Are you my Witnesses? The Use of Sources in Modern Jewish Thought

Abstract

Differences between contemporary Jews are often described as ‘‘choices in modern Jewish thought.’’ 1 Behind this term is the assumption that philosophical and theological commitments are at the heart of distinctions that separate Jews from one another. Recently, this idea has been challenged or undermined by the assertion that ‘‘the religious experience of modern Jews should concentrate far more on practice than on belief.’’ 2 Here, the emphasis is on the distinctions engendered by what Jews do, rather than by the ideas they claim to espouse. In this essay I want to suggest that alongside consideration of what a Jew believes and what a Jew does, there is a third category that distinguishes Jewish religious thinkers from one another—how and what a Jew quotes. Quotation has become the subject of significant attention in the fields of literary theory and cultural studies. 3 Scant regard, however, has been paid to the phenomenon of quotation in Jewish culture. 4 There is much work to be done in sketching a history, a phenomenology, a taxonomy and a poetics of Jewish quotation. In this article, we will concentrate on the role played by one saying—‘‘You are my witnesses’’ (Isaiah 43:12)—in the work of a number of key modern Jewish thinkers. My aim is to discuss some ways in which Jewish thinkers attempt to employ tradition to articulate, transmit and enhance a modern Jewish theology. The article will consider a number of recurrent themes in modern Jewish thought, such as the paradoxical relationship between divine power and human initiative and the role of the Jewish people after Auschwitz, and how this quotation is used by various thinkers to develop these and other themes. In so doing we may reflect on what this says about quotation and the horizon of interpretations a reading allows. The role that quotation plays in Jewish culture in general and in the formulation of modern Jewish theology in particular is significant and under-appreciated, and a consideration of this dimension yields