Papers by Joseph Isaac Lifshitz
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Perception of God as the essence of life. Moses was chosen because he noticed life in the burning... more Perception of God as the essence of life. Moses was chosen because he noticed life in the burning bush. Not because he noticed a miracle. The ability to recognize life in a dyeing bush enabled him to be a leader of a dyeing nation.
Jewish Virtue Ethics , 2024
Throughout the twelfth and thirteenth centuries a pietistic movement arose among the Jews in Germ... more Throughout the twelfth and thirteenth centuries a pietistic movement arose among the Jews in Germany. It was not a large movement, and probably not homogenous in its theology and its ethics. Among these pietists, the most renowned, and probably most influential, are Rabbi Shmuel He-Hasid, his son, Rabbi Judah He-Hasid, and Judah's disciple, Rabbi Elazar of Worms, all of them descended from the Kalonymus family who immigrated from northern Italy. Shmuel and his son Judah lived in Speyer and moved later to Regensburg. 1 Judah is known as the author of Sefer Hasidim, a collection of customs, laws, and ethics. His disciple, Elazar, was born in Mainz in 1180 and lived most of his life in Worms, where he died in 1240. Judah's most prolific disciple, Elazar wrote biblical and Talmudic commentary, commentary on the Jewish prayer book, poetry, halakhah and mystical works. He is best known for his influential book Sefer ha-Rokeaḥ, a book of Jewish law, which includes some ethics and theology. 2 What unites these pietists, as well as other pietists in Germany, are manifestations of ascetism as acts of self-denial, self-humiliation, and pronounced stringency in ritual matters. 3 Yet different protagonists among the Hasidim focused on different issues. Judah He-Hasid's Sefer Hasidim gave extensive attention to ethical issues, including charitable
SUNY Press eBooks, Aug 1, 2023
Cambridge University Press eBooks, Oct 29, 2015
The Routledge Handbook of Economic Theology, 2020
Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg and the Foundation of Jewish Political Thought, 2015
Spontaneous order theory may be better understood in the context of its philosophical background,... more Spontaneous order theory may be better understood in the context of its philosophical background, whether Hayek himself was aware of it or not. Social connections, interpersonal relations or intimacy are the bases of spontaneous order. In this paper, social connections are discussed as regards their influence on the German romantic school and its effects on philosophers such as Martin Heidegger. Heidegger’s ideas of perceiving society holistically and of understanding human interactions as the basis of human society helped to generate a theory that is related to spontaneous orders in the social sphere. Understanding spontaneous order theory in the context of Heideggerian thought generates an appreciation of the role of regulation in the market, given its spontaneous nature. Assuming spontaneity does not presume a rejection of intervention but rather a negation of the analytic approach, which assumes that one can take apart the market and put it back together in a new order. Instead,...
Is Judaism Democratic?, 2018
The Journal of Markets and Morality, 2010
Jewish political thought expresses itself primarily through law, rather than through the typical ... more Jewish political thought expresses itself primarily through law, rather than through the typical Greek search for the best political regime. A result of this common difficulty is identifying and formulating the principles that are clearly, in some way, at work. This article focuses on the legal concept of the kahal, the Jewish name for the political body. The main definition of the kahal is spatial—the community of Jews living in the Land of Israel—rather than structural or organizational. Indeed, the kahal can best be understood as a spontaneous order (in Hayek’s sense) and not as an order of organization. This kahal, though it comes into being in a spontaneous way, also serves as a platform on which the political body can also be arranged in an organized fashion. Joseph Isaac Lifshitz, "The Place of Developmental Self-Ordering in Judaism: Kahal as Spontaneous Order," Journal of Markets & Morality 13, no. 1 (Spring 2010): 189-203
A study of holiness in time and space illumines the phenomenon of holiness in ways that an abstra... more A study of holiness in time and space illumines the phenomenon of holiness in ways that an abstract conceptual study would not. Holiness is not only about separation and restraint but also yearning and longing. It entails more than the combination of mysterium and fascination, awe and wonder. Although in part an affective state; holiness also presupposes the reality of a deity. Holiness draws humans to respond actively and to come close despite the awe of God. Holiness as attached to the world, to time and space, has ramifications for human action. It has both theological and legal dimensions. These two are often in tension, but, especially in the Torah, are never separated. The legal is in effect based on the theological; the theological dimension is expressed by the norms and rules of law. These two dimensions are found in the theology and laws of the land of Israel as expressed in the Torah.
One description of the people of Israel is Kahal, a category that the Talmud is also concerned wi... more One description of the people of Israel is Kahal, a category that the Talmud is also concerned with. This category was further employed later in the middle ages, and was given to the Jewish community, although some times with a little twist, the Kehila. This paper will focus mainly on the question of the formation of the Kahal as a large political body in the Bible and in the Talmud, and explore the political implications that can be derived from it. The Kahal as a spontaneously-defined, non-organized political body must be clarified. To this end, I will borrow theoretical frameworks of Friedrich Hayek and Michael Polanyi.
1The more moderate scholars point to Jewish law’s commitment to principles of social justice, whi... more 1The more moderate scholars point to Jewish law’s commitment to principles of social justice, which allow the individual liberties up to a certain point while obligating him to be socially responsible and to engage in give-and-take with others. Such claims about the imperative of social justice are often based on the limitations placed by Jewish law on personal ownership, the land-connected commandments of aid to the poor, and the custom of Jewish communities to enforce charity-giving. The prohibition against working the land in the Land of Israel during the Sabbatical Year, and the obligation to return land to its original owners during the Jubilee Year, point to the fact that in Judaism the individual is not considered to be
In his Mishneh Torah, Maimonides is known to have been extremely particular and exacting in his t... more In his Mishneh Torah, Maimonides is known to have been extremely particular and exacting in his terminology and language use. Though, as opposed to the term 0 2 B E shemot she einam nimhakim ('names that may not be erased'), which are detailed explicitly, Maimonides does not list the names that come under the category of the term shemot meyuhadim ('specific names'), a term that appears several times in Maimonides' writings. This ambiguity has created controversy over the generations, with some commentators suggesting that the two terms are synonymous. In this article I will examine both terms and the different contexts in which Maimonides uses them.
Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg and the Foundation of Jewish Political Thought, 2015
Journal of Markets Morality, Jan 25, 2012
Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg and the Foundation of Jewish Political Thought, 2015
Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg and the Foundation of Jewish Political Thought, 2015
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Papers by Joseph Isaac Lifshitz