Two have Hold of a Tallit: Abraham Joshua Heschel's Rabbinic Scholarship

Abstract

I am a congregational Rabbi; neither an academic scholar of Rabbinics, nor an academic scholar of twentieth-century theology. I was also not the first person Professor Saperstein asked to address a conference designed to appreciate and assess the enduring influence of Professor Heschel’s work on Rabbinic Judaism, which is fine. I would also not have been the first person I would have asked. The first person asked to assess the ‘enduring influence’ of Heschel’s work on Rabbinics was a proper scholar of Rabbinics and that person declined, saying they had never read Heschel’s most important book on Rabbinics – Torah Min HaShamayim.