what
> was all that business about Sinai?
>
> For humor amongst the Germans we can go back to
> Marx' friend Heine (to
> whom Marx observed, "...there's no lack of
> clumsiness in Germany of
> whatever period") -- and you, appropriately given
> your nom de plume, could
> mention Brecht's humor. --CGE
>
>
> On Thu, 12 Feb 2004, andie nachgeborenen wrote:
>
> >
> > Jews don't do revelation. Ecstacy, maybe -- if you
> are a Chassid, but
> > that wasn't Strauss's schtick. He was with the
> Vilna Gaon, not the
> > Baal Shem Tov. Maybe he wanted to believe but --
> contrary to your
> > theory -- was actually traumatized and agonized by
> the death of God.
> > Nietzsche found it liberating (Now I don't have to
> deal with at that
> > mealy-mouthed Pietist crap!) but for a lot of
> people the realization
> > that we are really all alone in a big empty
> universe that doesn't care
> > about us and has no purpose except what we make up
> for ourselves
> > really hurts. The advantage of this reading of
> Strauss, its "fit" with
> > his esoteric teaching, is that it is precisely
> this fact that he
> > thinks the hoi poloi will not be able to bear.
> Isn't taht classic
> > projection -- that it was Leo who wasn't able to
> bear it?
> >
> > Yeah, he was humorlesss. But so was Heidegger,
> whom Arendt adored even
> > after he turned Nazi. Leo was a schmuck, OK, but
> what about Martin?
> > True, Heidegger had an aesthetic sense. His later
> writer is quite
> > beautiful in German. (Sein und Zeit, however . . .
> .) But frankly the
> > Germans have never been strong on humor. Arendt
> too. Or either, for
> > that matter. The Austrians, that's different. But
> we are not talking
> > about Austrians here.
> >
> > jks
> >
> >
> >
> > --- Chuck Grimes <cgrimes at rawbw.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > Steven Nadler, Spinoza: A Life (1999)
> > > Elisabeth Young-Bruehl, Hannah Arendt: For Love
> of
> > > the World (a wonderful
> > > read!)
> > >
> > > ken
> > > --------
> > >
> > > Yeah, I have the Arendt bio and have read it.
> The
> > > trouble is that
> > > Bruehl in subtle ways didn't understand some
> > > diminsions of
> > > Arendt, so she couldn't render certain passages
> very
> > > well. For
> > > example, Bruehl didn't understand the poetry and
> she
> > > didn't understand
> > > what Arendt and Heidegger were doing together.
> > >
> > > I am having a similar problem with Strauss. I am
> > > still brooding on
> > > what he wanted out of Judaism. I suspect he
> expected
> > > to be convinced
> > > of the actuality of revelation. I am almost
> certain
> > > he never had such
> > > an experience and he is extraordinarily blind to
> the
> > > aesthetic
> > > dimensions of life. It's like he has a
> fundamental
> > > block, so he can't
> > > feel anything. Oh, he can get angry and pissy,
> but
> > > he has no lyrical
> > > moments, ever. There is nothing funny about him.
> He
> > > can be sarcastic,
> > > but otherwise he is irony deficient.
> > >
> > > I have no doubt at all why Arendt told him to
> buzz
> > > off. Leo was a
> > > dower putz.
> > >
> > > Anyway, thanks for the Spinoza cite.
> > >
> > > Chuck Grimes
> > > ___________________________________
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