|
Ohr Chadash אור חדשׁ Writings on Jewish Themes Martin Zwick משה צביק “Ohr Chadash,” which means “a new light,” are the first words of the prayer, “A new light will illuminate Zion.” Below are links to and abstracts from papers on Jewish religious and philosophical themes. Click on the underlined link to go to the actual paper (via the Portland State University archives); click on the word “Abstract” if you just want to read the paper’s abstract. My book, Elements and Relations: Aspects of a Scientific Metaphysics (2023) , primarily about systems theory and philosophy, includes Jewish content; see the Index. More on Elements and Relations is here. Rosenzweig's The Star
of Redemption Words and
Diagrams about Rosenzweig's Star (2020) Naharaim 2020; 14(1): 5-33, an expanded version of the 2019
paper. [Abstract] Diachronics of Redemption: A Systems-Theoretic
View of Rosenzweig's Star (2019) Presentation at "Back to Redemption," International
Rosenzweig Society Conference, Feb. 17-22, 2019, Jerusalem, Israel. [Abstract] Rosenzweig’s Star and Systems Theory (2018) Presentation to the Northwest Philosophy Conference,
Bellevue College, Washington, Oct 19-20, 2018. [Abstract] Mussar Mussar and
Esotericism in Revolutionary Russia (2024) Presentation at the Western Jewish Studies Association
meeting, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, May 5-6 2024. [Abstract] Jewish Mussar and Confucian Self-Cultivation (2019) Presentation at the Western Jewish Studies Association
meeting, Palm Desert, California, May 5-6 2019. [Abstract] Mussar (a short historical perspective) and
Spinoza (2016) Presentation at the Western Judaic Studies Association meeting,
Salem, Oregon, April 20, 2016. [Abstract] Mussar and the Renewal of Judaism (2011) An unpublished paper. Mussar has since become more widely
known, and the Mussar Institute is having a significant impact on Jewish
life. [Abstract] Kabbalistic Tree Polymorphism and
Polysemy in Images of the Sefirot (2021) Presented at Western Jewish Studies Association 25th annual
meeting (virtual, University of Nevada, Las Vegas), March 21, 2021. [Abstract] Symbolic Structures as Systems: On the Near
Isomorphism of Two Religious Symbols (2010) In Markus Locker, ed., Systems Theory and Theology: The
Living Interplay between Science and Religion (Eugene: Pickwick
Publications), 62-96. This article is a longer version -- including
systems-theoretic observations -- of the 2009 Religion East and West article
on the same subject. [Abstract] The
Diagram of the Supreme Pole & the
Kabbalistic Tree: On the Similarity of Two Symbolic Structures (2009) Religion East & West,
the Journal of the Institute for Word Religions, Issue #9, October 2009,
67-87. [Abstract] Other Topics Tikkun
Viewed from the Perspective of Systems Philosophy [Abstract] Western Judaic Studies Association conference, March 16-17,
2025, San Diego CA A Conversation on Theodicy (2008) The Global Spiral (Metanexus), January
9, 2008. [Abstract] Thoughts
on Some Shabbat Prayers (2002) These thoughts were
inspired by interactions with P’nai Or Rabbi Aryeh Hirshfield. The home page
devoted to the memory of Reb Aryeh, which is a blessing, is here. [Introduction] ABSTRACTS ____________________________________________________________ Words and Diagrams about Rosenzweig's Star (2020) This article explores aspects of Rosenzweig’s Star of
Redemption from the perspective of systems theory. Mosès, Pollock, and others
have noted the systematic character of The
Star. While “systematic” does not mean “systems theoretic,” the
philosophical theology of The Star encompasses ideas that are salient
in systems theory. The Magen David star to which the title refers, and which
deeply structures Rosenzweig’s thought, fits the classic definition of
“system” – a set of elements (God, World, Human) and relations between the
elements (Creation, Revelation, Redemption). The Yes and No of the elements
and their reversals illustrate the bridging of element and relation with the
third category of “attribute,” a notion also central to the definition of
“system.” In the diachronics of “the All,” the relations actualize what is
only potential in the elements in their primordial state and thus remedy the
incompleteness of these elements, fusing them into an integrated whole.
