The University of Wisconsin Press

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Autobiography / Philosophy / Judaica / European History

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An Epitaph for German Judaism From Halle to Jerusalem Emil Fackenheim Foreword by Michael Morgan Modern Jewish Philosophy and Religion: Translations and Critical Studies Elliot Wolfson and Barbara Galli, Series Editors "An illuminating and affecting memoir by a seminal Jewish thinker of the twentieth century."—Raul Hilberg, author of The Destruction of the European Jews Emil Fackenheim's life work was to call upon the world at large—and on philosophers, Christians, Jews, and Germans in particular—to confront the Holocaust as an unprecedented assault on the Jewish people, Judaism, and all humanity. In this memoir, to which he was making final revisions at the time of his death, Fackenheim looks back on his life, at the profound and painful circumstances that shaped him as a philosopher and a committed Jewish thinker. Interned for three months in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp after Kristallnacht, Fackenheim was released and escaped to Scotland and then to Canada, where he lived in a refugee internment camp before eventually becoming a congregational rabbi and then, for thirty-five years, a professor of philosophy. He recalls here what it meant to be a German Jew in North America, the desperate need to respond to the crisis in Europe and to cope with its overwhelming implications for Jewish identity and community. His second great turning point came in 1967, as he saw Jews threatened with another Holocaust, this time in Israel. This crisis led him on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and ultimately back to Germany, where he continued to grapple with the question, How can the Jewish faith—and the Christian faith—exist after the Holocaust? "Fackenheim's influence on present-day Jewish thought has been profound, and these memoirs show why."—Yehuda Bauer, Hebrew University, Jerusalem Emil Fackenheim (1916–2003) was a rabbi and professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto and the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. His many books include The Religious Dimension in Hegel's Thought, God's Presence in History, To Mend the World, and What Is Judaism? Media & bookseller inquiries regarding review copies, events, and interviews can be directed to the publicity department at publicity@uwpress.wisc.edu or (608) 263-0734. (If you want to examine a book for possible course use, please see our Course Books page. If you want to examine a book for possible rights licensing, please see Rights & Permissions.) Of Related Interest Jewish Scholarship and Culture in Nineteenth-Century Germany Between History and Faith Nils Roemer Media & bookseller inquiries regarding review copies, events, and interviews can be directed to the publicity department at publicity@uwpress.wisc.edu or (608) 263-0734. (If you want to examine a book for possible course use, please see our Course Books page. If you want to examine a book for possible rights licensing, please see Rights & Permissions.)

July 2007 LC: 2002004638 DS 394 pp. 6 x 9 Cloth $39.95 s ISBN 978-0-299-17590-0 ADD TO CART

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