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{{Short description|American author and academic}}
::''For the victim of the ], see ''']'''.''
{{other people||David Berger (disambiguation)}}
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'''David Berger''' (born 1943) is an American academic, dean of ]'s ], as well as chair of Yeshiva College's Jewish Studies department. He is the author of various books and essays on medieval Jewish apologetics and polemics, as well as having edited the modern critical edition of the medieval polemic text ]. Outside academic circles he is best known for '']'', a criticism of ].
]
] Dr. '''David Berger''' is a ] of ] at ] of the ], and a ] at ]'s ]. He is most famous for advocating a ] of ] from ].


==Education== ==Education==
Berger was raised in Brooklyn, NY, where he attended the ] for both elementary and high school. He received a ] from ] in 1964; he majored in Classics and was class valedictorian. He then went on to ] where he completed a ] degree in 1965 and his ] in 1970. He received ] from the ] and is a member of the ], the official organization representing ] rabbis.{{citation needed|date=October 2017}}


==Activities==
Berger received a ] from ] in 1964. He then went on to ] where he completed a ] degree in 1965 and his ] in 1970. He received ] from the ] and is a member of the ], the official organization representing ] rabbis.
Before Berger prominently criticized ] messianism, he was most famous as an expert on interfaith dialogue and ]. He has written commentaries on the Roman Catholic church's declarations on relations with other faiths '']'' ("In Our Age," promulgated 1965), and '']'' ("Lord Jesus," promulgated 2000) and Rabbi ]'s "Confrontation". The ] (OU) asked him to write a response to the broadly ecumenical '']'' ("Speak the Truth," 2000), and that response was subsequently adopted as the OU's official position. He has also contributed an essay about ]'s views on medieval Jewish-Christian debate in the book, ''Pride of Jacob''.{{citation needed|date=October 2017}}


==Criticism of Chabad-Lubavitch messianism== ==Chabad controversy==
{{main|The Rebbe, the Messiah, and the Scandal of Orthodox Indifference}}
===Summary===
Berger's 2001 book criticizing ] as "precisely what Jews through the generations have seen as classic, Christian-style false messianism" made him a leading voice in criticism of Chabad. Berger argues that Chabad messianism goes beyond traditional halakhic boundaries of ] to the point that Orthodox Jews should not participate in prayer quorums with Chabad Jews.<ref>{{cite book |last=Balakirsky Katz |first=Maya |title=The Visual Culture of Chabad |year=2010 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-521-19163-0 |page=227}} "Chabad's desire for distinction has received so much criticism that some opponents attempt to locate the movement on the fringe of Orthodox Judaism or even outside Judaism altogether. Historian David Berger, the leading voice in the debate, argues that Chabad messianism breaches the halakhic boundaries of Judaism – to the degree that he posits that Orthodox Jews cannot participate in a prayer quorum with Chabad."</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Dein |first=Simon |title=Lubavitcher Messianism: What Really Happens When Prophecy Fails? |year=2011 |publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group |location=London |isbn=978-1-4411-1223-1 |page=64}} "Here everyone is treading on thin ice, for no one can know precisely how deep Chabad messianism goes. When Berger and other critics claim that it infects the majority of the Chabad movement, they have no greater statistical backing than ..."</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Kaplan |first=Dana Evan |author-link=Dana Evan Kaplan |title=Contemporary American Judaism: transformation and renewal 2009 |url=https://archive.org/details/orphanasia00wuzh |url-access=limited |year=2009 |publisher=Columbia University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-231-13728-7 |page=}} "Berger points out that “this is precisely what Jews through the generations have seen as classic, Christian-style false messianism.”31 Berger became the most outspoken critic of Chabad, writing a book, The Rebbe, the Messiah, and the Scandal of Orthodox Indifference."</ref>
Berger, an academic expert on ], particularly ], criticized what he viewed as similar assertions made by some religious leaders of the ] movement about their last ] ] ] shortly after Rabbi Schneerson's death in 1994. Berger claimed that such assertions could not be squared with traditional ]. An example of Berger's prooftexts is the passage in the ] which shows that ] set aside his previous assertions of ]'s presumed messiahship following Bar Kokhba being put to death. To Berger, Chabad's viewpoint on this issue is outside the pale of accepted Orthodox Jewish belief. Berger has been highly disappointed by the Orthodox establishment's reaction to Chabad-Lubavitch's claims that Schneerson is the ], arguing that there is a "scandal of Orthodox indifference".


