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Yehezkel Kaufmann | |
|---|---|
יחזקאל קויפמן | |
 Picture of Yehezkel Kaufmann | |
| Born | 1889 Ukraine |
| Died | 9 October 1963(1963-10-09) (aged 73–74) |
| Nationality | Israeli |
| Awards | Bialik Prize for Jewish Thought (1933, 1956) Israel Prize in Jewish Studies (1958) |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | University of Bern |
| Academic work | |
| Institutions | Hebrew University of Jerusalem |
| Notable works | Exile and Estrangement (1930)The Religion of Israel (1960) |
Yehezkel Kaufmann (Hebrew:יחזקאל קויפמן; also: Yeḥezqêl Qâufman; Yeḥezḳel Ḳoyfman; Jehezqël Kaufmann) (1889 – 9 October 1963) was an Israeliphilosopher andBiblical scholar associated with theHebrew University. His main contribution to the study of biblical religion was his thesis that Israel'smonotheism was not a gradual development frompaganism but entirely new.[1]
Yehezkel Kaufmann was born inUkraine. HisTalmudic knowledge was acquired at theyeshiva of RabbiChaim Tchernowitz (Rav Tzair) inOdessa and inPetrograd, and his philosophical and Biblical training were at theUniversity of Berne. He completed his doctorate on "theprinciple of sufficient reason" in 1918, and had it published in 1920 in Berlin. He began teaching inMandatory Palestine in 1928 and became Professor of Bible atHebrew University in 1949.
Kaufmann was the author of dozens of publications, almost exclusively inHebrew. In 1920, he publishedAgainst the claims of the phenomenological approach ofHusserl, but this was to be his last publication on abstract philosophy.
His first major work wasExile and Estrangement: A Socio-Historical Study on the Issue of the Fate of the Nation of Israel from Ancient Times until the Present (1930), in which he suggests that what preserved Israel's uniqueness through the ages was solely its religion. Among the basic themes of this work is that it is thetension between "universalism" and "nationalism" that comprises the foundational problem ofJudaism. This tension reaches back to the earliest eras of Judaism in which a universalistic conception of God was juxtaposed with the local socio-political issues of a small tribal people, even after that people had been exiled from its homeland.YHVH is the ruler of the entire universe, but he reveals Himself and His commandments only to Israel. It is this same tension which Kaufmann traces to the more modern phenomenon of exile and ghettoization. Among Kaufmann's contentious positions were his belief thatZionism could not provide the ultimate solution to the Jewish problem.[citation needed]
Kaufmann's best-known work is תולדות האמונה הישראלית, (Toledot HaEmunah HaYisraelit)The Religion of Israel, from Its Beginnings to theBabylonian Exile (1960), encompassing the history of religion andBiblical literature. The work is important both because of its profound scope, and because it offered a critical approach to Biblical study which was nevertheless in opposition to thedocumentary hypothesis ofJulius Wellhausen, which dominated Biblical study at that time (Hyatt 1961). Among Kaufmann's opinions expressed in this work are that neither a symbiotic norsyncretistic relationship obtained between the ancientCanaanites andIsraelites.[clarification needed] External influences on the Israelite religion occurred solely prior to the time ofMoses. However,Monotheism[clarification needed] – which on Kaufmann's view began at the time of Moses – was not the result of influences from any surrounding cultures, but was solely an Israelite phenomenon. After the adoption of Monotheism, Israelite belief is found to be free from mythological foundations, to the extent that the Scriptures do not evenunderstandpaganism (which, on Kauffman's view, is any religion other thanJudaism,Christianity, orIslam (Hyatt 1961)). Kaufmann summed up his position in these words: "Israelite religion was an original creation of the people of Israel. It was absolutely different from anything the pagan world knew; its monotheistic world view has no antecedents in paganism."
Kaufmann posits that the occasional worship ofBaal was never an organic movement of the people, but instead was only promoted by the royal court, mainly underAhab andJezebel. What idol-worship the Scriptures speak of was only "vestigial fetishistic idolatry," and not a genuine attachment of the people to such forms of worship, or the influence of foreign culture.
Kaufmann sees the classical "apostle-prophet" or "messenger-prophet" of the Prophetic literature (Nevi'im) as a uniquely Israelite phenomenon, the culmination of a long process of religious development not in any way influenced by surrounding cultures. This position is in most ways quite traditional; for example, it accords well withMaimonides's statement that "Yet that an individual should make a claim to prophecy on the ground that God had spoken to him and had sent him on a mission was a thing never heard of prior toMoses our Master" (GP I:63,S. Pines, 1963). The major innovation of the prophets was thus not the creation of the religion of Israelde novo (since this had already existed, and had facilitated their own emergence), but rather the unique focus on theethical aspect of religion, the shift in primacy from cult tomorality and the insistence that the fulfillment of God's will lay in the moral domain.
Kaufmann regards the non-prophetic parts of scripture as reflecting an earlier stage of the Israelite religion. While he accepts the existence of the threeprimary sourcesJE,P, andD, he claims – in opposition to Wellhausen and others – that theP-source significantly predates theBabylonian exile andDeuteronomy. Supporting this view, according to Kaufmann, is that theP-source does not recognize centralization of the cult, and deals only with issues related to the local sacrificial rituals. He suggests that the historiographical parts of Scripture did not receive the heavy editing that was posited bybiblical criticism of the time.
Kaufmann'sToldot Ha'Emunah Ha'Yisraelit is a 4-volume work written inHebrew. An accessible alternative is the one-volumeEnglish language translation and abridgement by Prof. Moshe Greenberg, entitledThe Religion of Israel, by Yehezkel Kaufmann, published by theUniversity of Chicago, 1960.
Kaufmann wrote commentaries on theBook of Joshua and theBook of Judges.
In 1933, Kaufmann was awarded the firstBialik Prize for Jewish thought. He was awarded the prize again in 1956.[2]
In 1958, he was awarded theIsrael Prize, in Jewish studies.[3]
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