Incompleteness is a major theme of systems theory, which also explicitly
examines the relations between wholes and parts and offers a formal framework
for expressing such fusions. In this article, the systems character of Parts I & II
of The Star is explored through extensive
use of diagrams; a systems exploration of Part III is left for future work.
Remarkably, given its highly architectonic character, diagrams are absent in
Rosenzweig’s book, except for the triangle of elements, the triangle of
relations, and the hexadic star, which are presented on the opening page of
each part of the book. While structures can be explicated entirely in words,
diagrams are a visual medium of communication that supplements words and
supports a nonverbal understanding that structures both thought and
experience. ________________________________ Diachronics of Redemption: A Systems-Theoretic View of
Rosenzweig's Star (2019) This paper explores Rosenzweig’s idea of Redemption by an
interpretative examination of the conceptual structures of The Star of Redemption. These structures, in which
Redemption is integrated with the other two relations, Creation and
Revelation, and with the three elements of God, World, and Human, are
examined from the perspective of contemporary systems theory. Moses, Pollock,
and others have noted the systematic character of The Star. While
“systematic” does not necessarily mean “systems-theoretic,” the philosophical
theology of The Star and its core hexad of elements and relations
exemplify many ideas salient in the systems theory literature. The hexadic
star itself fits the classic definition of “system,” and the Yes and No of
Rosenzweig’s elements and their reversals illustrate the bridging, in this
definition, of element and relation with the third category of “attribute.”
Rosenzweig’s thought resonates with the opposing ontological and
epistemological conceptions of “system,” the constitutiveness of function as
well as structure, and the diachronics of system formation which are
fundamental to systems thought. In its notions of All, Nothing, One, and
Many, The Star also offers a systems metaphysics
of number. In this paper, the systems character of The Star is illustrated by extensive use of diagrams.
Remarkably, given its highly architectonic character, diagrams are absent in
Rosenzweig’s book, except for the triangle of elements, the triangle of
relations, and the hexadic star that open its three parts. While conceptual
structure can be explicated entirely in words, diagrams supplement words with
a visual medium of communication that is deeply concordant with The
Star’s message and that supports a nonverbal dimension of understanding
encompassing both intellect and experience. ________________________________ Rosenzweig’s Star and Systems Theory (2018) Moses, Pollock, and others have noted the highly systematic
character of Rosenzweig’s The Star of Redemption.
This paper shows that the philosophical theology of The Star embodies
ideas central to systems theory. The Star is based on a discussion of
three elements – God, World, and Man – and three relations that they enter
into – Creation, Revelation, and Redemption. For Rosenzweig, these elements
and relations constitute the “All.” This hexad illustrates the
definition of “system,” and in The Star, other systems ideas,
including the ontological vs epistemological perspectives, structure and function,
synchronics and diachronics, and the metaphysics of number are also salient. _____________________________________________________________ Mussar and Esotericism in Revolutionary Russia (2024) This
paper is an introductory comparative look at teachings of two spiritual
figures in pre-revolutionary and revolutionary Russia: Rav Yoseph Yozel
(Horowitz) and George Gurdjieff. Yozel founded the Novarodok school of Mussar;
Gurdjieff founded the spiritual tradition known as “the Work” or “Fourth
Way.” There are of course great differences between the Jewish tradition of
Mussar, whose literature dates back to the Mishnah but which as a social
movement was launched by Rabbi Israel Salantar in the late 19th century, and
the Work, with its affinities to Eastern Christianity, Buddhism, and Sufism
but with no apparent connection to Judaism. Still, some similarities are to
be expected between spiritual disciplines. This paper touches on some
similarities of spiritual exercises in the Mussar school of Novarodok (and
secondarily in later Mussar teachings) and in the early Gurdjieff Work,
similarities that are interesting given the sharp differences in their Jewish
and non-Jewish contexts. ________________________________ Jewish Mussar and Confucian Self-Cultivation (2019) This paper briefly explores similarities between two
traditions of ethical practice: Jewish Mussar and Confucian self-cultivation.