===Support=== ==Works==
Berger states that his views are shared and supported by many prominent ] authorities, including leaders from the ] non-Hasidic ] (''Litvak'') institutions, ] in ], ], especially the reactions and statements of its late ] ("dean") Rabbi ] (see ]) and the vehement opposition of the ] (''Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim'') in ].


===Books===
Rabbi ], the dean of the non-Hasidic ] in ], ], wrote a widely-disseminated letter in 2004 which stated that Orthodox Jews should avoid praying in Chabad ]s that avowed a belief in the Rebbe as the Messiah. He stated that while there is nothing in ] against the messianist views of Chabad-Lubavitch, they "dig under the foundations of Torah fundamentals" and any support of them should be avoided.
Jews and "Jewish Christianity"
*{{cite book|title=The Jewish Christian Debate in the High Middle Ages; A Critical Edition of Niẓẓaḥon Vetus|date=1979|isbn=1-56821-919-9|publisher=Jewish Publication Society|url=https://archive.org/details/jewishchristiand0000unse_p4f6|url-access=registration}}
* '']'', Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2001. {{ISBN|978-1-874774-88-4}}
Persecution, Polemic, and Dialogue: Essays in Jewish-Christian Relations


Cultures in Collision and Conversation: Essays in the Intellectual History of the Jews David Berger
Berger is a highly popular figure in ] circles. Following ] President Rabbi ]'s announcement that he would retire in 2001, Berger placed second on an online poll which asked who Lamm's successor should be. In 1996, largely at his behest, the ], the largest organization of Modern Orthodox rabbis in the ], approved the following resolution:


===Essays===
:"In light of disturbing developments which have recently arisen in the Jewish community,the Rabbinical Council of America in convention assembled declares that there is not and has never been a place in Judaism for the belief that Mashiach ben David will begin his Messianic mission only to experience death, burial, and resurrection before completing it."
* "On the Uses of History in Medieval Jewish Polemic Against Christianity: The Quest for the Historical Jesus," in ''Jewish History and Jewish Memory: Essays in Honor of Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi,'' ed. Elisheva Carlebach, John M. Efron.
* "Jacob Katz on Jews and Christians in the Middle Ages," in The Pride of Jacob: Essay on Jacob Katz and His Work, ed. JM Harris (Cambridge and London, 2002), 41–63,


==References==
Berger felt that the RCA resolution was a very significant turning point for his cause, as he recounts in his book that after the resolution was approved, "the thunder-bolt struck."
{{reflist}}


==External links==
===Conflict over Rabbi Ahron Soloveitchik's letters===
* {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091227054746/http://www.rabbis.org/news/article.cfm?id=100627 |date=2009-12-27 }}
* Marissa Brostoff, , '']'', October 24, 2007.


{{AJS Presidents}}
A letter was subsequently published as a paid advertisement in 1996 in '']'', a widely circulated Jewish newspaper, signed by Rabbi ], the late ] of ] and ], condemning the resolution. The letter stated that:
{{Authority control}}

:"The belief held by many in Lubavitch... that the Rebbe can still be Moshiach... cannot be dismissed as a belief that is outside the pale of Orthodoxy. Any cynical attempt at utilizing a legitimate disagreement of interpretation concerning this matter, to besmirch and damage the Lubavitch movement... can only contribute to the regrettable discord that already plagues the Jewish and particularly Torah community."

Despite this, many believe that the letter was actually a forgery, especially in light of Rabbi Soloveitchik's clarification of his own position two years earlier in an article in '']'', another Jewish publication, in which he states that to believe that the Rebbe is still the Messiah is indeed outside the pale of Orthodoxy:

:"The late Rebbe can't be the Messiah -- he is not living -- a Messiah has to be living -- a living Messiah, not a dead Messiah."

Since Rabbi Soloveitchik never himself discredited the veracity of the 1996 letter, suspicions of forgery remain speculative.

