A. J. Heschel

B”H
Shalom UBrachah!

Shalom Rabbi, I write in order to make some questions to you. I excuse for the trouble.
I am an Orthodox Jew.
I am doing a research project on Chassidut in A.J.Heschel. But, I need some information about Abraham Joshua Heschel. I have read the greater works written from Heschel (“Man is not Alone”; “The Shabbath”; “God in Search of Man”; “Man’s quest for God”; “The Earth Is the Lord’s: The Inner World of the Jew in Eastern Europe – A Hasidism”; “The Circle of the Baal Shem Tov: Studies in Hasidism”; “A Passion for Truth”; “Torah Min HaShamaym – Heavenly Torah: As Refracted Through the Generations” in the original edition in Hebrew) and I am not successful in understanding where Heschel goes outside of Orthodox Judaism. Heschel explains Orthodox Judaism and especially Chassidut with words of Philosophy.
All the great Chassidic Rabbis are ancestors of Heschel, and his family includes great Orthodox Rabbis.
Heschel maintained a life of observance of the Mitzvot and Halachah.
I do not understand why Heschel went to teach at the Jewish Theological Seminary (of the Conservatives…, they are heretical…, and not, for example, at the Yeshiva University (Orthodox)?
The question is: What is the opinion of important Orthodox Rabbis (Gedoleh Torah) about Heschel?

Thanks!
Kol Tuv.

Answer:

Heschel was without a doubt one of the most profound Jewish thinkers and writers of the twentieth century. His writings are phenomenal, and they are able to give a person a unique taste and feel for the depth of mitzvah observance (in particularly, prayer).

At the same time, Heschel, in his daughter’s words (the interview is printed in Donnelly & J. Pawlikowski, America (2007), “Lovingly Observant”) Heschel was “lovingly observant” and not “strictly observant.” His approach, which emerges from his books, was an approach of ahavah and not of yirah, whereas traditional wisdom decrees that one begins from yirah, and adds ahavah over a lifetime’s work.

Heschel was a non-conformist in terms of religious identity. He refused any label, and thereby rejected the kind of “institutionalized religion” that Orthodox Judaism espouses. The concept of an “institutional religion” is essential for the good of the community. Heschel generally addressed the individual and not the community as a whole.

He therefore saw himself free to teach wherever his teachings were welcome, and he remained non-affiliated with any particular Jewish identity or group. In this sense, and in other senses, too, he was a “universalist.”

Gedoleh Torah generally don’t know Heschel and therefore don’t have any opinion of him. My own opinion is that while I cannot vouch for all he writes (I have not read it all), and while it must be remembered that he was not “strictly observant” as we are (and as we believe one should be), there is much to gain from his brilliance.

Good luck with your project.