There are of course also significant differences. Judaism is God-centric
while Confucianism is human-centric, but Mussar’s psychological orientation
makes it a relatively humanistic aspect of Judaism. Also, Confucianism has a
notion of Heaven and sees human moral behavior as reflecting heavenly
virtues; Ching describes Confucianism as “lay spirituality.” Both traditions take as an ideal type someone who is both a
moral person and a scholar. In their views on human nature neither posited a
blank slate. In Judaism, there is a “good yetser” and a “bad yetser,” the
latter really a lower nature that should help the higher. We are born with
the bad yetser, while the good yetser emerges in puberty, but Judaism also
asserts that the human being is created in the image of God and that the
highest level of soul is pure. A comparable duality exists in Confucian
thought: Mencius regarded human nature as good, while Xunzi asserted that it
was bad. Xunzi had a notion similar to the Mussar idea that both good and bad
natures should serve Heaven. Both Mussar and Confucianism offer a spiritual psychology in
which emotion is as central as intellect, and in which it is a moral obligation
to train one’s heart to have emotions of generosity. The followers of both
traditions kept moral diaries. Another interesting parallel is that Confucianism
also recognized the importance of the dual aims referred to in Mussar as
tikkun ha-yetser and kibbush ha-yetser. Both traditions valued humility, not
only as a sign of moral development, but as a spiritual exercise that facilitates
such development. _________________________________ Mussar (a short historical perspective) and Spinoza (2016) This talk will be in two parts. First, I’ll give a bird’s
eye view of Mussar in Jewish thought to provide some context for the Shlain
film (“The Making of
a Mensch,” Tiffany Shlain & The Moxie Institute Films) and for Bob
Liebman’s analysis of the contemporary revival of Mussar; but this will only
approximate an adequate account, since everything is more complex than I have
time to describe. Second, I’ll introduce the idea that Spinoza is relevant to
the ethical and spiritual project of Mussar. _________________________________ Mussar and the Renewal of Judaism (2011) In its neglect of Mussar, Judaism has been missing a big
opportunity. No other component of Jewish thought and practice --
neither Halachic observance, nor mysticism or Ḥasidut, nor commitment
to Israel, nor Jewish culture, nor action for social justice – can serve as
well as Mussar as a vital center of a renewed Judaism and a unifying factor
that can appeal to every kind of Jew. _____________________________________________________________ Polymorphism and Polysemy in Images of the Sefirot (2021) The
resurgence of interest in Kabbalistic diagrams (Segol, Busi, Chajes) raises the question of how diagrams function in
religious symbolism. This question can be approached via methods used in the
graphical modeling of data. Specifically, graph theory lets one define a
repertoire of candidate structures that can be applied not only to
quantitative data, but also to symbols consisting of qualitative
components. A
graph is a set of nodes and links between nodes. What nodes and links are is
unspecified in this definition. The Kabbalistic Ilan is – partially – a
graph. The Sefirot are its nodes; the paths connecting the Sefirot are its
links. The idea of a graph is actually not adequate to the Ilan, because in a
graph nodes can be anywhere in space, while in the Ilan arrangement in space
is significant and not arbitrary. However, graph theory can be supplemented
with spatial considerations. What (an augmented) graph theory offers that is
of special interest is a way to conceptualize the structural polymorphism of
a symbol, i.e., the various decompositions possible for the symbol viewed as
a graph. Structural
polymorphism correlates with conceptual polysemy. A structural decomposition
conveys a particular interpretation of the symbol, and to viewers of the
symbol the variety of possible decompositions presents simultaneously a
multiplicity of meanings. This polymorphism and thus polysemy is what gives
many symbols their richness and evocative power. This paper will apply the
graph theory-based methodology of decomposition to the Kabbalistic images of
the Sefirot. ________________________________ Symbolic Structures as Systems: On the Near Isomorphism of Two
Religious Symbols (2010) Many symbolic structures used in religious and philosophical
traditions are composed of “elements” and relations between elements.
Similarities between such structures can be described using the systems
theoretic idea of “isomorphism.” This paper demonstrates the existence of a
near isomorphism between two symbolic structures: the Diagram of the Supreme
Pole of Song Neo-Confucianism and the Kabbalistic Tree of medieval Jewish
mysticism. [The abstract is afterwards the same as
the abstract for the Religion East and West version.] _________________________________ This paper discusses similarities of both form and meaning
between two symbolic structures: the Diagram of the Supreme Pole of Song
Neo-Confucianism and the Kabbalistic Tree of medieval Jewish mysticism.
These similarities are remarkable in the light of the many differences that
exist between Chinese and Judaic thought, which also manifest in the two
symbols. Intercultural influence might account for the similarities,
but there is no historical evidence for such influence. An alternative
explanation would attribute the similarities to the ubiquity of
religious-philosophical ideas about hierarchy, polarity, and
macrocosm-microcosm parallelism, but this does not adequately account for the
similar overall structure of the symbols. The question of how to understand
these similarities remains open. _____________________________________________________________ “Tikkun”
Viewed from the Perspective of Systems Philosophy (2025) Understanding the
idea of tikkun, as it appears in tikkun olam and tikkun ha’yetser, can be
enriched by ideas from systems philosophy. From a systems perspective, “moral
evil“ – the flaws of individual human beings, which create the need for
tikkun ha’yetser – is a special case of “natural evil” – the dangers to life
and especially to humanity from the natural world and from societal moral
evil, which create the need for tikkun olam. Natural evil is in turn a special case of
“metaphysical evil” – flaws in olam (which include those of yetser) that are
ubiquitous, which may be viewed from the religious perspective of Creation or
from the secular perspective of scientific abstraction. Systems theory and philosophy
offer an account of metaphysical evil: The fundamental flaw of everything in olam
is finitude, the consequence of which is incompleteness and/or inconsistency.
From a religious perspective this account is a “secular theodicy” which
implies the need for tikkun in the Kabbalistic sense. _________________________________ A Conversation on Theodicy (2008) This paper is a dialog on theodicy—more precisely, on a modern
version of the classical religious-philosophical conundrum of how it can be
that (a) Evil exists, and yet (b) God is beneficent, and (c) God is omnipotent.
The dialog was inspired by Susan Neiman's Evil
in Modern Thought: An Alternative History of Philosophy, Princeton
University Press, 2002. The idea of a systems-theoretic ‘secular theodicy’ is
given in expanded form in three papers on my Systems Philosophy web page
mentioned above: Incompleteness, Negation, Hazard: On the Precariousness of
Systems (1984), Towards an Ontology of Problems (1995), and Understanding Imperfection (2000). _________________________________ Thoughts on Some Shabbat Prayers (2002) What follows are thoughts about several of the Shabbat and
daily prayers which are collected together, with translations, in Shiru
Ladonai, a Siddur prepared by Rabbi Aryeh Hirschfield, alav ha’shalom, of
P’nai Or, the Jewish Renewal congregation of Portland, Oregon. These
thoughts reflect how I understand the prayers, what they mean to me when I am
able to make a personal connection with them. Most of the ideas
expressed below are not original, but draw from a variety of sources. The
format is the following: the Hebrew prayer, or a fragment of it, is followed
by an English translation, usually Reb Aryeh's but occasionally my own, and
then by an interpretation or drash, in italics. For most of us, there are too many prayers. It is
like a long seminar in quantum mechanics that we, middle school students who
have studied some biology but not yet any physics, are invited to
attend. For the spiritually advanced and for those who are steeped in
tradition, the array of prayers of the traditional service may be rich and
potent, but for the rest of us, even the prayers of abbreviated services are
too many. A single prayer said with intention, or from a broken heart,
or felt with one's body is worth more than a thousand prayers uttered without
kavana. If one can say (feel) such a prayer, dayenu. This should
be the goal of the prayer service. Copyright © 2025 by Martin
Zwick |
|
|