===David Singer's critique and Berger's response===
], Director of Research for the ], wrote a lengthy criticism of Berger at ], stating, among other things, that Berger has "emerged as a would-be ] on the Orthodox scene, demanding a policy of 'intolerance' and 'exclusion' toward those he deems to be heretical to Orthodoxy."<ref name=singer>Singer, David, , OrthodoxyToday.org, accessed March 15, 2006.</ref>. Berger responded at length on the same website.<ref name=berger>Berger, David, , OrthodoxyToday.org, accessed March 15, 2006.</ref>

==See also==
*]
*]
*]
*]
*]
*]
*]

===Notes===
<references/>

==Works==
* Berger, David. ''The Rebbe, the Messiah, and the Scandal of Orthodox Indifference'', Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2001 (ISBN 1874774889)

==External links==
*
*
* and
*


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Latest revision as of 05:49, 23 August 2024

American author and academic For other people with the same name, see David Berger (disambiguation).
RabbiDavid Berger
Personal life
NationalityAmerican
Alma materYeshiva University
Religious life
ReligionJudaism
DenominationOrthodox

David Berger (born 1943) is an American academic, dean of Yeshiva University's Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies, as well as chair of Yeshiva College's Jewish Studies department. He is the author of various books and essays on medieval Jewish apologetics and polemics, as well as having edited the modern critical edition of the medieval polemic text Nizzahon Vetus. Outside academic circles he is best known for The Rebbe, the Messiah, and the Scandal of Orthodox Indifference, a criticism of Chabad messianism.

Education

Berger was raised in Brooklyn, NY, where he attended the Yeshivah of Flatbush for both elementary and high school. He received a Bachelor's degree from Yeshiva College in 1964; he majored in Classics and was class valedictorian. He then went on to Columbia University where he completed a Master of Arts degree in 1965 and his Doctor of Philosophy in 1970. He received rabbinic ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary and is a member of the Rabbinical Council of America, the official organization representing Modern Orthodox rabbis.

Activities

Before Berger prominently criticized Chabad messianism, he was most famous as an expert on interfaith dialogue and medieval Jewish-Christian debate. He has written commentaries on the Roman Catholic church's declarations on relations with other faiths Nostra aetate ("In Our Age," promulgated 1965), and Dominus Iesus ("Lord Jesus," promulgated 2000) and Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik's "Confrontation". The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America (OU) asked him to write a response to the broadly ecumenical Dabru Emet ("Speak the Truth," 2000), and that response was subsequently adopted as the OU's official position. He has also contributed an essay about Jacob Katz's views on medieval Jewish-Christian debate in the book, Pride of Jacob.

Chabad controversy

Main article: The Rebbe, the Messiah, and the Scandal of Orthodox Indifference

Berger's 2001 book criticizing Chabad messianism as "precisely what Jews through the generations have seen as classic, Christian-style false messianism" made him a leading voice in criticism of Chabad. Berger argues that Chabad messianism goes beyond traditional halakhic boundaries of Orthodox Judaism to the point that Orthodox Jews should not participate in prayer quorums with Chabad Jews.

Works

Books

Jews and "Jewish Christianity"

Persecution, Polemic, and Dialogue: Essays in Jewish-Christian Relations

Cultures in Collision and Conversation: Essays in the Intellectual History of the Jews David Berger

Essays

  • "On the Uses of History in Medieval Jewish Polemic Against Christianity: The Quest for the Historical Jesus," in Jewish History and Jewish Memory: Essays in Honor of Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi, ed. Elisheva Carlebach, John M. Efron.
  • "Jacob Katz on Jews and Christians in the Middle Ages," in The Pride of Jacob: Essay on Jacob Katz and His Work, ed. JM Harris (Cambridge and London, 2002), 41–63,

References

  1. Balakirsky Katz, Maya (2010). The Visual Culture of Chabad. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 227. ISBN 978-0-521-19163-0. "Chabad's desire for distinction has received so much criticism that some opponents attempt to locate the movement on the fringe of Orthodox Judaism or even outside Judaism altogether. Historian David Berger, the leading voice in the debate, argues that Chabad messianism breaches the halakhic boundaries of Judaism – to the degree that he posits that Orthodox Jews cannot participate in a prayer quorum with Chabad."
  2. Dein, Simon (2011). Lubavitcher Messianism: What Really Happens When Prophecy Fails?. London: Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 64. ISBN 978-1-4411-1223-1. "Here everyone is treading on thin ice, for no one can know precisely how deep Chabad messianism goes. When Berger and other critics claim that it infects the majority of the Chabad movement, they have no greater statistical backing than ..."
  3. Kaplan, Dana Evan (2009). Contemporary American Judaism: transformation and renewal 2009. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 31. ISBN 978-0-231-13728-7. "Berger points out that “this is precisely what Jews through the generations have seen as classic, Christian-style false messianism.”31 Berger became the most outspoken critic of Chabad, writing a book, The Rebbe, the Messiah, and the Scandal of Orthodox Indifference."

External links

Presidents of the Association for Jewish Studies
Categories: